Janette woke as the sun was coming over the horizon. Her fiancé was already up and was waiting for her to get up. He helped her back into the red dress again before breakfast was brought up to them.
When they had finished their meal, they returned to the carriage which was ready to take them to Quebel.
It took a little over a week for the group to returned to Quebel and its capital, Questone where the royal palace was located. A week that Janette spent trapped in that tiny carriage with Vergil. It was awful. Vergil was a man of few words and was silent for the ride back to Quebel. Not that she wanted to talk to him.
It was about midday when they entered Questone and this is when Vergil finally opened his mouth.
"Welcome home, Janette," He said to her.
"Quebel has never been my home," She told him.
Vergil fave her a pointed look which she returned with a blank stare. Janette could tell he was tolerating her behaviour for now but for a long how was a mystery.
A loud sound from outside of the carriage drew Janette away from her fiancé's face. She could see through the small window in the carriage's door the people had stopped what they were doing so they welcome back their king. The people of Questone looked happy to see their king. Janette remembered when Harald used to back from visiting Mallet the streets would become deserted, no one wanted t welcome him back.
The cheering continued until the carriage reached the walls of the palace.
When the carriage came to a complete stop, butterflies Janette's stomach.
Once again Vergil was the first to leave the carriage. Janette took a shaky breath before she followed suit.
The half-demon waited by the side of the carriage's door, with his hand outstretched to help her from the carriage. Janette didn't take it.
When she stepped out of the vehicle, the young woman came face to face with the grand entrance of Cedarroot Palace. She had never seen the front of the palace that she had been locked deep inside for the first ten years of her life.
The palace was as grandiose as she had imagined when she was a child.
There was stone relief on top of the hundred of windows lining the front of the palace, with each one having a different design. Over the top of the large palace door was a relief showing the first King of Quebel slaying one of Mundus' demonic generals. It was a story that every child in Quebel knows.
Her emerald eyes were drawn away from the magnificent architecture to a group of men walking up to her and Vergil.
The group was mostly made up of men in their sixties. Some of their faces were familiar, their minor Lords when she was a child.
As she scanned across the group she spotted a very familiar face among them. Oswin was one of the faces in the group. He was standing at the far side of her looking gloomy.
"Welcome back, Your Majesty," The group's head man, Earl Templecombe she believes, said as the group bowed towards their king. "And welcome home, Lady Rozeningale," The Earl turned to greeted her separately.
Janette didn't fave any reply, just kept her face neutral.
It was obvious by the look on Earl Templecombe's face that he didn't appreciate her silent response but he made no comment as he was in front of the king.
"Any news on the rebelling Dukes?" Vergil asked.
Rebelling Dukes? It must be Harald's cousins. The males' members of the Rose-Griffiths would never let the throne slip out of the family, even if history remembers them as villains.
"It seems like they have retreated to Hilden Mountains in the north," The Earl explained. "We were just discussing a plan as you entered the capital," He further explained.
"We will continue that discussion again after I introduce Janette to the court and my announce," Vergil instructed.
Said woman jumped at the presence on the small of her back, pushing her forward through the group of old men to the palace door.
Janette was guided to the throne room as men continued to talk about the country's affair.
The front of the palace looked untouched by the final battle of the war but as the group drew closer to the throne room, there were tell-tale signs of the fight. Sword slashes could be seen on the walls, holes litter the walls and paintings, burns marks and what looked like claw marks.
At the entrance of the throne room, Janette noticed the elaborate craved oaks door were gone and the frame was heavily damaged. The throne room was in a terrible state, the grand tapestries and lavish curtains were gone. The tiled floor was destroyed half of the floor was already taken up. Even in this ruined room, the thrones stood there untouched by the destruction.
The hand on Janette's back left her back as Vergil moved to take his place Quebelian throne. Automatically stepped aside along with the council, to take her place with the court like she did when she was a child.
She could feel Vergil's eyes on her as stood with her eyes on the ground.
"Janette," Oswin whispered to her. "Sit on the throne," he told her.
Her eyes moved from the floor to the queen's throne by side Vergil. Not wanting to cause any more trouble for Oswin, the brunette moved to the throne.
Sitting on the throne was strange. It was something that no one expected her to be sitting. She hoped that she would stay in Prildo Ira helping the people until her death not playing queen for people who didn't even know that she existed.
Once she was seated a servant was called to inform the court that King had returned and was holding court, right now. Soon the room filled with nobility or what was left of them. The rumour in Prildo Ira was that most of the Quebelian aristocratic families had been killed either during the war or at the final battle inside the palace. It seemed like the rumour were only half true. It was only the families closest to the Rose-Griffiths that were missing from court.
When all of the court was presented, court began.
Janette watched as Oswin stepped from the other member of the court, stopping in front of the throne. He bowed to them before speaking.
"Welcome back Your Majesty," He greeted. "We are delighted that you have returned unharmed and successful," Oswin said with pain as he said 'successful'.
"Thank you, Lord Valles," Vergil responded. "And yes I was successful in retrieving my fiancee, Lady Rozeningale from Prildo Ira," He told the court. "Now that she here in Quebel I can now announce the date of our wedding which will be this summer," The King announced.
'That doesn't leave much time,' Janette thought. Winter was just ending and Spring would be here soon. 'I can't rush or I'll mess up but if I delay my escape then there would be a chance my plan could be discovered,' She planned.
That day's court wasn't that long as it was only to announce officially their marriage.
Vergil stood from his throne looking over to his fiancee to follow him. Not wanting to have the eyes of the court on her so she followed Vergil's lead and stood up. He placed his hand on her back again, guiding her out of the throne room. The council followed behind them.
The half-demon lead her and the council to a room that looked like a meeting room. A large and long table with then chairs on each side and a grandly decorated chair at the head of the table.
Of course, that grand chair was for Vergil so before he took his seat; he pulled out a chair for Janette on the side furthest from the door.
Janette sat in the chair with no argument as she had no energy at the moment.
Her emerald eyes met Oswin's purple from the other side of the table. He gave her a strained smile as he sat opposite.
"To continue our conversation about those rebelling Dukes," Vergil stated the purpose of the meeting.
"Of course Your Majesty," Lord Creeveroe said. "The latest news we have received from the front lines is that Dukes of Vilotain, Celltain, Trombtain and Trumptain have retreated to Hilden Mountain in the north-west of the kingdom. It is the second mountain in Quartz-Spine Range," He explained to Vergil. "We have ordered the force to surrounded the mountain. We've also sent two companies to the other end of the range to make sure that they don't know one escape," Lord Creeveroe finished.
Oswin brought over a map to show the king the terrain around the Quartz-Spine Range.
The land around the range was flat right up to the mountains. The land was also fertile, so there was a lot of farmland surrounding the mountains.
Vergil studied the map, silently coming up with a plan to defeat the Rose-Griffiths' Dukes.
"How much supplies do they have?" The king question.
"We are unsure but the Duke of Vilotain was apart of the war council so I'm sure they would have reasonable size. If I had to guess maybe about two to six months worth," Oswin guessed.
Vergil hummed at the councillors response.
As the men talk Janette just sat there listening to them, there was nothing for her to say. She knew nothing about war, it was a topic strictly for men. Even in Prildo Ira where women had more freedom, they couldn't be on any council of war but even limited knowledge of war she knew what Vergil was planning.
"Do you have a plan, My Majesty?" Count Finlaggan asked.
Vergil sat up straight in his seat.
"The Dukes have an advantage at the moment," He stated. "If they do have six months worth of supplies then those greedy Dukes will hoard all that food for themselves. Their men will either rebel against them or abandon them," He explained.
The members of the council looked at each other, some understanding what their king wanted to do others didn't.
"Sorry Your Highness, are you planning to siege the dukes?" A Lord asked.
"Of course, fool," Vergil said.
"What!?" Earl Templecombe exclaimed. "We can't do that, Your Highness! Most of the young men under the Dukes are either forced or mislead!" The Earl stated.
Janette couldn't hold back her snort of laughter as she heard Earl blatant lie.
"I find it hard to believe you are worried for the men servicing under the dukes as I remember you been quite a supporter for the Siege of Littheslingworth," Janette recalled. She paused to give the Earl a moment to realise what she had said. She watched as the old man scrunched up his eyebrow and went to speak but she opened her mouth before he could. "Or does your sudden pacifism have something to do with your favourite bed warmer, the Duchess of Violtain?" Janette suggested.
It was certainly entertaining to watching the face of Earl Templecombe's face drained of colour. He stuttered as he tried to come up with a reason.
"Y-You," The nobleman stuttered.
"'Blasted bastard of the house of Lovelace', "The blighted daughter of deranged tyrant Harald-Mallory', 'The blemish on the noble lineage of the Rose-Griffith'," Janette listed. "Was it one of those or were going to use your favourite one 'The Whore's-"
"Enough!" Vergil shouted.
His voice stopped the pettiness between his fiancee and the Earl of Andden.
"This is not the time for the two of you to be squabbling about your past wrongs," Vergil told them. "Earl Templecombe, do keep in mind the only reason you're are here in this high ranking position is because you abandon your loyal to Rose-Griffiths," He reminded the nobleman, his ice-blue eyes glowing with a dangerous-looking them.
Janette moved her gaze to Oswin's mortified face. She felt bad for the older man so gave him a soft smile.
The meeting continued with no more interruption but there was a heavy atmosphere.
"Hiding me away from everyone," Janette sarcastically said.
"Well considering how you acted during the council meeting," Vergil replied.
"I'm so sorry," She sarcastically apologised. "I couldn't stop myself laughing at Archibald's hypocrisy. You should be more careful when choosing your advisors," She told as she took her seat at the dining table.
"Well, they will not be advisors soon," Vergil reminder his fiancee. "I hope you are taking notes,"
The brunette silently growled at the half-demon.
Dinner passed with tense air between the king and his future queen. Vergil allowed Janette to be escorted to her temporary quarter.
The room that she was escorted to was the quarters that Harald given her mother.
One of the knights escorting opened the door for her and then closed it behind her.
Janette scanned the rooms that she had grew up in was stripped of all of its elegant furniture and beautiful paintings were gone. The luxurious ornaments on the mantelpiece were no longer there.
The furniture that was there now basic and plain, just two small couches and a coffee table between them.
The woman moved from the drawing-room to her old bedroom.
She was surprised to see that her bedroom had been left untouched.
The soft toys that had been brought for her were, stay present o her bed. Janette walked over to her bookcase to all of her books, childish tales of heroism. Her eyes glide across the books' spines until she found the book that made her want to become a doctor in her new life. Her fingers continued to travel across the books' spines until they came to a series of similar-looking books. A face crossed her mind causing her heart pain. Janette pulled away from the bookcase.
She moved her bed and collapse on the soft mattress. She buried her face into one of the many pillows on her bed and cried herself to sleep quietly, just like when she was a child.