The sunlight of the waning noon beamed into the room, motes of dust and small hairs glittering in the rays. There was one occupant. She was sitting in a chair, elegantly carved and painted, and cushioned with similar acuity. Leaning forward, she lifted a piece of pristine porcelain off a similarly opulent table and poured a delicate and flowery tea into her cup. Scant dust motes fell onto the surface of the rosey liquid, their effulgence subsumed beneath the gentle flux of its surface. Princess Renner brought the cup to her mouth, and drank.
I'll need to let Climb try this, this should be more to his taste than before…
Renner valued nothing more in life than her Climb. He was her obsession, and she let her idle moments become consumed in a warm contemplation of his form. His dusty blond hair, his precious and embarrassed smile. Indeed, all that she did, she did so a future with him could be guaranteed to her. To the nobility of the Re-Estize kingdom, moreover, to all but her closest confidants, the third daughter of King Ramposa III, Renner Theiere Chardelon Ryle Vaiself - the Golden Princess - was nothing more than a pretty face. They assumed that Climb, an urchin by birth, was merely a fancy of hers. They could not understand the depth of her desires.
This tastes better, but there's no viable path to improvement left in the steeping process. Only a better blend.
Despite her regal bearing, she insisted on doing some things herself. This was one of those, and in the making of tea, she was a practiced master. This tea was from the south, especially imported on the request she had made in party talk with the last delegation of Holy Kingdom emissaries. She had long ago grown tired of the mistakes made by her maidstaff, and had given serious consideration to doing the same for the cooking she ate.
The consequences of that would be shameful. The Royals would be setback yet again…
To the common people of Re-Estize, she was a symbol of national pride, a prime beauty whose hand in marriage was a genuine reserve of national strength. To the feuding highbloods Renner was counted among, she was a source of derision. Twisting jabs found their way to her ears, in conversations hurriedly and conspicuously quieted when she approached. The idea of the Third Princess cooking for herself would become a source of riotous laughter, beyond even the wildest musings that the nobility dared to indulge.
They genuinely want to hurt me with their words. It's almost amusing.
Renner cared little about such gossip, but occasionally filed away clever bits of wordplay at her expense. Lost in the daze of the afternoon, her mind began to wander, and eventually settled on her chair. Its textiles were not local, but due to soil conditions from the southern portions of the kingdom. The logistic accomplishment of the chair's existence, between acquisition of materials, training of carpentry talent, and the studious upcharges that brokers levied every step of the way had meant that the cost levied in its acquisition exceeded the monthly salary of most residents of the kingdom. This room was furnished with six.
This is horribly inefficient. First off, with better domestication and interbreeding, the Kingdom probably could have grown cottons further north. Bypassing traders' fees and the taxes people paid to enter and exit the domains of nobles would at least cut the price in half. Paving the roads could have cut down the transport costs further, or at least helped to shatter the monopolies of local crews. Further, had the carpenters been furnished with tools imbued with enchantments, the time to assemble could be cut down precipitously.
Renner understood these realities, and although she had long since grown accustomed to the incompetence and shortsitedness of her fellow noble blood, it was made all the more unbearable by her contemporary beyond the eastern boarder, the Bloody Emperor. The Baharuth Empire, the main rival of the Kingdom, was headed by a superb statesman, Emperor El Nix. Though he earned his degrading moniker through rapid purges of the less capable nobleman of his country when he seized power, he had proven to be more than an empty-headed pike wielder. In a short decade, he had renovated the aging imperial bureaucracy. Indeed, he was leading a revolution in all walks of Imperial life. Technologic leaps across fields, manufacturing techniques, the magical arts of enchantment; more advanced battlefield tactics, better soldiers and training techniques, strategic meritocracy; mass entertainment, paved roads, and ever more strides into the future. She knew that he would lead that nation into a golden age, precisely because much of this was what she had proposed, and been shot down.
At every turn, her suggestions for cobbled highways, stronger relations with the monster hunting "adventurers", and a true embrace of magic development had been met with nothing but laughter from her contemporaries. "Who would spend such exorbitant sums on the common people? Are you trying to deplete our treasuries before the next annual war or are you just that stupid?"
Unbelieveably stupid! Every time my words make it to El Nix's ears he listens. Still, he never seems to do much besides copy, or find some new house to relieve of their property. Nothing he's come up with on his own has any special brilliance. Still, to think he's greater than average is depressing.
To call Renner intelligent would be foolish; she possessed terrifying abilities of cognition. Genius was a serviceable description, but even that may not have fully encompassed her nature. Though she was in some ways, peerless, Renner did have at least a few friends. Lakyus, leader of the Blue Rose - indeed, the entire team - was a friend.
The world was not a domain of just mankind, but a deluge of intelligent species; humanoids, demihumanoids, heteromorphs, demons, angels, undead, spirits, dragon-kin, aberrations, and beings weirder and more dangerous than those. Thus, there were those who rose above the average human, and who in service to themselves (and their wallets), fought those monsters in the defense of humanity. Some sought the limits of their species, be they physical strength, dexterity and speed, focus and battle perception, the arcane arts and the depths of magin, or martial technique. Some were stronger than others, and the Blue Roses, an all female group, were one of two highest ranked teams of the Kingdom's. Renner found them excellent company, and their curtness befitting of those who had fought in battle was always refreshing.
Still, none captured her eye like Climb. Standing 170 cm tall, verdant blue eyes gave him a striking look. In keeping with his desire to become a true knight for Renner, he was honing his body as a warrior. Well fed by the standards of the Kingdom, he had built muscle and a healthy figure; he was toned, and his hands had calloused from his prodigious training with the blade. No one knew his exact age, but the court physician estimated that he was around 15. As much as his physicality was alluring to any teen girl, Renner appreciated his personality more. In a word, Climb was loyal.
Right as her thoughts drifted to his body again, there was a knock on the door. After the assent of the Princess, a maid stepped in.
"Your Highness, the King bid me to inform you that he would like your attendance in the Throne room in two hours, Crown Prince Barbro has returned from E-Rantel"
"Thank you, Laina, I will be in my Boudoir. Oh, and do summon Climb for me. I want his help in selecting an outfit for today."
Renner watched a small twitch on Laina's face, before the maid smiled and bowed, exiting the room.
Even though she's new, it seems she also harbors a hatred for him. Unsurprising. I'll need to deal with her eventually. That makes four of the recently hired maid staff here that have slipped so blatantly like that in front of me: Juvlia, Illurin, El'ya, and now her too. Laxity was expected, but they appear to be building resentments quicker than anticipated. It's been two weeks for both of them, which means the existing members have already brought them into the fold. That's the shorter end of the predicted time frame. I think she's working for Marquis Reavan…
Although the Blue Roses knew her intelligence, the depth of her being was hidden.
A new plan of action, then. I'll have Laina reassigned closer to me. I'll talk about Climb, his recent Jousting laurel. It shouldn't take more than a few days for that to make it back to Revean. Next time I speak to him, I'll see how he reacts. If only they could tolerate my Climb.
In truth, Renner was far more than simply a genius.
I'll have to get her killed. I'll have to get all of them killed.
She was a psychopath.