"Please tell me that I'm wearing my clothes properly," Leo said, remnants of embarrassment still on his face from the earlier incident with his shirt. They had finally arrived at Castle Krakenburg, Leo standing before the doors to the king's audience chamber. It was obligatory for him, as Garon's son, to pay the king a visit the first thing after he'd arrived back into the castle. "I don't want to make a fool out of myself in front of father."

Niles, and Odin looked over him again, the two retainers going over to fix Leo's clothing, straightening every wrinkle and dusting away any dirt.

Charlotte noted how nervous Leo seemed. The second prince always had an air of confidence around him, and truly, even now he still did... but something in it felt off. He was only going to see his father, but the only emotion that she could read from him was fear and nervousness, which he tried so hard-so hard-to cover up.

Leo said, to his retainers. "Show Charlotte to my rooms. I'll meet you all again there."

"So hasty, milord," Niles said, trying to lighten the mood. "At least take the lady to dinner first."

"Pffftt. Well, I am taking her to dinner, and a very big one tomorrow," Leo said. "Now, move along. I can't keep father waiting."

His retainers backed away from him. Leo turned to Charlotte one last time, told her he would see her soon, before he vanished into the wide double doors to the King's chambers.

Castle Krakenburg was a complex downward spiral, and Charlotte struggled to follow Niles and Odin, as they passed through a flight of stairs and corridors, all looking unbelievably similar. They spouted trivia as the walked along-about Prince Xander's rooms, closest to the King's chambers; Lady Camilla's rooms, closest to the wyvern stables; Lady Elise's rooms, closest to the indoor gardens; and finally-Lord Leo's rooms, further down the spiral, closest to the library.

"And here we are," Odin said, arriving at the aforementioned room, the guards assigned at the doorway immediately recognizing him and Niles, making way for them. They looked at Charlotte with hesitation, but Niles dismissed them, while Odin opened the apartments with his key.

The door opened to a waiting room, and then a receiving room, outfitted with couches and chairs and a modest selection of books lining the wall. Beyond the room were three more doors. "We stay in one of those rooms," Niles said, pointing to the leftmost door. "The middle room is Lord Leo's. The rightmost one is a spare guestroom... for when Lord Leo brings back a woman, I suppose," the outlaw said, with a chuckle.

"Which hasn't really ever happened, as far as I know," Odin said, looking through the wine cabinet in the room, and trying to pick a beverage. "Nowadays it's a storeroom for books he's finished reading."

"So I take it that I'll be staying there?" Charlotte asked, walking around aimlessly around the room, looking around at the decor and just marvelling at the size of it all. These royals are truly a different thing.

"If you want everyone to think you're having bedroom affairs with Lord Leo, sure," Niles said. "And guess what? I'm never letting that happen. Lady Camilla has permitted that you stay in her apartments instead."

Charlotte looked at Niles in disbelief. "It's a different room, for crying out loud."

"Still, it's within his rooms. People will think he's housing you," Niles said. "Now, I don't know about you, but Lord Leo has a reputation to uphold. A companion in dinner is one thing, a woman sleeping in his rooms is another."

These royals are truly a different thing.

"If Lord Leo cared so much about his reputation," she said, "He wouldn't have ever picked you as his retainer, Niles."

Niles narrowed his good eye at her for the comeback, and at the background, Odin chuckled. "Touché," Odin said, "Touché, Lady Charlotte."

"So, why is Lord Leo so nervous about this banquet, anyway? So nervous that he needs me?"

"Usually, he isn't," Odin said. "He is plenty accustomed to it, after all. But once in a while, his mother is sent an invitation and is expected to be in attendance, and... how does one even begin to describe her?"

"His mother...?" Charlotte asked, curiously. "She can't be that bad."

"She's an unsavory wench," Niles said, not one to mince words. "She has been the bane of Lord Leo's existence since he was born. Milord is nothing but a mere puppet for her to pull the strings of to squeeze favors out of King Garon."

"You could feel her... lack of authenticity from miles and miles away," Odin said. "When with King Garon, and in public, she acts like a sweet little kitten, but alas, she's nothing but a venomous snake behind doors, which Niles and I are unfortunately privy to-"

"Her pretentions make me sick. She would often play the victim, pretending to be a weak, sensitive woman when in all honesty she's woven all the people around her in her pretty little lies-!"

"I have no idea what King Garon ever saw in her! Perhaps he just has a thing for blondes with curves in all the right places, or-"

Niles and Odin froze in their tirade, staring at each other, and then finally at Charlotte.

"...What?" Charlotte asked, looking confused.

A manipulative blonde with curves in all the right places and a knack for acting like the victim.

"...Nothing," Odin said, swallowing the rest of his tirade nervously. "To make the long story short, she's just... a ferocious woman."

"Listen here, Charlotte," Niles said, approaching her and putting a hand to her shoulders, looking at her dead on the eyes. "This woman has been a constant thorn at Lord Leo's side, and all you have to do is get her off my lord's back, for one night. If you can get her away for much longer than that... then, bless you."

I'll put my trust on you, I guess, Niles thought. After all, it takes one to beat one.

"If she's so unbearable," Charlotte said, "Perhaps what Lord Leo needs isn't an escort, but an assassin."

"Oooh, believe me woman, if he'd allowed it, I would have done it myself long, long ago," Niles said, a flash of cruel sadism crawling onto his features. "Fortunately, she's not much pain as she once was, and Lord Leo had managed to have her sent away to live apart from him. It's only these formal gatherings where he is forced to acknowledge her that's our problem now."

Get her off of Lord Leo's back. Distract her with idle talk or conversation. It can't be so hard now, can it?

The courtesy call with Garon turned into a full blown war meeting, and Leo, who thought he'd be back in his rooms in mostly an hour, hadn't even returned by dinner. Garon was starved for details on his war, and with Xander not returning until dawn, there was no one left to the task but Leo.

Finally, when all his work was done, all his royal duties out of the way, he sat all alone at the royal dining hall, staring at his food.

All the prior discussion about the death toll, about villages burnt, about who died when and how and who killed whom, made him lose his appetite.

"Lord Leo," the greeting snapped him from his thoughts. He looked up, seeing Charlotte being ushered in by a servant. She was in a white dress this time, her blonde hair done up, her trademark white bow ever present and holding her hair in place. Clothes weren't all that made a noble, but Leo had to agree, they really did help.

"Sorry that I couldn't come see you sooner," Leo said, getting up and showing Charlotte to a seat, pulling out a chair for her beside him. Charlotte quickly whispered her thanks. "I was only meant to convey greetings. And along the way, without me realizing it, it had become a full blown war meeting."

Charlotte looked at the dining room, the long table grand and spacious, currently empty save for the both of them. She looked at the plate before him. Tomato soup, untouched, a spoon half-heartedly left in it but never picked up. He had clearly lost interest in eating sometime ago.

It felt so lonely.

She had always fantasized about the life of nobility-the merriment, the excess, the fancy clothing-and whenever a parade of nobles or the royals would pass by, she would watch intensely from her window, wishing she was part of it.

She never expected it to be this cold, and lonely.

"It's alright," Charlotte said, smiling for him, trying to change the atmosphere. "You must be starving, Lord Leo, being held up for that long. Shall we eat together?"

The sugar in her voice was forced, he could tell, and there she was again, faking her sweetness. Something about the fakeness of it was always grating, but in this instance, Leo didn't feel so bothered.

She was smiling for him. He could tell that much. He forced on his own smile too and called on the servants to bring more food.

He laughed when food was served, and all Charlotte could do was look at the table set in front of her, trying to figure which piece of cutlery to use.

And so he taught her-furthest silverware first-and he watched as Charlotte tried her best to eat daintily-hard, calloused hands from gripping her axe concealed with a glove, lips usually screaming profanity now quietly trying to sip on soup with finesse.

She was either one extreme or the other, and somehow, Leo found that amusing.

He regained his appetite, much to Charlotte's relief, and soon began eating with her, now discussing the banquet-not a usual topic of interest for him, but at this point, anything but the war was interesting.

He spoke of where people sat and with who, or of the various entertainment that would be on display, such as that one time when he was young and his father had invited an animal tamer, who let him pet a bear.

Those were far better times that what we have now. Now we're more likely to celebrate because someone's head was cut off from their shoulder.

Charlotte's eyes glimmered in excitement at his stories. He could tell that those stories were the worlds of her fantasies, not the cold, lonely reality he was stuck in now.

"And what would I be doing?" Charlotte asked. "I hope nothing too difficult is demanded of me."

"You talk. You smile. We eat and drink. You get introduced and make small chatter," Leo said, trying to not make it sound as boring as he knew it was. "And for the love of the gods, I hope you don't flirt with every male in the room while I'm not looking."

"Oh, whyever would I do such a thing?" Charlotte said, batting an eyelash at him. There it was again-that sweet, sugared voice, made to sound innocent when it was anything but that. "Why reach for others when the second prince of Nohr himself invited me? That would be like choosing a piece of copper over gold. The only way I could go is upwards."

Leo scoffed at the last comment. "If you mean the only person above me, there's no way Xander is ever giving you attention," Leo said, his insecurity against his older brother showing.

"Well, there is one more step above Lord Xander..."

She meant it as a joke-tasteless, but still a joke. Leo didn't take it that way. He reached out to her, grabbing her wrist, squeezing tight to make a point.

"Trust me," he whispered, a low, dark whisper, "You don't want to be Garon's woman. Most of his wives and concubines are dead. Some are in prison. Some he had ordered to be executed. I wouldn't want him to even lay eyes on me if I were you."

After he'd given her a scare, leaving her rattled, Leo let go of her, and brushed off the topic of Garon, as if they didn't discuss it. He continued to mock interest in his food, then asking where in the hell Odin and Niles were. The two had taken too much from the wine cabinet, and were passed out, sleeping like babies.

"Those two, I swear..."

"They talked to me earlier. They told me about your mother."

Leo clucked his tongue irritably. It seemed she wasn't willing to let go the topic of his family, precisely his parents. He decided not to avoid it anymore. "Yes, she's the main reason I invited you to begin with. She's kept hounding me about never showing interest in a woman. I thought I'd just feint interest in a woman to shut her up," he said. He watched her face closely, trying to see if she'd give away a reaction at being his tool to get his mother off of him.

She gave away nothing, and just kept eating.

"Niles and Odin seem to really... well, hate is an understatement of their feelings for her," Charlotte said. "How... How bad is she?"

She's the devil incarnate. "...One time, Niles and Odin tried to restrain her from forcing herself to be at my side, despite my disapproval. Niles grabbed her, which had been his mistake," Leo said. "She exaggerated things and accused him of assault. I had to fight to keep Niles as my retainer. She'd almost taken it to the royal court, but I struck a deal with her and said I'd plead father to invite her again to royal functions if she just stopped. In the end, she just played me and got what she wanted from me-as is usual."

She was a skillful manipulator, Charlotte thought. Then she looked at Leo-every bit the military genius, a tactician able to contort the worst of battle situations to their benefit.

The apple doesn't fall that far off from the tree.

"...Please don't tell Niles," Leo said, a sincere plea. "He doesn't know. He would beat himself up over it if he ever knew."

"...Of course," Charlotte said, nodding with understanding.

For all the instances that Prince Leo of Nohr could be cold as ice... To his retainers, to the people he cared for and trusted, he was surprisingly soft and selfless.

"She used to be a mage, before she had me," Leo said, looking dismal, as if talking of a person that was no longer of this world. "Her estate has an impressive library. I heard she could just spend days in it, reading... She was not much older than you and I when father took a liking to her. Her entire family shot up in wealth and status from King Garon's generosity. They kept pushing and pushing her to gain more and more from him. ...By the time I was born, she'd become a completely different person."

The night had drawn out, and it was past midnight, and the food was long gone and there was nothing but wine now in front of him. He drank a bit more, and when he put down his glass, he looked up at her, his eyes piercing.

"Money, status, fame, and power... they change people. So, Charlotte... why do you still want them?"

"...What are you talking about?" Charlotte said, trying to avoid his gaze.

"Oh, no need to be coy with me, Charlotte," he said, with a grin. "I can put two and two together. Isn't that why you wish to attract men? I also noticed you only go for those with considerable standing and wealth, as well. What am I supposed to think?"

She pouted defiantly and crossed her arms, though she still could not look at him.

"Don't put me in the same lot as everyone else," she said.

"That's what they all say," he said, pouring another glass, his disbelief in her apparent.

"...You were born with a silver spoon in your mouth," she said, now adapting the same tone that he had-one of cynicism, and almost... anger? "You never knew how it was to have nothing to your name at all, or how you'd starve to death if you didn't do anything. Is it selfish to hope for someone to come along and just help me out?"

Her outburst was charged with so much emotion, that it felt like a cold slap, injecting some sobriety back into him. His grip on the wine goblet loosened, his mind making a note to stop drinking.

"...I've said too much," Charlotte said, her tone once again softer. She was always like that-shifting between a loud tempest and then a calm breeze. "I'm sorry... You can think what you want of me... I can't stop that. But I assure you, I have my reasons, and this isn't just for myself."

"Then what is it?"

She only said one word.

"Family."

So... family, huh.

Leo, do it for us. You carry your family's name-don't forget that. Oh, Leo, you're so smart! You make your family proud.

Family was such a heavy burden to bear.

His mother had often whispered that to him, coerced him, influenced him, directed him-for the family. Because I'm your mother, and you're my son. All the woman had to do was give birth to him-nothing more-and it was him stuck with the lifelong duty of being a prince of Nohr.

He hoped that Charlotte's family was nothing like his.

End of Chapter.

Author's Notes: This chapter is way longer than the rest, I hoped readers got through it just fine. I was reluctant to cut parts or divide the rest into another chapter, because I feel these scenes all fit together.

In her Japanese supports with Silas (I haven't checked the English yet), Charlotte says she's often watched nobles when she was younger with envy, and her lifelong fantasy was to be a noblewoman. She gave up that dream to be a soldier, the only stable source of income.

Thank you for the reviews so far! Reviews welcome!