31-He just became popular

The carriage was taking Zelda and Link to the drawbridge at the entrance of the market, right before arriving it made a turn to enter a middle-class residential area. Link appeared to be calm and collected, Zelda was proud of that, she helped A LOT to get him to that state, right now she was only supervising that he was breathing to further calm himself.

LINK POV

And we are here, now which one is his house? I requested Cormac to inform me of Martin's location, but I cannot recall any information from that conversation. Once we got on the carriage, Zelda gave herself the task of helping me regain a calm state, I have to admit she did a decent job, she has been reminding me who I am and what I stand for, she also painted me a picture of reality according to Martin, how he surely feels ashamed and just needs reassurance, not scolding from me… and she is right.
BUT since I am not the perfect example of civility, I figured that if I am not going to hit him, then I am going to embarrass him… my plan is to start yelling for him to come out. Do I care if other civilians listen in on everything? No, I am counting on that. Have I informed the princess about this plan of mine? OF COURSE NOT. She will try to dissuade me… and I really want to force him to come to me, I am doing 90% of the approach, so he can do the final 10% to reach me. Besides, I think he need this more than me.

The carriage comes to a halt, once it does Link does not wait for the driver to open the carriage's door, he opens it himself and climbs down, helping the princes to climb out too. The walk a few steps away from the carriage and starts screaming.

"MARTIN! THIS IS YOUR PRINCE, COME DOWN HERE RIGHT NOW!" Link yells loudly

Zelda opens her eyes in fear, then punches him in his arms and chest with anger. All the houses in the vicinity turn their lights out and start half closing their windows, because the people were kind of afraid but still wanted to hear what was about to happen.

"What are you doing? You will scare him away" she says fuming

"HEAR THAT MARTIN? I AM NOT SCARING YOU, AM I? GET YOURSELF DOWN HERE AND TELL HER"

Zelda was pulling on Link trying to make him retreat to the carriage, when they suddenly they hear a door slam open, Martin comes out of it and he slowly approaches Link, he then grants a reverence at him.

"You called me my prince, so here I am" says Martin looking down, unable to hold Link's gaze

"There you are, you are able to come to me then… so why am I here then? Why do I have to come fetch you?" Link asks a little angry at the audacity of the man in front of him

"I… can't. I am unworthy of your presence, unworthy of the castle" answers Martin pitifully

"ACCORDING TO WHO? All I know is that I requested your presence and you did not show" Link states, not angry yet but he made sure to be loud and assertive.

Martin opens his eyes wide in surprise at what he was told "but my Prince, all I can provide to you is my work, which is obviously faulty, I was to make your jackets resistant to piercing and-"

"AND YOU DID" damn it Martin, don't make me lose my calm when there are civilians listening

"NO, I DID NOT… you still got wounded" Martin yells back hugging himself

Link breaths deeply to regain his calm "It was not a piercing wound, the weapon used on me applied a force equivalent to 10 spears, and it still didn't kill me" Link says wiggling his eyebrows at Martin

"But… I heard you were on your death bed" Martin insists.

Zelda immediately comes forward "That was my fault Martin, Link put his jacket on me before getting mauled by wolfos, your jacket protected me" Zelda says with shame but manages a comforting smile.

Martin stares at both of them in shock, not sure if he believed them, he stares at Link again and notices how he raises an eyebrow daring him to contradict them. And at that moment, Martin realizes that it doesn't matter if he is good at his job, if the suits managed to protect the Prince from harm's way or not, all that matters is that the Prince wants his suits, so he will make them for him. He begins laughing out loud once the realization sets in.

"What do you want me to make for you? my Prince" Martin finally asks

Link releases a breath he did not know he was holding "My green-brown suit is the one that got damaged, can you do another one? it was my favorite"

"He means the OLIVE one" Zelda clarifies

"Bloody hell, you too? Why the obsession with the made-up colors? It should just be the rainbow colors and shades of them" Link claims exasperated

Zelda stares at him in awe, she starts shaking her head and was about to speak but shouts her mouth the moment Link looks at her, she opts to look at the tailor for help, Martin laughs

"You my Prince need to be educated, and I will do it if you don't mind" he proceeds to start walking circling around them while he talks

"Did you know we tailors work by written request? We don't visit people, only the royals and for a price, People contact us via letter, and that way they let us know what they want and their measurements. Reason why I am unpopular, I demand they let me measure them myself, I like having a visual of the body to ensure I am dressing it appropriately. Anyway, the letter must be formal since its job related, by that I mean they don't write it at home like casual delivery, they must print it, the cost of that can be high or low depending on how many letters are used… making olive a better option to describe a color against green-brown don't you think?" Martin ends his explanation with a genuine smile.

That… makes sense [image of Chacha's face mocking him] FUCK

"I understand, I need to learn the colors then" Link says completely defeated

"You are young, it will be easy I assure you, for now let's start with your wardrove: olive, maroon, navy and charcoal, you will figure out which is which"

"But you made six, didn't you?" Zelda asks puzzled

"The remaining two are basic colors, even I know them: brown and black" Link says with a tone of anger but not at the princess, at himself for not knowing about press charges.

ZELDA POV

Oh, dear goddesses, I AM LOVING THIS. I know basking on this doesn't make me a good person, but I am enjoying seeing Link trying hard to repress his anger at failing to know something. And it was Martin who granted me this. I think I am going to like him a lot.

"By the way Martin, I was wondering if you could make something for me" Zelda asks with puppy eyes

"I specialize in men's clothes, sorry my princess" Martin answers emphatically

"Yes, I know that, I just don't have anyone else to ask for this and you have the experience on making what I want… I told you before, Link almost died because I had his jacket on, I don't want that to be an issue in the future, I need a jacket of my own"

"But a jacket will look horrid paired with her dresses, for that reason I suggested her to speak to you, maybe you could come up with something she could use" Link adds and lifts both his eyebrows hoping Martin could help

Martin is staring at them when an idea pops in his head and he smiles "how about a corset?"

"That fits under the breast, I won't even cover her chest area properly" Link says with doubt

"Some of them do, hers will be an over bust corset, since I am NOT an expert on females clothing, the least complicated corset I can make is a laced in front one, the laces make it laborious to put on, but with them she can adjust it to her body angles nicely."

"That sounds good, I should wear it under the dress, right?" Zelda asks thinking she may need to change her whole wardrove for bigger dresses, dresses that can fit her and the corset.

"WHAT, OF COURSE NOT, WHO IS GOING TO MARVEL ABOUT IT THEN? Wear it on top of your dress… I was thinking of making a white and a black one, those colors can be paired with any other color, but I will need you to tell me the colors of your dresses, so I can give you laces that match them" Link smiles proudly at Martin's idea.

"I am not sure I am picturing the…"

"Let me help, imagine you want to wear your purple dress, what color of corset do you want to pair it with?" Link asks her

"White?"

"You grab the white corset, and pick the purple laces to tie it with, can you see it?" Link asks

"I will make the laces long so you can get creative with the tie patterns" Martin adds

OH MY GOSH, I FUCKING SEE IT. IT LOOKS BEAUTIFUL. I could pair it with white or purple shoes and earrings, depend on how I feel that day, I guess. OH MY… the black corset fits the dress too, and kind of looks sexier in an intimidating way, I NEED this.

Zelda covers her mouth with a hand, and looks at Martin teary eyed.

"Please make them for me, it's not your expertise but I know they will be great if you make them, I will pay double" she informs Martin

"No need for that my princess, I don't accept bribes" Martin answers with a smile

"IS NOT A BRIBE! YOU DESERVE IT, HIS FUCKING JACKET SAVED US AND YOU MADE IT!" Zelda yells at Martin exasperated. Martin turns to the Prince for a little help, but Link smiles and mouths ¨you heard the lady¨

And I was the one trying to keep Link from losing his cool, hehehe… ups. Oh well, on my defense HE made me lose it by suggesting I was bribing him.

"I will send you a letter with the color for the laces later today" the Princess smiles at Martin, hopping he understands that she is not angry at him.

"I will be waiting for your letter my princess" Martin bows at her.

"This went better than expected… but we need to head back now Zelda, we just suddenly left the throne room, that was not appropriate behavior now that I think about it" Link says with a sheepish grin

Zelda laughs "And NOW you are thinking about the repercussions of what YOU made me do?" Link stares at her squinting his eyes "what? Its true, someone had to follow you to make sure you will behave, and you are absolutely right, we need to head back. Nice meeting you Martin and thank you."

"Take care" Link says waving a hand at Martin as he turns to board the carriage, Martin waves them off and suddenly gets ambushed by his neighbors.

"Is he going to be ok?" asks Zelda when she notices the wave of people circling her favorite tailor.

"Yes, he just became popular" Link answers with a half-smile.

Link planned this, he yelled to draw EVERYONE'S ATTENTION, so he could praise Martin publicly. And I think I played my part perfectly. Even my outburst at the end played in favor… wow. He completely manipulated me… US. I am sure he even thought of Martin's possible reactions and had a plan on what to do for each one. I want to be angry; I FEEL I should be angry. But I am so fucking happy, Martin gained notoriety and I got what I wanted too.

The ride back on the carriage was uneventful, and in reality, felt like a short ride. As they approached the castle main entrance, Zelda notices Cormac waiting for them.

"The butler is waiting for us; I don't know if that is good or bad" she informs Link who answers negating with his head and raising his shoulders.

Once they finally arrived, Link gets off the carriage and helps Zelda out, Cormac approaches

"Good evening, I must inform both of you, the King and the Queen are not at the throne room anymore" Cormac leans closer to whisper "in fact they are not in the castle at all, both of you can relax"

Link exhales smiling at the princess, Zelda smiles back and rushes inside the castle. Cormac clears his throat to draw Link's attention and hands him a sheet of paper

"it's from the King, meant for your eyes only, I will go find something to do" Cormac bows and walks slowly towards the castle, but is stopped right before entering by Link's laughter

Yes, my King, I will raise a prayer to Farore on your behalf. But you mustn't be afraid, Claire loves you too much, she won't kill you. Me on the other hand…
Revealing that I am to become Zelda's guardian is going to put me on Claire's sadistic path of destruction… Fun times.
*You keep saying that to yourself if it helps you jerk off, but I know the truth
MOTHEF… indulge me please
*Claire is a little hard headed, but she can't deny that Zelda has changed, and that you had a BIG part on her growth. She is a responsible mother that will help her daughter anyway she can, even if that means allowing her out of Hyrule. It will not be fast or willingly but she will fold, I assure you
I REALLY want to believe that, I mean I KNOW she will fold, what I don't know is if Daphnes will achieve it on his own or if I have to speak with her. She is a mother, how can I make her feel safe about relenting Zelda to me?.
*No fucking idea, but don't think about that just yet, we deal with the downfall if and when it happens, right now let's have faith in the King. The letter said tomorrow 9 am. Eat, sleep, bathe, prepare for tomorrow… maybe a drink?

"Cormac, I am going to need… who am I kidding, bring me a whole bottle of booze will you? The brand and year of your preference"