Author's Note: Episode seven of the new season is out today on the website where I watch anime. I hope everyone else is enjoying them as much as I am. Anyway, I present to you my next installment. Enjoy the drama...
Chapter 4.
Saito held the chair out for Louise and Henrietta and then took his seat at the small table in Henrietta's apartments inside the palace. A nice soup was served to the three of them and then Henrietta promptly dismissed the guards and the servants.
"Do you have a new mission for us Majesty?" Louise said uneasily. Saito could understand her uneasiness, they hadn't had a mission since coming back from Gallia after rescuing Tabitha. Truth be told, everything had been quiet around the palace until today.
"No, there's no mission, I just wanted to be able to have a meal with the two of you and to speak to you." Henrietta said with a deep melancholy in her voice. "Please, Louise. Just call me Henrietta when we're alone like this. You too Saito."
"If... if that is your wish." Louise said looking more uncomfortable by the moment. She was also making sidelong glances at him for some reason. Saito tried to figure out what she was thinking but she was unreadable. "So how have things been with you about the palace recently? All is well?"
"It's the usual." Henrietta said putting down her spoon. Saito noticed her eyes hadn't left her bowl and her hands were shaking uncontrollably. "They want me to get married soon and provide an heir to the throne."
"I see." Louise said cryptically. She was now staring at her own bowl. "And have you..."
"I've been considering the question you asked me a few weeks ago." Henrietta interrupted. "I'm sorry Louise, the answer is 'no'. I don't think I could accept anyone else."
At this point Henrietta had begun to cry, her tears falling into her lap. Not since the death of Wales had Saito seen her so upset. "I realize it hurts you, and whatever consequences you might wish I will accept. I'm sorry Louise. I am so sorry."
"Louise... what is going on?" Saito asked in dismay. He had no idea what these two were talking about, but seeing Henrietta in tears was upsetting to him and Louise looked like she was ready to follow suit.
"Saito." Henrietta said quietly. "Will you marry me?"
The impact of those words slowly filtered through Saito's sluggish mind. A queen was asking him to marry her. The power and wealth being laid before him was beyond reckoning. Then looking past that at Henrietta as a person the promise of a lifetime in the arms of such a kind and beautiful woman was priceless beyond measure. Saito sat there stunned out of his mind. He supposed it was only instinct or perhaps his heart that guided him in that moment.
"Never. I'm sorry, but I love Louise, now and forever and I will never leave her." The young noble said standing and readying himself to go. He reached for Louise's arm to pull her along as he left but something kept the small girl rooted to the spot. "Come on Louise, we need to go."
"Then I have no choice. If it means my honor so be it. Louise please lend me your future husband's strength." Henrietta said sobbing into her napkin. "Jus Primae Noctis."
"Sai-to... YOU IDIOT!" Louise screamed hitting him in the crotch... hard.
As Saito tasted carpet, his addled thinking tried to wrap itself around what was happening. He failed miserably. He had no idea what was going on, why, or where to turn. All he could do was lay there, in pain, wondering what to do now.
Louise stood and with tears in her eyes knelt in front of Henrietta. "Do not worry Your Majesty. I will not fail you. I will speak to him about this tonight. You can expect a favorable decision tomorrow."
At this Henrietta began to weep even more bitterly as Louise jerked Saito up and strode purposefully out of the room. Saito didn't manage to get a word in as he was dragged out of the palace through mysteriously empty halls and thrown bodily back into the carriage. He thought his ordeal was over until Louise ordered the carriage to return to the academy and then promptly snatched the driver's whip out of his hands before diving into the carriage on top of him thrashing him soundly.
"YOU STUPID, STUPID, STUPID DOG! THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT! WHY! WHY DID I HAVE TO SUMMON SUCH A WORTHLESS, HORRIBLE BEAST OF A FAMILIAR!" The young woman screamed beating him senseless. Saito couldn't really remember much after that. All he remembered was being beaten while Louise screamed at him. He slipped in and out of consciousness until finally he came too being dragged to his room between Guiche and Malicorne who were exchanging worried looks looking from him to Louise who was still fuming.
"What did he do for you to beat him so hard?" He heard Siesta yelling next as Guiche and Malicorne deposited him in the bed and then quickly left; wisely wanting to stay out of the middle of his chaotic love life.
Soft hands daubed his wounds with cool water. "Stay away from him Siesta."
"Please Louise, you accepted me as..."
"He's no longer ours." Louise said darkly. Saito was afraid the beatings were about to begin again, but he opened his eyes to see Louise sitting at their table with red puffy eyes and Siesta looking at her in dismay.
"What... what happened?" Saito said weakly as he struggled to sit up.
"You're engaged." Louise replied simply.
"To who?" The young boy said in shock. "I told Henrietta..."
Siesta sucked in a breath, and looked at Saito heartbroken.
"You told our queen something stupid that will never be spoken of again." Louise said hotly.
"Louise. I don't understand. I thought you would be happy that..." Saito pleaded.
"I AM!" Louise screamed irrationally. "But that just makes it hurt that much more."
"Please tell me what happened." The young maid asked her mistress.
"A few weeks ago, I caught Saito kissing the queen at the ball." Louise started.
"I know, I seem to remember we were trying to get to the bottom of that with that magic spyglass we got from Tiffania." Siesta said nodding.
"I talked to Hen... I spoke to the queen about it before we left for Gallia. I basically asked her what her intentions were toward Saito. She told me that she really envied having someone there to rely on that could protect her and be there for her and that it was in a moment of weakness that she kissed Saito while disguised as me and then tried to kiss him again after the illusions were dropped. I asked her then if any other man would do for her, and she said she didn't know. Then I told her that Saito was mine and I threatened her." Louise explained.
"You threatened Henrietta over me?" Saito yelled sitting upright in the bed, only to encounter Siesta's hand on his face which slammed him back down.
"How could you ever threaten the queen?" Siesta pressed.
"I threatened her with the only thing I have that would mean anything to her; my friendship. I told her that if she laid her hand on Saito she would have to face the consequences. And now she's decided to face them." Louise continued.
"What consequences? I'm getting lost here!" Saito complained sitting up again. This time Siesta pushed him down harder and sat down on his chest and not in a cute way either.
Louise sighed and seemed to grow depressed. "The queen is being forced to marry and produce an heir. The people want stability, and the only way they can get that is if there a sense of continuity to our nation. Without an heir civil war will break out eventually and after all the fighting we've had this year it would spell disaster for Tristain. She's decided that she loves you Saito. No other man will do for her. She loves you enough to... to sacrifice her friendship to me. When you turned down her proposal of marriage, and declared your undying love for me, it meant she had no choice but to claim Jus Primae Noctis. She wants you to father her children, even if it costs her everything; including her reputation."
Siesta was nearly in tears. "So you're giving up your claim on Saito?"
Louise nodded. Saito had just about heard enough. "So nobody cares what I think about all of this? Nobody cares about my feelings?"
Saito sat up in the bed and stood up picking up Siesta as he went. He stood there with the shocked girl in his arms, before tossing her down on the bed. "This morning, you were ready to kill me for getting kissed by Siesta, then you were fine with me having her, and now you're giving up on a relationship with me? What IS this?"
"Saito, you can still be with Siesta. I know Henrietta. She won't make you send her away, especially under the circumstances. It's different in our case." Louise whined as for the first time she seemed to cower before his rage.
"HOW? How is it different? Is it because she's only a commoner? You're alright with her being a part of our relationship as long as she's beneath you, but the second someone above you gets in the way it suddenly changes?" Saito roared. "Why is it always about station with you people? You'll gladly go off to die because someone above you asks you to but you'll treat someone you consider beneath you like dirt. I can't take this anymore!"
"It's because I can't compete with her!" Louise yelled back with tears in her eyes.
"Compete?" He asked incredulously.
"Yes, compete. It's not just about station or doing it for my people, though that's important too. I know I'm hard to get along with Saito. The queen is everything I'm not; she's beautiful, elegant, graceful, kind, and loving. How could anyone possibly love me over that. It was hard enough trying to look myself in the mirror when I knew I didn't measure up to Siesta, but at least I had my upbringing and my nobility. Against Henrietta I've lost. I see in her all the qualities I've ever aspired to, but failed to emulate. If you had half a brain then of course you'd love her more you stupid dog!" Louise cried out in pain.
"I don't CARE how wonderful she is. I don't love her. Not like I love you! Louise, I care for Siesta, Henrietta, all my friends, but I care for you the most. I don't want to fall in love with anyone else." Saito begged.
Saito sat down at the table and began banging his head against it in frustration. The two women in his life, or rather two of the women in his life grabbed him by the shoulders to stop him forcefully. Tears were in his eyes, as he looked into Louise's face as she sat in his lap, while Siesta had her arms wrapped around his shoulders from behind. "Saito, please. I know you don't care about station, nobility, or even this country in particular, but I do know you care about Henrietta. Please, it has to be this way. If you love me, if you've ever loved me, promise me you'll marry Henrietta. She's probably going to be here tomorrow. She's going to be grief stricken and ask us to forget everything that was said. She doesn't want to have to do this either, but she feels that she must for the sake of the kingdom. We can't let her give in. When she arrives, please ask her to marry you. Promise me... please?"
"I can't live without you Louise." Saito said weeping. "I don't know if I can promise that to you."
"I know my love." Louise said gently. "Regardless of whether or not someone is a noble or a commoner, life is still seldom fair. I'll see you in the morning."
"Where are you going?" The young warrior asked.
"I'm going to go stay in Siesta's room tonight. We need to talk." Louise said pulling a distraught Siesta after her. "We'll talk about this more later."
The door closed behind the two and Saito sat down on the edge of the bed trying to think. He wished now he'd never agreed to be a knight. He wished now he'd never kissed Henrietta, or agreed to be her bodyguard. He wished he'd been able to save Wales. It felt like everything that was happening now was the culmination of all of his failures.
"Too bad partner, I figured you were getting lucky tonight for sure." His sword replied from the corner. "You still haven't managed to make Louise yours."
"And it's beginning to look like I never will. Every time. Every bloody time we start to get closer something else comes in to drag us apart." Saito griped. "We finally had things resolved with Siesta and we were moving forward, only now I have to deal with Henrietta. Who's next, Tifa?"
"I was thinking Tabitha in all likelihood, but who knows, Tiffania might slip in there next." The intelligent blade of legend replied candidly.
"You aren't helping me out here you know."
A/N: I had to laugh when I saw the scene in the new season with them eating together with Henrietta in her private rooms.