Ichigo forced them both to hole up in her bedroom since there was very little risk of having to socialize or being cornered and having to interact with Stuffel that way. And it seemed to work since Conrad immediately appeared to relax once they were there.
"I think we're going to have lunch here," Ichigo said after a few heartbeats. "And because that Stuffel guy is hanging around then it might be the best option available to us since I don't want to wind up across from him at lunch."
"That sounds...good." Conrad said slowly, already recognizing the fact that she was trying to put him at ease and make him feel better about having someone that he thought of as an enemy nearby. "But what about mother, Gwendal, and Wolfram?" He asked, apparently worried about them being exposed to the guy as well.
Ichigo totally understood where he was coming from since she hated bad people being near her family to.
"Well first of all, I think someone should check on Wolfie. Just to be on the safe side and make sure that he hasn't expired on us." She said as she gracelessly flopped down in one of her chairs and propped her cheek up in one of her hands.
He gave her an incredulous look. As if wanting to say, Really?
He evidently had some difficulty believing that she cared if his brother lived or died. Especially since the kid had tried to poison her earlier. She couldn't exactly blame him for that. But that also didn't necessarily mean that she didn't care. She did. She just showed it in strange ways sometimes. Mostly towards those who tried to kill her.
But she just shrugged her shoulders carelessly and explained, "I can't stand seeing grown men cry." The word, Much, went unsaid because he didn't need to know that she sort of thrived on the tears of others. Especially grown men.
It just didn't happen often.
He made an 'Ah' sound as he let relief flit across his face for a moment as she went on to say, "If Gwendal or your mom want to join us here for lunch, then they can. I don't mind. But I also don't want that man-" She almost spat the word, "present if it can be helped."
And she especially didn't want him anywhere near her room since just seeing him once had given her a weird sort of ick feeling that she hadn't liked.
Bloodbaths aren't allowed during lunch. She almost said aloud, already knowing that Conrad wouldn't handle the lord's presence anywhere near her well enough to stop himself from lunging across the table at him and possibly attempting to kill him.
And to be completely honest, Ichigo wasn't very sure that she would even try to stop him give how he had been behaving the past few hours. After all, if the guy's mere presence could make Conrad act so out of sorts- then there was probably a very strong reason for his hatred of him.
Which made her already kind of hate him too for upsetting her friend/shadow.
"I understand," Conrad said already starting to destress a bit now that he knew her idea for avoiding Stuffel. His expression was already softer than before. He looked less cold and aloof to her. "Would you like me to begin making the arrangements?" He asked as he took a step closer to her but then seemed to catch himself and stepped back again.
"If you can find me some paper and a working pen, I'll write out some special invites for them. And we'll both sign them. Sound good?"
His eyes lit up and he gave a very court-like bow her way before he then went to collect what she'd asked for. Upon his return to her room, she directed him to lay everything out on the coffee table nearby instead of her desk. And then the two of them settled themselves side by side on the floor and got to work.
Conrad helped her compose the invites and she wrote them out and then signed them before sliding them carefully over to him and then handed over the pen so that he could sign it too.
Then once that was done, the papers were set aside for a moment as Conrad got up and then went and got several things from her desk. One of those things was a candle, and another was a little container of metal. And the last was something that she'd not seen before- but must have had some purpose.
He sat back down next to her on the floor and then lit the candle and opened the metal container for her to see. The scent of the wax hit her nose before she even knew what she was looking at. Then he picked up one of the papers and carefully folded it and grabbed the last item and held it over the candle for a couple of moments and then dipped it in the wax and used it to seal the folded paper closed.
"Oh! It's a seal." Ichigo muttered more to herself than him. Yet her muttering drew his attention easily given how he found her sort of leaning over into his personal space to study each item.
"You don't have a coat of arms yet. So, I decided to grab the coat of arms that belonged to the Great One." He explained as she tilted her head to look at him, her expression curious. "It's sort of a default coat of arms that's used by our new Kings and Queens until their own can be designed."
"I get a coat of arms?" She asked sounding almost awed by the prospect.
His lips quirked up, though not in amusement for once. It was strange, but he felt an odd sort of warmth settle itself in the vicinity of his chest as he regarded her quietly before replying, "You do. Any ideas about what sort of design you want?"
She looked thoughtful but then visibly wilted as she hung her head and spoke. "I have no clue."
The truth of the matter was that she had no idea where to even begin as far as a coat of arms went. As far as she knew no one on either side of her family even had one.
Conrad blinked at her slumped shoulders and hung head and reacted to seeing her look defeated automatically by reaching out and wrapping both of his arms around her and dragged her into his lap and hugged her. Ichigo squeaked and her head snapped up, her face flushing with embarrassment as she found herself being held in his lap.
"It's alright if you don't know what the design should be for your coat of arms. Even the former Demon Queen had difficulty designing hers. So, she went with something that held a special meaning to her."
Ichigo calmed herself down enough to not be so very flustered by the fact that she was in Conrad's lap and think about something that had a special meaning to her.
There were only so many things that had any special meaning to her since some of them reminded her a great deal of her family and friends back home. As well as her former job as a Soul Reaper. And after a second or so, she figured out what she could use as a coat of arms- well, at least a possible one anyway.
"Oh! I have an idea," She said as she squirmed in Conrad's grasp until he let her go. And then went to look through her bags until she found what she had thought of. The second that she found it; she made a happy sound and grabbed it and then scampered back over to him and held it out for him to see. "This! This!" She said as she held her old combat pass out to him.
Conrad stared at the weird piece of wood with a carved skull in the center of it, baffled. "Your majesty, what is this?" He asked curiously as he reached out to take it from her so that he could study it a bit more closely.
"It's my combat pass. I was given this as a sign that I worked with my friends as a soldier." She explained, though she glossed over the real reason/reasons for the combat pass since if she told him that it had marked her as a substitute Soul Reaper. And any who carried it were basically spied on, had their reiatsu drained, were tracked, and even marked for death...she doubted that she'd be allowed to keep it.
Something flickered in his expression, it was minute, and then he masked it as he continued to study the design of the piece of wood with interest before he felt something odd.
It was almost like a tingle or a vibration that came from the piece of wood and worked its way into his hand. But it was there. And he wasn't imagining things.
Is that...magic that I'm feeling? He wondered suspiciously as he turned the wood over in his hands and checked the back. His Queen's name as well as a few other things were inscribed on the back. Excluding her rank. Which was weird but then he wasn't entirely sure how humans did things in their military.
So, he didn't comment about it and instead asked her, "Majesty, may I keep this and show it to Gwendal and Gunter? I think that they would be interested in seeing something so important to you. Plus, they will need to see the design on it since you wish to use it as a coat of arms."
Technically, none of what he had just said was a lie. However, what he didn't tell her was the fact that there was some sort of spell on the item. And he didn't trust it to stay in her possession since he wasn't really sure what it did just yet.
"Oh, uh...sure," She said, albeit a bit reluctantly before quickly tacking on. "Just please don't lose it."
"I'll be very careful. I promise." He said as he tucked the 'combat pass' into one of his jacket pockets for the time being and then sealed the rest of the invites closed. Then once he finished, he blew out the candle and carefully set everything aside to be put up and stood.
"I will take these to everyone and then return. You will be here when I get back." It wasn't a question. It was something akin to an order and Ichigo knew it. But she let it slide considering how upset, tense, and stressed he'd been earlier.
"I will be here." She promised.
He nodded his head curtly after taking a moment to search her face for any traces of a lie and then he turned and left the room. Before the door even closed, she already knew that he would station guards outside of her door, just to be on the safe side.
She wasn't sure how long he was gone after that. But she made sure to busy herself picking up things a bit. And when she did, she found a few things in her closet that hadn't been there before. At least not to her knowledge anyway. Several of them were dresses in various colors and designs.
There was a backless white and black dress with black fur trim. A lovely scarlet colored one with a heart shaped bodice and black beads sewn on the top. There was a vivid purple one made of velvet with gold trim around the sleeves, collar and top. A sapphire blue one with off the shoulder sleeves. And a buttercup yellow one with white fur trim and off gold colored ribbon.
There were also several silk kimono's that looked as if they were from her world. Each one had several layers, and floral print ranging from butterflies, sakura, or even wisteria, and chrysanthemums.
They were all lovely. Very much so.
But the white and black one seemed to be the one that she favored the most at the moment. So much so that she pulled it out of the closet and hung it up on a hook that she found nearby.
I think I'll be wearing this for the party tonight. She thought when she heard a knock on the bedroom door. Turning her head, she caught sight of Conrad as he poked his head in and scanned the room for her. Upon finding her, he slipped inside and quickly made his way over to her.
It didn't take a genius to tell that the man was nearly vibrating with barely concealed anger as he moved over to her and took up a position just behind her without a word as his mother and two men that she'd never met before stepped into her room.
"Your majesty!" Ceilie called out joyfully once she spotted her. "I got your invitation and thought that I'd bring a couple more people. I hope that you don't mind."
The woman smiled and Ichigo found herself doing her best not to make a scene due to the two strangers that had just stepped into her room without her permission. It was hard though. Her fingers twitched at her sides, and she could hear Julia hissing like an angry snake in the back of her mind.
Ichigo took a second to cast a questioning look over her shoulder at Conrad and saw hell fire blazing in his eyes and decided that it was better not to ask him any questions for the moment and then addressed his mother.
"Hello Miss Ceilie. How has your day been so far?" Ichigo asked the blond woman with a warm smile.
Ceilie seemed totally oblivious to the fact that her son was upset at all as the woman replied, "My day has been fine, dear. What about your own?"
It was on the tip of Ichigo's tongue to tell the woman that her day would be much better if Conrad wasn't about to go off like a ticking time bomb. But at the last moment, she managed to bite the words back and simply said. "My day has been fine. Conrad is good company and has even helped me pick out something nice to wear at the party this evening."
Ceilie had a startled look on her face at hearing her words but seemed pleased as she crossed the room so that she could attach herself to one of Ichigo's arms and then gently maneuvered her over to the two men.
"I hope that you'll forgive me for my lack of decorum, your highness. But these two are guests and it wouldn't do to leave them unattended for the time being. Especially when they have come all this way to meet you. So, I thought it would be nice for them to join us all for lunch." Ceilie said before introducing the two strangers to her.
One of the men, was a gentleman in his fifties? With light brown hair that was liberally laced with silver at his temples. He was introduced to her as Stuffel, the guy that was causing Conrad such distress.
And he was also Ceilie's older brother.
A fact that appeared to have slipped Conrad's mind entirely when he had spoken to her earlier since he hadn't mentioned that the man was his uncle at all. Ichigo wasn't as upset about that as she probably should have been, but she did file the information away in her mind for later.
The second man was introduced to her by Ceilie as 'sweet Raven'.
He was a taller man than Stuffel, and much younger as well since he looked to be in his mid-thirties. He had short black hair that was slicked back with the exception of some bangs that hung down the right side of his face, with dark grey eyes.
Ichigo smiled politely to the two and introduced herself to them and then once she was done, Stuffel exclaimed, "My goodness you are young!"
"Much younger than we expected you to be." Raven added as he looked at Ichigo with an appraising look on his face.
Ichigo felt like smacking them both right then and there. And she might have actually done so- if Ceilie hadn't have caught her arm in her hand when she started to raise it.
"But so very lovely," Ceilie chimed in as she gently patted Ichigo's arm as she asked, "Don't you agree, brother?"
"Uh, oh, yes. Very." Stuffel agreed awkwardly as he stared at Ichigo.
"Do come in and make yourselves comfortable." Ichigo said politely as she gently extracted herself from Ceilie's grasp and then walked back over to Conrad who had been oddly silent the entire time and took hold of his arm and excused the two of them for a moment and then herded the man across the room so that she could finally check on his mental state.
The second that they were out of earshot, she released him and then moved to stand in front of him and gently rested her hands on both of his biceps and looked him in the eye and asked, "Conrad, are you good?"
He looked confused for a second, given the brief flicker of expression that crossed his face before he masked it. "I am... not. I do not like that he is near you." He finally said, his voice trembling with barely disguised rage.
He was barely managing to hold himself back, and she recognized that fact.
She nodded her head in understanding and tried to think of something that would make having lunch with the man easier on them both. But wasn't sure what to do aside from running away. And after several seconds of wracking her brain she asked him, "Would you like to leave? Maybe have someone else take over guarding me for now? Just until Stuffel's gone."
Conrad's rejection of the idea was instant in the way that he practically shouted. "No!" So loudly that everyone in the room heard him.
Ichigo couldn't help the smile that crossed her face at his rejection. Especially since she felt really uncomfortable here.
"Okay, okay. Calm down," She said as she rubbed both of his arms in what she hoped was a soothing manner as she held his eyes. They were wide, panicked even. "I only asked, because you're barely managing to hold on to your temper and I don't want your uncle being killed in my room. And certainly not in front of your mother."
Conrad broke eye contact with her to look down, shamed.
Ichigo was quiet for a second, still trying to figure out a way to make things easier for him when an idea came to her. True, it wasn't exactly the best idea. Or the most conventional one either. But maybe, just maybe it would work. She just hoped that Conrad didn't think she was super weird or disgusting for even suggesting it.
"I have an idea that might help here. And I want to explain it to you before you say yes or no, okay." She started as she watched him lift his head so that he was looking at her again. "Have you ever been domed?"
His eyes widened a bit, and she quickly assured him that this was just to help him divert his stress and hostility towards something else. Which he seemed to understand.
"I've been domed before and know how it works." He finally said, though he seemed reluctant to say so.
She sighed. "Okay, what's going to happen is I will let you dom me-" This had his jaw falling open a bit as he stared at her in shock and disbelief. "This will give you control over me that I usually wouldn't give anyone. Ever. Because of this, you will be in control of me every minute that Stuffel is here. If you give me an order, I will follow it to the letter. For example, if you ordered me to strip and dance around the room naked, I would. Though I'm hoping that things don't quite that far." She rubbed the nape of her neck and looked away from him feeling awkward and just a bit...shy. "I know that there is usually a sexual component to doming someone. But I...uh, wouldn't really know how to react to that. So please try to steer clear of that pitfall. Also, if I say no to something, please respect that since I'm probably really uncomfortable. And once Stuffel is gone, things will go back to normal. Is that okay with you?"
Conrad looked almost as if he couldn't fathom what she had just said to him.
She wanted him to dom her? Really?
While it was true that he had been domed before. He had never cared for the kind of control that came from being doming. Allowing someone to have such control over him, even for a short time was like putting a knife to his own throat and trying not to slit it.
It was difficult. Especially when you were following someone else's orders.
So, he didn't know what his Queen was thinking.
Well okay, that was lie. He did know what she was thinking.
She was trying to help him feel better again. She'd been doing it all day so far just to keep him from snapping and losing his temper completely. He couldn't exactly say that this was a bad move for her to make since the last time he lost his temper he had nearly killed several men training under him.
It was just that...she was now going to much more extreme lengths just to do it because Stuffel was so very close to them both.
He had always been a man who appreciated thoughtfulness in others. But this was ridiculous. He didn't want to dom his queen. He wanted her to be herself! And not to exert any control over her.
But at the same time, he understood that she was worried about him and his frame of mind. But that didn't mean that she had to go to such lengths to try and help him.
Finally, after thinking for so long about what to do, he reached out and wrapped his arms around her and brought her tightly against his body as he hugged her.
He felt, strangely relieved that she was looking out for him. But he also simultaneously felt furious at Stuffel for making him act so out of character that his Queen was willing to make such a sacrifice for him.
All for his wellbeing and mental state's sake.
"Thank you, for trusting me so much." He said softly close to her ear before slowly releasing her and adding. "But doming you isn't necessary. I'll be fine as long as you remain unharmed."
She looked doubtful. Which was understandable, given her concerns for his mental wellbeing at the moment. So, Conrad didn't take any offense. If anything, he was very deeply touched by her efforts. Strange and extreme as some of them may have been thus far.
Finally, she sighed. "Alright, as long as you can function without feeling the need to lash out or shed blood then I'll leave you be for the time being."
"Thank you." He said again, a small, but genuine smile gracing his lips as he quickly shifted gears so that he could focus on the task ahead. Protecting his Queen from the viper in the castle.