DAY 48-1: DEAL

"This is delicious!” Leda blurts, munching on the juicy steak she’s pushed into her mouth. She turns to Ronan at once. “I’ve never had anything like it. What’s it called?”

Ronan on the opposite end of the large table they’re seated at hasn’t removed the sour scowl he’s worn since he led them into this grand palace last night. Shrugging his silence aside, Leda cranes her attention towards Orian who’s frankly too afraid to eat, especially with Ronan’s animosity oozing into the very air they’re inhaling.

His plate is covered with various sliced up fruit and leaves. Leda squints at his healthy request then down to her plate of protein. “Are you sure you don’t want any meat?” she muffles between bites.

Orian raises his hands and waves it vigorously. “I-I am fine.” He drops his attention to his plate. “I do not eat meat.”

“You don’t?” The gnawed meat almost spills from her mouth, but she quickly shuts it to chew some more. “Is that even possible? Aren’t you half-wolf?”

“Are all humans that dense?”

Ronan’s interjection swerves her focus towards him.

“That’s precisely why he’s unable to consume meat,” he continues, chin jutted high. “Everyone is aware that Monds are hybrids of all the creatures around Annadia. You asking him to eat meat is synonymous to you telling him to eat his fellow brethren.”

The way he says it so snootily fills Leda with discontent. Nonetheless, his explanation causes her to suck in a tentative breath.

“Oh, guess that makes sense.” She glides her plate out of sight and bobs her head at Orian. “Sorry for being insensitive.”

“N-no! You do not need to apologize, Master.” His head tilts over from guilt. “I’m the one who should have explained things ahead of time.”

She gestures for him to drop it. “A wolf vegetarian, huh?” she muses. “That’s pretty neat.”

Although she knows for a fact Orian isn’t one hundred percent sure of what she’s implied, she assumes calling him ‘neat’ is enough because within seconds, his ears perk, and he’s giddily beaming from ear to ear.

Leda can’t help but crack a similar expression as well.

“Human,” Ronan calls.

“I told you it’s Leda,” she replies.

“Human,” he reiterates without a care. “Last night you told you me you came here to Depree to see me.”

Well, really, any member of the royal family would’ve worked. Knowing confessing to that would only incur his anger, however, Leda merely nods.

“You then told me you would expand as to why if I’ve fed you, clothed you, allowed you a proper way to cleanse yourselves and bestowed upon you a good night’s rest.” He beckons to the refined garments he’s provided them. “And yet you still haven’t given me answers. I would like to remind you that I have only succumbed to your requests due to the kindness of my heart. This all does not mean I have permitted your stay in Depree either—”

“Then,” Leda says, ignoring the wordless knights posted by the exit, “I don’t think I should tell you.”

Ronan, as well as the men in armour, teeter from disbelief.

“H-how absurd!” Ronan shouts, slamming his palms onto the table as he lurches to his feet. “Do you realize who exactly you are speaking to?”

“I can say the same to you,” Leda responds, dabbing her face with a napkin before rising as well. She takes strides towards Ronan. Upon entering his vicinity, he retreats. She presses closer anyway. “I feel guilty for eating and requesting those things from you, knowing how scarce these rations are, but to be able to be of help to you Spades, I understand I can’t go and starve myself. I can’t do anything for them if I neglect my own health. And you should know that, too.”

Ronan dons a flustered scowl as he adjusts his outfit to shield his thin arms and neck.

So she’s right...

She gazes into his eyes. “Now tell me the truth. Where’s the king and queen, and the rest of your princely brothers?”

“I am not obligated to answer that.”

“Hmm,” she drawls. “Then, what’s the situation right now in Edaps? And that bizarre illness? Have you actually found a cure for it?”

Ronan gawks, evidently unaccustomed to people speaking out to him so nonchalantly. Even the knights are trying to remain level-headed from where they are. Then there’s Orian who’s sprouting invisible stars from his head.

“S-so amazing!” He’s brimming with awe. “Master Leda is so bold...!”

She has to withhold the urge to ‘aww.’ He’s like her very own fanboy.

Ronan, not wanting to succumb further, tapers his eyelids. He leans towards her with renewed conviction, wisps of his blue hair falling after him. From their close distance she catches a glimpse of his collarbone and the spots peppering it and his chest. It takes all she has to swallow but her extremities are already caressing the markings before she can come to terms with her actions.

Simultaneous gasps explode from the knights, and Orian leans over the edge of his seat, agape.

Ronan himself has stiffened like a board at the contact, too appalled to even move. “Y-you are touching m-me—”

“So you have it, too,” she murmurs, lips caving inwards. Removing her touch, she cups his cheek. It’s warm, like anyone else’s, and smooth as porcelain. Frowning, she tilts her head so she’s holding his gaze. “Say, can you really not answer my questions?”

As if she’s pulled some kind of trigger, red shoots across Ronan’s pale cheeks until he’s a ripe tomato. Roughly jerking her palm off of him, he fumbles backwards, almost tripping over his feet until he’s at the furthest corner of the room, grasping at his clothing above his chest in disbelief.

“D-do you humans not have a single shred of decency?” he stammers profusely. “I-I am royalty!”

Her mouth parts. “And you’re telling me I made royalty blush?”

“I-I am not b-blushing!” Ronan snaps. “I am colouring in the face by my own free will! Th-this is being done on purpose, you dense human!”

The more he stutters, the more embarrassed he becomes. He’s unlike the steel-hearted male she’d initially encountered.

A tiny laugh pushes past her lips.

“Aww, you’re pretty cute, Ronan.” Leda smiles from ear to ear. “I’m sorry. I’ve totally mistaken you.”

If it’s even possible, Ronan grows redder, and this time he’s tongue-tied on a whole new level.

“I’ve never seen the third prince get so red!”

The knights are in disarray at the doorway.

“What kind of spell is she casting?”

“Humans are scary!”

“Yeah, yeah. We’re evil.” Leda sets her hand at her hip. “Ronan, how about we settle this?”

It seems her offer is enough to wake him from his trance. He prims his mouth as he drops his arms by his sides.

“It is Ronan III.”

Her eyelashes flutter. “Huh?”

“My title is Ronan III.” The colour in his cheeks begin to fade. “If you address me as ‘Ronan’ it is almost as if you are calling for my elder brother.”

Leda can’t help the surge of confusion that overwhelms her. “Your older brother is also named Ronan?”

“Brothers," he corrects. “We are a total of three princes. Ronan, Ronan II, and I, Ronan III.”

She has to turn to Orian. “He’s shitting me, right?”

Ronan’s brows have scrunched together. “‘Shitting?’” he inquires. “Is that supposed to be an edible delicacy in Htrae?”

Her lips clamp together. Thankfully Orian breaks the news to him, translating her curse word into something more Annadia-n. Needless to say, Ronan once again flushes like a beet.

He coughs to clear his throat. “For your information ‘Ronan’ is an honourable title that has been passed down for generations within the Oeh family. All sons and predecessors have received this name—”

“Ro.”

He cocks a brow. “I beg your pardon?”

“Ro,” she replies. “I’ll call you Ro.”

He’s been stunned into silence.

“It’ll be confusing if I have to address the rest of your brothers the same way. Plus, ‘Ronan III’ is such a mouthful.” His jaw plummets as she flashes him a smirk. “So from this moment onward I’m calling you ‘Ro.’”

Stillness once again sweeps over the hall.

“Is she serious?” a knight hisses.

“Addressing a prince by such a frivolous title...”

“A human’s audacity is so...!”

A rain of chuckles originate from Orian and a gawping Ro makes Leda laugh all the same.

“Ro,” she tries again. “Let’s drop all pretences. If you honestly tell me about the situation in Edaps, I’ll stop asking questions. I’ll leave this capital. You can even arrest me for knowing too much if that poses a problem.”

Ro perks quite a bit, but his caution hasn’t dropped. “What is it you stand to gain from that kind of deal?”

“Do I need to gain anything in order for it to be considered a deal? If so, then I guess the satisfaction of getting to know you more intimately is sufficient.”

Ro recoils against the wall once more. Leda imagines steam pouring out of his ears similarly to smoke from a train’s chimney. A smirk curves her lips high from amusement.

“So? Do we have a deal?”