“If you would let me speak, Your Majesties…” Aleksei stepped forward to make his voice known. After getting a small nod from King Alf, Aleksei continued. “I assure you Queen Ivithia, the lead diplomat for the previous envoy was only acting on his own misunderstanding of the royal family of Taicirus Kingdom’s wishes. Upon their return, they were promptly fired.” Literally. “Prince Aleksei’s magic teacher enacted the punishment personally in a public display for the whole capital city to see. Although the one who caused the incident in question was allowed to return to the castle to work as an assistant, he was stripped of all his titles, and was only allowed to stay so that his body covered in burn scars could be used as a visual reminder to never act based on assumptions or offend our allies’ royal families.”
Aleksei carefully observed the reactions of the different members of the Frotleikr family. The punishment his father had declared and enacted on the person who had offended the Frotleikr Family had happened while the majority of those currently present were either learning to walk or had just started their basic education. Yet, it was evident that the insult still was occasionally felt by their allied royal family, as such Aleksei was curious of what their opinions would be about the selected punishment.
Personally, Aleksei thought the act of burning a man alive, and then keeping him around to humiliate him as an example of what not to do, was cruel and a bit barbaric. Yet Aleksei also had asked his father directly about it a few years ago, so he had heard the king’s true thought process behind the chosen punishment and had learned what had happened behind the scenes, so Aleksei understood why it had to be the way it turned out. He was curious, though, what type of viewpoint his future in-laws, and bride, had towards the severe punishment choice.
Although the princess was the one who Aleksei was most curious about, when he glance at her first, he noticed that she had turned away at some point and appeared to be actively avoiding looking at the envoy for some reason, so Aleksei couldn’t read what her initial reaction was to his reveal. Moving his focus on to the king and queen so that he could continue his brief assessments, he noticed that King Alf didn’t look surprised at all, and actually seemed to have a similar look in his eyes that Aleksei’s father had when Aleksei had initially inquired about the punishment.
Aleksei then realized that his father had probably consulted with the offended party before making his final decision on the punishment; meaning King Alf had probably heard some of his father’s reasoning and, based on his familiar expression, possibly shared similar views to King Martinus. If it was true, then Aleksei could see why he had heard so many of the citizens of Ástland he had met during the trip here had complimented their ruling family.
The next person in line for Aleksei to observe was Queen Ivithia but, just like her daughter, he was having a hard time getting a read on her suddenly. It seemed like as soon as her husband had taken a hold of her hand, she had calmed down completely and had a deadpan expression that was similar to the neutral face she had when the visitors had first entered the throne room.
Since she also wasn’t trying to open her mouth to say anything, Aleksei hoped it meant that him speaking up, with a reassuring tone, to mention the brutality of what happened last time a Tircirusian envoy had offended her had at least painted the current envoy in a better light.
The last Ástland royal present was the only one who didn’t seem to have a somber atmosphere to him. In fact, contrary to his sister’s disinterest, Aleksei’s future brother-in-law seemed to be intrigued by the mention of Aleksei’s mentor and the burn scars, since that seemed to be when the prince had sat up a bit more and seemed to tune back into the conversation. It seemed like the male heir of the Ástland Kingdom was the type to be deeply interested in battles, different styles of offensive magic, and probably also outsiders’ war tactics.
The curious blue haired prince looked like he wanted to ask for more details about the fate of the ex-diplomat, but seemed to be unsure if he would be allowed to inquire further at that moment. As he seemed to debate with himself and weigh the options, he ended up running out of time to ask, and the choice was made for him.
King Alf was the one who broke what had been only a very brief silence, even though it had felt longer to Aleksei since he had been doing his best to carefully glean information about the personalities of the neighboring kingdom’s royal family from solely their body language.
“See Ivithia? King Martinus made sure no more of his subjects would even dare to offend you Darling. It’s already been so many years since then, and this group is already way more respectful than the previous envoys.” The king turned back to address the young adults that he seemed to have high hopes for. “We appreciate that you are willing to give us a bit more time with our child. I’m sure my wife really was worried you would be leaving again with our child as soon as you arrived. Instead of having you rent out rooms at various taverns, we will prepare rooms for everyone here. This way our child can also have time to warm up to the four of you in a familiar environment before leaving, instead of having to get to know so many strangers all at once.”
Having seemed to have made his final decision, King Alf waved over Aelius to have him start making the arrangement needed. The stout advisor bowed then quickly hurried off to see to it that living quarters were prepared.
Ciar took the lead again as he stepped forward and bowed slightly. “We are very appreciative of Your Majesty’s thoughtful accommodations. It would be an honor to stay in the castle, and we apologize for our offense to Queen Ivithia.”
The queen sighed and in turn raised the hand that wasn’t being held by her husband apologetically. “It is alright. Alf’s decision is the right one. I apologize for momentarily almost taking an old grudge out on you folks; the four of you were probably barely old enough to remember the incident, so it is only right that I admit my mistake of making the snide remark that I did. I’m not upset with any of the people currently present, and it would give me a sense of relief to see firsthand how well you interact with my precious child before I have to say goodbye.” Aleksei saw the queen’s face soften as she mentioned having to say goodbye. “Feel free to stay for as long as you want before you leave to make the trip back.”
“Thank you, Your Majesty.” Ciar gratefully accepted the offer without any more of the back and forth dancing of words.
The prince of the Ástland Kingdom seemed to be getting antsy now that the talks between the two kingdoms were winding down, as he ended up forcing his way into the conversation from where he sat next to his mother. “Now that it's settled that the Taicirusian envoy will be staying longer, can we leave to partake in the banquet yet?”
The king chuckled at the prince’s inquiry, while his mother chose to slightly glare at him for the sudden interruption instead.
Aleksei noted that King Alf had a lighthearted tone as he responded to his son. “Since you are so eager to eat, both you and your twin can bring our guests to the Great Hall where they can meet up with the rest of their group.” He then addressed said guests. “I’m sure Aelius informed you when you arrived, but we had the servants start preparing a banquet when the news of your impending arrival was announced. We can further speak upon any important matters once my wife and I catch up to you, but for now you may now go reconvene with the rest of your party.”
The two heads of the Frotleikr family stood up from their thrones first and left the room via a door in the back; leaving behind their twin heirs. The brother and sister pair seemed to have completely opposing personalities considering that while his sister was still carefully standing up from her seat, the male heir had already bounded forward towards the small group of visitors to officially introduce himself.
He seemed to be the most curious about the knight who would be guarding his sister, since he immediately locked his focus onto Aleksei and jutted out his hand for a handshake. “Now that the stringent formal portion is finished, let me introduce myself and my quiet twin back behind me.” The Frotleikr prince’s face broke up in a large grin. “Freyr and Freyja Tvígandr Frotleikr, at your discretion. Since our names are just a syllable off from each other, when the both of us are present, feel free to refer to me by our middle name and the blushing bride by first name.” By the time Prince “Tvígandr” got to the “blushing bride” part his sister had caught up to him. Aleksei thought he saw her jab her brother’s back, but he couldn’t be sure since the movement was so subtle and was mostly hidden by the other prince’s muscular frame.
Aleksei hesitantly took the other prince’s hand and shook it, unsure how to feel about the sudden familiarity when he was supposed to be undercover as someone in a lower position than the other young man. “Sir Magne Drótt, at Your Royal Highnesses service.”
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