Chapter 2

The Noblemen started down at me. Along with Father. Sheesh, you'd think a group of well mannered nobles wouldn't act so childish. 

Fine. If this is the way they wanted to act, then I'll be taking things from here, thank you very much. 

"Father. Councilmen," I greeted the nobles with the most polite voice I could muster, and bowed as low as I could, which was hard to do in this dress. "What are we dealing with today, good sirs? I'd be happy to help in anyway I can." 

"Food shortages," father coldly regards me with a discreet nod of his head. Good. He knows what I'm doing.  

"Oh. Well, what ever will we do? Can we call in grain or wheat from our allies?" 

"Bah! It's not like Silvera will agree to our terms. King Richardson will never agree. And we don't want to lose an ally before they even decide if they want to be our ally or not!" Sir Dereck argues. Ugh. Sir Dereck Maximus. The Duke. Lord over the province a few hours away from here. He hates that my father got to be the Grand Duke instead of him. Well, good. Because I hate him too. If only I were to be Grand Duke. I would get rid of him the second he tried to speak to me. Alas, that skirt chaser brother of mine will be getting that title before me. 

"Well-" 

"Hold your tongue, girl. I don't even know who allowed you in here. Your father is out of his mind, I tell you!" Sir Dereck snickers, earning a few dark chuckles from around the room. 

What? 

He dare say that about me? So what if I'm a woman? All I want is some form of freedom. Even if it means I must speak out of turn, or heck, destroy this whole game while I'm at it! The real world will teach you a few things! 

Out of the corner of my eye, I swear I saw father giving Dereck the death stare. Heh. Serves him right. For silencing me, and for insulting my father, the Grand Duke, of all people. Something in the look in my fathers eyes is telling something big is about to go down. 

"Take my daughter away from here," my fathers eyes flash between me, Sir Dereck, and the captain of the knights, Keith. 

Keith. My only real friend in this dump. The only one who knows that it's like to be free! Surely he must be willing to side with me! 

"Will do, Sir," Keith responds and leads me out of the room. 

"Keith! I demand to go back in there! Let me go!" I shove away from him. Clearly I was wrong. After all, disobeying my father would get him in so serious trouble. 

"Sorry El. Can't. Direct orders from your father. You know just as well as anyone what happens to people who disobey the Grand Duke. 

"You mean what's about to happen to Dereck. Which is why I demand to go back in!"

"No! El, your father has sent you away for a good reason. If you were to go back him there, you'd beat the man to death. Heh. And that comes from first hand experience," Keith's stern demeanor changes with a cocky smile.  

d*mnit. He's right. 

"Why must you be my best friend," I sigh. 

"Because I'm the only one smart enough to know when you are about to go kill someone."

"Ha! Okay, fine," I joke, "but please, inform me of what happens later. Please. For me?" I flash a puppy dog smile at him. 

"Ugh, fine. Just this once. Only because you're my best friend. Totally not because I can't ever resist that face of yours." I swear I saw him smile again.

"Ha! And that's why I love you, Keith!" I pull him into a hug and hold him tight. 

"Yep. Love you too. Always. Now, please let go of me. I must get back in there before your father sends someone else to come get me." He pulls away and gives me a funny looking smile, before turning to the conference room. 

"Remember! Come find me later!" I yell after him. 

"Will do, your highness!" Keith calls back. 

And with that, he closes the conference room door, and I go my separate way. 

***

"Ugh! I still can't get over the way Sir Dereck was talking to me! I mean, me of all people! Right in front of my father too! Grrr! I made me so mad! I swear the next time I see him I'll rip his throat out, so he can't talk about me like that ever again!" 

For the past five hours I haven't done anything. All I've done was pace around my room waiting for Keith to come back with the news. I wouldn't even eat lunch, much to Josephine's dismay. I told her that I'd eat later. Which was a lie, and we both knew it. 

"El, just calm down, okay? That was five hours ago!" Keith stole my sandwich, and started eating it. 

I give him a concerned look. "You do realize that, that sandwich has been sitting there for five plus hours right?" Not like that's gonna stop him. 

"Yeah, so? It's food. Real food, not that crap they give us at staff mealtime! And five hours does no harm to a good sandwich!" he says between bites. 

"You disgust me, you know." I give him a disgusted look. 

He only laughs at that. "I know you love me, so what's the point of saying that, El?" 

"Whatever. So tel me, what happened after I left?" I roll my eyes at him and sit on my bed. 

Keith puts down his unfinished sandwich. He opens his mouth as if to speak, but shuts it closed. As if theres something he wants to tell me but can't. 

"What? Come on Keith- It's me. Please. Just tell me! I want to know what that jerk, Dereck, had to say afterwards! What did my father do to him?" I practically have to force it put of him. "For the love of Valor, TELL ME, KEITH!" 

"H-he," Keith starts. "Ugh, fine. After you left, Sir Dereck started to throw insults at your father. I-It got messy and..." he tailed off, as if forgetting how to speak. "Look, El. He's probably not going to let you come to this things anymore. I mean, I get how much being Grand Duke means to you, but for now, it's best if you just stay put where you are. Your father's words, not mine." He puts his face in his hands. 

"He what? Wants be to not live up to his title? What, does he thing I'm not good enough for it?" I scoff. "My father's an idiot." 

"El, he's your father, you can't speak ill of him. That's like...a death sentence." Keith lifts his head up and stares at me with concerned eyes. 

"So? He's the Grand Duke. Not the almighty king. I don't think he even has the authority to have someone hanged," I counter. 

"Well, you'd be surprised, mi'lady," Keith says, half joking. 

"Wait-" I began to say. 

Then out of nowhere, there was a scream throughout the mansion. 

*** 

Hey, y'all! 

It's me! Kever! Yup. I'm back! Or at least I had some free time on my winter break. I didn't really have anything going on, so I thought I'd play my favorite tunes *cough cough Black Veil Brides songs* and get to writing. 

Now, I also have some new story ideas. One of which I will be posting on my other account @-DarkKever-, so please go follow if you are interested! I'll be posting a summary of the story soon, so be on the look out! 

The other story is gonna be an original idea, that will be posted here! I'll be posting info on that one too! 

Next chapter is probably going to be another "character information" thing so that way I can get a lot of story stuff with the next chapter done. And since character Info doesn't take much time, I'll probably post it around new years. Or I should make a new years special too? We should have a vote! Say if you want a new years special or a character info in the comments, okay? THANKS!! Also, sorry for any grammar errors of any sorts! I'm trying to develop my writing skills in school, so I hopefully will get better! :)

And with that, heres a question that I know most of y'all aren't gonna answer: "What do y'all think is going to happen next?" 

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEARS EVERYONE!! 

~Kever-San :)