Chapter 10: Cheater Detected?
As the Beloveds sat and enjoyed their tea, the top brass of the four nations came into the room and joined them. It seemed their discussion had ended.
Jade naturally gravitated to Ruri’s side. Once he was settled, he brought a perfectly bite-size sweet to Ruri’s mouth.
Celestine glared—hard. Pretending not to see her disdainful gaze, Ruri accepted the feeding custom exclusive to dragonkin mates, partnerial allofeeding.
“Jade, we have dinner after this. Don’t feed her too much,” warned Awain.
Jade continued to gallantly serve Ruri, as if the warning never reached his ears, bringing food to her mouth.
Awain gave up on Jade and turned to Ruri instead. “Tomorrow, we’ll be holding a party to welcome the rulers and Beloveds. As for your outfit for the occasion, we can prepare one for you. What do you say?”
“By that, do you mean the clothes of the women working in the castle?” Ruri asked.
“Those are just the servant uniforms. We will prepare something much more lavish for your party wear. I’m sure they will look splendid on you.”
The women of the Nation of the Spirit King wore kimonos, with the layered cloth tied together in front with an obi sash, so you could say their clothes looked like that of a tennyo—a celestial being with elaborate robes. It was a mix of Japanese and Chinese styles.
The flowing kimono made out of soft material piqued Ruri’s curiosity. “Wow, I’d like to wear one. Will you also be wearing one, Celestine-san?” she asked with hopeful eyes.
“Huh? Me?” Celestine faltered, eyes wide from the unexpected question. “Well, let’s see... What should I do?”
Seeing that Celestine was being indecisive, Jade remarked, “I think it’d look quite pretty on you, Celestine.”
“Then wear it I shall!”
Jade’s words were literally an order from the top. Celestine couldn’t possibly say no after hearing them from Jade’s mouth. And it seemed that Jade had made that comment knowing this would happen, because he smirked in satisfaction.
“This is the first time you’ve ever worn our nation’s clothing, isn’t it, Celestine?” Awain asked. “I’ll have them readied immediately. The others will surely be pleased to see you two Beloveds in our nation’s garb.”
“I’m looking forward to it!” Ruri said enthusiastically.
With that settled, everyone was about to return to their rooms until dinner. But just then, a soldier who’d been standing guard outside came in.
“Excuse me for intruding on your gathering. Lady Spinel of the House of Morga wishes to seek an audience with His Majesty the Dragon King. What should I tell her, sire?” the soldier asked Awain.
Awain looked at Jade and asked, “You two are acquaintances?”
“No. Who is this ‘Spinel’?”
“There is a group of nobles here in the Nation of the Spirit King who lead the other nobles. They’re called the House of Morga, and they have supported the nation since the days of old. Spinel is the daughter of that family. So you don’t know her, Jade? Well, I suppose that makes sense; she’s apparently quite frail and hardly ever attends social gatherings. Even I only have a faint recollection of what she looks like. That being said, why would she want a meeting with you?”
“I don’t know. But I’ll meet her and find out. Mind if I let her in?”
Jade looked to the Emperor, the Beast King, and the Beloveds for permission. Each of them nodded in approval. This girl wanted a meeting so badly that she would interrupt a luncheon for the leaders of the four mightiest nations. Everyone figured that she must have had some adequate reason for doing so, and their curiosity as to what it was got the better of them.
The Spirit King ordered the soldier to let Spinel into the room. Spinel entered shortly after. She was a young girl—slightly younger than Ruri and Celestine—with loose wavy hair that was pulled half up. She was an adorable maiden as soft and sweet as cotton candy, with doe eyes that evoked one’s natural desire to care for and protect her.
Spinel knelt in front of the top brass, crossing her arms in front of her chest and lowering her head. This curtsy was the greatest show of respect in the Nation of the Spirit King, and she performed it with fluid elegance. As the daughter of the head nobles, her conduct was exemplary.
“I am Spinel, daughter of the House of Morgan. Excuse me for intruding on your function.”
“Intruding is right. This may be happening because the other rulers and Beloveds allowed it, but you do realize how rude your actions are, do you not?” Awain chided. He looked at Spinel with his sharp eyes that would make a child burst into tears.
“I am aware. A thousand apologies, sire...” Spinel replied.
Spinel looked less afraid of Awain and more depressed. Seeing her like that was enough to stir even Ruri’s innate desire to care for and protect—something that rarely happened when she saw a fellow girl.
Spinel had tugged at Arman’s heartstrings, and he stepped in to mediate. “C’mon, there’s no harm, is there? You know that old men shouldn’t go scaring kids.”
“Arman, I resent you calling me ‘old.’”
“Oh, come off it,” Arman snapped back. “You’ve lived the longest out of anyone here. In fact, you’re older than my dad, so what the hell do you ‘resent’?”
Adularia nodded emphatically in agreement.
As Awain sat there at a loss for words, Jade tried to get the conversation back on track. “That aside, what business brings you here to see me?” he asked her.
Spinel’s expression brightened like a flower blooming. Then she stared at Jade and blushed.
“What business? That sounds so cold and distant. The reason I am here is obvious, is it not? I am here to see you, Master Jade,” Spinel said with familiarity.
Of course, there would be no way that one could live in the Nation of the Spirit King and not know of the Dragon King, who ruled one of the allied nations. But she seemed to be implying that she didn’t just know Jade, but that their relationship extended further.
Jade, on the other hand, said that he had no idea who she was.
Everyone else started contemplating about this discrepancy.
“You see, I am finally of age,” Spinel explained.
“Okay...” Jade replied. He looked like he wanted to ask what that meant. A stranger, who he’d never met before, coming into their adulthood had nothing to do with him. But he patiently waited for her to explain. However, the next words out of her mouth made Jade and everyone else gape at her.
“You promised that you would marry me once I became of age, did you not? I have finally become an adult, so I can now become your wife, Master Jade. As I waited with bated breath for the day you would come for me, I received word that you were at the royal castle, so I rushed over.”
Not a single person in the room uttered a word.
Ruri shot a displeased glare at Jade. “Jade-sama...”
“W-Wait, that’s not right! I don’t remember making any such promise!” Jade desperately refuted, sensing the contempt coming from Ruri’s eyes.
Spinel interrupted him, driving her point home. “I have waited so long for you, Master Jade. I would call out for you every night as I looked at your portrait. I even have my dress for the wedding all prepared.”
Spinel didn’t look like she was lying. Because of that, eyes of doubt fell upon Jade from all directions.
“Wait! Ruri is my wife. And I’ve never even met you before!” Jade exclaimed.
“Is that true?” questioned Ruri.
“Absolutely!” Jade affirmed, squeezing Ruri’s hand tightly as if to say that he wasn’t going to let her run away from him.
“Then, let’s say, for example...you made her a lighthearted verbal promise while she was still a child, thinking nothing of it?”
“I have no recollection of that!”
Adularia, amused, watched Jade panic until she turned to Spinel and asked, “Did you really make that promise with Jade?”
“Yes, I did,” Spinel answered.
“When did he tell you that?”
“When I was a child. He said that he would come for me when I was of age.”
All eyes fell upon Jade...again.
“Y-You’re wrong!” Jade cried.
Celestine then stood up. “Your name is Spinel, right?”
“Yes. And you are?”
“I am the Beloved of the Nation of the Beast King,” Celestine answered. She hadn’t given her proper name probably because she didn’t plan on letting the girl address her by it in the first place. “Master Jade already has someone, and that is me. I don’t know or care about your little game of house, so give up and scurry on home.”
“No, wait, wait. You’ve got it wrong too!” Arman quickly declared.
Celestine, however, didn’t care. “You will never become Master Jade’s spouse.”
Spinel made a huffy expression. “You have no right to tell me that!” she yelled just before gasping in some sort of realization. She looked at Celestine with pity and said, “Aah... Master Jade must have been playing games with you. I mean, he already had someone, and it was me. I’m sure he couldn’t wait for me to come of age, so he used someone else to fill the gap that I left. I feel so sorry for you.”
“Well, I never!” replied Celestine, shocked.
She wasn’t the only one shocked either. Everyone else aside from Spinel was surprised. No one expected anyone to hurl such language at a Beloved. Not only that, but she’d been so casually rude to Jade as well. Awain reacted the most strongly, though; he went completely pale. After all, it was a subject from his own kingdom saying such things to a Beloved and the ruler of another nation.
“Spinel!” Awain reflexively snapped at the girl.
Spinel looked at him with a vacant stare, completely clueless. “Yes? What is it, sire?”
“What you just said was extremely rude to both the Beloved and Jade. Apologize at once.”
“Huh?”
“Also, Jade already has a spouse that he shared a marriage ceremony with. You cannot be Jade’s spouse.”
“What are you talking about? I am Master Jade’s spouse.”
“Jade...” Awain said, looking at the man in question to hint that he should help the lost girl firmly understand the situation.
Jade took Ruri’s hand and stood in front of Spinel. Spinel gleefully reached out for him, but he embraced Ruri before her hand could reach him. She looked at Jade, then at Ruri, and then back at Jade with a confused expression.
Jade then explained, “I only have one partner for life, and she is standing right here—Ruri. There seems to be somewhat of a misunderstanding, but I have not come to make you my spouse.”
Spinel’s eyes widened. She placed her hands over her mouth and muttered in disbelief, “It can’t be. It can’t be...”
“If you understand, then you should leave. I will be talking with the head of the House of Morga about this matter,” Awain said, using his eyes to signal to the soldiers waiting in the wings.
The soldiers quickly moved and took Spinel outside. Once she’d left the room, the tension immediately disappeared.
“I’m sorry, Jade, Ruri, and you as well, Celestine,” Awain apologized.
“You needn’t worry about me,” Jade assured him, “but I think that sort of attitude is dangerous to take with Celestine, knowing full well that she’s a Beloved.”
“Agreed. That whole ordeal was chilling even for me. You have to forgive me, Celestine,” Awain pleaded.
“No need to apologize, Master Awain. I was more surprised than angry since I’ve never had anyone speak to me in that manner before.”
The other’s present probably shared Celestine’s thoughts.
Awain added, “They likely don’t know much of the world since they don’t participate in social gatherings. I’ll speak to the House of Morga in any case.”
“Yes, please do so,” Celestine replied.
That matter was now settled, but Arman dragged up the other matter.
“Still, Jade, you’re a cad. Never would have guessed you’d mess with that girl,” Arman said with a grin, totally amused by the situation.
“I did not! I have no recollection of anything of the sort!” Jade insisted.
“But it happened when she was a child, didn’t it? You probably just forgot because it went down so long ago, right? Poor little thing. She said she was waiting for you to courageously come and get her. What are you going to do, Ruri?”
Ruri covered her face with her hands. “I can’t believe that you were having an affair, Jade-sama! No, actually, since I came into the picture afterward, have I been the one cheating?!”
“Hold on! That’s not it at all!”
“How could you do something as dishonest as promising to marry someone and forget?!” Ruri exclaimed, her shoulders trembling slightly.
“I told you that isn’t what’s going on here, didn’t I?! You’re the only one for me, Ruri!”
Ruri watched Jade panic through the gaps in her fingers. He was so shaken up that Ruri couldn’t help but laugh.
Hearing her chuckle, Jade frowned in displeasure. “Ruri...”
Ruri gave up and took her hands away to reveal that she was giggling instead of crying.
“Teasing me like that is so mean-spirited,” Jade grumbled.
“But seeing you get so shaken up was so much fun, Jade-sama. So...you really don’t remember making that promise?”
Jade regained his composure, thought about it, and shook his head. “I don’t.”
“Then how did she end up with that idea?” Ruri wondered.
“Because the girl is mistaken. I have no recollection of saying something like that to a child. Do I look like the type to say that?”
“Well, no, to be honest. The Beast King and Lapis, on the other hand?” Ruri said, peeking over at Arman and Lapis.
“Hey, what do you mean by that, Ruri?” Arman questioned.
“You should know very well what she means,” Celestine interjected, shutting Arman down. “It is your daily routine by now, Master Arman.”
“If it were me, I would marry them without that ‘after they become an adult’ stipulation!” Lapis asserted in an oddly boastful manner, but everyone ignored him.
“Since the House of Morga will also be attending tomorrow’s welcome party, I think you should be careful, just in case,” Awain suggested. “We can only hope what just happened was enough to convince her...”
“Spirit King? Where I’m from, that’s what we call a ‘red flag,’” Ruri said with a tinge of anxiety.
Unfortunately, that anxiety would soon become a reality.
No Comments Yet
Post a new comment
Register or Login