Chapter 34

After Reqiel was all dressed up for lunch, they started out for the main palace; They knew their way there now so there was no need for a servant from the main palace to lead them again.

Sarell grumbled quietly to himself about the fact that Prince Reqiel had to walk places and Reqiel overheard him.

"Please don't bring that up with anyone, I really like walking." Reqiel was quick to cut off that line of thought. The last thing he wanted was to go back to being sealed inside carriages and being carried around by people.

"Fine." Sarell agreed, still unhappy about it. He took the lead when they got to the main palace, he was the one who knew how to get to the dining room after all.

"You're all momentarily relieved from your duties, return to the palace after an hour," Sarell told the servants who had accompanied them, referring to the palace given to Reqiel.

He doubted that lunch would even last for up to half an hour, there was no reason to make them hang around, they deserved a break.

Sarell wasn't required to join Reqiel in the dining room, so he dropped his charge off and waited outside.

Not directly outside, that would be odd because here on Earth, servants didn't wait for outside rooms. There was an empty room beside the dining room, so he sat there, waiting there instead.

Reqiel wasn't nervous, he had to deal with ancient and powerful Angels all his life, nothing else could make him nervous after attending enough High Council meetings.

The doors were held open for him and the guards shut them behind him after he stepped in. Only Prince Cederic and Princess Aethel were seated at the mile-long table, Reqiel was just relieved that he wasn't late.

After exchanging pleasantries, he sat beside Aethel and struck up a conversation. He had no interest in her that way but he needed to keep up appearances. He would be here for a while so it was best he formed a good relationship with her.

He blatantly ignored her brother staring at him with daggers in his eyes, his entire attention on Aethel. She was quite nice, now that he had the chance to personally talk with her.

"How do you get your hair that way?" She asked excitedly after they had been talking for a while, only to trail off.

Men didn't care about looks that way and she worried that she had offended him but Reqiel didn't even notice, immediately rattling off the things that were done to him and his hair, all against his will.

By the time King Holdred and Queen Myla made an appearance, they were already thick as thieves, Aethel laughing at every other thing he said while her brother boiled at them from the other side of the table.

Even he had never been able to get his sister to laugh like that, yet some pretty Prince from a faraway land was effortlessly doing that, mere hours after they met.

"I see you're all getting together wonderfully." Queen Myla noted, sitting at the head of the table beside her husband.

"Mother, Reqiel is really nice, do you think we could go on a walk later this evening?"

King Holdred and Queen Myla shared a look, it had been a while since they had seen Aethel this happy or openly forward.

"Of course, dearest." Queen Myla quickly accepted, earning a betrayed look from Cederic.

He couldn't do anything to stop their walk anymore but he could keep an eye on them and then figure out a plan to separate them, because, 'pretty Prince' over there who literally had his sister eating out of his hand, didn't deserve her.

"Cederic, don't have that sour look on your face, it'll ruin the taste of your food." His mother fussed over him, making him color up when Reqiel glanced in his direction.

"I'm fine, mother," He grumbled, averting his face.

Lunch went smoothly; Reqiel was pleased that he had gotten Aethel on his side, she was the key to everything after all. Her entire family doted on her.

Although they all thought that they were both romantically interested in each other, that didn't matter because it was clear that Aethel simply thought of him as a good friend.

"I'll come by your palace an hour before sundown." Aethel said enthusiastically, walking him to the door so that they could continue their conversation.

"Of course, I'll be counting on you to show me around the inner court." He agreed.

They got along well, Princess Aethel was just happy to have someone be her friend.

The rest of the ladies in the King's Palace avoided her because they were wary of her beauty, she had to be careful of them because they could turn against her. It was better in the end to keep her own company, at least until Prince Reqiel came…

He was just as beautiful as her in his own way, but without that, he didn't even seem to care what she looked like. He also wanted to be just friends, he was almost unreal, like an Angel come to life.

The doors were opened for Reqiel to leave and Aethel immediately turned in the other direction to hurry back to her palace; she had to map out the perfect tour for Prince Reqiel.

As soon as Sarell heard the doors open, he hurried out to check.

"Oh? Sarell, there you are!" He exclaimed, hurrying over to his personal attendant.

"So I made friends with the Princess." He whispered conversationally, snatching up Sarell's hand to hurry him outside.

Sarell just listened quietly to Reqiel, he was learning to respect the Prince more. The Angel knew exactly what he was doing, he was more adapted to surviving on Earth than in the Celestial Realm.

"Plus, If I'm good friends with Aethel, she'll want me to stay here a long time." He explained quietly although they were already a long way from the palace. "She's the most powerful pawn against the Royal family so I have to have her on my side."

"Oh, also, she invited me on a walk with her later in the evening." He added, they were nearing his palace at this point.

Sarell merely nodded, taking notes. He was less worried the longer they spent on Earth and it hadn't even been a day yet, if this kept up all of his gray hairs would be gone; he had no complaints.