Who Threw the Egg?
Prince Vincent's eyes opened up so big they could pop out of their sockets. The egg shell broke and some caught in his hair and some fell on his shirt, stuck on his shoulders. The runny yolk was mostly in his hair and some even lodged on his right ear ring. The egg white caused his smooth hair to be matted like a beggar's hair that had not been washed for weeks. He looked quite awkward and Theeya had to stifle a laugh. Sereni had to step up and passed a silk hankerchief to Theeya to cover up her mouth. Theeya recovered and composed herself to look calm and expressionless.
"Who dare to throw the egg at me?" He exclaimed, the quiver in his voice betraying the anger that lies beneath his calm face.
"We have no place for dark art of magic in Nitreil! Go back to your own Kingdom already!" A man shouted in the crowd. He was dressed in a commoner attire and looked to be about 30 years old.
Everyone was shocked. Who dared to speak out their mind in front of the royalty?
"Yeah give up already. We will never accept you as our King," another man from the other side of the hall shouted. It was another man who looked like a farmer in his 20s.
Hearing the emboldened words of these two men the crowd started to murmur for a few seconds before they chanted together. There were so many of them and indeed the power was in the unity of the many people in the Kingdom of Nitreil.
"No black magic, no dark arts. Leave our Kingdom!" The people outside the hall joined in and before long it became defeaning. The people were truly afraid of the dark arts and black magic even though they kept quiet all along out of fear of what Prince Vincent would do to them and their Kingdom.
Prince Vincent's face turned red. His eyes turned from blue to a darker shade of grey.
In a few seconds he turned from the favourite contender to the most unpopular contender.
"Don't you all know Prince Vincent is very capable and he is well versed in the arts, music, philosophy and politics as well? He is a great asset to any kingdom," said one of the Council members.
Prince Vincent straightened his back and squared his shoulders. His voice boomed above the din of voices in the hall. His powerful presence and strong voice caught the attention of many, and the chanting slowed down as they listened to the brown haired, blue-eyed Prince Vincent.
"People of Nitreil. Kingdom of the Light magic. As I mentioned, without darkness there can be no light. Just as without night there won't be day. If I win the hand of your Queen I promise you I will ensure the prosperity of the Kingdom and care for the well being of all the good people of Nitreil," he said before another egg was thrown at him, this time hitting his forehead, and the egg white trickled down his face.
"I see what you're trying to do. You wish to provoke me and hope I will show my Magic in anger. I am better than that. If a future ruler cannot control his emotions then he is not fit to be a ruler. I rest my case," he gave a bow and left the podium. With a wave of his right hand he cleaned the mess on his head and face with magic and he looked as good as new.
The people were stumped. Their plan failed to provoke Prince Vincent. The murmurs started again until the Queen spoke.
"People of Nitreil, I understand that you want to protect your Queen and also the Kingdom. The five men who made it this far were first selected carefully by the council and they proved their mettle as the best five men out of the other men. I hope that from now on you take care of your manners befitting the people of this kingdom," said Queen Theeya.
The people nodded their head, some kept their head down in shame. They kept quiet as they knew what the Queen meant. It is to be a fair battle ground from now on. Instead of making Prince Vincent less desirable in the public's eyes, the incident actually made him even more respectable at the dignified way he carried himself.
Prince Geoffrey was clenching his fists and gritting his teeth as he saw that Prince Vincent was unscathed by the egg throwing incident. Even the crowd booing did not dampen his spirit and he delivered a strong speech in retaliation. Too smooth. It was his plan that he planted the two men who spoke and threw the eggs, hoping to topple the strongest contender. Instead of achieving his goal, he actually helped increase his competitor's chances of winning. He cursed under his breath.
Just then Prince Vincent turned and looked at Prince Geoffrey. Their eyes met. Under the cool disguise there were fire burning and both looked daggers at each other.
"Just you wait. I will crush you!" Both of them seemed to say with that eye contact.
Minister Albus took the podium and announced: "May you invite King George of Pernah to take to the podium please."
The dignified looking King George in full kingly regalia took to the podium and faced the crowd.
"As you are a King with your own kingdom and the Kingdom of Pernah is at least a whole day's horse ride away from Nitreil can your Majesty please share with us your plan on how to divide your time and rule between the two Kingdoms?"
Minister Albus took a bow at the Royal on the podium and returned to his seat.
The Council did not miss anything and the questions they prepared struck where it hurt the most. The most pressing question that every man and women of the Kingdom of Nitreil would want the answer to if these gentlemen would be their King.
Theeya looked expectantly at the handsome King as he turned to look at her with a dashing smile. His green eyes twinkled, making his look younger than his 28 years old. Theeya suddenly had to fight an urge to run her fingers through his blonde locks and she looked away.
"We need someone who can rule by our Queen's side! Not to take our Queen away from the Kingdom!" the farmer who spoke just now shouted.
"You already have a Kingdom of your own! Please return and rule your own Kingdom!" said the commoner who spoke first after he threw the egg at Prince Vincent earlier.
The crowd was rowdy again as they agreed in unison. They did not want to lose their Queen. They did not want to end up as a second class kingdom, as an afterthought to the Kingdom of Pernah.
The intensity of the protesting crowd increased as the people were worried about their future.
Suddenly a gust of wind closed all windows and doors in the hall. The only door that was open was the main door as there were people who stood there filling the hall to the brim, spilling out to the ground all the way to the streets.
An apparition suddenly formed in the middle of the hall. It was a projection of the courtroom of the Kingdom of Pernah.
"Your Majesty, everything is going well over here in the Kingdom, rest assured that all is going according to plan," the men in the projection spoke!
"As you can see, good people of Nitreil, I can rule my country even when I am not in my Kingdom," King George spoke.
"What magic is this? Is this dark magic? How could the men see us as well? This is very high level magic," the crowd murmured in excitement.
"I plan to keep the two Kingdom independent. The two kingdoms can be sister Kingdoms. Kingdom of Pernah already has an heir, his royal highness Prince Matthew who can be King in another 15 odd years. All the children that I have with Queen Theeya shall be heirs to Kingdom of Nitreil," he spoke as if he already won and would marry the Queen tomorrow.
"The Kingdom of Pernah is indeed the perfect example of forming good strong beneficial alliances with all kingdoms across the lands. Perhaps we can take a leaf from the books of Kingdom of Pernah to forge strong alliances with the kingdoms across the lands," said Minister Albus as King George stepped off the podium.
"Kingdom of Pernah has never formed any alliance with Kingdom of Rash," said Prince Arthur who took his place at the podium no sooner had King George vacated it. Minister Albus did not even had the chance to make the announcement.
"So Minister Albus what you said about Kingdom of Pernah was not accurate. We do not acknowledge Pernah as our ally," Prince Arthur's intimidating gaze looked at Minister Albus, sending chills down anyone's spine.
"Prince Arthur of Kingdom of Rash. Your Kingdom prides itself in its military power and have very few alliances. How would your stance be in the event that Nitreil's ally would attack Rash? Your Highness has 10 minutes," Minister Albus took his seat as his face was calm and waited for the answer.
Just then Prince Arthur punched hard at the the podium and broke it into half, shocking the entire hall. Three men came up quickly and carried the broken podium away.
Theeya was not impressed.
"He is behaving like hooligan, he thinks brute force is all it takes to rule any kingdom," Theeya whispered to Sereni.
As the podium was replaced with a new one, Prince Arthur destroyed the second one as well.
"What is happening? Why are you not answering the question Your Royal Highness Prince Arthur?" Minister Albus asked.
"That is part of my answer, I still have my 10 minutes so bring them on!" his eyes were crazed like a maniac.