The First-born Royal (II)

"What do you mean 'just words'?" Augustus swam back to the shore "For your information, my bride and I have consummated our marriage" Augustus said boldly.

"Ares, doesn't it seem like he's lying?" The princess turned to the quiet man standing on the side, slightly beside the other woman.

Ares only gave a low chuckle, though he was very familiar with the King and the Princess but he desisted from interfering in their small bickerings.

Noticing that Ares was not going to give her a reply, Aelia turned to the other woman: "Veda, what do you think?"

"I think the words of His Majesty should not be believed, if he really has consummated his marriage then he would long for the touch of his wife, he is not like the Marquis that has stuck his pipe into almost every hole and has gotten his fill, the new Queen would obviously be the King's first, so of course he has not consummated his Marriage, the least would be he did try to but since he is inexperienced, it ended up in a tragedy" Veda replied the Princess boldly, earning a glare from Augustus and a laugh from Aelia. Even Ares gave a short laugh.

"Why are you like this Veda?" Augustus could only resign to ask.

"The princess demanded my honest remark, so I gave it. Apologies if it did not sit right with His Majesty" She curtsied.

Augustus picked up a pebble from the sand and threw it at her. Veda dodged and ran around the place laughing hysterically while being chased by the King.

Aelia in her white garment laughed till her legs gave out but that could not hinder her, despite lying on the ground, she continued laughing boisterously.

Meanwhile, Augustus caught up to Veda after chasing for a short while, he flung her over his shoulder and tossed her in the pond. Aelia almost passed out from laughter while Ares squatted on the ground pointing and laughing at Veda who struggled to swim out of the pond in soaked heavy clothes.

"Your Majesty, this is greatly unfair" Veda complained as she successfully swam out of the pond.

"I am the king, I get to do whatever I want, whatever pleases me" Augustus said with arms spread open.

Veda rolled her eyes at him and walked towards Aelia, who took it upon herself to fetch a new dress for Veda and handed it over to her with a comely grin.

Veda examined the white dress handed to her by the Princess with great care, she held the dress by the sleeves, her expression changed to one of displeasure: "This is your dress"

Aelia touched the hem of the dress, the familiar silk fabric played with her fingers for a short while before she released it and shrugged: "It doesn't have the Royal embroidery, I suspect otherwise" There was a particular pattern of clothing for the Royals, the King had the image of the dragon embroidered comely on his every garment and for the Princess, it was the image of the Phoenix whilst for the Queen it was the image of a gardenia that signified her beauty and kindness.

Veda noticed something with the carefree appearance of the Princess, especially the fact that she couldn't meet her eyes. "Did you pack this yourself to give to me?" Aelia gave no reply which became a lot more suspicious "Did you hope for me to get soaked in the pond?" Veda lifted an eyebrow, the edges of her lips curving up and straightening down simultaneously.

"Can you stop complaining and whining about things and just get changed?" Aelia rose to her feet and headed towards where Ares was sitting staring numbly at the pond. Nevertheless, before she could take another step, she felt a collision of another body that almost knocked her to the ground but the impact was not so great that it would cause her to lose her skillful balance. Arms wrapped themselves around her waist and she felt a gentle pleasurable nuzzle on her nape.

"Thank you" Veda whispered to Aelia in the back hug. She released her hold on Aelia and walked away into the bushes to get changed.

"Could you wipe that smile off your face, please?" Ares demanded as he saw Aelia trodding up to him. Aelia schooled her expression and sat beside him.

"Are you okay?" She asked but she did not gaze at him instead she looked deep into the pond.

"I am," he replied dryly.

"You've been quiet, Augustus would not feel good" This time she looked at him, but he did not look back, instead he looked over his right shoulder and there he saw the King lazily and chaotically fitting into his clothes with no idea where what goes.

"If you love him so much, why are you being a downer?" Aelia asked again after seeing the smile that played on Ares' lips while he was watching Augustus. However, Ares still did not give her a reply, he only wiped the smile off his face and found the pond more fun than Augustus getting into his clothes.

Aelia sat up straight, her youthful, playful expression disappearing into the wind to be replaced by an arrogant, condescending air. The mirth in her eyes turned to a stoid, irritated look, she asked: "Marquis of Order, what is it that worries you?"

Ares sensed the change of tone in her voice, even if he had no desire to explain what it was that bothered him, now with this patronizing tone of the Princess, he had no other choice but to.

"There have been reports of bandits harassment in these parts of the Kingdom, and of course you know Thaleia has no bandits because we have everything so I figured that these bandits were from another Kingdom" He started off

"I worry that that Kingdom has disrespected and held Thaleia in such low regard that even it's puny bandits now see it fit to harass our people because they feel there's nothing that can be done about it"

In other words, Thaleia would have no other choice but to claim back the respect that was rightfully theirs from the beginning and this could only be done through war. If otherwise, more Kingdoms would find them weak and would result in trampling on the crown of Thaleia.

"You are thinking of National problems now? Ares, we came here to leave our problems behind" Aelia queried "I know it's hard, but you just have to take a moment to not worry about all that and appreciate the beauty of life."

"I cannot not worry Aelia, if I were a better Marquis maybe I wouldn't be fretting over this issue but I'm not, I am a half baked Marquis who nobody thinks can defend the Nation against external forces" He yelled out. "Apologies your Highness"

"Nobody thinks that way about you, we all believe in you, we all believe in you, even though you couldn't harmonize with the Hexie sword, there's no point in feeling less of yourself, you can still wield it, isn't that enough?" Aelia asked.

"No Aelia, it's not enough".