Part: 5 ~ The Lunch Meeting

It has been an hour since the fight and the panic attack hit Canis. The selected have all settled into their rooms as midday quickly approaches. Canis' door opens and he pokes his head out, at his feet Yami does the same, eventually Yami walks out and starts to wander down the long painting covered hall towards the grand white door at the end of the hall. "Wait for me Yami!" Canis shouts at the cat and quickly starts to run after Yami, as she swiftly jumps on top of drawers and crawls under tables as she makes her way down the hall. Yami instinctively stops in front of the white door. Canis looks down at Yami, "why did you stop?", he asks the midnight black cat that stands out against the white marble floor. May suddenly speaks from behind Canis, "Joining Artemis and the queen for lunch." Canis jumps suddenly running into the white door causing it to open. As the door opens, Canis, who is completely off balance, begins to fall onto the ground in front of him.

` Artemis, who was seated next to the queen at the far side of the room, rushes from his chair and to Canis' side. By the time Artemis had arrived May was already helping Canis to his feet and apologizing. "I'm so sorry mister Inu. I did not mean to startle you." May speaks as she finishes helping Canis to his feet. "I apologize for May; she has the habit of sneaking up on people." Artemis says lightheartedly as he tries to lighten the mood. Canis smiles softly at Artemis' comment. As Yami, who had managed to not get trampled by Canis' fall, begins to weave her way around Artemis' legs. "Oh, what a lovely cat. Is she yours?" Artemis speaks, trying to hide any knowledge he has of his own pet cat. Canis quickly interjects, as he watches Artemis bend down to pet Yami, "Be careful she doesn't like strangers!" Artemis softly strokes Yami's head with no fear, as Yami leans into his touch. "She is beautiful. You must take excellent care of her. I mean her coat has a beautiful shine to it." Artemis speaks as he pets Yami. "Oh she isn't mine." Canis interjects nervously. Canis pauses for a moment looking down at Artemis. Artemis is looking up at Canis with a smile on his face as Yami continues to accept his affection. "Oh. If I may ask, who does she belong to then?" Artemis asks quickly, even though he had rehearsed that very line in his head over a thousand times. Canis stops to think for a moment. Artemis accepting the pause as an overstep quickly stands and speaks, "I'm so sorry. I did not mean to overstep into your personal life." Canis quickly responds nervously as his hands move in reassurance, "Oh don't worry it's okay you're not overstepping. To answer your question, she is the cat of someone very dear to me is all. She must have followed me here. I'm so sorry, I'll get out of here as soon as possible."

Artemis is about to respond, when Queen Flories clears her throat claiming the attention of all in the room. At that very time the rest of the selected, Kathleenia, Shiba, Clark, and Mary, arrive. Queen Flories speaks, commanding the attention of the whole room, "You may keep the cat. After all, my late mother had quite the extensive collection of cats. These cats of her's still roam the castle. After all my son refused to have them put down." Artemis quickly responds to his mother, without a shed of fear or worry that one would expect when addressing the Queen of Salvera, "I was not going to allow you to kill innocent creatures! Besides you were the one who refused to give the cats new homes or fix them to stop them from multiplying. Do not blame me for a problem that I did not cause." Kathleenia interjects into the conversation, as they look Artemis dead in the eyes, "Oh so now you care about killing innocent lives. Where was that morality when you killed your own father!" Artemis sighs deeply and turns towards Kathleenia, " I told the court, alongside the police, and the jury that over saw the trial where I was at the time of the murder. The camera's that cover the halls of this very palace confirmed my statement. I was not in the palace at the time of the late kings murder." Artemis quickly responds, clearly his patience against being accused has begun to wear thin. Shiba "Yeah right. You're the prince you could have easily hired someone one else or forged that information!" With every word Shiba and Kathleenia says Artemis grows in anger, by the time they finish talking Artemis has his hands formed into fists on either side of him. Mary adds to previous statements, "Sure you weren't in the palace, but you refused to say where you were instead and what you were doing. You even used the criminatione law to avoid saying where you were and what you were doing!" Artemis has clearly heard enough and turns to his mother then the selected and speaks, "I humbly must apologize but I must now attend a meeting with the royal court. It would be unnoble of me to not be on time for the meeting. Please enjoy your lunch and I will have May ask you all some simple questions of possible date ideas you would be willing to enjoy. After all, I must get to know each one of you on a personal level if I am to pick one of you to be my spouse." As Artemis finishes his statement then proceeds to exit the dining room by a red door that is located on the right side of the room. For the quick moment, the door is open the selected can see a black wallpaper with a beautiful dark red flower pattern. The door quickly slams shut behind Artemis. After a few seconds of silence Queen Flories speaks towards the selected "Please excuse my son. He has quite the temper, I have no clue why." May looks as if she is about to burst into an argument with the queen but simply straightens her outfit out and motions for the selected to take their seats. "Please sit down for lunch, I'll have the kitchen staff bring it out promptly." May states in a calm tone and sweet tone, that at a closer inspection seems forced. The selected all take a seat next to the queen as she fixes her posture and prepares to speak again. "As the press has made quite clear, my son did find a way to sneak out of the palace and into Smithlington (the capital of Salvera) on more than one occasion. Of course, after a few attempts the palace guards managed to catch wind of my son's adventures and bring them to my attention. I did not mind my son's adventures into town, after all he had been adventuring into the nearby forest since he was five, though I was scared for his safety. Therefore, I had my husband's younger brother who was training in the Salvera Army follow him into town to insure he made it home safely. Though Artemis did eventually catch on. Apparently, he made some deal with my husband's brother and I was unable to find out exactly what my son was up to that night." Flories scans the room and notices Shiba and Mary looking at each other, almost planning to confront the late king's brother. Flories then opens her mouth again, "Do not waste your time. Duke, I mean General Ace Fang Goldstring has taken a vow to Artemis. I doubt he would break it that easily to any of you. After all, he failed to even answer me."