Substitute (1)

Juno rose from the bench and headed straight for the main building, almost getting lost. The schedule he received for the day said he would escort Vivianne to the private garden for quality time with the other princesses.

Aside from the main castle's three buildings, many mansions were scattered around the palace grounds.

The harem was close to the main building, and the royal chancery was responsible for producing official documents and maintaining the archives just around the corner from the servant house.

There was also a maintenance office for renovations and events and an infirmary with physicians and their assistants. It was like a mini-city where the inhabitants all served the king,

The contract he signed said "guard", but what meant for him was to train during the day and guard at night with six hours of sleep from the late afternoon to midnight.

On their first day together, they had followed Vivianne all day, with no rest from their journeys. Vivianne claimed it was to familiarise him with her whereabouts and the court; he believed she was messing with them, making them listen to useless fashion tidbits from Lady Serena.

So far, Vivianne had dragged Peony and Juno to the library and the chancery a dozen times before allowing them to retire for the day.

Today, he knocked lightly on her heavy door, contemplating letting her sleep, when he suddenly heard murmuring from the room. It sounded like somebody was reciting something.

He knocked again, louder, and Peony's annoyed face greeted him. She yanked him in and closed the door behind him.

She gestured to the sleeping figure and pointed to the broom leaning against the balcony. The three other personal attendance had requested time off, leaving Peony to do everything alone.

Ah, she must be cleaning. Juno thought apologetically. He stroked his stomach to ask if she had eaten but only received a quiet sign.

Juno fished out his schedule and pointed to the period for "Escort Princess for tea time with older sisters."

She widened her eyes but reluctantly stepped aside.

Vivianne looked exhausted up close. Perhaps that was why nobody had bothered to bring her breakfast. She had a day full of surprises and a horrible night, so it was no surprise that she was fatigued.

After thinking for a while, he left her alone; instead, he grabbed the broom from Peony's hands and whispered to her: "Go, eat quickly before they close the canteen. I'll clean while you're gone,"

She gratefully hurried out after shaking his hand eagerly with sudden newfound energy. Juno remembered the clammy and warm skin he had felt when he shook her awake the previous night.

With how many sick children he had to cared for back home, Juno was practically a pro at spotting illnesses. Upon closer inspection, Vivianne looked like she had a fever—her cheeks and forehead were an angry red, and her body was shaking.

"Better safe than sorry," Juno said to himself as he walked to Vivianne's bedroom door. As usual, the knights were lining the hallway. One of them looked at him curiously, and Juno decided to speak to him.

"Could you please send someone to get the physician here?" Juno asked, but the knights ignored him. Seeing his struggle, an older maid stepped up, carrying a laundry basket.

"I'll get him for you,"

Juno thanked the old lady and returned to the Princess's side. Soon, the Physician called Doctor Rune, and his assistant, Agnes, arrived with their supplies and medicine.

With only one glance at the Princess, the Physician confirmed she was suffering from a high fever.

That was when Peony opened the bedroom; she was shocked to see the royal Physician and Juno hoovering over Princess Vivianne's frame.

"Peony, Princess Vivianne had a fever." Juno explained. The Physician nodded and called her over.

"You, head to the kitchen with this recipe," Doctor Rune had said to Peony, who still looked disoriented. Eventually, she nodded and began removing the drenched bedcovers and duvet.

"You, take this to the king," Doctor Rune had said, pushing Juno out of the room.

...

The Physician handed Juno a sick note to take to the king's secretary. The king's office was on the highest floor of the main building. Vivianne was to rest for three days by doctor's order.

Juno headed immediately for the end of the corridor to ascend the big wooden stairs.

They were on the second floor, the furthest wing east, so he walked for quite some time before he found the stars leading up towards the highest floor, the fourth floor.

The king's office was located in the middle of the fourth floor's second corridor. Rows and rows of the previous monarchs followed Juno as he walked down the ruby carpets and lines of guards.

A guard grabbed his wrist in a bruising twist as he was about to knock on the king's office door.

Juno flinched and attempted to snatch his hand back, winching in pain from the guard's vice grip, who wasn't even bothering to look at him.

"Hey! Why did-" Juno got interrupted by the door swinging open. He was face to face with King Arthur the Great. He fell to his knees, bowing deeply with every guard lining the hall.

The king's cold eyes dug into Juno's shaking back; he could only remain bowed as he lifted his hands containing the doctor's note.

The king's secretary ripped the note out of his hands and read it. He then whispered into the king's ear, who only scoffed.

"Tell her secretary to act as Vivianne's substitute until she gets better." The king spoke before walking out with almost fifty men in tow.

None of them bothered to avoid the still-bowing boy, trampling on him with no regard for his limbs.

...

"So? How did it go?" Peony whispered to him when he snuck inside the bedroom again. He was dusty and had bruised thighs from getting shoved and trampled on.

He was needlessly gripping the doctor's note as if somebody would rip it from his hands again. He signed and walked to the bed, slouching down on the nearby chair.

Peony left him alone, thankfully, not commenting on his rough state. She waited for the kitchen to bring the soup so he could feed the sick Princess something nutritional. There was no hope of regaining energy if Vivianne didn't eat. She had missed breakfast already.

"I have to find Mio. He is supposed to fill in for Vivianne while she's sick," Juno grumbled. Peony worried her lip with a deep frown on her face.

"What about the Princess's meet-up? Is he supposed to join the princesses?" Peony asked. He nodded in response and dragged a tired hand through his face. It was only noon and their first official day, but everything had already gone astray.

Juno rose from his seat and searched for Charles, hoping the old butler could direct him to where Mio was roaming.

...

Juno found the old butler standing outside with many carriages lined up in front of him. There seemed to be some inspection going on as Charles rigorously scribbled down whatever the wheelwright was saying.

Juno tapped him on the shoulder, and Charles turned around with a big smile that faltered upon discovering Juno was the one seeking his attention.

"What do you want? Can't you see I'm busy?" He groaned at Juno, swatting at him like a fly.

"Sir, could you kindly inform me where Princess Vivianne's secretary is working? It's urgent." Juno gritted out with a forced smile that didn't look convincing.

It was hard to be friendly to the type of man that would rather swim in lava than speak to him.

Charles rolled his eyes and fished out a copy of Mio's schedule from his suit. Despite Juno saying it was urgent, he took his time with this.

"He should be in the library at the current moment. Now shoo, I have important matters to handle." The old man turned to the carriages again, ignoring Juno's lacklustre 'thank you'.

Juno returned to the main building, turning to the west wing and the third floor.

The library was also guarded, but after rambling out that he was seeking Mio, one of the guards took pity on him and slicked into the library to fish him out.

"What?" Mio asked, exasperated. He had a ton of reading to do regarding the history of the disputed island between The Kingdom of Nor and Caspia. But, especially considering a meeting was to be held with the dukes soon, it had yet to be scheduled.

"Something crucial is missing." Mio had said, turning his gaze back to the scroll in his arms. Juno felt terrible for interrupting him, but he had no choice.

"Mio, Princess Vivianne is sick, and the king ordered you to act as her substitute until she recovers!" Juno said hurriedly in a whisper, ensuring no servants could accidentally eavesdrop on them.

"For how long has she been ordered to rest," Mio said casually as if Juno hadn't told him that he was essentially stuck with royals for an unspecified amount of time. It caught Juno off guard, but he eventually recovered enough to answer.

"Three days, but Peony might nurse her back to full health in two days."

"Let's get this over with already," Mio said, stretching his stiff limbs. Together, they walked down to Vivianne's bedroom in silence.

They crept in quietly and grabbed the Princess's schedule that Charles had placed on her desk this morning.

Peony was dabbing Vivianne's forehead with a cold towel whilst following the two boys' movement from the corner of her eye. They left the room as quietly as they arrived.

Outside in the hallway, they released a sign of relief, happy they hadn't woken up the Princess from her rest.

"I have some training before lunch; I'll see you tonight, Mio," Juno said, clasping a reassuring hand on Mio's shoulder.

"Well, I have a tea party to attend," Mio responded with a tired look. He hoped they'd ignore him or order him to leave so he could return to his reading. Reluctantly he took the doctor's note from Juno's hands and headed for the private garden.

...

The knight's fortress wasn't located near the three buildings but at the edge of the royal pine forest. The further you walked in, the more you could hear loud grunts and shouts. It was a fortress made of black stone and bricks with an open field for sparring.

Everybody was already lined up when Juno walked in. So he quickly lined up at the end of the line.

"Juniper, glad you could finally join us," A man, most likely their captain, said, annoyed. He was called Captain Tungsten, a fitting name for his gigantic body. Juno had a deer-caught-in-headlights look on his face, but he slightly bowed in apology.

"Okay, since everyone's here, let's start the mission briefing; I hear Max has roped you in."

His imposing gaze swept over the yard to where Max was cleaning her blades, but the woman barely flinched, just looking on as if nothing's happened; her skin was tanned with scars running down her muscular forearms and across her face. She waved at Juno, and he waved back reluctantly.

"The daughter of a prominent public figure has been kidnapped and held hostage. The king wants this to be of top priority because the family's closely related to him. Check the files for more information on the target. Keep her alive at any cost; she won't be useful to us dead."

Captain flipped his file closed, eyes sweeping over Juno, Max, and his guest for the mission, Prince Oscar, who hadn't lifted his eyes off Juno ever since he walked into the training grounds.

Prince Oscar was known for his undefeated swordsmanship. He had been knighted upon slaughtering thousands of rebels during last year's insurrection in the capital.

The Queen had then officially dubbed him a knight in a private ceremony at the royal church with the highest priest.

And not just any knight, but a Knight Commander of the Royal Nor Order, an honour in the personal gift of the Queen which recognized service to the country. The press had gone wild that summer.

Juno remembered reading gossip articles stating that the Queen only gave Oscar the title to hide something else, but those rumours quickly died out.

"This is a simple rescue and retrieval mission. There should be no surprises. I will infiltrate the base where the alleged girl's being held hostage, deal with the guards if necessary, and get out with the hostage as quietly as possible. No fooling around, Prince." He directed the last part to the stoic man fiddling with his sword.

"Sure," Oscar hummed. Captain rolled his eyes and signed, long used to his antics. The mission was scheduled to happen a month from now, but they were to scout the surrounding areas and towns for intel.

"Max and Juniper will remain here for some basic guard training."

"Yes, sir," they both chorused.

"Iron out the details between yourselves. Dismissed."

...

Juno huffed out air, panting on his hands and knees. This woman was a machine. Max practically wiped him out, and then some, the stall boy cheering and laughing at his desperate attempt at incorporating Max's teaching.

"Again," Juno panted. He felt sweat beading on him, his uniform doing him no favour, even with the long sleeves rolled up. Juno considered taking it off altogether but decided against it. Knowing his luck and skin, he would get scrapes on tough-to-reach spots on his back and probably a sunburn to top it off.

"That's the spirit!" Max cheered; she tackled him to the ground, pinning him down, and sat on his ribs. Breathing was exhausting, and he quickly turned dizzy, vision darkening.

"What do you do if somebody gets on top of you?" she quizzed.

"Grab hold of their arms, lift my hips, and roll", Juno wheezed out. He grabbed her collar and yanked her closer.

Then, he isolated her dominant arm and brought her closer to his centerline. Finally, Juno trapped the same side leg by putting his foot in front of it, preventing Max from adjusting her centre of gravity.

"Now what?" She asked him. He took a stabilizing breath and lifted his hips. Max didn't budge an inch; she was just pure muscle. She grinned at his attempt and decided to have mercy on him. She lifted her heavyweight a little off him to allow him to take a lungful of air.

Juno made a strong bridging motion by lifting his hips as high as possible and leaning over to the side where the arm and foot were trapped. That created a movement allowing him to buck Max off the top, reversing the position.

"See why you need to get stronger? The technique won't help if you're weak." Max commented, jumping up to her feet.

Juno was aching all over, muscles burning from their rigorous training session.

"That'll be all for today," Max said, handing him a cold water pouch he accepted graciously. It was time to return to the servant's house for lunch; his stomach growled loudly.

"By the way, Prince Oscar wanted to spar with you when you get better!" Max said excitedly; her short and saggy hair was drenched in sweat that she was towelling away. Juno silently wished they never crossed paths again.

...