The Southerners
My daily life is composed of mundane things, I usually just wake up early, study, train my body, and do magic training. I don't really do much aside from what's in my royal schedule. I often meet up with Pietro and my other knights and do skirmishes before we end the week. That's basically my life for the past 10 years.
As I was walking along the halls of our palace when I heard the voices of my grandparents sounding distressed, I leaned in closely and through their voices I figured they're talking to Commander Cadmus. Commander Cadmus is my Grandfather's childhood friend and bestfriend, he's the highest commander of the Sylvanian army.
"It is best to send the young prince to the South east in the pretense of studying. You know we can no longer drag the war! We must send him away now, all our troops are getting raided, we are losing. It will take a long time before we find the mole in the empire and I'm afraid by the time we find him, it's too late. So please Emperor, Empress, we must take this precautionary measure.", Captain Cadmus said sounding distressed.
"I know but what if we find the traitor right away? And King Philip is a young king, he wouldn't be able to defeat us easily!", Grandfather retorted.
"My dear, I think we should consider sending Navi... You know how war goes, we're no longer as young and as talented as before... we might be wrong this time.", Grandmother said.
'Are they thinking of sending me off so that I wouldn't get caught in the war? But what war? I thought we're at peace right now...'
"Hmmm...I will consider it. Let's keep this talk between the three of us. The lesser people who knows, the better.", Grandfather said as he dismissed Captain Cadmus.
When I felt like someone's coming I reflexively hid in one of the divisions in the corridor, luckily he did not notice me. 'I need to ask them about the status of that "war" when the tournament ends'. I intend to ask them about it but my priority right now is to win the tournament, I know it's shallow but fighting has been my life and I can't really think of anything that will satisfy me more than this. I also need to prepare myself because I'm going to personally welcome the Southern Emperor, it's not my job but the Emperor and Empress' hands are busy at the moment. So I went to the West wing of the palace, it's where the guests from other empires or kingdoms stay, to see if everything is all set. I needed to do that because the Emperor of the South is said to be the scariest Emperor of this Era... and he's also surprisingly picky. Before his arrival date I already received a long list of what to's and what nots. I am personally ensuring everything so he'll have a pleasurable stay. I don't know why he decided to join the tournament this year, he doesn't actually join for the past few years, well he never joined the tournament since it began, he just sends people to fight. I'm not sure why but this time it feels different, I don't know his reasons but I feel excited! I hope he fights well!
They have arrived exactly by the time I went to the receiving area of the palace.
"Welcome! I'm prince Navi and I'm here to make sure you'll have a pleasurable stay!" I said as I smiled at them. I literally sounded like a servant when I said that, but who cares?
'What a bunch of good looking people', I thought to myself.
"..." Emperor Damien stared at me as if he's going to eat me. But then he did something that is unheard of, he smiled at me.
"?" I tilt my head a bit and looked at him curiously.
I thought this man doesn't smile and is scary, but... He doesn't seem scary to me. I'm curious is he smiling because he finds me funny or is there something on my face. Instead of lingering in my curiosity I turned to face his two companions.
"I'm Nabi, I know I'm gorgeous but you don't have to stare at me" The girl smiled enchantingly as she hands out her hand to me in manner as if she's asking me to shake it instead of kissing the back of it. So I took it and said,
"You're just too beautiful to look at, it's as if the heavens took their time on you when they made you". It sounded like I'm flirting but trust me, I'm not. I intend to say that there's something about her that makes me feel different. That looking at her made my heart skip a bit, not in a romantic way, but it's as if she's someone so dear to me that I want to know her more. She eerily feels familiar, now I'm piqued! As I get my thoughts in order, I noticed the young man staring at me intensely, not in an angry way, it's like he wants to introduce himself but cat got his tongue. 'Cute! If I were to have children, I want it to be like them. Instead of speaking what I had in mind, I handed him my hand. It took him seconds to realize that my hand was stretched out, but instead of shaking it, he pulled me into a tight hug and said,
"I'm Damon! It's really nice to finally meet you in person! I only heard about you from stories, I didn't know you look so perfect in real life!", he excitedly said.
This Southerners are funny, it doesn't seem like I'm welcoming them from Empire to Empire, it feels more like a family reunion. This feeling is so weird but I'll let it slide, they're our precious guests after all and I want them to feel welcomed. Also, they don't feel like bad people, as a matter of fact, I feel oddly comfortable with them. It feels nice, I hope we can be friends! Damon was hugging me when suddenly Nabi hugged me as well. I scratched my head at the situation. People are already looking at us and although they seemed to like what they're seeing, we're royals, we shouldn't do this in public. I was about to say something when Emperor Damien pulled me out of Damon and Nabi's hug and placed me on his side. it's a bit awkward because he's arm is wrapped around my waist, he's bigger and bulkier than me so I'm a bit stunned and intimidated with what he did. It's as if he's claiming I'm his in public.
"This... The Southern Emperor and Prince Navi looked good together... to bad he's a man", servants whispered to one another while obviously being flustered
"I know, prince Navi looks like a girl too! Now I feel bad he isn't, it would have been lovely if he and the Southern Emperor end up together." People around us began whispering while looking at us.
"Don't I look good together with Prince Navi as well?", Nabi mischievously said.
"I look good with him too!" Damon said as he beamed at the people looking at us.
The people laughed and agreed to what they have said. 'This two!' I twitched my lips as I hear them brag about how the look good paired with me. This will be a hell of festivity with these funny southerners.