Viscount's Rise

“Well that was a somewhat eventful first day.” Braydon and Nela just took one look at Gerald as he said that and decided to not give him a response. 

It was already late morning and only now had they even called for Gerald to return to his duties after giving him the rest of the day before off. They had both been the centre of attention for a significant part of the banquet amongst different circles of attendees. And it had not been helped by the ostentatious gift that Braydon had handed out to appease the King before he would have to speak to him the day after. 

It just so happened that this was the exact reason that he had called for Gerald now. He would be acting as Braydon’s guard-cum-attendant whilst at the palace. Though with how safe the King would be guaranteeing the palace was right now, that meant that Gerald was in reality more of a coat hanger for anything that Braydon decided he did not want to carry himself.

“Glad to see that you are not completely inebriated.” Braydon nodded to Gerald, it was a small miracle that that man was up at the start of the day with how much Braydon could all but guarantee he had drunk the night prior.

“Years of practice, Sire.” Gerald bowed as if he had completed some grand performance.

“Did anything interesting happen that I should be aware of?” Braydon asked Nela, he had not been able to gather more than the most perfunctory information about recent happenings in Fiveria from the menfolk, either because they had better things to do with their time than gossip or they were so locally focused that they did not care for what happened on the other side of the country.

“Other than being asked by every baron's wife and earl’s daughter if we are courting?” Whilst that was technically something that he should know about, Braydon had already figured that might have been happening by the amount of times he had stares fixed on the back of his head whenever Nela was in a conversation across the hall.

“Maybe something not including ourselves.” 

“Then I am sorry to say that Fiveria has been shockingly dull since the end of the war, likely due to the King trying to negotiate with Duke Burn. Though I doubt that will last now that they are allied by marriage now.” Nela did have a point. That freed up both men to pursue whatever ambition that they now wanted to attend to since the ceasing of any remaining hostilities were more formalised.

“Dull is good. I do not want to be dealing with problems in the west when I am causing them in the east.” Braydon was more than happy to cause trouble. Far more than happy to cause trouble.

“Are you going to meet the King now or after your evening meal?” Nela prodded. Braydon was not looking forward to whatever concession the King was going to get out of him to stay quiet on his forays in Shuluk.

“Sooner. I have no desire for the King to decide to add more demands due to tardiness.” For all that he may have friendly personal relations with Aled, this was a different matter entirely. As the King of Fiveria, he would have to show that he is not just letting Braydon do what he wanted for free otherwise he would be doing the same thing that his father had been doing for the decades that lead up to Ryder’s rebellion.

“Then I shall not be keeping you.” Nela already had a cup of tea and a book where she was sitting. She was clearly intent on not moving about much until the next banquet the day after. 

Nominally this day after the wedding was a down day to let the newly wed royals get intimate though in reality any ‘getting intimate’ happened in bed the night before. In actuality it was for the King to be given any sensitive gifts or make deals with nobles who did not frequent Boshil much. Braydon himself would probably be counted amongst those reclusive nobles within a couple of years, even if circumstances had forced him to and from the capital a lot in his first year as viscount and then earl.

“Do not work yourself too hard.” Braydon shook his head slightly and left Nela to her relaxation. She had probably earned it considering that he would not have to deal with the gossip nearly half as much with her having done most of the heavy lifting there. All that would be left would be to decide if he was going to follow through and make the contents of the rumours true or not.

As soon as Braydon left the drawing room that he and Nela had been talking in and was hit with the bustle of the palace. He could already see more than a few eyes on him probably to add something to the rumours about him and Nela.

“I believe the King asked me to visit him today, may you find someone to guide me there?” He stopped one of the numerous servants going about their job who immediately bowed and motioned for Braydon and Gerald to follow him.

Darkwood

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