King Octavius Otto was an old man, the present ruler of Naria who had three sons. He was average in height, and most of his dark hair had grown into white locks, but the texture of his hair still retained its beauty and feel. He had a small scar starting from his chin to his neck, and his dark brown eyes still held their youthfulness.
Princess Raziah Octavius stood inside his chambers, where Ms. Ophelia had finally led her to. Just as she had expected, King Octavius hadn’t been expecting them so there was surprise written on his face the second she walked in, after knocking a few seconds ago. The last time she saw him was a few months ago, when he had been standing outside to bid her goodbye when she, Ms. Ophelia, and Malcolm had taken off to the grand castle for her introduction.
Raziah paid her dues respectively at him, and he smiled back at her.
"You are looking even more unwell than before," Was the first thing Octavius said after giving her a once over. He had his hands behind his back as he walked closer to her, and placed a hand on her shoulders, "It seems urgent," He stated.
That was one of the things she liked about Octavius. Just like her, he wasn’t one to beat around the bush. Considering her suddenly showing up, he must have picked up that whatever she came here for had to be urgent so they can drop the father-daughter pleasantries for another time. She looked up at him and replied, "My husband and another woman would be here very soon, and I haven’t told them anything."
"And you don’t want to," He finished for her, and she nodded gingerly, glad he understood.
"When I was informed that you chose King Aragon of Erandell as your husband, I had a feeling many things would go wrong," Octavius sighed deeply, squeezing her shoulders lightly as if to tell her that everything would be alright, "I’ll have my sons informed about his arrival immediately, so they would all know how to behave. You have nothing to worry about..." But Octavius still seemed skeptical about it. Raziah could see it in his eyes that something might still go wrong, and she needed to know so she can evade it if possible.
"Your Majesty, What is bothering you?" She inquired.
Octavius sighed again, then turned around and took a few steps away from her, "Did you come across Theon?"
It took her about a minute to register the name in her mind, and recall the owner of it. Prince Theon was King Octavius’s second son, but she had almost forgotten what he looked like. Whenever he came looking for her, her mind was mostly occupied with several things so she can’t really describe him and hardly remembers whatever he says to her before leaving. It got quite annoying since she wasn’t the one to talk, but he just kept on pushing, unlike the other brothers who left her alone completely.
"I haven’t seen him," Raziah responded.
"I didn’t tell him we would be sending you to the grand castle that day, or he would have found a way to make sure you didn’t leave Naria," Octavius said, thinking of a better way to put his words together and make them more appealing to the ears. He didn’t want to lay the truth straight to the Princess but wanted to make her understand at the very least.
"Theon Didn’t want you to get married, Raziah," The King added, staring at her face to see if they would change a bit, but she still retained that unnatural cold expression that had gotten far worse from the last time he saw her.
"I’m still trying to understand, Your Majesty,"
"Theon... never saw you as a sisterly figure," King Octavius stated lowly, still gazing at her closely. Raziah’s brows furrowed on their ends just as the words settled in, and she fully understood what he was trying to tell her, "He’s tried to visit you Several times an Erandell but we were able to stop him. Even when the invitation came about the Royal event at Erandell for Malcolm, he stirred up everyone demanding to let him attend instead, and I had to take measures and put him on house arrest. If you had told me that you were coming to Naria beforehand, I would have sent him on an errand so the both of you wouldn’t have to cross paths, but..." Octavius trailed off, already knowing that rumors would have started spreading that she was back to Naria...and they can’t stop it from reaching Theon since he was also in the palace.
"Is it that bad?" Raziah asked again just to be sure. She wanted to know just how far he would go just to get what he wanted.
"He can easily say what he wants. Theon... Seems obsessed with you. I didn’t know till he threatened the whole kingdom madly after he found out you have gotten married overnight, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he finds a way to break your marriage just to get you. He doesn’t knows the full story about everything, and he’s an idiot whom I know might say something you do not want anyone from Erandell to know about you,"
"Isn’t there anything you can do... Even though the rumors get to him, can’t you make sure he doesn’t stumbles across my husband?"
"The only person he listens to is his mother... And she’s no more," Octavius let out a ragged breath and sigh, and you could see taking care of three grown-up children and kingdom at his old agree was really getting to him. On the outside, he was a very cheerful person that looked after the needs of his people and kingdom as a whole, but on the inside, he was sad and lonely. Amongst his three sons, only Prince Marcus, the last son and Crown Prince was truly acting as a son and future ruler.
Raziah was thinking about what should be done. It looks like Theon’s matter was so bad that even if he’s warned, he wouldn’t heed and listen. And they can’t just put him on house arrest till they leave for no reason, which brought her to another conclusion.
She would have to see Theon herself, and speak to him about it. They would come to an amicable conclusion about everything before she leaves... And if they can’t, then she would have a problem with him.
The slight uproar of whispers and little chatters accompanied by light screams coming from somewhere in the vicinity was enough confirmation that Aragon had arrived at the palace.
.
.
.
As a somewhat fatherly figure to her, King Octavius had already sent out all the information he needed to pass out to his sons about the arrival of Princess Raziah and the guests, and what they were not supposed to say in their presence. King Octavius had also welcomed Aragon and now they were in a small beautiful room discussing matters and getting to know each other.
Aragon has once met Octavius in the past, and they had become good men to each other. He wouldn’t exactly call them friends but whenever they came together, there was always good energy and Octavius was the oldest man Aragon knew who still had so much energy in him. One thing he was still curious about though was how no one ever knew Octavius had a daughter.
Acacia had been led to her room where she would be staying for the time being, while Raziah was now on her way to see Theon. They had arrived at night, so dinner would definitely be served soon at the Royal dining hall for everyone where the royals will all have to show up. Raziah can’t afford anything else going wrong in her life right now, and hoped she would make things right with Theon before they ask them out for dinner.
Seeing as she had been so busy since she came, Ms. Ophelia had refrained from asking her anything till everything settled down a bit so when princess Raziah had requested to see Prince Theon, the older woman had gladly guided her to the prince’s chambers without a word, and Raziah had shown her gratitude before knocking on the door.
The door opened in a few seconds, and there stood a man with blonde curly whirls of hair shattered around his head, and average green eyes with small dots under his eyes that looked like bags. He was just a little taller than her, and he was only putting on a handless shirt that portrayed his muscular hands. Dried lips greeted her as his lips turned into a wry smile when he stared back at her.
"I never knew a day would come when you would come to see me yourself, sister." His voice was nowhere as deep as the crusty tone that was embedded in her head, but it was just deep enough for a man. And what was with the suspicion gleam in his eyes?!
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