The Courtesan

Chapter 91

ELAYNE

“So, bad news.”

“What’s the issue?”

“We are going to have to speed things up. I’ve put in the idea with the court and they’ve been planning git but the preparation would have to be rushed. We’re going to be having the competition next week.”

“Why? What happened?”

“Susanne had the wonderful idea of sending my siblings to Perimas and Zerramond.”

“What’s wrong with that… oh…”

“I am very sure they are going to cause some serious problems so we have to gather as much manpower as we can so we can be prepared.”

“Can Zerramond even win a war against those two kingdoms right now?”

“Ordinarily, no. But as of now, Casella is occupied in war and Perimas is helping. I’m sure now that the church has been exposed, they would be getting ready to attack us.”

“... It’s fine. Do what you have to do.”

“By the way, I have placed you in charge of organizing with Lion and Tyler.”

“Kalvin!”

“My lady! I am so glad that you didn’t get into the knightage!”

Lion ran with tears in his ears, picked me up, and spun me.

“Put me down this instant!”

“Yes, Lion, put her down.”

“... I’m sorry, your highness.”

The serious face he had on for a brief moment was quickly replaced with his normal cheery expression. He couldn’t even hide his jealousy well.

“It’s good to see you hale and hearty, my lady,” Tyler said with a bow.

“Hello, Tyler. It’s good to see you too.”

“I am also happy to see you didn’t get into the knightage too. I had sleepless nights thinking of what would happen if you were found out.”

“Thank you for the faith and love you had in me. I truly appreciate it.”

“Save the sarcasm for later. You have an event to plan.”

Kalvin had the church to deal with so it was up to us to make sure the competition panned out well.

“So, where’s the venue?”

“Rhonda.”

“Here? Isn’t that dangerous?”

“Well, the eye of the storm is the calmest, isn’t it?”

“You are planning something more, aren’t you?”

“Perhaps we are. We planned to hold it in the cathedral but they were fussing too much about it so we just moved it to the center of the city.”

“We thought you were a pious man, Tyler. Why did you want to use the Cathedral?”

“Make no mistake, I still serve Zerus. I’m just less than pleased with the leaders of the church so I would do all I can to knock them down a few notches. They used to be better than this.”

“I can hardly believe that. What else?”

“The prizes for the contest were decided upon by his highness. The first prize is a noble title bestowed by his majesty…”

“Wait a bloody minute! What did you just say?”

“The winner earns a nobility title depending on the mood of the king or if we’re being specific, the queen.”

“And they agreed to this?”

“His majesty said his highness was free to do whatever his wanted and her majesty did not oppose so it’s fine.”

“So you’re giving out noble titles to just anybody?”

“I said it depended on the mood of the queen. As terrifying as she is, she’s actually a great judge of character. The only time her judgement failed was with the church. She was skeptical at first but then Prince Kalvin went crazy and they ‘cured’ his malady.”

“Wait, Kalvin went crazy? When?”

“It was shortly after he received the news that Princess Ariana was dead. He didn’t show up to meals, he sealed himself in Salem and retreated from society. When they found him, he had lost control over his instincts and was closer to a beast than a man. It was only after he was seen by the Priestess that they were able to calm him and bring him to relative normalcy. Every now and then, he still acts up. Lady Susanne is his assigned watch.”

“He never told me about that.”

“I’m sure you can understand why he did. Thanks to you, he’s finally becoming himself again. Even on the day you left, he thrashed the whole manor before returning to the palace.”

“How unstable is he?!”

“... We cannot say. If just comes and goes.”

I knew they said he went mad but I never knew it was as bad as that! Just how much was he hiding from me?!

“My words have made you feel burdened, right? I’m sorry to have said all that. If it was left to him, he wouldn’t have said anything but not telling you about it would be an offense as cruel as killing you. If you care for our prince somewhere is your heart, please just show him the love he deserves. He’s a wonderful person under all that.”

His obsessive behaviors finally made sense. The Kalvin I knew that was too shy to hold my hands on our wedding day had become someone who would do anything to get me to bed. Almost everything about him threw me off and made me wary.

“... I’ll try. What are the other prizes?”

“Second to ninth gets 1000 gold each, the next five get about 500 gold each.”

“Isn’t it too expensive?”

“Don’t worry. If there’s anything we’re not lacking in, it’s money. Our coffers would be just fine.”

“You’re scamming money from somewhere, aren’t you?”

“If you out it that like, it would look like we’re the villains. We simply took some donations from the church to fund the whole affair.”

“... Guess who gets the prize for being worse than the church? The Crown Prince and his attendants.”

“We’re not that bad,” Lion interjected.

“The money was gotten from the backs of the poor gullible people who wants to see the face of a fake saintess. You are just profiting off them as much as the church is.”

“We’re actually giving back to them. It’s called Charity.”

“If you can over look this, well let you participate in the competition,” Tyler sneaked in.

“... It’s all for the good of Zerramond, Alright?”

“I’m so glad you understand, my lady.”