When the knights introduced someone labeled as the queen all of the cells become eerily quiet. The only other sound that came was the sound of metal armor hitting the ground as knights filled the room alongside another set of footsteps that sounded like boots.
The owner of these new boots soon came into view as all of the prisoners gasped slightly when they saw the beauty before them. One of the new queens introduced as Claire Rothersburg who stood at over six feet tall even without her boots seemed to tower almost all of the knights around her. She had long red hair that went past her waist alongside a crown with multiple different points that looked like a star on top of her head.
As for the outfit she was wearing it was not something that Rowen had expected to see from a queen of a country. She was wearing a very militaristic outfit that he would expect the lead knight of any army to wear as they stood at the back lines.
She was wearing black military style pants with a white undershirt that gave way to a long black overcoat that sat over her shoulders.
When Claire Rothersburg walked into the room it was like she took capture of every single pair of eyes in the room. Her commanding presence almost made you want to pay attention to her every step, including Rowen who was staring closely.
"Are these the prisoners that are going to be used tomorrow?" Queen Claire spoke for the first time introducing her very subtle and seducing voice. Her voice was not the loudest in the room but it was most definitely one that was so strong that it commanded its own presence.
"Yes, my queen, they are the prisoners we have taken from the various prisons of the three kingdoms. There were even a few others we picked up along the way from the bounty hunter division." One of the knights beside her answered as they seemed to look at a piece of paper containing all of the names of the prisoners.
It was at this moment that Rowen remembered that the whole reason he was here and in this terrible situation was because of this woman right here. Her knights had raided his village killing everyone and everything he knew so why was he being mesmerized by her beauty?
There was no beauty to be had here only a grim reaper that would kill an entire village just to have an easy win for one of their own. That was something he was not willing to accept so as the newly appointed queen made her way over to Rowen's cage he refused to even look in her direction.
"Which of these prisoners is Bergiel and Roland?" Queen Claire said as she arrived right in front of Rowen's cell. Every single one of the prisoners inside were doing their best not to have a red face staring at the beauty except for a select three.
"I am Roland your majesty!" Roland spoke up first on the other side of the cell standing up and then bowing down as low as he could while smiling.
After doing so Queen Claire nodded her head in his direction before turning to the other side of the cage where Bergiel kneeled down showing who he was, "As for me I am Bergiel your majesty." Bergiel said gently.
Queen Claire nodded her head once again, acknowledging his presence almost memorizing the faces of these two men for a reason that Rowen wasn't sure. If anything it made him even more curious as to the identity of the two men.
"As for you prisoner why are you looking away from your queen?" Queen Claire spoke again but this time Rowen realized even with his head down who she was speaking to. Even so he refused to even acknowledge her presence much less give her a reason as to why he wasn't looking.
Rowen was not able to see this but immediately Queen Claire's face soured. It was clear she had not been faced with such blatant disrespect in a very long time and it brought her anger to an all time high.
Bergiel sensing this tried to warn Rowen to stop by lightly nudging him with his leg under the watch of the knights and the queen, "Such disrespect? Pull him out now!" The previously calm queen suddenly ignited with anger in her voice as she yelled causing all of the knights to flinch slightly almost on instinct.
Three of them immediately went to the cell opening up the door causing Rowen to look up slightly in surprise. He had never been around knights or any sort of higher authority much of his life so he had expected the queen to understand his clear displeasure for her and to move on but that did not seem to be the case.
"What the-" Before Rowen could even get the words out of his mouth a metal fist came flying through the cage hitting Rowen clean in the jaw causing his entire vision to shake violently as he fell to the floor.
Then before he could recover two sets of hands grabbed either of his shoulders dragging him out of the cage violently like a ragdoll as he hit the side of the bars as he was pulled out in front of the queen.
"Who is this man Julian?" Queen Claire asked the knight beside her as she watched closely Rowen being dragged in front of her.
The knight named Julian was obviously shocked by this turn of events as he flipped through the pages quickly looking for Rowen's name, "Julian. I said who is this man." Queen Claire spoke up again in anger finally turning her eyes from Rowen and looking at the knight with clear malice.
All of the other knights in the room shivered seeing Queen Claire's malice directed at one of their own but Julian did not shake in front of this and finally seemed to find the spot on the page, "His name is Rowen Nightfare he was picked up by the mercenary division after taking out a bandit hideout." Julian answered while staring at Rowen directly.