30 minutes ago, Victor sent out a message to the Royal Palace and the Casilda Dukedom, alerting them of his return and planned delivery. Though of course he didn't mention that His master, the Viscount, wouldn't be with him.
With his hair slicked back on one side and bangs styled on the other, and in his fancier knight uniform, he was about to step into the carriage before he heard Arwan calling to him as the dragon knight jogged his way over.
"Is there something wrong, Sir Arwan?" Victor asked, annoyed at the sudden interruption.
"M-My apologies, but there is something I have to ask you, Sir Gwyneira," Arwan announced, with perfect manners at that, surprising Victor.
'Huh, I suppose those manners classes have finally paid off.'
"I see…Well, since you said so with such impeccable manners, I suppose I should at least hear what it is," Victor replied, turning around fully and stepping off of the stairs to the carriage.
"I uh, I wanted to know what his lordship wrote His Majesty and Duke Casilda…and if he had any orders for me," Arwan asked timidly, messing with his uniform and sword hilt nervously.
"Haaaa, I guess it wouldn't hurt to tell you," Victor answered, crossing his arms, "The letter to his Majesty entails the events that went on in the Alkmene Kingdom, and the one to His Grace talks about…the events in a similar but highly sugar coated fashion."
"...And the orders for me?" Arwan asked enthusiastically, clearly not really caring about the letters and more so what his liege wanted from him.
"...Unfornutantely, his Lordship did not leave me with any…but I'm sure he would be thrilled to know that when he returns, he hears of your training and better manners," Victor smiled coldly, watching Arwan's ears drop and smile turn to a frown, "Now if you excuse me, I need to get going."
And with that, Victor turned away and got on the carriage, closing the door behind him as he didn't watch Arwan's disappointed figure disappear in the distance as the carriage rolled away.
***
A couple of hours later, during tea time, Victor arrived at the Palace. Deciding seeing the King was first was more important than a potential lover of his Master, though he knew that was quite unlikely to happen considering the distaste Lev had for the Duke.
"Welcome, Sir Gwyneira. I see that your…Master, isn't with you," A knight commented, meeting Victor in front of his carriage as he stepped off.
"Yes, and I see that your Master still hasn't whipped you into shape, Commander Valen Alvin," Victor shot back, giving the knight a cold smile.
Valen Alvin was a good friend of Alvaro's, but he had quite the mouth and temper on him, and was quite competitive with other knights of high standing positions. Especially those that served as a high-ranking nobles or one of renowned standing's personal guard, which Victor was.
Sir Alvin had short slicked back mink hair, and a similar stubble of facial hair that complimented his dark pink eyes well. His skin was tan and very sun kissed, perhaps from working out in the sun a lot, which one could tell by his large muscular build, which also fit his thick irish-like accent.
Though even with those unique features, the stubborn commander still stuck to wearing his knights' uniform and armor, as well as kept his lance strapped to his back. And the cape, which held the royal families emblem on the center of it, something that only the closest of subordinates to the royal family would get.
Despite the fact that Valen towered over him, Victor stood tall and didn't find him intimidating in the slightest. Victor even had an icy look in his eyes as he looked up and gave his best intimidating smile that he could to the prideful human in front of him.
'I swear, these human commanders always think that they are better than others. It makes me sick.' Victor thought, the scowl he had developed stayed in his head, after trying very hard to keep it from forming on his actual face.
"HAHAHA! You jest, Sir Gwyneira," Valen laughed, brushing off the interaction as usual, "Well, no matter. Even if the Lit. Colonel isn't with you, I'm sure the business you have here is still as important! Come, follow me."
The outside of the Palace would remind one of Dunrobin Castle in the real world, but much more grand and polished. But following the Knight Commander in, you could see that the inside was much more breath taking.
"I must say, you guys do an excellent job of maintaining the palace. Everytime i get the chance to visit, it just seems more and more impressive," Victor admitted, starting small talk in order to not have an awkward walk to the throneroom.
"Hm~ Oh yes! The other servant divisions do an excellent job of cleaning and decorating! I swear, everytime I wake up to the next month, I can hardly recognize the place, Hahaha!" Valen joked, puffing out his chest in pride of his coworkers.
'...Now this guy is just trying to show off. Ugh, if only his Lordship were with me, this could've been 100x more bearable!' Victor continued sobbing in his head as he kept his blank and cold demeanor on the outside, a practiced routine after he started serving Lev.
A few moments later, Victor and Valen were approaching the throne room, the guards standing in front of the doors coming to attention.
"Commander Alvin, is this…" The guard on the right paused, not recognizing Victor, since when he visited with Lev, they didn't usually go to the throne room.
"Ah, allow me to introduce you! This is Victor Gwyneira, Viscount Andraste's personal guard and butler. He is here in place of the Viscount, and is his majesty's and royal highness' guest," Valen smiled, motioning over to Victor, who slightly bowed and nodded his head.
"Good Afternoon," Victor added in response, keeping a blank face but trying to seem friendly by taking his hand off the hilt of his sword and folding his left hand in front of his torso, as if he were carrying a towel.
'Is this friendly enough?'
"Oh, right! Sorry, a good afternoon to you as well, Sir Gwyneira," The guard on the left exclaimed, "Our deepest apologies, it crossed our minds that His Majesty and His royal Highness would be receiving a guest today."
"That is alright, besides, the visit was planned on such short notice anyways," Victor replied, nodding to show that is was no big deal to him.
"Thank you for your understanding! Please, go on and head in now," The guard on the right exclaimed brightly, then the two opened the doors to the throne room and the guard on the left announced his entrance.
As Victor entered the luxurious throne room, that was put together with pillars and banners, similar to the Ender Empire's throne room, the two figures happily chatting on the dias stopped and turned towards him.
King Roman was sitting on his throne, while Crown Prince Emeric was standing beside him, stationed between the Kings throne and the Queen's, who was absent on foreign business.
Commander Alvin walked past and stood on the other side of the King, while Victor as he bowed to the two royals. Roman straightened his posture before folding his hands in front of him and looking down at Victor with a serious expression.
"I get sent a letter that I would be getting a visit from House Andraste, but I do not see the Viscounty's master anywhere. Care to explain, Sir Gwyneira?" Roman questioned, raising his chin slightly while looking at Victor with an intimidating expression.
"My deepest apologies, Your Majesty, but his Lordship had other plans and tasked me with reporting back to you in his stead," Victor announced, bowing deeper.
"I see…Then just where is he? I remember giving you orders to bring him back with you, not let him go somewhere else," Roman glared, his voice turning angrier.
"I am aware, however, as I serve him and have given him my life, his orders take priority. So, as my master instructed me to, I have come with am explanation of recent events upon my arrival to the Alkmene Palace and the reason for my Lordship's continued absence," Victor announced, boldly reminding the King of where his loyalty stands.
"You-!...Haaaa, fine. Explain. And make it quick before my patience runs thin," Roman instructed, glaring even more and raising his hands to rest his chin on them.
"Of course," Victor responded, then started relaying the things he witnessed when he first got to Lev. And retold the three people listening, the things he heard from the servants about Llyr's actions.
"..."
"..."
"..."
As Victor finished, the room fell into silence. Valen was to shocked to even gasp, and Emeric just put his head down in solidarity, while Romans face darkened after hearing about all of it.
"...Well, this spells out more trouble than expected," The king finally commented, leaning back in his seat.
"Indeed," Emeric added, finally saying something, "To be honest, I don't really understand any of this…but from what I gathered, King Llyr Vellamo has some sort of weird possessiveness over the Viscount?"
"Unfortunately so," Victor sighed, before stopping to dugout the letter to King Roman from his coat pocket, "Ah, I almost forgot. His Lordship left this letter for you, pertaining the reason for his prolonged absence and current moves taken place."
"Alright, bring it here," Roman ordered, motioning for Victor to step closer and for Valen to grab it from him and hand it over.
Examining the letter, King Roman saw that it contained the seal of house Andraste, Lev's signature, and his name on the back. He then carefully broke open the seal and took out the letter to read it, though the contents made his eyebrow twitch slightly.
"Haaaaa, of course he'd do something like this," Roman exclaimed, pausing halfway through to message his temples before continue reading.
The first page of the letter spoke about the events that happened when Lev had his "date" with Llyr then when he first arrived at the Terra Palace, and after that, the events explaining what happened when Victor first arrived. Though, he of course left out the part where he spoke to Hunapo, Cordelia, and learned about Llyr's childhood.
The second page explained how he is now unable to break off their engagement and how Lev was able to escape the palace, then where he would be for the next few months.
Lev also included the fact that he would be looking for someone important, though he didn't say anything about the persons identity, just that it would be vital for him to find the other.
And the next part about hiding from Llyr in order to avoid marriage and a potential war between the two kingdoms, as well as gathering information to use in strategies in case the Silversun Kingdom switched sides- which, spoiler alert, they will.
"..." When roman finished reading, he folded the letter and put the pages back into the envelope, then handed it to Emeric for safe keeping, "Fine, his leave of absence is approved under 'foreign affairs' but…"
"But?" Victor asked, nervous to know what the 'but' was for.
"But, in return for his absence, you will be in charge of the affairs of the Viscounty and Zyon city," Roman exclaimed with a smile full of annoyance to the situation, but understanding of the reason for Lev's decision.
"...If that is what your Majesty wills, then I have no reason to object," Victor accepted with a smile, his eyebrow twitching. Though he was glad that if it was anyone that had to take over affairs, it was him.
"Good! Oh, and one last thing," Roman added, straightening his posture again, "About my cousin, Duke Casilda…I'm not sure what relationship those two exactly have, but be cautious when you go visit him. I'm sure that he will be quite unhappy to hear the current news."
"Heh, no need to worry. His Lordship has given me very explicit instructions to not let him discover their engagement or the real reason for his absence. He gave me a similar letter but with sugarcoated details, and the reason for his absence instead being due to foreign affairs," Victor smiled at the King, happy that he is also able to strike back at him for the annoyance formed by him.
"...Is that so? Then I suppose I'll have to try my hardest to remember to tell my cousin that when he comes to confront me on the matter," Roman smiled in turn, knowing just how his cousin acts and how to retaliate.