The servants walked around with different trays in their hands, setting the table before Ragaleon and King Orain. They were seated in a chamber, lit up by the sunlight.
King Orain was a jolly man; he drank his wine and ate the pig meat in a gluttonous manner. He had a round potbelly, short dark hair, and fat fingers melanged with golden rings.
"Your presence at my castle today has caused a lot more fuss than expected, Ragaleon." Orain started off as he dropped a bone from the meat he had just devoured, then swiftly plucked a cup of wine from the table and brought it to his lips.
"You simply flatter me." Ragaleon said nonchalantly. He had arrived in Hamstung after days of an endless journey. He was not interested in dining with the fat, rich king; he was exhausted.
King Orain fixed his gaze on the women in the room dancing to the playing harps and melodious tones of the instruments being played. They were half-naked dancers with smoky makeup.
Just then Queen Friya walks in. She was middle-aged, but it didn't seem like it. She had fair, supple skin and long, dark, straight hair, which ran in the family. She made her way to where her husband was, escorted by a maid, as she fanned herself with a feathered fan in her right hand.
"My Lord." She bows before her husband, and he signals her to come nearer.
"What case have you brought before me today, woman? He speaks while munching the meat in his fat jaws. Friya simply smiled faintly, then turned her direction to Ragaleon.
"To behold the face of one of the greatest kings there has ever been." She said, and Ragaleon took her left hand and kissed the back of her palm to pay his respect.
Friya arches her brows, still fanning herself, then slowly redraws her hand.
"Do I have the honor of asking about my daughter Jia? She asked.
"Jia is in good health, I can assure you." Ragaleon's thin lips barely moved as he said those words.
"Why didn't you bring her along then? I would have loved to meet her in person." Friya said with displeasure, her dark blue eyes peering at Ragaleon as she maintained a practiced smile on her lips.
Friya, there are matters in the inner court that need tending. Attend to them for me while I treat our guest to a special meal." Orian suddenly said, and Friya simply smiled, turned around, and walked away.
"Women and their rants! Orain muttered under his breath. He had purposely chased her away; he felt she was disturbing his guest. Ragaleon simply lets out a deep breath as he reclines on the golden armchair he was seated on.
"You have escalated in wealth, Orain; one would think you plant these coins and they grow in your vineyard." Ragaleon taunted, marking his conversation.
Orain simply laughed at his words…
"In return for this wealth the gods took away water; it hasn't rained for days. I and my household will be burnt to crisps if it doesn't rain soon." Orain then signals the maid beside him to fan faster; the maid herself was sweating profusely.
"Hamstung indeed has a strong climate, not favorable, which is of course detestable." Ragaleon commented, bringing a golden cup filled with red wine to his lips.
A maid walked up to Orain with a silver bowl filled with water. Orain washed his hand in that bowl, as he had just rounded up his meal, and then concentrated on drinking only his wine.
"You should come and visit Decreash some day; the wines there will make you develop a habit of a drunkard." Ragaleon said after taking a sip from his wine.
"So I have heard. I felt the wines in Decreash are overrated, but since you have said so yourself, I will definitely make time to pay a visit; the weather here won't do me any good anyway." Orain said, raising his gaze, he saw his two daughters approaching.
Nafteni and Omelia are my two daughters." Orain said as the both of them were ushered into the courtroom, escorted by two guards. Nafteni was the docile one, her gaze fixed on the ground, but her beauty surpassed that of her sister.
Omelia was the daring one; she gazed at Ragaleon straight in the eye, her blue eyes piercing and intense. The both of them bowed slightly.
"You can take one of them and add to your wives." Orain said, purging himself with more wine. Ragaleon, however, wasn't interested.
"They would magnetize more political rivals; why should I snatch away that opportunity from you? He said in an adroit manner, his lean fingers tapping the arm of the chair lightly.
"Show Ragaleon to his room; the lad must be worn out." Orain said to a maid, and Ragaleon sighed softly in relief.
"We shall discuss politics later; if indeed you need anything, do not hesitate to ask...even if it is a woman to warm your bed." Orain said the last part as though it was a normal thing.
Ragaleon did not pay heed to Orain's words; he walked away, his shoulders high, chest out, and with a musculine frame that caught the sun rays.
"Jia is so lucky to have that man as her husband." Omelia began when she got to her chamber; she slowly took off the rings on her finger, then the necklace and shoes.
"He is very handsome; just his eyes on my skin makes my thighs…
"You shouldn't be saying such inappropriate things, Omelia; he is your brother-in-law." Nafteni warned when she saw the way things were going.
"I know, I know that." Omelia said, but she couldn't help it.
"He has five wives; Jia is just the fourth." Omelia added.
"I wonder how Sister Jia is faring. I miss her sometimes; it's been long…you know, since we saw her last." Nafteni added.
Omelia started taking off her clothes…
"Nafteni, please leave; your sister needs to be attended to." Omelia said, increasing her pace.
"Right now?" Nafteni understood what Omelia was talking about.
"Yes, right now! And send the guard standing at the door in…the good-looking one." Omelia added, lying on her bed; only a see-through material was covering her skin at the moment.
Nafteni nodded, then made her way out of the room; she sent the guard in front of the door in, then made her way to her chamber.
Now seated in front of the dressing mirror, Nafteni brought out many scrolls filled with written letters. The scroll had her signature scent, rose oil, and of course her signature lily flowers wrapped by the scroll.
She opened some of the letters and read through them; most of the letters ended with…
"To My love Jayeb"
Nafteni felt tears sting her eyes as she slowly lit up a candle on a candle stand, then slowly she brought the tip of the scroll containing the written letter to the flames, and it caught fire.
She held on to the paper for a while, allowing it to burn, before finally letting it fall to the floor beneath her feet. She did the same to all the letters in the scroll, tears trickling down her cheeks.
"To love is to sacrifice." She murmured, her thin rosy lips moving. Her brown eyes were hidden behind thin, long lashes.
Turning around, she walks out of her chamber, then makes her way along the long dark hallways leading to her mother's chamber.
Friya was sewing some embroidery on a dress when Naftenii came in. Her face was pale, but the radiance of the fake smile covered it up.
"Pardon me, Mother, I didn't knock before entering." She says when she realized her lack of manners.
"That is how I am able to figure out you have something important to say." Friya smiles, a wrinkle appearing on the smile lines in her face.
"Come take a seat." Friya added, tapping the vacant space on the bench chair she was seated on. Nafteni walks up to where her mother was, the beige-colored gown she was wearing billowing behind her. She sat down next to her mother.
"I have decided I am ready to be wedded…to anyone of your choice." Nafteni added. Her words make Friya pause in her movement for a while before resuming.
"Why the sudden change of mind?" She asked, not sparing Nafteni a glare.
"I have realized I owe a responsibility to Father and the kingdom at large. I will get married to a man of reputable status, one befitting my standard." She talked so maturely it stunned Friya.
"I am happy it didn't take you long to realize all this. You have made your mother proud, Nafteni. A suitor will be arranged for you right after your sister's wedding. As per the custom, the elder daughter has to wed first, lest people think no men desire her."
Nafteni creases her brows.
"Omelia has said she isn't ready to be wedded yet."
"She doesn't have a choice. A laudable suitor has been found; she can refuse me but not her father." Friya snapped.
Nafteni was simply astonished.
"A suitor has been found?" She said and then leaned forward, her dark hair swaying a little at both sides of her face.
"Tell me more."