Teatime Break

The next day, Ryker found himself having tea with three noblewomen. They had introduced themselves as Raquel’s lady-in-waitings and were interested in helping with the backlog of work.

Raquel, having to go to the tailor, asked Ryker to show them around the office while she took Lady Ria with her. Thus Ryker had spent most of the morning showing the other ladies what to do. And now they were sitting together taking a break.

“Your grace.” Nicole said, handing him a small plate of pastries.

Ryker took them and smiled. It was becoming a bad habit of his to have pastries whenever he was taking a break. Nicole organizing a plate for him didn’t help but it made him wonder how she was able to get him so many pastries.

Did someone put in a request with the palace chef? If so, it was probably Raquel seeing as servants had no authority placing requests with the chef. This was for safety reasons of course.

“Excuse me, your grace, but do you enjoy pastries?” One of the noblewomen, Lady Liana, asked.

Ryker looked at the noblewoman, not sure how to explain the whole pastry thing. “Well…”

“His grace normally has pastries to keep his mana levels high.” Nicole said quickly as she poured Lady .Bethany another cup of tea.

“I see…So, mages have to keep their sugar levels up.” Lady Liana exclaimed, making a note on some paper she kept with her. “I must say, learning about mages has been quite interesting.”

Ryker smiled tightly. Nicole hadn’t told a complete lie as food was important for restoring mana but he didn’t need to eat all the time to keep his mana levels high. Nor did sugar affect mana levels, any food could when levels were low.

His go to food just seemed to always be pastries.

And while he didn’t mind it, he did notice that he had been putting some weight on. Ryker decided it was probably best if he joined Raquel in her training sessions.

It had been a while since he had picked up a sword…

Ryker shook his head, not wanting to go down that memory lane. The wound left from his father’s death was still fresh and painful. Even the good memories were tainted by how he had died.

“So, how are you ladies finding being, her highness’s lady-in-waitings?” Ryker asked the noblewomen, trying to distract himself.

“It’s quite nice.” Lady Liana exclaimed excitedly. “Her highness is nothing like those rumors. She’s a bit odd but an understanding person.”

“She’s quite business-like.” Lady Oliva murmured softly. “But I see no fault in that.”

“Yes she is. But it is to be expected from the crown princess.” Lady Bethany pointed out. “From what I’ve seen, most of the emperor’s work is her job. Of course, it means our empire is in good hands. I just worry about the curse…”

The room went silent at those words, but Ryker expected such. These ladies had only just met Raquel so weren’t completely ready to pledge loyalty to her.

Still, it seemed they found Raquel a great leader. It was a start at least. Now he just needed to worry about how they were going to turn Lady Ria over to their side.

“Anyway, what do you think of her highness, Duke Ryker?” Lady Liana suddenly asked, breaking the silence.

Ryker knew the question seemed innocent, like when he had asked them about what they thought of Raquel, but it was not. They too were testing where he stood.

“I think she makes for a great leader. Maybe a little rough on the edges.” Ryker replied before taking a sip of tea.

“Oh really…” Lady Oliva asked, placing down her teacup. “Then those rumors about you wanting to stop the marriage…”

“Are false.” Ryker answered. “If I didn’t want to marry her highness, do you really think I would be having tea with you lovely ladies? My intentions may be political but that doesn’t mean I can’t not like her highness. Many people in political marriages have mutual respect for their partner.”

“I suppose that is true.” Oliva nodded.

“While it may be true, there are also many where there is no respect.” Lady Liana sighed. “I pray to Lovarth that I marry a man who loves me.”

“Come now, Lady Liana.” Lady Bethany murmured. “We may all wish that but we are nobles too. Love is only for commoners. We must sacrifice love for the privileges we have.”

“I suppose so…” Lady Liana murmured.

“Still I’m sure with your charm, any man would fall in love with you.” Ryker added.

“You flatter me.” Lady Liana laughed.

For some reason, Lady Liana was reminding Ryker of his sister Roise. As for the other two, they seemed to be overprotective of Lady Liana, making Ryker wonder if they were friends.

It wouldn’t be far off considering that all three ladies were from neutral house parties. Their families could be close seeing as they shared the same values and with all the ladies being eighteen and entering high society, they probably were trying to protect each other.

Ryker continued chatting with the ladies for a few more moments before they decided to get back to work. They completed some documents by the time Raquel came back a few hours later.

Raquel then dismissed the ladies, being exhausted from her trip. There Ryker and Raquel spoke for a few minutes about their day when Nicole suddenly entered the office.

“It seems Lady Diana has requested your presence at the family dinner tonight.” Nicole murmured.

“That little-” Raquel stopped herself at Nicole’s pointed look and sighed. “It seems this exhausting day has not ended yet. When’s dinner?”

“Two hours time, your highness.”

Raquel turned to look at Ryker. “Guess we have some time to get properly ready. Wear something purple, would you?”

“Yes of course.” Ryker answered.

Raquel smiled, soon leaving with Nicole to get ready, and leaving Ryker wondering if he had anything purple to wear.