Chapter 38

"Your... Your... LADYSHIP! DID YOU JUST SAY THE KING?!" William exclaimed while freaking out. "By Thor! I ranted to the King!"

"You did what?" Astrid asked jokingly.

"Your Highness I apologize!" William uttered while blushing.

"It's quite alright my good man. In fact, it was rather refreshing." Quintas smiled. "It's not often I get to hear an honest unfiltered opinion on the policies enacted in the kingdom. Besides, I asked."

William was blushing before quickly leaving the room, saying he was going to find something to clean up the porcelain teacup shards with.

"So the old man's actually the king?" Ruffnut asked. "So then who's on the throne?"

"Lady Thornston! You can't call the king an old man!" Rosalinda whispered. "It's disrespectful,"

Quintas laughed while saying "Oh the youth of today. Now as to the matter at hand. It seems the Marchioness holds all of you in the highest regard if she is willing to reveal this secret to you."

All eyes turned to the King who coughed slightly before he began his tale.

It was a dark and stormy night and Quintas's personal maid had shut the windows to his room. The king sat down as heavy winds and droplets battered against the glass panes.

"Tea your majesty?" The maid, an elderly woman some years older than Quintas, asked.

"Not tonight Theresa." Quintas sighed before placing his reading glasses on his nightstand. The maid bowed and was about to leave when Quintas called out to her. "Do you think I made the right decision?"

"Excuse me, your Highness? What decision?" Theresa asked as she stopped just short of the door.

"Declaring my son the Crown Prince," Quintas uttered.

"You followed the Kingdom's law," Theresa stated.

"But was it right?" Quintas asked once more before sighing. "Lady Arkas has a much better grasp on the political situation. She more than once surprised me by having charmed a rather stubbourn ambassador. Whereas my son, bright as he is, feels little need to apply himself. Sir Bludvist relayed to me that my son spends his nights smoking Opium. That new drug that had been imported recently. He seems to have become more paranoid too. Perhaps I was hasty in my decision. Lady Arkas showed more promise to lead this empire."

"There has never been a female ruler," Theresa stated.

"But it's not against the law is it?" Quintas questioned, not to the maid but more to himself. "There is no rule that the King has to choose his offspring as his next heir. It is just expected."

"Theresa, you've served my father, your mother served my grandfather. Have you never wanted more to life than being a maid?" The King then asked.

"Being a maid is a noble profession," Theresa proclaimed. "You Nobles don't know what to do without us,"

This caused Quintas to bark out a laugh. "Right you are Theresa. You always seem to be able to find my missing items with ease."

"Now then I-" Quintas stopped when the double doors to his bedroom slammed open. Several knights swarmed in, two drawing their swords and holding them to the maid's neck while the others held the King at swordpoint.

"What is the meaning of this?!" Quintas shouted. His eyes narrowed as he recognized the armor as belonging to his own Palace guard.

"This? This is just assurance," Grimmel stated as he walked into the room. The Prince was giving his own father a rather bored look. "Did you honestly expect me to sit still once you named me Crown Prince?"

"I am still your father and reigning monarch!" Quintas uttered incensed.

"Yes, that is the predicament," Grimmel muttered. "You see, I have no intention of waiting for you to croak so that I can have my time in the sun. In fact, I think you are just an eyesore."

"How dare you speak to me like that!" Quintas shouted.

"Either way, I don't need you anymore. Not when I have him." The Prince smirked while gesturing to the hooded figure standing just outside the doorframe. The individual lowered his hood and Quintas's eyes widened.

"I know right!" Grimmel said gleefully as he gestured to the mysterious man. "Even I almost mistook him for you. To think a beggar in the slums had the same appearance as my father. A haircut, a bath, and you could be twins." Grimmel chuckled. "Marvelous isn't it."

"I was debating just killing you," Grimmel continued, "But then I realized how much trouble gaining the throne would be with such bloodshed."

The Prince simply glared at his own father before uttering. "Wouldn't it just be so grand if you abdicated on the Kingdom's 200th Founding day? But you would never," he added cutting his father off. "Hence the double!"

"Take him," Grimmel ordered and the Palace guard grabbed the King's arms and dragged him out of his own bedroom while still clad in his nightclothes.

"Your Majesty!" Theresa shouted, obviously worried. But this caught Grimmel's attention.

"Ah yes, can't have any witnesses can we," The Prince uttered before indicating to the guards to end the maid. The last thing Quintas saw as he was dragged out of that room was Theresa's blood spattered on the rug.

"Ever since then I was shoved into a deep dark cell while my own son installed a puppet king on the throne to do his bidding," Quintas angrily uttered. "No more! I had resigned myself to being forgotten until Sir and Lady Thornston rescued me. They were indeed my shining beacon of hope."

"Oh stop it. You're making me blush," Tuffnut uttered.

"So my brother left in a hurry because...." Heather thought aloud.

"I had filled him in on the plan Lady Deranged," The King announced.

"What plan?" It was now Edwin who frowned when asking that.

"Why, to install the King back on his throne of course," Astrid declared.

"Are you insane?!" Rosalinda uttered. "If the Crown prince, nay, if anyone from the Crown prince's faction finds out that we are harboring the true King!"

"I doubt anyone here would tell nary a soul," Astrid crossed her arms. "Lord Dagur and Sir Hiccup are both making preparations. We cannot let Prince Grimmel take the throne on Founding day."

"Sister do you hear yourself?!" Edwin asked. "What you just said could be taken as treason!"

"But she's right," Lady Camicazi spoke up. "Having Prince Grimmel become king is the last thing we want. This Kingdom would not last a decade under his rule."

"You know something we don't Lady Cami?" Astrid asked.

Camicazi looked towards Heather who gave a nod. There was tension in the room as the heavy weight of what was being discussed finally bared down on them.

"The Kingdom's coffers are near depleted," Lady Camicazi announced. "Much of the riches were spent by Prince Grimmel in the last few years. I am surmising it to be around the same time the King was exchanged for his doppelganger."

"And you know this how?" Tuffnut asked with a frown.

"My family owns the largest merchant business in the Kingdom and on the surrounding islands," Camicazi stated. "It is not unheard of that we also dabble in Information. In the last few years, the Eastern trade has grown, mainly the Opium trade. Addicts run rampant in the slums. There has also been an increase in robbery since the Opium trade graced our shores, likely to fuel their addiction. The number of once hard-working men and women who now wither away is increasing and there seems to be no end in sight. More opium dens keep appearing even though our Merchants try to squash them. They are bad for business so the Bog Merchant company is actively working against them at the moment."

"Lady Camicazi, if what you are saying is true then how have the people not felt the results of the depleted coffers?" Quintas asked.

"The Palace has issued Promissory notes to many merchants." Cami declared. "The strain on the coffers will not be felt until the merchants have no choice but to cash out those notes at the banks."

"So we're basically running on borrowed time," Ruffnut muttered.

"That is not all," Lady Heather now spoke. "I believe that if we do not hurry and restore the King to his rightful place we may have another tragedy on our hands."

"What do you mean?" The King asked before stifling a cough.

"Currently the Prince has his grandmother, Lady Theodora, and your grandmother, Lady Evelin, under house arrest. Lady Mala and I believe that the Prince may be ready to do away with anyone who has a claim to the throne." Now Heather looked pointedly at Astrid. "Has he made any move on your person Lady Astrid? You also carry Royal blood."

"He... He hasn't harmed me," Astrid frowned. "But..."

"But..." Heather pressed.

"He has tried to court me, rather blatantly even. A man of his position would have had more tact after breaking the engagement with Rosalinda." Astrid frowned as she pondered something. "Could it be that he is after the mines House Hofferson holds rights to?"

"Those mines do bring your family a large revenue." Lady Cami stated. "Once you marry, by law, they are considered the property of your husband."

"That scoundrel," Ruffnut declared venomously "Someone should hack his balls off!"

"Lady Ruffnut!" Rosalinda urged desperately as she looked between the incensed Lady and the King who had merely raised an eyebrow at the declaration. "Declaring bodily harm to a member of Royalty is a near-death sentence! If the King evokes Lese-majeste...."

"While a crude way to say it, my son sadly has it coming," King Quintas announced. "Fret not Lady Anderson I shall not be evoking any Lese-majeste on his behave."

"So we truly have until Founding day to put a plan in motion," Edwin muttered while feeling somewhat unsure. "Do we even know how many men the Prince has under his command?"

"From what the King has told me previously, a good lot of the Palace guards, several highly influential Nobles, each of whom has their own Knight Orders, as well as quite a few mercenaries and at least a thousand regular knights," Astrid explained.

"So an army," Edwin stated.

"An army he has but so do we," She then stated. "The Knights of House Hofferson will follow my command and stand by the true monarch."

"As will the Knight Order of House Deranged," Lady Heather declared.

"But that still doesn't feel like enough," Rosalinda spoke up. "Two Knight Orders against the Prince's forces seems like suicide."

"My family might spare some mercenaries if I ask grandfather," Lady Camicazi uttered. "And I think Lord Deranged can mobilize the Navy regiments he has under his command,"

"Besides, we have a secret weapon," Astrid now smirked dangerously. "Dragons,"