Chapter 8: The marriage will hold.

King Raff, on his majestic throne, was looking down at his eldest son, who was stubbornly glaring back at him. As soon as his son marched into the throne room, he asked Duke Thorin to step out so that father and son could have a private talk. Roland was panting lightly, giving off sparks of anger as if at any moment he would explode. The King knew exactly what it was that his son wanted to discuss, and even before he could say it out loud, he decided to stop him. "N," he said firmly. "I have not said what it is that I desire," Roland replied, with his fists clenched. King Raff knew his son Roland just as Roland knew his father; the two could read one another and understand what each wanted from the other without a single verbal communication being passed between them. "This marriage arrangement is beneficial for both families, more so than the Thorin'. I have already heard from your mother that you had a private meeting with the young lady, and you happened to be inappropriately dressed. Regardless of your status as the crown prince, the duke will come for you once word of this reaches his ears. His granddaughter's reputation..." "What reputation?" Roland barked. "She has the worst reputation of all the maidens in Eldoria. I am the one who should be protesting his innocence, she peeked at me, it was not the other way round." The king dismissed Roland's appeal and claim to innocence. "Nevertheless, it has already happened, and I for one am truly grateful for Sigrid's mistake. With your marriage, the throne is ten times stronger, once you have an heir..." "Ha!" Roland laughed. "If I ever have a child with Sigrid Thorin, I will run through the city as naked as I was on the day I was born." "Ooh.." Benjamin tilted his head with a mysterious, cheeky smile on his face. He wanted to say more, but the warning look shot his way by the king firmly stopped him. Benjamin Maximus was the joker of the family; he was ready to make a smart retort on everything. His problem was that he always failed to know when to pick and choose his moments. This was not the moment for his smart mouth to say something stupid. Even though he could not say a word, Benjamin took note of his brother's words. Should the day ever come when Sigrid happened to have a child for his brother, he would remind him of this moment and his words. "Go to your fief and make arrangements for the arrival of your bride. The wedding is in two days. You are dismissed." King Roland said. His softly delivered command left no room for Roland to reply, even though he could see that his father had made up his mind. "Yes, your majesty." Roland bowed politely. Roland and Benjamin left the castle, the angry groom-to-be walking with angry clomping strides. The metallic trinkets on his boots were a ruckus as he walked. He frightened a young maid who was carrying a basket of laundry; she squealed, and the basket went flying up. Roland did not stop to help or apologize, but Benjamin, the sweetest prince of all the king's sons, did. He saved the maid from tumbling to the ground by grabbing her waist with one hand and saving the closed basket with his other hand. The little maid's heart fluttered wildly., Benjamin Maximus was not only handsome, but he had a devil's smile to match. He was a rogue who had charmed his way into many innocent hearts and many not-so-innocent ladies' bedrooms. "I apologize for Rolan; he can be rude at times. I hope you are not injured, it would be a shame for a beautiful woman like you to suffer pain," he said, and winked. "It's...I...prince...." the maid spoke in nervous whispers, blushing like many of the young maids that worked in the castle did whenever they interacted wwith PrinceBenjamin. Benjamin put her back on her feet upright, and he laughed lightly. He took after his brother, who had already found his way to the royal stables. "Where are you going, Roland?" Roland climbed onto the back of his fierce horse. "To look for a fight and then a tavern, then another fight and another tavern." His horse, which was named Lightning Storm to match its fierce wildness, reared back, neighed loudly, and set off at extraordinary speed. Benjamin shrugged at the stable boys who had been trying unsuccessfully to brush the horse's coat before the crown prince showed up and took its reins. "He is having a bad day,, he told them. He set out on his horse, following his brother out of the castle. The two brothers were followed by a group of sword knights numbering up to two dozen. The majority of these elite knights served as personal guards of the crown prince. They rode quickly and fiercely, passing a small caravan of six horse carriages that was moving at a rather slow pace. In the middle of the caravan, in the largest carriage, which was luxurious looking, Sigrid was peeking out from behind a curtain. She barely caught a glimpse of Rolan, who passed by her carriage without pausing or looking back to notice her. Sigrid would not have noticed him anyway; he was lost in her thoughts, marveling at the pampered life which the original body had been living. The mini caravan of carriages which went with her everywhere was equal to a convoy of six luxury cars on modern earth. Her carriage, especially, was extremely luxurious; it was adorned with rich, deep colors, velvet cushions, and the floor lined with a soft white carpet. The carriage was built from fine brown rose wood, which was polished to a gleaming finish. Real gold had been melted to make ornaments and patterns of the Thorin family flag on the outside. The curtains that framed the windows were made from the finest silk, and there was a small table in the center on which exotic purple lavender flowers were placed. The smell of the flowers filled the air, their pleasant scent calming her even when she was not calm. "Too much, it's too much," Sigrid whispered. Across from her, one of her maids, Lanai, crinkled her small nose. Her lady had been muttering things to herself ever since she stepped into the carriage. The poor maid was afraid that her lady had lost her mind because she was finally going to marry the crown prince. Sigrid was not even thinking about Roland or the marriage; her mind was calculating how much wealth the Thorin had. If she had to price this carriage in dollars, it would easily cost at least three hundred thousand dollars. Did Thorin have that much money to throw away? Then again, in the novel, one of the reasons why the fake female lead took down the Thorin family was because she discovered their secret wealth. They had a few gold mines that they never reported to the royal family. In Eldoria, the royal family owned fifty percent of all silver, gold, diamond, copper, and other special gem mines. It did not matter if the mine was on the land of another family, as long as it existed, by law, the royal family was entitled to half of it. Emmah had found the Thorin family's gold mines and reported this to the king through the third prince. Thorin's had been stripped of their nobility and made commoners. The king was pleased, and he had rewarded Emmah with two of the mines, a nd he gave her one hundred percent of the ownership. Sigrid scoffs., Nobody had ever taken a coin out of her pocket, and Emmah would not be the first. "Mission accomplished, hos,t receive your rewards." Sigrid heard in her mind, nd and she was drawn out of her thoughts. "Tell me Roland's secret fi, s," she replied.