Rivalen was pleased to see that his comedic attempt had gone well with the princess. He knew that he had been taking a gamble by making a joke, since most of the upper class citizens of the kingdom—the royal family included—were known to be lacking in the department of humor, but the risk turned out to be worth the reward when he earned a smile from Roxanne. In that moment, he learned a number of things about Her Highness. He now knew that she was fond of tactful jesting and, from the words she spoke to him afterwards, that she had a sense of humor, herself. By that fact, he determined that she was not a completely conservative, rule-abiding young noblewoman, which would inevitably make his task of gaining her trust much simpler. Ah, if only father could see how devious he had become! He couldn’t wait to contact Morold later and tell him of his successes at the castle.

“Have no fear, My Lady,” Rivalen said in response to Roxanne’s ‘concern’ about dust bunnies. “I will see to it that she never lays eyes on a filthy room again, let alone an unwashed article of clothing.” [i]Not that you will have to worry about such things for very long,[/i] he added silently. The morbid joke brought him back to thinking about his real assignment in the palace. At the current rate by which he was progressing with the princess, he suspected that he would find an opportunity to catch her and her family alone sooner than he expected when he first arrived. If so, then he would have to start making plans concerning their murders early on as well. The thought was slightly disconcerting. He had been hoping to wait at least a few days before he had to truly begin making preparations. [i]A foolish expectation,[/i] he chided. [i]The sooner this is all over with, the better.[/i]

Rivalen then noticed that Alain was making threatening gestures at him from behind Roxanne. While his jesting had been welcomed by the princess, the official was not nearly so amused. He shot Alain an apologetic look and made a mental note to be more careful about letting his humor slip in the future. He didn’t want to be expelled from the castle for an out-of-place joke, after all. Morold would surely disown him if he did anything that stupid.

As Roxanne and Alain discussed the issue of his living quarters, Rivalen again contented himself with listening in silence. He had been curious about this as well, though it wasn’t a very high priority on his list. What kind of room did the king plan to give him? Would his room be near to the princess or would he be living among the other servants? Of course, concerning his plans, it made no difference where he slept at night, but he couldn’t help but wonder where his room was going to be. According to Roxanne, he was going to be taking over the quarters of someone named Maria.

Rivalen was just beginning to ponder who this ‘Maria’ was when he was startled from his thoughts by the sound of a deep, resonating chime. He looked up to see a tower in the distance with a strange looking circle on one side. It was patterned with notches at equally-spaced intervals and two lines of different lengths that extended outward from the center. After staring at the foreign design for a moment, he realized that it was a clock: something he had only heard about from his father. Supposedly nobles used them to tell time more accurately than ‘morning,’ ‘noon,’ and ‘night’ like the commoners did, but he couldn’t see how it worked. He would have to ask someone more knowledgeable about it later, but for now the clock remained a mystery to him.

Roxanne then announced that she would be showing Rivalen to his room on her way back to her own chambers and followed up by giving him a subtle warning that he should make arrangements to take care of duties that were better suited for a woman. Without waiting for a reply, she turned around and began walking back towards the castle, leaving both her attendant and guard to follow after her.

“I told you before, My Lady,” Rivalen said, trotting up to walk beside Roxanne. “I am no lecher. I only wish to see my princess taken care of, so I will have the proper arrangements made in due time. You have nothing to worry about.” He shot her a wry grin and lowered his voice, “Although, for this relationship to work, you’re going to have to put a bit more faith in me, Your Highness. You see, I don’t appreciate being tailed by [i]him[/i] all day.” He subtly tipped his head back towards Alain. “I don’t think he likes me very much, and I’d rather not be run through by his sword.”