A Time of Tigers - From Peasant to Emperor

Chapter 610 The Day Before The Mission - Part 4

Lancelot could tell that he was being made fun of. He allowed a thin smile that held no humour. "Or perhaps the next time you decide to foil such an over-the-top assassination attempt, you should leave less of a mess. Perhaps don't crack a skull against the wall? I heard that three guards lost the contents of their stomachs upon seeing it. I struggled to retain it myself."

"He told me that he had all sorts of secrets locked inside his head," Oliver said, "I thought if I opened it, I'd see if he was right." Stay connected via My Virtual Library Empire

Lancelot held his gaze for a little too long. Oliver's smile was just a little bit too strong. It was hard to tell whether he was joking or not. Lancelot shivered. "You have a taste for violence. It would seem that allying ourselves with you was a poor move after all."

"There are worse men than me, Lancelot," Oliver said, "especially for violence."

He had Greeves in mind. If he had the power to, Greeves would do far worse than Oliver had. Oliver had only done the bare minimum.

"I do not doubt there are," Lancelot said, "but none of those men are near my Lady. You are, however unfortunate that might be. I would have that you restrain yourself. Do not sully her with your ways."

"It is certainly not my intention to change your Lady, Lancelot," Oliver said honestly. "Were she any different, I would be a dead man."@@@@

"Are you two arguing already?" Asabel's voice echoed down the corridor, as they heard her feet on the tiles, marching towards them. She got there too quickly. Oliver turned around, and she was right there, in front of him, as dazzling as Claudia herself.

It was such a targeting arrow that it could have come from Nila. He felt Lancelot jab him in the arm in annoyance, and only then did he remember to move.

"Don't be foolish," Asabel said with a laugh. "Our beloved Oliver stood down a whole room of enemies and did not flinch. Do not pretend I hold even the slightest sway over him."

"Which room full of enemies was this?" Oliver asked, recovering himself, managing a small smile as he stepped back out of her way.

She laughed even more warmly this time, as she shook her head, and followed him inside, her little canine tooth showing beneath her lip. "I should not laugh," she caught herself, but she was still smiling. "It is a terrible thing that you've been in multiple rooms full of enemies of late."

"And look who rescued me," Oliver said, "the stunning Princess Asabel." It was the only way he could find to hit the elephant in the room, just as Lancelot and Verdant had. Disguising it as a joke, he swept his arm and gave her a bow.

"Save you?" Asabel said. She didn't laugh this time. "I hope that's not the way you see it."

He looked up, surprised to find a refutation there. "Did you not?" He asked. "I doubt I'd have secured more than a single vote if not for your intervention."

"In a just world, you would never have been in that position in the first place," Asabel said firmly. "I did not save you. No – it would be ludicrous for me to say so. It was the shameful machinations of royalty that had you chained up. I merely did my duty. I ask that you see that for what it was."