Chapter 265 Not a guest, but a hostage
Christmas songs were still being blasted loudly in the air, coming out of different apartments and buildings. Everywhere one passed, they would hear the occasional 'merry Christmas or happy new year' greetings from happy strangers. Despite it being day and the two suns shining brightly, Christmas lights outside and inside were shining brightly. They were wrapped around artificial trees of different colors.
Carolyn and her people were certainly making a killing this season because the celebrations were in full swing and orders for trees and lights were still coming in. She was walking around with quite the smile on her face.
Scarlet smiled because Mina called it the 'I am getting some smile'. The smile was attributed more to Markey's presence than the impressive number of sales.
Just as she thought of Markey, Scarlet bumped into him outside of the maple leaf center. She was there because the baking tournament would be ended today and a winner would be picked. She was not sure why he was there so she acknowledged him with the nod of her head.?They were not very chummy because he had yet to apologize to her for sticking his nose where it did not belong.
After nodding at him, she stepped to the right and almost bumped into the giants hockey team mascot, a large green frog. It was not an actual frog but someone dressed in a frog costume. Mascots were very popular in every sport on the Blue star and the tradition had been picked up by the mecha fights but rather than soft animal mascots, they had robots.
"Sorry." She mumbled.
"No worries miss governor." The frog replied.
"Careful," Markey approached her and said with a smile, "You might kiss the frog and turn it into a prince."
She raised her eyebrow and smiled insincerely, "Ha-ha."
It seemed, he was attempting to make a reference to the fairy tale about the princess and the frog.
"Thanks for laughing at my poor attempt of a joke, It's admirable that you tried." He said.
She had slowly been moving toward the front tables were she would be taking one final look at the ingredients and giving the bakers some words of encouragement. However, it seemed to her like he wanted to hold a conversation so she stopped and turned around.
"What is it that you want your highness?" she asked in an unhappy voice. "I know that Carolyn is my sister but we look nothing like so if you are looking for her, you have the wrong sister. I also have no plans to get chummy with you anytime soon so you don't have to force yourself to talk to me. It will just make us both uncomfortable, as you can see I am going to be very busy today. Good day, you highness."
Markay looked uncomfortable, not having expected her to be so direct and rude to him. He enacted a sound barrier and sighed.
"Wait, it's not the appropriate time, I know, but I wanted to offer my sincerest apologies for what I did. By what I did, I mean coming at you rudely like that and interfering with your process of making amends to your sister. I should have kept my mouth out of it and my opinions to myself."
He looked apologetic and sounded apologetic but he seemed to be uncomfortable and out of place. This was probably one of the only few times a royal prince like him had apologized to a normal person like her.
"Hmph," she scoffed, "You don't have to force yourself to apologize you know, It almost looks like I am pulling a tooth out of your mouth. You have never apologized to a commoner, have you?"
He blushed slightly, and touched his ear. "I have not really spent much time around commoners. It was not until I came to the Blue star that I did such a thing. And honestly, I did it because of Esong and the others."
"I know the hierarchy your highness and I remember how you behaved when I first met you. You were very cold, standoffish, arrogant, rude and scary. I don't know how you succeeded in making my sister love you, not that the relationship between two consenting adults is my business. Thank you for apologizing anyway; it is a positive step in interactions between us in future." Nothing good would come out of alienating a royal prince who was possibly the future emperor and husband to her sister. Just as she had been forgiven by her family and Esong, she could forgive others as well.
He sighed, in relief and then said, "I should warn you about something but you didn't hear this from me. So, a Xenoan ship landed in the capital last night. I am sure that it will be all over the news soon. On the surface, they are coming for a peace mission and to establish a relationship but in reality, they are coming to test the waters. It has not been admitted out loud but their princess is a hostage here because she drugged a general of our empire, your husband. The emperor thinks she was trying to spy and extract information from him."
"Ha!" Scarlet said, "So that is why he sent her here? Is my planet a prison world? He sent the floozy that tried to seduce my husband to me and claimed that she was here to relax and sightsee. If she had come with royal guards the Xenoans would be picking her up in a body bag."
She had been trying to seduce Elroy ever since she got here. The pimples on her face were obviously not punishment enough.
"When should I send her packing back to the capital?" Scarlet asked with a smile.
Markay shook his index finger back and forth, letting her know that she was wrong. "You are asking the wrong question sister-in-law, it should be, when will the Xenoans be landing here on the Blue star?"
"Why would they come here?" She asked. They came for their princess, she should be sent to them.
"That's because the emperor does not want them anywhere close to the center of our empire. If they can control minds somehow, then it will be easy for them to gain access to the core secrets of our empire by controlling one of the ministers or my brothers and sisters. He can't send them to the green star or the yellow star because they have energy stone, gem mines and other important strategic resources. The Red star is out of question because we might have Xenoan prisoners there and spark a new war unknowingly. The grey star is too poor and rough so naturally, only the Blue star remains."
"So we are not important." She took offense to his words, or the emperor's logic.
"No, on the contrary, the Blue star is now beautiful, organized, and important but most importantly Esong and I are here.?My father trusts that we will handle the Xenoans if they try anything clever.?If they are genuine, then he hopes that they will see the blue star as a sign of a progressing empire and future trade."
"Okay, got it. We will make the proper arrangements to host the unwanted guests." she said.
But as she moved, he followed her.
"What, is there more?" she asked him.
"No, I am going where you are because I am one of the judges, surprise." he smiled.
She sighed, looked forward and kept walking.
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