Scarlet's Awakening

Talon heeded his master's command and opened the door wider for the newcomers to enter. With both his hands behind his back, Jasper stepped inside like a little gentleman and behind him Anselme followed.

"Uhhh." Scarlet was suddenly taken aback when Jasper picked the sleeping Red off of her l.a.p by the back of his neck. Red was awaken from his sleep and his struggling little body was tossed on Eireen's l.a.p. He landed with a thump and Eireen flinched when the crimson fox landed on her l.a.p.

Jasper turned his attention back to her. "...Fur." He mumbled as he brushed away the remaining fur on Scarlet's l.a.p. After that, he climbed up without struggling and sat on her l.a.p like it was his rightful place in the world.

Seeing that his favourite bed was taken away from him, Red growled. His golden eyes glowing with hostility towards Jasper. This little brat! How dare he take his place on her majesty's lap!

On the other hand, Jasper was enjoying the feeling of satisfaction of sitting on his wife's l.a.p too much to notice the crimson creature that was glaring at him.

"Red, it's okay..." Seeing the angry fox, Scarlet tried to console him but the crimson fox didn't seem to hear her. So she tried again.

"Red, don't be angry anymore okay? I'll let you sleep on my l.a.p later. How about that?" That seemed to have gotten through Red since he suddenly became quiet.

Scarlet smiled. "Do we have a deal?"

Red's golden eyes lit up with glee and his head nodded vigorously in expectation of her promise.

Scarlet then felt Jasper's eyes on her so she looked at him. His dark oceanic eyes met with hers and she saw that his pink little lips was pouting in dissatisfaction towards her.

"What?" she asked.

Jasper rolled his eyes. "Tsk."

Scarlet frowned. "What?" she asked again, but louder this time.

Jasper's face returned to it's normal emotionless state and casually said. "I waited for you to come visit me this morning."

Anselme glanced at his master. It may sound casual to Scarlet's ears since his tone was calm and monotonous. But for Anselme who served Jasper for so long, he knew that his master was complaining his wife.

"Oh! Right. I forgot to tell you that I had already arranged to meet with the Scarlet Order so I had to see them first... I'm really sorry."

The Scarlet Order watched Scarlet and Jasper interact in front of them and their expressions turned gloomy especially Eigeel and Eireen since they couldn't accept the fact that their queen was being casually talked to without honorifics.

Jasper peered into Scarlet's dark translucent eyes to see if she was being genuine with her apology towards him. When he looked at her, she didn't look away and stared back at him instead.

Ten seconds went by and Jasper confirmed that she was really telling him the truth so he gave up and broke eye contact with her.

"Very well. To compensate me, you will be spending time with me after this." he said and he wasn't asking. It was an order and Scarlet couldn't say no since she kinda felt like she had to take responsible for making him feel like she forgot him. But first she had to make sure that she didn't have any appointments afterwards. She turned towards her ever-so-reliable aide, Eigeel.

"Uhm. Do I have an appointment after this, Eigeel?"

"...You'll be free once this meeting is over, your majesty" he answered after a long pause and secretly gave Jasper a swift but very hostile glance. Scarlet didn't even notice it.

Jasper's dark oceanic eyes narrowed into slits as he eyed Eigeel who was now fixing his monocle. It was clear that this man name Eigeel doesn't like him very much. Is he perhaps aiming for his wife's affection as well?

Scarlet cleared her throat behind him.

"Uhmm... Jasper?"

"...Yes?"

"Are you planning to stay and listen to our meeting?" she asked him.

Jasper's expression turned dark. "Are you driving me away?"

Scarlet frowned. "Huh? Of course not. I just thought you might feel bored while listening to our discussion. You can amuse yourself in the gardens if you want."

Jasper leaned his back to her c.h.e.s.t and crossed his arms in front of his c.h.e.s.t. "No need. I'm going to stay here with you so don't mind me and continue your meeting."

Scarlet shrugged and nodded afterwards. "Okay..."

The meeting continued on and the next agenda was about the condition of the kingdom and the plans to do next now that Scarlet's awake. Eigeel did a brief report about the rebels forces plans to attack Donatel tomorrow. It also seems that Eigeel already assigned Eireen to take care of the matter.

The rebel forces came to be one hundred years before her awakening. Some of the lower nobles grew restless of her absence and pushed for a temporary leader to rule the kingdom. Unfortunately for them, the power and influence of the Scarlet Order didn't wane after 400 years of maintaining the kingdom without her. To cut down those scheming nobles, Eigeel acted in her stead and executed them all after determining those traitors. Marcemus and Teofolos are the last of those nobles who were able to escape their execution. Together with their followers, they bided their time and grew their numbers. They did small guerilla attacks on the kingdom's military supplies to feed themselves but their success could only be counted by her hand since Gehenna's always been renowned for it's military strength.

Anyway, Donatel is one of the 3 recognized territories that had average defensive capabilities against invaders since they were a little bit far from the capital and the borders guards. Since the small city seemed to be abundant with food and it was the only one nearest to the rebel forces hideout, Marcemus and Teofolos might have thought that attacking it would gain them an advantage. Sadly they were against the most cunning and merciless strategist in the kingdom and Eigeel seemed to be toying with them, like a cat playing with a mouse, from the way he was smirking while reporting to Scarlet that everything is under his 'complete' control.