The World Dragon's Heir

Chapter 703: Palace Culture

Dominic went to shower before breakfast, and casually opened the window to let in some fresh air to the rooms, which hadn’t been used in a while. They had been aired out for their arrival, but he liked the fresh air of Wistover, compared to the slightly polluted and stuffy air of the Capital.

But with the window open, his sensitive hearing could pick up the gossip of the servants below the room walking around the garden to get to their morning tasks.

"Did you hear about Duke Wavemates? The head maid came in to try to give the Princess a message, and he growled at her. Like fangs and everything, full draconic growl," one of the maids was whispering.

"I heard that he grows wings when he’s sleeping," the other agreed.

"That’s just silly, why would he grow wings? No, wait. Could it be that he gets all feral dragon protecting the Princess while she’s pregnant? That’s so hot. I need me a man like that."

The other maid laughed. "I thought that you would have been satisfied now that you’ve got yourself a man of your own, but you’re still aiming higher?"

There was a momentary pause, and then the other one replied in an even more hushed whisper.

"There is no harm in dreaming. Besides, with a husband like that, you’d need to be a Paladin just to survive the bedroom. Fun to dream about, but that’s it."

When Dominic came out of the shower, he noticed that the window in the bedroom was open as well, and the veiled maids were trying very hard not to laugh at what they had heard the Palace servants gossiping about.

"For the record, I will have you know that healing magic is not a strictly necessary part of this relationship. I have quite reliable self-recovery abilities," Dominic informed them with a sly smile.

That was the tipping point, and the veiled maids burst into laughter, which drew the attention of the ladies maids who had been sent up to help Alexis get ready for breakfast.

"My Lord, I do believe that the palace staff was concerned that the injuries might be aimed in the other direction," one of the veiled maids informed him.

"Pshaw. They clearly are not familiar with the Princess’ combat capabilities. Plus, my claws are retractable."

"Dominic! Stop giving the Palace Staff more to gossip about."

"Sorry, Dearest. How is the preparation coming?" He called back as the maid helped him into his coat.

"Give us another twenty minutes. Perhaps fifteen, the staff they sent is quite capable."

"Good enough for me. Is there anything that you need before we go down?"

"No, I got it all covered before I washed. Now, be a good dragon and go let the delivery in."

Dominic could hear someone walking in the hallway, but they were still too far away for Alexis to have heard them. She must just be so familiar with the timing that she knew before they even approached the guards at the door.

He opened the door, and Wilkes gave him a slight nod, then returned his attention to the man in the hallway. He had an armful of boxes, all marked with the Palace storage room’s emblem.

"Your Grace, I have the order for the Princess."

Dominic motioned for him to enter, and the deliveryman quickly began to arrange his cargo onto one of the side tables.

It all appeared to be random trinkets, and Dominic realized that they were gifts from the other Nobles to celebrate her pregnancy. There were dozens of them, but not as many as Dominic had feared they might be receiving.

"Alright, let’s get through breakfast, and back home to the chaos.

You’ve got so much work to do that we might not see each other for a year if it’s not on purpose." Alexis informed Dominic with a frown.

"Now, I’m sure that it won’t be that bad.

And if it is, I fully intend to just keep hiring more staff until it’s not. Besides, I’ve got a group of reliable mages to open portals, so I don’t have to spend weeks or months on tour of the territory."

The grey haired woman doing Alexis’ makeup laughed.

"Oh, child. You don’t understand yet, but you will. Dukes always need to manually tour their territory, not only so that everyone can see them and be reminded that they are there and open to mediating complaints, but so that they can lure bandits out of hiding.

Some of the bandit groups hide too well to hunt down with mercenaries, you have to send out something high value and lure them out of hiding to get rid of them."

"I wish that I could say that you were wrong, but you’re exactly right, and I should have remembered.

With the number of times that I came out of hiding to ambush groups of soldiers that were hunting for traces of my movements, I should have thought about the best way to lure out bandits right away."

The old woman smiled and patted Alexis’ shoulder. "You’re all done, dear. Ready to go eat. Give it a few seconds to set, no hanky-panky before breakfast."

The two clearly knew each other very well, Dominic decided.

Not only did she do the makeup exactly as Alexis liked it without constant input, she was also brave enough to joke with the Princess, when most of the junior staff would not dare to speak so openly with the Royals.

Alexis swept all the gifts into a storage item as she prepared to head to breakfast, linking arms with Dominic while the Royal Guard followed behind them, already fed and ready to face the day.

The old routines were easy for them to fall back into, as they had spent so many years in this wing of the Palace, and the Royal Family breakfast was a tradition.

The only real change was that as it was the King’s birthday, everyone had returned.

Well, everyone who could return.

Dominic noted that there were a few empty places at the table with the glasses turned down, reserved for the Royal Family members who had been assassinated within the last year during the invasion.

That tradition would continue for three years, and then the Royal Rankings would be officially adjusted to place everyone by their current position in the hierarchy.