Ixion walked out of his chambers with Zabaniyah in tow.
Upon spotting the pair, Lord Chamberlain Sebastian felt like he was about to piss his pants.
'What the hell?!'
Very few knew about Zabaniyah's existence, and even fewer lived with that knowledge.
Sebastian was one of the unlucky few who'd witnessed Zabaniyah before and learned she was the enigmatic head of the Royal Assassins.
The same figure responsible for countless assassinations of a wide array of profiles. From poor to rich, the Royal Assassins spared none for a mission, and she was their leader.
Her identity was cursed knowledge; possessing it was grounds for execution. Sebastian had been able to survive before by showcasing his 'unwavering' loyalty to the King.
'Did I mess up?!'
For Zabaniyah to be openly walking with the King was like announcing that someone was about to die.
Was King Ixion mad at him for calling for Lady Laura when he took the gold? Something else?
Or had Ixion simply decided it was Sebastian's last day on the job, and well, ever!
The look on Sebastian's face was enough to know that he didn't feel excluded from that list, no matter how much faith he showed the King.
Sebastian looked toward the two guards, Roland and Pipel. The two looked nervous and confused. After all, a woman walked out who'd never walked in, and anyone would be unnerved in the King's horrifying presence, but it was clear they didn't know the true gravity of the situation.
'These poor guys don't even know the danger their lives are in!'
King Ixion took a few paces out of the room with a confident look on his face, and Sebastian slowly closed the door behind him. As he closed the door, he accidentally locked gazes with the Head Royal Assassin.
'Shit! I'm dead!'
Sebastian shivered and then drew upon his remaining meager confidence to address the King, who could kill him with a fingertip.
"Y-your majesty, where are you off to?"
King Ixion's sharp blue eyes flowed like water as he looked at the guards, then straight into Sebastian's eyes.
Instead of answering him, the King shouted nonsensically:
"Ah! Who shall I split my magnificent cake with?"
'Oh, no… he's lost it again!'
Sebastian only prayed he survived whatever the King had planned.
"Seb! Would you like some cake?!"
Sebastian half stepped back and color drained from his face.
'Huh… Seb?'
Beyond the name…
'This is a terrible situation!'
King Ixion had framed that question awfully with no regard for this poor chamberlain!
If Sebastian said he didn't want cake provided by the King, then he'd be committing an act of treachery by refusing the King's will.
If Sebastian accepted wanting the cake, the way King Ixion said it framed it as Sebastian asking to have cake with the King, another punishable offense!
Not only that, but if the King was eating something, there was a high chance it was poisoned!
Sebastian mulled his words, then spit them out with grace and a slight bow:
"I'd like any cake provided by Your Majesty."
Ixion shouted:
"Good, good! Then let us be off to the kitchen!" Ixion's flippant gaze dropped on the guards again. "Oh, and, you two, fetch the jester and new maid with the bird, tell them to meet us in the dining hall."
'Phew…'
Sebastian breathed a sigh of relief that the King's madness manifested bloodlessly so far.
But Zabaniyah's exposure didn't bode well for Sebastian at all…
'Wait, he announced he's leaving in a year just earlier…'
Now he and his most dangerous ally, the one he always kept hidden, are walking about.
Sebastian gulped as he put one foot in front of the other, but his mind was elsewhere.
'Oh gods…'
He attempted to decipher the lunatic's intentions and shivered upon a cold revelation.
'Is he going to kill us all before he leaves?!'
That was usually the fate for anyone who witnessed Zabaniyah, and Sebastian had barely lived the first time!
Sebastian shuddered as the one-eyed assassin looked at him with a wide grin.
***
Ixion looked down at the Lord Chamberlain as he walked.
'What's got his panties in a bunch? I merely asked if he wanted cake!'