The King's Mistress

Chapter 170: Gift Exchange

A servant came up next to Alistair. In his hands, was an ornate rectangular box. The box was long and flat. Sierra furrowed her eyebrows as she took a closer look when Alistair had it in his hands.

As soon as he unlatched it, she gasped in shock and surprise. The shining metal gave the contents of the box away. Alistair could not help but smile with pride when he saw the look on Sierra’s face. fгee𝑤ebɳoveɭ.cøm

This was the moment he had been waiting for.

"You..." Sierra could not find the right words to say. She looked up at him with a glimmer in her eyes.

Everyone around them wondered what sort of gift she had received from Alistair. Those who were near enough could barely see it. They craned their necks for a better look at the contents of the box.

"Did you... did you make..."

"Yes, I forged them myself," Alistair eagerly replied before she could finish asking, "Do you like them?"

"I love them, my dear," she whispered to him, almost mouthing it, afraid others would hear.

The sense of pride and satisfaction in Alistair’s heart was indescribable.

"May I?" Sierra asked as she held out her hands, ready to remove the item from the box.

"Of course, they’re all yours, Sweetling. I hope they serve you well."

She picked up the first blade, feeling the weight of it in her hands. She admired all the details, the craftsmanship. She did not know Alistair knew how to forge weapons.

He had presented her with a pair of twin blades, similar to the ones she carried with her on the daily. She lifted the blade up high, as an audible gasp of horror swept through the throne room.

For a moment, some thought she had raised a blade against Alistair. But that sentiment quickly faded away when they realized it was their King’s gift to his Paramount.

Still, gifting a weapon on such an occasion was frowned upon. But who would dare speak against the King?

Both blades were identical, the only difference was the gemstones on the center of the hilt, and the ones used for the eyes. The hilt of the blades was of a dragon and snake intertwined together.

Feeling the weight of both blades, she could tell they were well balanced and relatively lightweight. The metal used must have been a fusion of different types, for it had a unique greyish hue.

Sierra placed the swords back in the box and received them from Alistair with glee. A maid was by her side to receive the box while Ida stood on her right with her gift.

"We seemed to have been on the same page," Sierra said softly to Alistair as she took the gift she had prepared from Ida.

Her maid could barely hold it, it stood as tall as her, covered in cloth wrappings. From the shape of it, Alistair seemingly guessed what it could be.

"I couldn’t find a box that would fit it," Sierra mused as she quickly removed the cloth wrappings.

It was a double-bladed polearm, with twin dragons carved onto the main staff. Alistair picked up with one hand.

Sierra had wrecked her brains trying to figure out the perfect gift for a King who had everything. Making something herself was the only suitable answer. With Vy’s help with the metals and gemstones, she was able to produce the double-bladed weapon.

It was no easy feat. But when she heard from Roxine that this was Alistair’s preferred weapon of choice, she knew she had to make one for him. She was prepared to hear all the negative comments about it from the nobility.

She tried her best not to let it affect her mood, but it proved to be difficult.

"Has she lost her mind? Giving the King something like that?"

"That’s it? I guess the rumors were true. She must be poor."

"Disrespectful."

However, she pushed it all to the back of her mind. The look on Alistair’s face, the look of surprise and amazement was all she needed. Nothing else mattered.

"You’ve outdone yourself, sweetling," Alistair mused.

He could not stop admiring all the details in it. Sierra had put in a lot of work to make it perfect, and it did not disappoint. She beamed with pride with his praise.

~

With the completion of the ceremony, came the ceremonial dinner. Cassandra, Agnes, and Sierra were introduced with their new titles. With it, each of them had gained a tiara.

As soon as Cassandra and Agnes entered the ballroom, they were swarmed by family and nobles congratulating them. When Sierra entered, she was only surrounded by friends.

It was well within her expectation so she paid it no mind. After all, she was well aware that the nobles of Drakin were not particularly fond of her. Still, a select few did come up to greet her.

"Congratulations, Paramount Sierra," a well-dressed young lady came up to Sierra with a glass of wine in her hand.

"Thank you," Sierra replied politely as Ida whispered in her ear to inform her of who the lady was.

"Countess Vannie, right?"

"Yes, just Vannie will do, Your Grace," Vannie replied.

Sierra smiled, "If we’re dispensing titles, just call me Sierra. Your family business is in wine, is that correct?"

The lady nodded, "Yes we’ve been wine merchants for generations. But it was my mother who decided it was time to grow our own and here we are."

"Owning one of if not the largest vineyard in all of Drakin. Some dare say in the region? Very impressive, Vannie." Sierra praised.

Vannie was caught off guard by her praise. She did not realize that Sierra would know so much about her family. She knew Sierra only knew her name because Ida had whispered it to her.

But the maid most certainly would not have known in such detail about her family’s business.

"Is something wrong, Vannie? I do apologize if I might have offended you in any way," Sierra quickly added when she saw the change in her expression.

"Not at all. I should be the one to apologize, I simply did not expect you to know so much about my family."

Sierra chuckled, "Let’s just say I enjoy learning more about the outliers amongst the nobility."

She continued to confess while glancing over to the nobles who were chatting away with Cassandra, "I think my best chances of survival are most certainly not with them."

Sometimes, she admired the way Cassandra and Agnes could hold a conversation with the nobility and ministers who approached them. Sierra never enjoyed the interactions nor did she know what to say.

She did not have any common topics of discussion with them.

Vannie laughed along with her.