<h4>Chapter 8: The marriage will hold.</h4>


    King Raff, on his majestic throne was looking down at eldest his son that was stubbornly ring back at him. As soon as his son marched into the throne room, he had asked Duke Thorin to step out so that father and sons could have a private talk.


    Rnd was panting lightly, giving off sparks of anger as if at any moment he would explode. The King knew exactly what it was that his son wanted to discuss and even before he could say it out loud he decided to stop him.


    "No." he said firmly.


    "I have not said what it is that i desire." Rnd replied, with his fists clenched.


    King Raff knew his son Rnd just as Rnd knew his father, the two could read one another and understand what each wanted from the other without a single verbalmunication being passed between them.


    "This marriage arrangement is beneficial for both families, us more than the Thorin''s. I have already heard from your mother that you had a private meeting with the youngdy and you happened to be inappropriately dressed.


    Regardless of your status as the crown prince, the duke wille for you once word of this reaches his ears. His grand daughter''s reputation..."


    "What reputation?" Rnd barked. "She has the worst reputation of all the maidens in Eldoria. I am the one that should be protesting his innocence, she peeked at me it was not the other way round."


    The king dismissed Rnd''s appeal and im to innocence. "Nevertheless, it has already happened and I for one am truly grateful for Sigrid''s mistake. With your marriage, the throne is ten times stronger, once you have an heir..."


    "Ha!" Rndughed. "If I ever have a child with Sigrid Thorin, I will run through the city as naked as I was on the day I was born."


    "Ooh.." Benjamin tilted his head with a mysterious cheeky smile on his face.


    He wanted to say more but the warning look shot his way by the king firmly stopped him.


    Benjamin Maximus was the joker of the family, he was already to make a smart retort on everything. His problem was that he always failed to know when to pick and choose his moments. This was not the moment for his smart mouth to say something stupid.


    Even though he could not say a word, Benjamin took note of his brother''s words. Should the day evere when Sigrid happened to have a child for his brother, he would remind him of this moment and his words.


    "Go to your fief and make arrangements for the arrival of your bride, the wedding is in two days. You are dismissed." King Rnd said.


    His softly deliveredmand left no room for Rnd to reply, even he could see that his father had made up his mind.


    "Yes, your majesty." Rnd bowed politely.


    Rnd and Benjamin left the castle, the angry groom to be walked with angry clomping strides. The metallic trinkets on his boots making a ruckus as he walked.


    He frightened a young maid that was carrying a basket ofundry, she squealed and the basket went flying up. Rnd did not stop to help or apologize, Benjamin, the sweetest prince of all the king''s sons did.


    He saved the maid from tumbling to the ground by grabbing her waist with one hand and saving the closed basket with his other hand.


    The little maid''s heart fluttered wildly, Benjamin Maximus was not only handsome but he had a devil''s smile to match.


    He was a rogue that had charmed his way into many innocent hearts and many not so innocentdies bedrooms.


    "I apologize for Rnd, he can be rude at times. I hope you are not injured, it would be a shame for a beautiful woman like you to suffer pain." he said, and winked.


    "Its...I...prince...." the maid spoke in nervous whispers, blushing like many of the young maids that worked in the castle did whenever they interacted with prince Benjamin.


    Benjamin put her back on her feet upright and heughed lightly. He took after his brother that had already found his way to the royal stables.


    "Where are you going Rnd?"


    Rnd climbed onto the back of his fierce horse. "To look for a fight and then a tavern, then another fight and another tavern."


    His horse that was named lightning storm, to match it''s fierce wildness reared back, neighed loudly and set off at extraordinary speed.


    Benjamin shrugged at the stable boys that had been trying unsessfully to brush the horse''s coat before the crown prince showed up and took it''s reins.


    "He is having a bad day." he told them.


    He set out on his horse, following his brother out of the castle. The two brothers were followed by a group of sword knights numbering up to two dozen. Majority of these elite knights served as personal guards of the crown prince.


    They rode quickly and fiercely, passing the a small caravan of six horse carriages that was moving at a rather slow pace. In the middle of the caravan, in thergest carriage which was luxurious looking, Sigrid was peeking out from behind a curtain.


    She barely caught a glimpse of Rnd who passed by her carriage without pausing or looking back to notice her.


    Sigrid would not have noticed him anyway, she was lost in her own thoughts, marveling at the pampered life which the original body had been living.


    The mini caravan of carriages which went with her everywhere was equal to convoy of six luxury cars on modern earth. Her carriage especially was extremely luxurious, it was adorned with rich deep colors, velvet cushions, and the floor lined with a soft white carpet.


    The carriage was built from fine brown rose wood which was polished to a gleaming finish. Real gold had been melted to make ornaments and patterns of the Thorin family g on the outside.


    The curtains that framed the windows were made from the finest silk, there was a small table in the center on which exotic purplevender flowers.


    The smell of the flowers filled the air, there pleasant scent calming her even when she was not calm.


    "Too much, it''s too much." Sigrid whispered.


    Across from her, one of her personal maids, Lanai crinkled her small nose. Herdy had been muttering things to herself ever since she stepped into the carriage. The poor maid was afraid that herdy had lost her mind because she was finally going to marry the crown prince.


    Sigrid was not even thinking about Rnd or the marriage, her mind was calcting how much wealth the Thorin had. If she had to price this carriage in dors, it would easily cost at least three hundred thousand dors.


    Did the Thorin''s have that much money to throw away? Then again, in the novel, one of the reasons why the fake female lead took down the Thorin family was because she discovered their secret wealth.


    They had a few gold mines that they never reported to the royal family. In Eldoria, the royal family owned fifty percent of all silver, gold, diamond, copper and other special gem mines.


    It did not matter if the mine was on thend of another family, as long as it existed, byw the royal family was entitled to half of it.


    Emmah had found the Thorin family''s gold mines and reported this to the king through the third prince. The Thorin''s had been stripped of their nobility and mademoners.


    The king was pleased and he had rewarded Emmah with two of the mines and he gave her one hundred percent of the ownership.


    Sigrid scoffed, nobody had ever taken a coin out of her pocket and Emmah would not be the first.


    "Mission aplished, host receive your rewards." Sigrid heard in her mind and she was drawn out of her thoughts.


    "Tell me Rnd''s secret first." she replied.