Chapter Text
"No."
The word was almost harsh in tone, not something he tended to hear out of his King, and he lingered by the door. He had not gone to court with him that morning, had instead been told to meet him there at the next hour. He had a few minutes left before he was to go to his King's side, and he took them to listen, as he ever listened for his King.
"Your Highness, you are fully aware as I am that it should be perfectly permissible. Do the Temples not do the same when they feel it their urge? Does that not cry for something between nobles as well?" The tone was aggravated, not a voice he was terribly familiar with, but too arrogant, much too arrogant to be speaking with his King.
"That is why slaves exist Visconti Tremare. If you feel the need to debase a female, find one that has no owner, or is at your price range. Do not terrorize those free in your lands and claim it your right. You were deeded nothing by the gods, and those within the Temples are none of your concern. They rule their own world, as you well know." Though still, it was his King who answered and no other, and he slid the half step so he could look in without being seen.
The man was red in the face, clearly struggling to say something, to get past his apparent anger at being denied. The man was young, and when he opened his mouth, he was cut off by the cold stare his King was giving him.
"Leave, lest I strip you of what lands you hold. They are not your right beyond accident of birth, and such an action would be well within mine." The tone, which had caught his attention as he'd arrived, had turned back to his normal level chill, the reassuring force that kept others away.
The man, a Visconti apparently, knew a threat and paled. He also clenched his fists in a way that he didn't approve of at all. He had no right to be angry with the King! "King Sephiroth, I am a good ruler over those on my lands, you have no honor to think to deprive them of me."
"Tremare, you are low within the ranks of nobility. If you cannot behave as a noble should, then you ought be removed from your place. Think well, and I will be listening. Leave."
The fists tightened, but the man turned, finally seeing him as he gave the King such blatant disrespect, and he found himself on the receiving end of a glare. Pretending he noticed nothing and heard nothing, he moved into the room.
"Amethyst, to my side."
When he went, he didn't miss the way the man barely refrained from striking at him in passing. He was sure his King had seen, but he would tell him none the less. He, ultimately, held a higher rank than that man in this court.
But he was young, he would learn. If he didn't, then the King would do as kings did. He would deal with it.