Welcome to Gaia! ::

Jacques bowed, smiling brightly, "I will let you ready for the day out. I will call for a carriage to be readied."

Jacques left the room and had to fight to hide a frown. He could sense he uneasiness and he wondered how he would fix that. As he was puzzling over the situation, he smirked internally. It had been a while since anything was a challenge to him.

Jacques met Mikari outside her room, still wearing a large, friendly smile that charmed almost everyone. He held out an arm to her, asking, "Are you ready?"

The carriage was ready and waiting at the palace gates. Jacques planned for a pleasant day in his kingdom, introducing her to all his loyal subjects. And then they would stop for a picnic somewhere. He smirked internally.

Jacques kept his pleasant smile in place but he could feel her discomfort. So far, he had pretended to have a blind eye to Mikari's discomfort. She didn't hide it very well and she kept to herself mostly. The servants around her were wary of her. She was a foreigner from a country that every one had only heard rumors about, whispers of magic and darkness. They had been relieved when they had lain eyes upon her but that quickly changed when she kept to her lonesome. Nothing indicated that she could use magic or was dark or dangerous but the people of the palace were not used outsiders.

Jaqcues held a hand out to her to help her into the carriage.

"I hope you can learn to love this kingdom as I do." he said pleasantly.

Jacques sat across Mikari in the carriage, smiling pleasantly. He kept his eye on her but beneath the friendly exterior, he was coldly observing her. He knew of her homeland. A long time ago, he had visited that place and had learned much there. But it was not a place he wanted to stay in despite the fact that he fit in there much better than the kingdom he hailed from.

"Are you comfortable?" he asked.

Jacques continued to smile at her, paying little attention to the world outside the carriage. Their first destination was not far. It was a small village but it was well off. Jacques had decided not to bring her to the less well-off places of the kingdom that had slowly started to grow since the very beginning of his reign.

Jacques wondered for a moment what he wanted to do with his bride-to-be. His last wife had lived comfortably if a bit distant to him. She was one of his luckier wives. Some had lived in terror of him but not a single person in the castle ever believed he could be anything but a loving husband.

The little town was pleasant and there were enough trees for most of it to be to be shaded. The plan was to bring them closer and closer to the dark forest. It seemed appropriate to introduce her to the place where he had spent so much time and the place the true prince now resided.

"This town is wealthy but there are those that are not so fortunate. I will introduce you to those another day, perhaps." Jacques said, still smiling at her.

The rest of the day was spent in relative silence. Mikari was turning out to be very interesting indeed. Jacques could feel the hate for him and enjoyed it. Twisted though it was, Jacques was very bored of everyone loving him. That was why with many of his past wives, he had let them know his true nature. Some of them had gone mad or others had considered them mad. It was always interesting to watch the situation pan out.

Jacques had spent all day considering whether to share his secret. The approached the dark forest. If he were to tell her, he would have to do it far from any prying ears. He held out his hand to her to help her out of the carriage and informed the driver that they would be taking a small stroll.