Slaine Archibald
Where the hell did she run off to?
If one was observing him with a keen eye and was excellent at deducing a person's feeling from the most subtle of hints, they would have not had to look hard to see that Slaine was not in a happy mood, though he didn't seem to have anything but a sour face on as of recent anyways. He looked around the castle's first floor, poking his head into room after room, looking for his so-called wife or at least her servant, but found her to be nowhere he'd ever consider looking. Of course, that one place was the library, so when he finally called out to a guard, despite wishing to find her on his own originally, he could only clench his fists in irritation when it was said that she should have been in said library.
Do dogs even read? Why would she even be there? Figures it's the one place on this floor I don't bother to look in!
However, Slaine noted that the feeling in his chest, the pain, dampened a bit when he was finally sure of her location. That definitely meant that he was feeling upset that he had not done anything to punish her for essentially ruining his life for being born, of course! As Slaine approached the door to the library, he noticed someone standing just outside of it.
"Salia." he acknowledge her presence. He hadn't spoke to her since her odd bout in the garden, though he had noticed her silently following him, likely doing her job to make sure nothing happened to him, just with more distance than usual. Slaine figured that was because she was feeling bad about how she spoke to him earlier, and forgave her.
"Slaine." replied, looking at him with dull eyes. She didn't seem to have any particular feeling in her facial expression. She was just standing there as if she were a guard. "The princess is inside." she told him, as if she knew what he was going to ask. She did not continue nor say anything else, despite Slaine having a feeling she wanted to.
But he ignored that. She was acting weird, claiming that he was acting strange was strange itself. Of course he would act different around the person who robbed him of the one thing he could enjoy. And to say it wasn't pure hatred for this princess was a lie, probably. "Good." he said, wordlessly waiting for her to open the door for him. She did, and waited for him to enter before closing the door behind them. Salia waited near the door as Slaine entered the library, not initially seeing the princess because a large bookshelf hid her from his perspective.
This library is rather excessive, isn't it?
Slaine did not see the need for such a big room full of books. In truth, nobody in his family seem to read enough to warrant it, save his elder brother, but even then, such a big room was way too much in Slaine's opinion. But here the mutt was, a book in her hands with the obvious intention on reading it. He was genuinely curious as to if she could even read or not. Slaine could, of course, but that did not mean he cared much to read. But how entertaining would it be if she wanted to read but could not? Yet another contrast between them.
"I do hope you are being careful with those, Princess." Slaine noticed that as he began to approach her, the feeling in his chest was disappearing. He must really like teasing more than he thought. "Some of the books aren't replaceable, so were you to tear or otherwise harm them.... well, even your status as a princess would do you little good." he warned with a grin on his face. "But I guess I should not be expecting you to have your paws on those books. They're fairly advanced, after all."