A Night With The King

“You don’t get a break until you meet with your wife-to-be, the prime minister, the minister of health, and also the ruler of the neighboring kingdom so you can only get a break by maybe nine or ten today,”

Patrick listed out his schedule for the day. Surprisingly, aside from his supposed wife-to-be, he wanted to meet with the others he mentioned. Which was so not like him, he always hated the meetings and only met with those people because he had to for things to be done. Maybe because he had a good night’s rest and he wasn’t hungover for once, he couldn’t help the smile that formed.

“What are you smiling about? Are you suddenly excited to meet your wife-to-be?”

Patrick asked. Way to ruin his mood.

“Don’t push it, Patrick, I can tell you that woman has nothing to do with my smile. In fact, the thought of her is enough for me not to smile for a whole week,”

He replied as he walked away from Patrick to his bathroom. He didn’t want Roseline in his space so he had to be at the dining table before she got to the palace and he had just about twenty-five minutes to do that. He hurriedly took a shower in hopes of taking a proper one once he returned and walked out of the restroom naked with his towel in hand. Patrick already picked out his outfit for the day and all he had to do was put them on and make sure they were okay and off they went.

“How long do I have to pretend to be into what she is saying?”

Lance asked as they walked towards the dining area.

“About one hour because you have to be in the throne room to receive the other ruler,”

He disclosed. One whole hour to spend with that crazy woman.

“Right, can we reduce it to thirty minutes, I don’t want to stay that long in her present,”

He requested.

“No can’t do that, you have a lot to answer for and your wedding is close, it is time you guys get familiar with each other because whether you like it or not, it is customary for you guys to spend the first full month of your marriage together, you have to get used to her,”

Patrick informed. Not like Lance wasn’t aware which is why he should call the whole thing off as soon as possible. He already made up his mind that he wasn’t going to go through with the plan of marrying her but until he can speak with the elders, he just needs to play along.

“One hour it is then,”

He said as he walked into the dining area and was greeted by everyone there. Peck of being the king was that he didn’t need to respond to their greetings, he just took his seat and requested for the newspaper to be passed to him. He only got into reading the morning papers because he needs to know what was going on in the kingdom and also around the world. There was nothing exciting in the papers so he dropped it and looked over to where Patrick stood giving the others instructions. If Sophie had not been in trouble, she would have been one of the maids right now, the only one who would have had a genuine smile on. One of the many reasons he had gotten so used to her was that she always managed to smile genuinely no matter what she was made to do. If and when he can clear her name, hopefully, she is innocent like she claims, then maybe he would make an exception for her and let her have her baby in the palace, give her some time to get back, and then she can continue working in the palace. There were plenty of places where she could live peacefully with her baby within the palace while she worked. He knew it wasn’t a good idea but things have to change somehow, he wasn’t the one that made the rules that the palace workers can’t have kids around. Maybe it was time to change that because it was clear to him that Sophie had nowhere else to go and also, she might not want the child’s father involved or maybe the man doesn’t want to be involved. It might be the reason she refused to reveal his identity. Lance’s eyes met Patrick and the man frowned, if only he knew just what he was thinking about, his frown would be deeper.

“When is she going to show up? I can’t just sit in front of breakfast waiting for her to show up,”

Lance let out and Patrick walked close to him.

“I am sorry my king but the princess canceled because something urgent came up,”

Patrick revealed. It was good news for Lance as he didn’t want to eat with her in the first place but he couldn’t show it as it might come out as odd to the people in the dining room with him.

“What happened?”

He asked as if he was concerned.

“She didn’t say, she just said to tell you that she was sorry and she would make it up to you next time,”

Patrick told him. Lance scoffed. The last thing he needed was her making anything up with him.

“She doesn’t have to, I can eat now, right?”

He asked and Patrick nodded. Without saying another word, Lance ate his breakfast after which he went to the throne room to receive the ruler from the neighboring kingdom who was the same age as his late father and expected him to address him as father. Lance made sure to make it clear he wasn’t going to do that. After the meeting with the ruler, he met with the minister of health to discuss the problem the health sector was facing, the meeting lasted longer than he had thought, it took the rest of the morning and almost all part of the afternoon but it was fruitful and they came to a good conclusion that would favor both the poor and rich of the kingdom.

Lance was beyond exhausted after he met with the Minister of Health but then he still had to meet with the prime minister who arrived about an hour ago, he took a short break to eat before the next meeting which was a closed-door meeting started. By the time he finished and checked his time, it was already past ten pm. He wished the minister a good night’s rest and walked out. His legs were shaky and he was beyond exhausted and all he wanted to do was take a bath and sleep.

“Cancel everything scheduled for tomorrow, I might die if I have to do this all over again tomorrow,”

he told Patrick as they walked back to his chambers.

“Yes, my king.”

Patrick responded.

“You can go get some rest too, I will go by myself from here, see you tomorrow,”

He told Patrick who was reluctant at first but gave in. Lance walked ahead towards his chamber with the guards following behind him. He entered his chamber, took off his clothes, and walked to the bathroom to freshen up after which he put on his night robe and laid on his bed hoping for sleep to come and for once, thanks to how tired he was, he fell asleep.

Contrary to what he had told Patrick the previous night, Lance woke up the next morning and he had emergencies to attend to that couldn’t wait. He spent the whole day working and only came back to his chamber to sleep. Over the next couple of days, he got busy with the kingdom affairs and could barely have time to rest, he decided it would be best to meet with every head one at a time and speak to each one of them, it was exhausting but it was more effective than gathering them all and having them gang up against him.

Today, however, he hosted some important people and had a little too much to drink, nope he wasn’t that drunk yet but he knew if he add just one more glass then he would be truly wasted which was why he tried to get himself to sleep but jokes on him because sleep refused to make an appearance, he gave up trying to fall asleep and got off the bed to go grab a bottle, he down half of it and staggered to the door that led to Sophie, only her can help him right now, he did his best to stay away but he couldn’t do that tonight.