Arthur awoke from a dreamless sleep to a knock on his door.

“Whoissit?” He asked groggily.

“Who is there.” Yuuki responded, putting an emphasis on the last word.

“Oh no.” He turned to look out the window and saw that it was before dawn. “Did you wake me up just to teach me how to behave kingly?”

“Correct, actually.”

“Urgh.” He groaned and pulled the blanket over his head. “Come in.”

She went through the door without opening it. “You may enter.” Another correction and Yuuki had a pillow thrown at her. She did not dodge or block, she just stared at the soon to be king, not amused.

“Ah, of course. The prince needs his morning shower to wake up properly.” Before she got a response, a portal opened next to her, shooting a jet of cold lake water. Arthur was knocked off his bed and onto the floor, completely soaked.

“ARE YOU INSANE?”

“By some definitions of the word, yes.” The cold reply to his outburst caught him off-guard and caused his mind to clear up a bit. He also realized that in front of him was in fact not one of his maids.

“Oh fu-” 

“I would ask you not to get used to saying such words. Your vocabulary is bad as it is. It was acceptable for a child, but not for a young adult, much less the crown prince.” She said, her voice not betraying any emotion possibly behind it. With a wave of her hands, the room was dry once more.

“Where’d you get that water from anyways? The bottom of a lake?” He did his best to hide his annoyance.

“Correct.” She put two chairs facing each other. She sat down in one and gestured at the other.

Arthur took a seat with an expression that said ‘I’m not a morning person, why must you do this to me?’.

“So, once you go meet your father to accept the title of crown prince and heir to the throne, there will be a couple problems. First: your brother. He will most likely ride home the first chance he gets and challenge you to a duel of honor. You will kill him.” She continued before he could interject. “If you don’t, he will despise you and scheme behind your back.”

“Or, he might thank my mercy and follow me.” He said defiantly.

Yuuki stared him in the eye. “How many people of high standing have you assassinated in your two lives together? Zero. The easiest way to have someone killed is to get close to someone who hates their guts but is close to them. Someone who is jealous of them and their accomplishments. Preferably not too bright, driven by emotion and easy to control. Your brother fits the bill far too perfectly. If he doesn’t die he will cause problems.”

Arthur gave a sigh. “And if he doesn’t duel me?”

“That is a worse scenario, but not too bad. He will most likely try to rally as many people to support him as possible. Your mother and her house would surely follow, and so would many others with the reasoning: you’re not an eligible heir. If I announce you as a legitimate son, they will have no choice but to stand down. Some will change their sides to support you entirely, others will have to be convinced. And some will have to be purged.”

“No, that is not acceptable. I will not wipe out entire households just because they refuse to support me.”

“You will be king. Not supporting you is treason.”

“They will support me if I give them a reason to!” He stood up from his chair.

“I understand that you are passionate, but please do try to control your outbursts.”

He did not stand down. “I would, but my rational part agrees with my emotions on this one. I will not allow people to be killed because they don’t like me. If they try to kill me? Sure. If they hold a city hostage? Without mercy. But because they don’t like me? If I can’t inspire them to follow me, I don’t deserve them following me.”

Yuuki felt an emotion that she hasn’t before. It was pride. Not in herself, she knew what she could and couldn’t do fully well. She was proud of the prince. He didn’t make the choice that she would, and he was doing something sub-optimal by her account. And yet, he was adamant to follow his ideals, foolish they may be. “Understood.”

“You won’t be acting behind my back, will you?” He asked suspiciously.

“It wouldn’t be hard to figure out why an entire house is dead or missing. And if you did find out I would lose your trust.”

Arthur sat back down. “That is good to hear. Anything else I should know?”

“The second problem is one that can wait for now, but it would be better to act fast. You should attempt to forge an alliance with another nation through marriage.”

“What nation are you from?” He asked jokingly.

“I said to forge an alliance, I believe I am your ally already. Besides, we would be unable to produce an heir I’m afraid.”

“Wait, really? Elves and orcs work, but not beast-kin?”

“It has nothing to do with my race and everything to do with my body. I am unable to have children. Although I must say it’s flattering to know I am your first choice.” She said with a momentary smirk.

“You really are, you know.” If he hoped for a reaction, but didn’t get one. All she did was wait a few seconds before answering.

“We’ll talk about that issue later. As long as you don’t get yourself killed, you should live long enough that you needn’t hurry.”

“Any allies in particular?” He asked to change the subject.

“Estervale will stay out of any conflict, but will happily trade and help set up libraries and schools, especially if I tell them to. The elven tribes won’t care about your existence as long as you stay out of their forests. If you try to get your people more in touch with nature, they might open up a bit, but it’s uncertain. The Federation will accept any allies, but you might come under fire for doing so. Even more so if you were to marry a ‘monster’. Your best bet would be the sultanate. They are not too close, so border tensions won’t be an issue so long as they don’t expand too far north. They also have many products that this country lacks, and vice versa. Their leader is blessed by the spirit of war, so once you prove your worth to him, he will respect you. You also don’t have to worry about betrayal, as he would be butchered by his own patron if he used such underhanded means.”

Arthur sat and listened, soaking up the information. “Is he the one with eight wives?”

“And over twenty daughters, you should be able to find one to suit your liking.”

He let out a small chuckle, as his neck went limp, and stared at the ceiling. “You sound like my mother. Well, not this one, the one that didn’t hate me… I think.”

“What was she like?”

He turned back to look at Yuuki. “Oh, she was great. She taught me a lot, she doted on me a bit more. She did everything in her power to make sure I lived a happy and successful life.”

“And you think there is any doubt she loved you?”

“For all she did, I never did appreciate it. I just ‘wanted to be free’. I know I hate me for how I treated her.”

Yuuki has met these sorts of people before, regretting their past, and she did not understand them. She was genuinely curious, not that it made a difference to how she spoke. “Why did you treat her like that then? Did you change that much?”

“No, hardly, I just…” He couldn’t finish the sentence.

“Did you dislike her back then?”

“What, no!”

“Were you too busy?”

“No, I just… ” Tears began pouring down his face. He stared at the floor between them. “I thought I had more time. I thought I could do it later, but I never did. I never thanked her for everything. I never told her how much I loved her and now I never can.” He was sobbing, his face hidden away in his hands.

Yuuki did not know what to do. For the first time in either life she has met a problem that she herself did not know the solution to. She’s never had to console someone before, not really. She has patted the back of grieving widows before to play her part, but its only purpose was to gain standing, not to actually help solve the problem. She’s never known how to stop anyone older than a child from crying. After weighing pros and cons, she decided to act. Her train of thought only took a second in real time, so she stood up and put her hand on Arthur’s shoulder. He looked up at her, eyes red from all the tears.

“I know someone who can help.” She extended her hand to him, and he took it without hesitation.

The world around them shifted as he was now sitting on the same chair, but in a hallway. Yuuki walked to the closest door and knocked on it.

“Who’s there?” A middle-aged male voice could be heard from inside the room.

“I am.” She said, as if the other should know her so easily by voice.

Arthur shifted a bit in the chair, to face the door. His previous sadness wasn’t completely replaced by curiosity, but it was enough to do this much.

The door opened to reveal a fox-kin, only half a head taller than Yuuki herself, with the orange-brown color you’d expect from a red fox.

“Yuuki, dear. You know you needn’t knock, even if you have a guest in tow.” He turned to look at Arthur, not one bit of surprise leaking to his face. “I don’t believe we’ve met. Jack Kirigaya. It’s a pleasure.” He extended a hand to Arthur, who looked between the man and Yuuki for a good ten seconds before he quickly got up and shook his hand.

“Arthur Pendragon.” His face was a mix of the previous sadness, curiosity and a brand new one: fear.

Jack patted the scared young man on the shoulder and gave a reassuring smile. “Is everything alright?”

“No, not really.” He was avoiding eye contact.

“How about we talk about it over some tea?”

Arthur didn’t say anything, he just nodded.

Jack, held the door open. “After you.”

After swallowing a lot of saliva, the prince stepped through the door.

Illiterate_potato

The chapter tomorrow will not be a continuation of the main story here, but a side-ish chapter full of fluff.