Disclaimer: I own nothing. So don't sue.
A king's tale
1
The faint odour of alcohol reached Allen's nose as soon as he stepped inside the chamber, making him grumble under his breath as a result.
He stood still for a moment as his eyes adjusted to the pitch black darkness around him, before heading towards the nearest window and yanking the heavy curtains to the sides.
A sunbeam immediately crossed the room, falling upon a canopy bed and its two occupants. From the corner of his eye, Allen noticed a figure burying itself deep under the covers, no doubt seeking protection against the intruding light.
Fuming with rage, the blond knight made his way towards his master, careful though not to trip over any of the numerous empty wine bottles scattered over the floor.
"Your highness, do you have any idea what time it is?" He asked the man hiding under the covers.
Upon receiving no answer, his patience started to grow dangerously thin. "You know, your highness, if you keep up with this rather unhealthy lifestyle you appear to have chosen for yourself, I fear Fanelia will soon loose its only monarch and-"
"I'm pretty sure that lecturing your king is not part of your duties, knight Schezar." A young man's head popped out from under the covers, stifling a yawn. "And the reason I know this, is because as your king, I appointed you as head of my army and not as head of my pestering council… So do leave the lecturing to someone else." His master protested while groggily trying to sit up in bed.
Allen decided to ignore his words though. "Well sir, considering the importance of today's scheduled event, I thought it fitting to do so."
His king stared at him with a confused look, seeming to not fully comprehend the meaning behind his words. Allen rolled his eyes. It was so painfully obvious his master was still drunk. Why, he didn't even need to see the red dots showing through the corners of the other man's eyes to be convinced of the fact.
"The event…" The knight emphasized through clenched teeth. "The very important event that is taking place this afternoon in the palace."
The other man though continued to look at him in complete bewilderment.
Allen felt like smacking him in the head. "The event which involves your highness…"
The confused expression on the young master's face persisted for a few more seconds, until realisation seemed to finally dawn on him as his eyes widened in sudden understanding. "Oh!... Now I remember." He said nonchalantly; lazily running his fingers through his disheveled hair.
Allen shook his head in disappointment at such a blatant display of indifference.
"So you see now sir, why it is crucial for you to get ready as soon as possible and also… why you should ask your guest to leave right away." He advised, turning to gaze meaningfully at the bed.
His king found himself following his eyes until they surprisingly settled upon an unfamiliar pair of brown orbs blinking away sleep right beside him. That was when he first realised since waking up that he hadn't spent the night alone.
The memories of the previous hours suddenly hit the young monarch and although most of them were quite foggy due to his drunken state, something told him he'd had a really, really good time.
Grinning mischievously, he placed a light kiss on the woman's forehead, causing her to blush twenty shades of red. "The grumpy knight over here does have a point, you know?" He said in a hushed tone. "I have a ton of boring stuff to do today. I think we should call it a night… Not that it wasn't a really pleasant one!"
If possible his words made the brunette blush even further. Covering her shy smile with her petite hands, she quickly slid out of bed, careful to hide her scarcely clad body from preying eyes as she collected her dress from where it lay forgotten on the floor.
Her farewell greeting to her king was so utterly clumsy it could actually be considered cute. At least in the dark-haired man's opinion, for he immediately laughed at the stuttering words she directed at him. Fearing she'd made a fool of herself, the young woman didn't loose any time in exiting the room, but not before her one time only lover grabbed her by the wrist, spun her around so that she faced him and slammed his lips against her own in a heated kiss which Allen could only assume was a small sample of the ones they had shared during the previous night.
The woman's giggles lingered in the air long after she left, causing the king's grin to return to his lips. When he focused his attention back on Allen though, the disapproving look he saw on the blond's face caused his good humour to vanish just as quickly as it had appeared.
"What?"
"You are incredible Van, do you know that?"
"I thought I told you not to lecture me." The other man said as he flumped back down on his pillow. "I'm really not in the mood right now. My head is killing me." He added, closing his sore eyes against the bright sunlight.
Allen chose to ignore his words yet again. "Serves you right, you drunkard! Who was that woman, anyway?"
Van shrugged. "Some chamber-maid… I think."
"You think?"
The incredulous tone on the knight's voice made Van peek at him through half open lids. "I don't remember much about last night, you see…" He explained, pointing at the empty bottles on the floor. "... Don't you dare give me that reproaching look, Allen. I'm free to sleep with whomever I want, whenever I want."
"But today's your wedding day!"
The blond man's comment made Van's stomach jolt all of a sudden. Like he needed to be reminded of that again. "…Which means, my dear friend," He said smugly. "that tonight was my last night of freedom!" He made a move to grab one of the bottles, but Allen reached it first.
"Well knowing you as well as I do, I'm sure you plan on staying true to your wedding vows of fidelity no matter what." The knight retorted sarcastically, as he placed the bottle on top of a dresser, safely away from Van's reach.
His friend shot him a dry look. "You're really no fun at times." He said dryly, sitting back up in bed and rubbing his eyes to get rid of the lingering drowsiness. "…I'm only marrying for political reasons for crying out loud. It's not like it will have any true meaning to it apart from Fanelia getting a very substantial dowry, Cesario getting a peace treaty and both countries getting out of each other's backs for awhile so we can safely return to hating each other in secrecy as we have done for many, many years now... "
Allen stared at him in disbelief. "Am I the only one who thinks you should give this marriage a shot? That you actually have a really good chance of finding happiness for a change?"
"How can I? With an old hag…"
"She's your age!"
"Then I bet she's ugly…"
"She is not ugly, Van! I'll have you know that princess Hitomi is considered one of the most beautiful women in her country and you yourself could know that already if you'd actually take a look at the portrait the royal house of Cesario sent you of her."
"… Then I bet we'll end up hating each other."
"…"
"What? Aren't you going to try to argue back? No witty remarks this time?"
Allen smiled apologetically. "Well, you did threaten to invade her country on multiple occasions… She's bound to not have the highest opinion of you."
"See, just as I told you." Van retorted triumphantly. "Our marriage is doomed!"
His comment was rewarded with having his royal jacket thrown right at his face.
"Well, you have no one but yourself to blame for this, Van. You were the one who agreed to the terms of the peace treaty. You knew very well that marrying the king's sister was part of the deal…"
Van sighed heavily; his expression uncharacteristically grave all of a sudden. "Yes… I know." He said quietly.
"Do hurry up and get ready will you?" Allen pleaded as he made his way towards the main door. "The Cesario delegation will be arriving in no time and I'm not sure if I'll be able to continue to make excuses for your odd disappearance this morning… your highness!" He pronounced the last words with fake pompous and left the room in a quick pace.
Van didn't remain in bed for long after that. His hangover with all its dreaded inconveniences wouldn't let him; although he couldn't quite figure out if it was his throbbing headache or upset stomach that was giving him a harder time. As he lazily went around the room trying to get himself ready in time for the big event that awaited him something outside the window caught his attention; something that seemed to be catching his attention quite a lot those days.
He stared intently at the intricate garden below it. An exotic array of rich and delicate foreign plants and flowers, whose names apparently only the royal gardeners could pronounce; a wedding present from Cesario's king, in the form of a metaphor. A hopeful wish that the soon-to-be alliance between the two countries would flourish and bloom, or so the Cesarian official representative had said during one of his many visits. Van couldn't remember anymore.
He did, however, remember thinking at the time that everything the old man kept blabbering about was a load of rubbish. Van even tempted with the idea of throwing away the ridiculous amount of pots and plants so carefully selected by the enthusiastic official just to spite him, but at the last minute decided against it.
He figured his new wife might like to have a little corner in the palace that would remind her of home. After all it would surely be difficult for her to adapt to such a new and unfamiliar country like Fanelia.
So Van ended up giving his chief gardener free reign to do with the foreign plants what he saw fit, although he didn't exactly expect the man to conduct his project right below his private rooms. As he looked at the intricate and delicate flowers, such a stark contrast to the wild traditional Fanelian vegetation, he wondered if by that time the next day the garden would finally be receiving its first visitor.
The grandfather clock beside him suddenly sprung to life disrupting his thoughts though Van still remained motionless as twelve loud clangs echoed throughout the room.
Six more hours and he'd be a married man. He let out another heavy sigh. "What am I getting myself into?" He whispered to himself.
