It was the second day of the diplomatic meeting and (Y/N) was already up before the sun rose. At times like these, she'd sit up on her bed and wonder why she woke up so early, then no matter how hard she tried, she'd have trouble going back to sleep. Her hands reached for the side of her head, remembering how Duke Howard had eased her aches for a moment.

"Louis, huh?" She sighed. Before the Princess Elect's coronation, she had already met him a few times. He never really struck her as anything – although she would agree that he was a beautiful man. Apart from that, he had managed his duchy well, but he didn't come across as an affectionate leader. He was distant, cold, and unsympathetic. She didn't really think it was the best way to serve. I'll make you fall for me, huh? She thought about it and now it sounded ridiculous.

A knock on the door interrupted her thoughts and she turned to see Byron entering with a cup in his hand. "I figured you'd be awake."

"Ughh." The queen groaned, letting herself collapse on her bed. "I don't want tea."

"It's ginger ale."

She lazily lifted herself up again. He went over to her bedside and gave her the cup. (Y/N) wrapped her hands around it, feeling the warmth against her palms. "Thanks. But, why are you up so early?"

"I have to prepare for the meeting." Byron confessed. "I'll be escorting the Wysterian entourage around town later. You don't have to worry about it, you just rest."

She frowned. He chuckled a little at her expression while patting his hand on her head. "I know how much you want to fulfill your duties, Your Majesty. But it's also your responsibility to look after yourself. Stein needs you to always be well. Please consider your well-being a part of your priorities too."

The queen blew raspberries at her advisor's seriousness. "I get it, I get it," She looked at him maliciously. "You want to spend time with Princess (P/N). Geez, Byron, you can just tell me directly."

"Wh-What are you saying?" Byron suddenly looked away.

After finishing her drink, Byron took the cup from her hands and stood up. "Well, you still have time to snooze."

"I don't think I can sleep."

He went forward and opened the door. "Just try, (Y/N)".

Louis was walking aimlessly along the corridors of castle Stein. He slept in later than expected, and when he got off his bed, he found a note slipped in from under his door. It was from Leo.

"…" He read it once and threw it aside, the paper perfectly landing on the dresser. Hey Louis, I've been knocking on your door, but you don't seem to be getting up soon. We're going into town in a few minutes, so I'm being considerate with the fact that you won't have enough time to prepare. We can't have the Queen waiting for us, you know? Sweet dreams!

"There was no knock on the door." He found himself rolling his eyes. It's true he wasn't a morning person, but when duties take priority, he'd be able to put them on top. He scowled at Leo in his mind, but he thought that he should've just woken up early instead of relying on a wake-up call. He continued on his meaningless stroll, and as he looked ahead, he saw the queen of Stein heading towards his direction. She had a serious look on her face that she didn't notice him and went to open the doors of the room just around the corner of where he was.

"Albert!" Her words flew as the doors did. The captain of her guards and his troops fell silent for a moment, then Albert stuttered, "M-My Queen?"

"I'm angry!" (Y/N) said in a loud voice, but she wasn't shouting. "This is the first time I've skipped morning practice. I knew it was fishy for Byron to give me a drink so early. He did it to put me back to sleep!"

Albert walked closer to her and covered his mouth to giggle. She gently poked his stomach with the hilt of her sword and he drew back.

"I already told you I'm okay. I'm well enough." She sighed. "Nico's not here to spar with me so… Give me five minutes. If I can't hit any part of you in five minutes I'm going give it a rest, okay?"

Seeing the doors were open, Louis let himself inside the Stein troops' training hall. It wasn't surprising of course, that the hall was full of men, but what struck him was how friendly the queen was to her subordinates – not only to Albert who was obviously close to her, but to the simple soldiers as well. Whispers of admiration and loyalty to her and to Stein can be heard across the room.

"Don't you dare go easy on me, Al." (Y/N) drew her sword. "You'll be punished accordingly if you do."

"I intend to give you your rest day, Your Majesty." Albert replied, smiling.

Without a second later, the clash of swords echoed in the room. Despite being not in her top condition, (Y/N) was able to do fairly well. Albert was aware of her prowess and he has never beaten her before. But he promised Byron to keep the queen from exerting physical effort, at least for that day. He thought about how scarier he was than (Y/N), and he had no intention of submitting himself to whatever punishment Byron had prepared for him.

And so, driven by his concern for his queen, and more so of his fear of the royal advisor, Albert stood victorious and (Y/N) accepted her defeat graciously. Heaving as sigh, the untied her hair as she went to the door. When she looked up she noticed Louis was leaning against the wall.

"Oh, Duke Howard." She said in a murmur but he seemed to have heard her. "What are you doing here? I believe you were supposed to go into town today."

"As should you have?" He smirked. "Apparently your advisor duped you, but with good reason."

"You heard that?" The queen was going red of embarrassment.

"I've been watching from the start." Louis let out a slight laugh.

(Y/N) closed her eyes, flicked her hair, and breathed out. "Will you join me for refreshments, then?"

She led him to the drawing room where they waited for Albert to bring them their drinks. He came with a push cart of beverages and a selection of sweets. Of course, he didn't have to ask what the queen wanted, Al readily handed (Y/N) her cup.

Noticing this, Louis asked, "So you like coffee, Your Majesty?"

"She likes it as hot and as strong as a devil at midnight."* Albert replied.

After setting the refreshments for them, the knight took his leave and closed the door. They sat in silence, enjoying their share of warm drinks and an occasional exchange of glances. (Y/N) didn't really mind how quiet they were, but she could feel getting conscious for no apparent reason.

"You look livelier today." Louis said, placing his teacup on the table.

"I had a really good sleep." She replied.

The silence ensued again. It was quite longer this time.

"You know," the duke began talking. "It's intriguing how much your people adore you."

"Where did that come from?" (Y/N) raised a brow.

Louis placed his leg on top of the other, had his elbows rest on the armchair, and rested his cheek on his folded fingers. "Observation."

The queen let out a laugh. "What business do you have observing me? Don't tell me you've taken a liking to me."

The blonde duke let out a complacent smile. "Maybe I have."

Are you trying to make fun of me? She primarily thought. (Y/N) remembered how uninterested he was ever since the beginning, and just yesterday, he started being nice. Louis had witnessed some of her vulnerabilities and she realized how ridiculous the thought might have been for him to see the queen of Stein getting bruised, sick, and duped. If he really is pulling my leg, then…

She shot him a glare. "For your own sake, Duke Howard, I hope you're joking."

"Why is that?" Louis returned her stare.

The queen gave out a grin. "I might just take you seriously."

Byron knocked before opening the door to the queen's study. He saw her seriously reading through some documents. Normally, she would take notice and call out to him, but right now she seemed to be so absorbed in her material.

"(Y/N)." He gently called out to her. She lifted her head, her brows knitted together. His index finger lunged in between them. "What are you looking so upset for?"

"Firstly, there was something in the drink you gave me that I missed my morning session." She leaned back in her chair. Her royal advisor just replied with a smile.

"Secondly, Albert had beaten me in a five-minute standoff."

"Oh, did he now?" Byron sounded pleased.

"And…" (Y/N) paused, her seriousness in her face melted away against a blank expression, and she recalled what happened with Louis that morning.

"It would be unreasonable to go through such lengths, Your Majesty." Louis countered. "Just as I told you last night, I have a great deal of respect for you. Let's leave it at that."

The queen lowered her gaze, feeling a little dejected at his words. It wasn't because he told her that, but because somehow she felt guilty for thinking he was only playing around with her. All this time, he's been talking to her seriously. (Y/N) sighed and threw herself against her chair.

"And?"

"Oh– " She jolted and sat upright again and thought of changing the subject to avoid being question further. "How was your date, Byron?"

"I merely escorted the princess." He looked at her. "It was hardly a date."

Leo caught sight of Louis in the library. He smirked as he remembered the mischievous thing he did to him. Before dawn, he went out of his guest chambers and bumped into Byron who had an empty cup in his hand. Stein's royal advisor explained that the queen will be resting for the morning and that he will accompany them to town alone. That's when he came up with an idea in his mind.

"Fancy meeting you here, Louis." Leo said as he pulled the chair and sat down in front of the duke. Louis lifted his head up to acknowledge the bureaucrat's presence and went back to reading.

"Byron showed us around town today. Ahh… How I wish the queen went too. But he said she was still resting. I felt rather lonely." Leo cupped his chin as he continued to gaze at Louis. "The queen's pretty amazing, isn't she? Running this kingdom alone is a lot of work, but she keeps on exceeding what's expected of her."

The blonde duke continued to ignore his remarks, clearly looking uninterested. Leo let out a grin as he continued, "I've heard her council members are starting to demand that she get married."

Louis finally sighed, placing a hand on the page he was reading. "That's not something Wysteria needs to be concerned of."

"You think so?"

"She can marry who she chooses. The only thing we need to look out for is maintaining Stein and Wysteria's diplomatic relations, nothing more."

The closed-door meeting resumed after lunch and all parties involved were exchanging blows of propositions, drafted bills, and whatnot. It was a gruesome process, but both delegates handled it with utmost diligence.

"There is one more matter that we need to discuss, Your Majesty." A senior bureaucrat raised his hand. "It's a matter concerning only Stein so may I request the Wysterian delegates to retire at this point."

The Princess Elect nodded, and said, "Very well, then."

Byron nudged his index finger on his chin for a few seconds. "Wait a moment, what is this about?"

The queen noticed her advisor's uneasiness and looked at the bureaucrat before speaking, "The matter that you're saying might not involve our neighbors, but every bit of action we'll be taking from this point might affected them directly or indirectly. It would be best for them to hear it as well."

"I suppose." The man didn't argue back. "Very well, majority of your council would like to discuss the future of Stein."

"The future of Stein?" (Y/N) narrowed her eyes.

"To put it bluntly, Your Majesty," another man voiced out. "We have no doubts that you can continue handling Stein's affairs as a sole ruler, however, a throne without an heir could cause instability in the future."

There were murmurs across the hall. The Wysterian delegates were quiet but the Princess elect looked concerned. She looked at Byron who was still looking at his queen. He was rather disturbed that she appeared to be calm. Normally, when matters of marriage were brought up, she'd have a visible expression of displeasure.

"We also believe that finding a suitable king will not be a tedious task. The council suggests that Her Majesty consider Sir Byron for the position."

Hearing this, the Princess of Wysteria silently gasped, clasping her hands together over her chest.

"Thank you for the concern, My Lords." The queen spoke. "I understand that it should be done to ensure the future of Stein. However, I have no intention of acting half-heartedly on this matter."

"Your Majesty…" The man murmured.

"I may be a formidable ruler in your eyes." (Y/N) continued with conviction in her voice. "But I'm still not ready. And so I would like to ask for the council's office to give me a little more time."

"But Your Majesty, it's not a question of preparedness, but rather, of responsibility."

"I can't take on a responsibility unless I'm prepared for it." She narrowed her eyes now.

The discussion continued on for a while, but in the end, the council gave the queen what she wanted.

"I take it by your reactions that you've actually considered it." Byron stood across from her. "I've never seen you respond like that."

(Y/N) weakly smiled. She managed to dodge the matters of matrimony but she knew she couldn't hold it out like this for too long. She had never thought of getting married, really, but she knew one day she'd have to – for Stein. Also, Byron has dismissed any conversations about him and the princess, but if he decided to go, she knew she needed someone to stand by her side.

"What do you think, Byron? Shall I hold a competition for men to fight for my hand? That would be bloody interesting. Whoever manages to lay a finger on me wins."

"I have never heard of anything more ridiculous coming from you." The advisor sighed. "Clearly it might take you a while to find a king. You're hardly interested in men."

"I'm a woman, Byron." She scoffed. "Surely I'm interested in men."

"Are you saying you're interested in someone right now?"

The queen cupped her chin, thinking of Byron's words.

As (Y/N) turned the knob on her door, she caught sight of Louis striding from the corner. She stared at his figure for a moment and playfully said, "Were you planning to visit my chambers, Duke Howard?" She opened the door fully. Louis casted his gaze downwards.

"I was going to retire for the night. The trip back to Wysteria tomorrow comes with great distance." He simply replied. "Good Night, Your Majesty."

"You surely won't indulge me?" (Y/N) coquettishly smiled.

"I surely have no reason to."

The queen frowned at his response. "Don't be like that. At one point you're so nice and then so cold the next."

Louis remind silent but he kept his gaze on her Majesty.

"How about tea before sleeping then? I had the servants bring a fresh brew." She turned around and left him by the door. "Lemon balm will help you rest better."

Thinking it was rude to decline, the blonde duke followed the queen to her balcony. They both sat under the moonlight, with cups warming their hands against the cold breeze of the night. The queen glanced at Louis, half of his face hidden in the shadows. It was laughable. She had only talked to him for two days, and she somehow believes she's seen different side of him. She saw how warm his smile was, and how thoughtful he can be.

Louis sat his teacup on the table. "You're a strong woman, Queen (Y/N)."

The queen was surprised for a moment, but she quickly replied. "I was born to be strong."

His silence prompted her to continue.

"As a part the royal family, I was expected to carry on a legacy from the day I was born." She softly traced the cup's brim with her finger. "A youngling with no knowledge of her world, whatsoever, suddenly bears this responsibility on her shoulders, even before she could learn how to walk. I felt like I grew up being molded to what Stein needed me to be."

"That's a rather interesting point of view."

The queen smiled, looking straight at him, "But now I believe I'm blessed and fortunate. I feel like I'm able to live a life with a greater purpose. I love what I do and being the queen makes me happy."

Louis saw the satisfaction on her face and he couldn't help but lower his gaze to avoid it.

"What about you, Duke Howard? I've heard nothing but praises for the way you oversee your duchy."

Louis stared up at the sky, it was full of stars but all he could see was darkness. "It's rather late, isn't it? I believe I should go."

He stood up and looked at her one last time. "Good night, Your Majesty." The duke retreated back to her room and closed the door soon after, leaving the queen to wonder if she had said something wrong. But somnolence crept into her as well and, she went to bed.

The next morning, Byron, Albert, and (Y/N) stood by the Wysterian Royal carriage. They said their thanks and good byes and proceeded to board.

"Thank you very much for the hospitality, Your Majesty." Giles held the queen's hand and kissed it. Leo did as well. Louis then went closer and caught her fingers. He didn't say anything, and just placed his lips gently on them. The queen felt the warmth of his hands even after he let her go.

The coachman gripped on the reins and the horses started galloping. (Y/N) watched her visitors go into the distance. Just before they could close the main door, they heard someone running towards them. All of them turned around and saw Nico's smiling face. "I'm home, My Queen."