For Claude Amelia Song, I hope you like it!
Word Count: 538
planning in advance
"You must be completely foolish to even suggest such a thing." Crown Prince Mycroft did not raise his voice as he spoke, as he was raised better than that.
"You have to understand," his father attempted to bargain, "we need heirs for the kingdom."
"With all due respect, that does not mean that I need to engage in such messy acts," Mycroft replied, the disdain clear on his face.
His mother sighed and folded her hands. "Mycroft, you are the crown prince, as such it is your duty-"
"to prepare myself for ruling over the kingdom to the best of my ability. I have neither the time to find a wife, nor do I think I could simply stand to be in an arranged marriage with just anyone. And I think I can be safe to assume that all of us know that me having a wife but no children would look considerably worse than the latter alone."
"He does have a point there," the king acknowledged quietly. He had only muttered the words to his wife, but considering Mycroft had managed to guess what the king had said and no shame about letting the smug expression take place on his face to make his parents aware of that fact.
"What do you propose then? Let our line end with you?" his mother questioned. It was a vain attempt to try and get him to agree with their point of view.
It failed, of course, because Mycroft is intelligent enough to foresee this and thus had prepared a response.
"You did not forget about your second son, did you?"
His mother winced at the mere suggestion. "No, but you have to acknowledge that Sherlock is far from responsible enough for something like this."
She is not wrong in this, however, Mycroft did not propose anything without a copious amount of thought, something that his parents should be well aware of by now. "For one, the mother will cancel some of these tendencies out—Sherlock has been eyeing Princess Molly of Moskopia for a while now, if I am not mistaken," which he wasn't, "and the affection seems to be returned."
"Princess Molly does seem like a reasonable woman," the king agreed.
"But reasonable enough to make up for Sherlock?" Mycroft could see that his mother despised talking negatively about her son, but it was a fair assessment and not in public in addition to the fact that it had to be said.
"There is also the fact that Sherlock would not be the only one raising this child. Since I would declare him my heir, I would, of course, be involved in his upbringing from the start and discourage any...dubious habits that Sherlock may encourage." That much should be obvious, but Mycroft has long since learned that sometimes stating such is very much necessary.
"You make reasonable points, my dear." His mother nodded while his father stroked his chin. "We will take some time to think about it," the king promised.
"That is all I ask for," Mycroft replied, before he takes his turn to leave.
There was a small smirk on his lips as soon as he was alone. No one but him would decide his fate.
Further Plans: Nope.