When the weekend spilled into Monday, Arthur was going into the new week without thinking too much about his date on Friday at all.

First, a letter from Kiku greeted him, as he went up from breakfast to say hello to Anna before spending a day with Leon outside to study for their upcoming lesson. Though the summer solstice celebration was ten days away, the Jack didn't falter in his teaching, and with all the praise Alfred had afforded him on camera, he couldn't let him or himself down. Not to mention Alfred himself was quite busy today, so it would be nice to spend more time with his friend.

The letter started off like it always did.

"Dear Art, I hope this letter finds you well."

"How are you doing as of late? As the days have gone by, so has the rest of the Deciding for us in Hearts. We're down to only six-" that made him pause for a moment, "After we were invited also to the celebrations in Spades, the royals decided to hold the assessment of our abilities, to see if the Fates would possibly anoint a Mark on us.

Well, needless to say, no Mark appeared, but once we got to the magic trials – you remember them from third year, right? At least none of the tasks were harder than what they talked about then. Growth, accuracy, strength, the rest – I will admit though, I was very nervous on the day. The Jack kindly pulled me aside and comforted to me, and I was taken aback – we have always known His Highness was kind, but when he confided in me that he cried his eyes out on the day of his trials, it took me aback. Jack Feliciano seems so natural in his role of supporter, so in a way I felt comforted, to go out of his way to reassure me felt like a lovely gesture.

Somehow…I managed to pass their test. I don't want to spoil everything, as I'm not sure we're allowed to, but if we can find some time together when I come to Spades, I'll do my best.

It might seem cruel, but what happened later that evening blew everything else out from the water. I received a letter from Heracles."

Right after reading that line, Arthur peered over his shoulder to make sure he was alone, before continuing to read on.

"If I may be honest, I was completely taken aback when I received it. Of course, I will spare you with the details of how exactly I reacted, but I sent back a reply to him immediately. I'm thankful that the palace keeps it a policy not to screen letters; though being in a relationship with someone already is technically allowed, it won't do Heracles or I a favour."

Meaning, you don't want to tell me about how emotional you got when you received it, the creases of Arthur's eyes softened all the same, But I understand a little, now. What it feels like to be in love. I suppose.

"He's doing well, he's still in the process of training in Clubs. Though, as you said, the Spades advisorship handles the deployments of the Eastern recruits, they still end up in Clubs, since apparently the climate resembles it the most. He says he's doing all right, and even seems to have made two friends, Sadiq and Gupta. Of course, the first thing he complains about instead of food or the locations is the lack of cats around, and the fact that he's not allowed to nap as much as he used to. From that, I'm fairly sure he's keeping his head up, which encourages me to do the same.

I'm sure you were concerned when you first read about it, but he's doing well. He says he's not allowed to send photos or anything, but I trust him. If/when he writes back, I'll be sure to let you know. But there's much less need to worry, at least for now.

Hopefully we'll be able to exchange letters again before I come to visit Spades. I'm already packing in anticipation. It'll be soon before we can meet each other. Though it is foolish, I hope you have time to allow me occasional visits when you become Queen. Hehe.

Best regards,

Kiku."

"Become Queen?" Arthur muttered to himself. His mind couldn't help but hitch on that last sentence – he could almost hear his friend's barely disguised chuckle, his dark eyes twinkling with mirth as he wrote it. To make things even more vivid, he'd written it out.

Putting the teasing to the side, though, it was an incredibly reassuring letter. Heracles had made it to the military barracks, at least. A glimmer of hope, yes, but its existence meant something better all the same. Perhaps Heracles would get to come home to Kiku after all.

Adjusting his high collar, the Jack of Spades peered at his reflection in the handle of Alfred's door before knocking. "Alfred, are you here?"

"Huh?" the sound was muffled, and accompanied with three slams of his feet against his floor. "Mhfh? Yao? What's up? Woah!" The groan of furniture falling accompanied his liege's hurried movements. "Heh, sorry, almost messed up my cabinet. I'm here! Hey, Hero, wait-"

Yao fought back a wince, which was quickly dispelled by the sight of Alfred's Jack Russell at the door, tiny tail wagging. "Good afternoon, Hero." Noticing the hint of dust on his blue collar, he bent over and wiped it off. "Alfred, have you been taking him out?"

"Yeah!" Alfred was currently in the process of pushing back up his toppling closet with one hand – only someone with super strength like he did could have done it. "Oops, sorry about that, Yao. Well, I did invite Lady Sakura to walk around with us."

"Ah, all right then." Yao patted Hero's back as he spoke. "Did you two have fun?"

"Mhm!" Alfred turned to face him once more. "You need something? I have my meeting with the, uh, advisors in a bit, so."

Taking a pause to hold Hero to his chest, continuing to lavish attention on him – for all his strengths, Yao had a weakness for cute things – he stepped into Alfred's room further. "Well yes, actually. About that. I was wondering if I could come with you today."

The fingers that had been adjusting at his tie stopped abruptly. "W-Wha?"

"If that's all right with you, of course," Yao tried to keep his tone nonchalant, as to not give away the conversation he had had with Matthew and Katya. He even rubbed the back of Hero's folded ears, for good measure. If they were truly treating Alfred that cruelly, he wasn't even sure if his presence could help it that much, but he couldn't stand by and do nothing.

"But, I thought you were busy, I…" Alfred was clearly taken aback, the bright sunlight pouring into his room exemplifying the shock in his widened eyes.

"Thankfully, Katya and I confirmed the last of the invitations this morning. My schedule is clear for the rest of the day, so I'd like to accompany you."

"Oh. Uh, in that case, yeah, of course," Closing his wardrobe door, the young prince crossed the room, coming to stand in front of him. Yao watched his face shift, a mix of apprehension to conflict to relief, as he reached out to stroke under his dog's chin. "We can bring Hero, if you'd like?"

Taking his joke for acceptance, Yao bent down to place down the dog onto the floor, getting a nuzzle on his palm as thanks before he bounded over to Alfred's legs, weaving in between them. "Well, we do have to assume some sort of decorum, yes? Even if it's with the advisors. Let us depart. Before we get there, though, I must ask – what's your plans for today?"

Holding the door open for Alfred as he gave his dog one last pat and went to get his notes from his desk, the two of them walked in tandem. "Pff, I guess. Uh, the first thing I wanna speak about is maybe organising a drill. Just in case the Joker rebels suddenly come back."

"Oh?" Yao said. "You think they might? They didn't attack during the meeting, so you're optimistic they'll have enough power to attack this time?"

"honestly? I don't really think so, it's just that," Alfred took a deep breath before he continued to speak, "Now everyone's under one roof again, and since we're letting the people in to celebrate as we usually do, security's gonna be a bit more lax than compared to the Meeting. So maybe they don't even need that extra power to work."

"I see, that's good reasoning. When do you want to organise it?"

The sound of flipping pages echoed in the halls of the royals' residences. "Next Wednesday, maybe. Four days before the celebration might be okay, and it'll give us time to tell the other royals that we have backup plans in case something like that happens."

"Alright, that sounds like a good place to start – good work."

Alfred smiled, folding down the piece of paper. "Thanks."

"What's next, then? And is there anything you need me to say?"

"Uh, about the saying stuff, not really. I've mostly have people come in to see what I do, note my progress and all that fun stuff. Since they're wanting to test me," Alfred's head dithered, not going unnoticed by Yao, "They'd make a negative comment if someone tried to jump in too much."

Yao thought back to how Katya had talked about the time she'd accompanied Alfred. Since she had only done it once before, unlike Matthew and Alfred's aide Michael, the coarse words she was discussing started to make sense. Perhaps she had helped too much, or said something that might have sounded overly positive. Bottom line was that he needed to watch himself to make sure his efforts helped Alfred, not harmed him.

"But I've done some planning for the date with, uh, Sir Arthur, so that's the second thing on the agenda for today." Alfred found the piece of paper which he'd written on it much slower, but Yao could catch him smiling as he did so. "I can't seem to negotiate with the management to let more than one of the Chosen come on the date, so I guess he'll have to be the outlier."

"Since one of the others was eliminated?"

"Yeah, something like that! It'll be set for Friday, so. There's a little less paperwork since it'll just be the two of us, the guards and the cameras and stuff."

"Okay, then." Their conversation petered out briefly as they approached the door. "Go on."

Even with the strongest royal by rank at his side, Alfred could still feel the waves of contempt from the advisorship for him, so he clutched his papers and tried not to look too much at them in earnest.

Yet this time, something was…different. Looking at the faces of the frontmost advisors, there was a tinge of apprehension, of surprise. Yao had never accompanied him to these meetings, and Alfred knew how much they disliked his power, and his closeness with Alfred and Matthew.

"Jack…Jack Yao, how excellent of you to join us today," Aileen, as always, was the one to greet them, but an uneasiness emanated off of her as she bowed to him. "What a pleasant surprise, along with the crown prince. Welcome."

Yao's face, much like Katya's that day, gave nothing away. "But of course, it's a shame I haven't had much time since these biweekly meetings started to accompany Alfred. We were speaking about what he wanted to present today, and I'm sure you're all in for a treat. May we sit down?"

"Yes, of course, yes."

With that, the two of them were given seats a step above the advisorship, something that had never happened before. Alfred released a breath he didn't realise he was holding as he sat down.

"Crown prince? Your Highness?" the second part of his title was hastily tacked on as Aileen took her spot as she usually did. Alfred daren't look at Yao's expression. "Would you like to start off with going through your ideas?"

"Yes, actually." Taking a deep breath before he started going through his notes, he stopped at the first piece of information. If he suspected was what going on was happening, they would not be very impressed at the next part. "We have decided to hold an emergency drill in the palace next Wednesday."

Chatter instantly broke out amongst the advisorship, causing his stomach to turn. Not knowing where else to look for comfort, he chanced a glance at Yao. He was as put together as always, gaze fixed quietly at where the advisors were all sitting.

"Your Highness, can we ask why with such haste this has been planned?"

"There's only a few days until the summer solstice, it would be inappropriate."

"Perhaps someone of a better calibre can plan it out instead? I do not…I do not wish to offend; it is just that for such a difficult and vast task, it may suit the advisorship better, with the scope-"

"Better calibre?" Yao's eyes snapped onto the person who had spoke the barely disguised barb, and out of the corner of his vision Alfred could see his hand curl into a fist, gripping his blue robes. "Are you suggesting that our future king would not be appropriate for planning something as crucial as a drill to protect everyone in the palace in the event the Joker rebels come to attack us?"

"N-No, Your Highness," Alfred felt a worm of triumph on how much they were struggling to answer the Jack's carefully measured question, "That was not at all, my attention, as the advisorship, we-"

"There is no need to exhaust yourselves, the prince and I have already discussed this at length." Nodding at him in a subtle gesture for him to be quiet, Yao continued. "As all the other Primary Suit members will be arriving Spades soon, we have agreed to conduct the procedure next Wednesday, as that will give everyone ample time to prepare."

"Would you not need the advisorship's aid for such a large operation?" Aileen demanded.

"Since everyone is so intertwined in terms of preparations for the upcoming summer solstice, that will not be necessary," Yao said. "We will be able to prepare instructions by the weekend to distribute to all the sectors of the palace whilst finishing up the last bit of preparations needed. Of course," his head moved slightly to take in the view of the entire advisorship, his raised voice conducting the attention of everyone in the room, "I entrust the advisorship to take adequate preparations during the drill of their own, as we have believed in allowing you extra freedom when it comes to self-sufficient operations."

Alfred probably understood eighty percent of it, but he could get the gist – essentially telling them that if they believed that they could do such a good job with the operation that they should handle themselves first. It took him to scrunch his toes in his shoes to not grin at how quickly Yao had shot them down.

"Is that all right?" At their approval, Yao turned to him again. "Oh, Prince Alfred, I do apologise, I should have let you do all that explaining, you would have done it more concisely than I have. With as many ties as you do to the soldiers and the staff in the palace, it was a good idea of you to use our summer solstice preparation process to our advantage."

"Yeah, of course! There's no need to apologise." he couldn't tamp down the excitement in his voice, especially now Yao had turned to him with a warm expression on his face, cutting through the soupy warm atmosphere of the room. At least with the advent of the summer, the smell of sickly sweet perfumes and colognes that lingered in the room during their meetings was blown away by the air conditioners. "Thank you, Jack Yao. I hope that it is to your satisfaction, everyone."

Usually, he'd probably be grilled alive and laughed at if he said anything like that, but as he'd scarcely dared to hope, sounds and motions of agreement echoed around the chamber. Alfred allowed himself to finally crack a smile, half out of relief, half out of pride. Their blatant fear of the Jack of Spades was something that he hoped Yao would relish, too.

"All right, thank you for that. What's the next on your agenda for today?" Aileen sounded defeated, and even a little impatient – much different than her usual triumphant tone. Now things weren't going her way like they used to all the time, it seemed like her enjoyment of the meeting they had were completely demolished.

"Regarding the upcoming date on Friday," Alfred went through his notes and landed on the paper containing his incredibly detailed scribbles about what was to happen. Though the place he scouted out only allowed a limited number of people, meaning he could only bring Arthur, it wasn't too bad. He had a sneaking suspicion from reading Arthur's profile that he would really enjoy it, and after their numbers had been narrowed down there had to be one person who had to go out alone if there weren't to be any repeats. "I've managed to secure approval from the foundation that runs it. Unfortunately, it'll only be one Chosen member, but to avoid repeats, there's nothing wrong with it."

He had worded it poorly, but got the point across. Before, there was the worry of singling out Arthur due to his discomfort with the attention, but in the past weeks of introducing him to the public, it seemed to have worked well both ways. Alfred hadn't had time to look at the statistics of the weekly polls the media were conducting, but he hoped it had helped…it wasn't as if a poor popularity showing would change his feelings towards Arthur at all, but they mattered somewhat all the same.

"This outdoor date would take place before the drill, correct?"

Huh. He hadn't expected that question at all. "Yes."

"Are you sure it'll be safe, before then? What if the Joker rebels decide to launch an attack beforehand, to cripple the palace before the summer solstice festival? To ruin the celebrations before they have even begun?" Aileen looked directly at him, causing a cold chill to rake across his spine.

"We might receive some sort of damaging attack that'll thankfully leave everyone unharmed, but there won't be any more outdoor dates."

Was this what she meant, back then? There isn't any way she'd be able to predict that, Alfred thought as his dry mouth struggled to work around a reply, unless…

"Well, the prince and I discussed this earlier today, but the odds of that happening are extremely rare." Yao stepped in as if they were running a relay; completely at ease. "What would the Joker rebels even have to gain, under that circumstance? Why not wait until all the Primary Suit members are under one roof again? Not to mention we would be allowing the people to come into the palace during the summer solstice celebrations."

"Security would be worse and the effort of breaking in and causing harm, even if they do want to," Alfred chipped in, "Would be a lot harder. And it's not as if the Joker rebels have been active at all."

"Has there not been a transmission from any of the other kingdoms communicating that?"

Yao and Alfred exchanged a glance. "We heard from them within the last twenty-four hours when we received confirmations for their attendance to the party, so if it did happen, I would be super surprised – uh, extremely shocked." Alfred said.

"We share a close relationship with all the kingdoms, and there has been no precedence for them to lie about something as important as that," Yao said, echoing what Alfred was thinking. "So I believe there's no need for that fear. There shouldn't be anything hindering the outside dates, let alone the one on Saturday."

"Can you be certain, Your Highness? Having Prince Alfred outside right before such a crucial event…"

"The Deciding is as crucial to the summer solstice, would you not agree?" Yao was ready to answer her question as soon as she posed it. "If not more, as it would ensure Alfred and whoever he chooses will be able to ascend to the throne faster."

"We understand that," Aileen took a moment to confer briefly with her fellow advisors, before continuing to speak. "What about in terms of protection for them? Would it need to be ramped up? If it's just the two of them, would there need to be any extra precautions taken if the date cannot happen? What if an attack does take place?"

Alfred bit the inside of his cheek to keep himself from retorting. The only way this date won't go ahead is if you decide to interfere.

"I will personally ensure that this date happens, even if the Joker rebels for some unknown reason decide that this is the correct time to launch what would be a poorly planned attack." Yao's voice was cold. "If nothing, it will show that the monarchy and the Deciding process is unbreakable, and any attempts to interfere with it will fail."

Leon was eating dinner slower again tonight, Arthur noticed, out of the many things that had been going on today.

Usually, there would be jokes about having food for thoughts, now that Emma was sitting with them, the four of them would be much more rowdier. He'd seemed fine when they were outside studying for their next lesson, which had changed the moment Sakura and Alfred had showed up with Alfred's dog in tow, the two of them on a date.

Arthur had felt that all too familiar tinge in his chest, which admittedly was dulled by the shy smile on Sakura's face, and how happily Alfred had been telling her a joke just before they'd turned the corner, cameras in tow. Perhaps the cameras were eager to capture potential drama, but Arthur couldn't muster anything concrete except happiness for their friend, waving to the two of them - they'd almost certainly shared a kiss, and he couldn't help but wonder if Sakura had enjoyed it. Leon had even made a teasing joke to which she blushed at before gently cajoling him, and with that the two of them had been on their way.

But afterwards, they'd studied mostly in silence whilst beforehand they were sharing laughter and answers. Their studying session had even been cut off abruptly at around twelve thirty, an hour before they were due to start for lunch. Leon had said he had something to do, before profusely apologising and leaving Arthur to study by himself in the garden, confused.

Whatever it was, it had had to be important – perhaps a rare call to home? Unlike Arthur, who still managed to keep up a relatively steady rapport with his family with writing a letter every two weeks, he knew the family situation his friend was going through. He was even going to the direction of the left wing, where the training grounds, the guards' lodgings and the post office was located, so it was probably that.

Then why was he eating so listlessly? Was it out of nervousness for the lesson tomorrow? But that hadn't happened before, and they'd been both doing well – this week it was supposed to be about the basics cross kingdom relations, which wasn't even hard at all.

The enigma grew even larger as Leon, much unlike his usual pattern of going directly to the Drawing Room after dinner or going up to his room to spend time with the three of them, excused himself right afterwards. Arthur, Emma and Sakura had no choice but to visit Emma's room that night, all three of them having no idea what was going on, hanging out with the additional hope that Leon would eventually join them, however it got up to their curfew and there was no sign of him.

A quiet knock on the door after dinner.

"Hello? I'm here, who's this?" Alfred opened the door to see an ashen faced Sir Leon, standing quietly outside. "Oh hey, Sir Leon! What's up?"

"Your Highness," he bowed once, before meeting his gaze. "Can I borrow you for a moment?"