Ten months had passed by now, but the situation between the four kings of Card Castle unfortunately hadn't improved for even a single smidgen, no matter how hard they even tried. Just as I - or, rather, we all - expected, to be frank.
Not even the Card Castle peers were sure who was considered the best king anymore.
"The King of Diamonds above all of the others!" Milo and Nico exclaimed in unison.
"Ah, banana oil!" Cathy exclaimed as she slammed her fist onto the surface of the table, "the King of Spades rules!"
"Girl, no" a Rudinn named Eiji said as he shook his head hard, "the King of Spades drools, and literally, too. The King of Clubs above anyone else."
"Ha! Simply because he was the first to have become a father? That's such banana oil that I'm hearing from your mouth, youngster."
"The King of Spades has proven to be the best king of them all often enough" Iggy said, "and nobody can change my mind on that."
"I'm not even sure why we're bickering anymore!" Amore exclaimed as he pressed the tips of his tentacle arms against the two sides of his head.
"Dearest little brother of mine" Cathy said, "we're not bickering, but sharing our opinions on who is the best king of the Card Kingdom."
"Ugh, how should I know who's the best king of them all?! It's definitely not the King of Diamonds, since he's a massively arrogant asshole, if I may be brutally frank!"
"I second that opinion, thinking he's all high and mighty simply because he's the eldest of the kings. You've seen the King of Spades prove himself often enough, right?"
"Well, he and Queen are inseparable, that's what I know as of lately."
"The King of Spades and Queen are just big show-offs" Milo said as they shook their head.
"He probably scripted that whole engagement two Christmases ago" Nico added with a scoff.
Then suddenly, the door of the main room opened with quite a loud crack. Those rusty old hinges of the door surely could use an oil treatment in the meantime…
"What are you lot bickering so loudly about?" Castiel asked. "Your voice volumes combined outsmart that of the King of Spades on his own by now."
"Ah, banana oil" Cathy grumbled as she crossed her arms, "Papa, we're not even bickering. We're attempting to conduct a poll on which king is the best out of them all, since the chemistry between those four is no longer the best, you know?"
"Conducting a poll, huh? Well, it sounds like the majority of you are very confident about that, if I may be honest."
"I know just who to vote for, in that case!" Eiji said triumphantly, "and it's not the King of Spades! He drools, and literally, too!"
"Yeah!" Milo and Nico shouted in unison.
"Just because the King of Spades drools doesn't make him a bad king" Iggy said. "Plus, it's not that he does it all the time."
Amore nodded hard in agreement.
"I'd say you should publicly conduct that poll, Cath" Castiel said, "so that more than just you guys will have a chance to express their opinions."
"That's not a bad idea" Cathy said. "Participation is a very important key to this."
"But Papa" Amore said, "who do you think is the best king of them all?"
"Ooh, that's a tricky one." It took a while before the shy Hathy had one of his final answers. "It's not the King of Diamonds, though, since he's often a little too overconfident… or should I just cut to the chase? He's arrogant, yes, and not just for a little bit either."
"See, you guys? Told you all that the King of Diamonds is a massively arrogant asshole."
"Language, Amore. He's more than just that part of his body, and you know that."
"Ah, banana oil" Cathy said as she facepalmed and shook her head. "You know what he means, Papa."
"Personally, I think the King of Hearts is the best one of them all. He's not much of a talker, but he rules just perfectly, like drawing perfectly straight angles and corners with a T-square."
Everyone else at the table groaned audibly, disagreeing with Castiel's opinion.
"No? You think that quiet people can't rule a kingdom properly? You lot are just as silly as those cartoons that they air nowadays." Castiel chuckled after he spoke. "His quietness does make the King of Spades quite angry very often, though."
"The King of Hearts is just an even bigger show-off" Milo said.
"Since he desperately flatters his fellow kings the whole time" Nico added.
"Does he even know what love truly is?"
"That's the question we all want the answer to, right?"
"I don't think he knows that" Amore stated. "For love, you should either consult the King of Clubs, or the King of Spades. It's just two-fourth of the kings that have known true love in their entire life! Not even the King of Diamonds can find a suitable lady with his smugness!"
"Ask the King of Clubs about love and one of himselves will start bawling hysterically" Eiji said with a shrug. "My heart just ached for him losing his wife shortly after she gave birth to Clover. Not going to lie, this was one of the few times I actually cried when I was 16."
"The King of Clubs is a little too aloof to be the best king out of them all, if I may be frank. Unfortunately, Clover has inherited that aloofness, judging from how she's often unable to comprehend even the simplest questions that she hears."
"They're not aloof, that's just how the typical clublings are."
"I second your opinion, Amore" Iggy said with a nod. "Eiji, don't you realise what it means to our kingdom when the King of Clubs becomes the main king? Remember how two of himselves got addicted to spirit two months prior to the previous Cyber Queen's funeral?"
"Of course I do, but the King of Diamonds didn't make that big of a deal out of that."
"Ugh, you're not even helping for one split second… do you seriously think that a mostly, if not fully, drunk king makes a good ruler?"
"Well, I guess you've got a good point there. Drunk people are just ridiculously out of control and never even know what they're doing, which results in nothing but disaster. I don't even know whom to vote for at this point anymore!"
"We should probably just start conducting the poll, you all" Cathy said. "So we've got two who think that the King of Diamonds is the best, three who think that the King of Spades is the best, one who thinks that the King of Hearts is the best, and one who, until just now, thought that the King of Clubs was the best." She got up from her seat, browsed some of the nearby cupboards for a clipboard, some paper and a pencil, and wrote everything down that she knew so far. "Now, to ask more of the peers except for the kings themselves."
"Now that's what I call wise thinking, Cath" Castiel said. "Are you able to make sure that everyone answers honestly without bickering?"
"Well, obviously not on my own. Papa, you should resume whatever you were doing until you heard us, because it might be important. Iggy, Eiji, twins and Amore, you should come with me to help me ask everyone around."
"I'll try to maintain the peace between them" Eiji suggested. "Amore, maintaining peace is difficult for you, I know, so please don't pressure yourself into doing so, alright?"
Amore simply nodded, hating to admit that he was vulnerable to pressuring himself into doing things that he actually didn't like.
"I hope this'll go well…" Iggy said with a slight shudder in her voice. "I'm honestly very worried that this'll escalate quickly, just like all of that wedding stress…"
Cathy gave Iggy some reassuring pets on her head before they and the others went off to put the aforementioned poll into action.
At some point, it was late in the evening, and everyone at Card Castle was slowly but surely heading to bed.
The final results of the poll were now well-known enough to Cathy, Iggy, Eiji, Milo, Nico and Amore, but they wouldn't be shared with the rest of the Card Castle peers until the next day.
To this, Queen didn't really seem oblivious since she briefly happened to have eavesdropped on Cathy and company while they were receiving more answers for the poll in the evening, and merely pretended to be oblivious towards the three other kings.
"Today Was A Way Too Long Day Wasn't It?" Queen asked as she plugged herself out of the socket, having taken her time to charge herself while King had taken an extended shower and brushed both sets of his teeth beforehand.
"I agree on that to the fullest" King said, sighing deeply as he crashed onto the big bed. "Everyone just thinks of that smug King of Diamonds to be the best king out of them all, while it's definitely me."
"Of Course You're The Best King, It's Slowly But Surely Being Proven." Queen joined King in his bed and settled herself to be as comfortable as possible.
"Exactly, nobody can outsm- wait, what did you mention about proof that I'm the best king?"
"I'm Not Sure If It's: True, But I Overheard Some Of Your Peers About A Poll Regarding Who Is The Best King, And I Also Heard One Of The Girls Mention That So Far You Have: Most Of The Votes." Queen's visor showed the text 'true' while she spoke.
"Oh my goodness, this might be good news! If I'm actually proven to be the best king as well, our guards might as well have to incarcerate the other three for at least a decade!"
"Yeah! The Two Of Us Can Rule Card Castle Just Perfectly!"
"And I'll be the primary king of Card Kingdom!"
"But If We Both Suddenly Die Who Will Follow Us Up?"
"Oof, didn't even think of that. But I don't think either of us will die that quickly if we stay away from whatever evil will seek us, no matter if it's evil Darkners, evil Lightners or even a lethal virus."
The word 'virus' had an astonishing effect on Queen. Once she heard it, she had completely fallen silent, and her visor showed 'Serial Number Q5U4EX7YY2E9N .exe has stopped working' at the same time.
"What's wrong, Queenie Beanie? You seem afraid."
The cyber monarch was suddenly reminded of her mother's tragic death to the Conficker virus, which had left her quite traumatised, especially since it had been confirmed that her mother would no longer be able to heal, resulting in the mandatory coronation of the young cyber monarch herself. And beforehand, her biological father had died of the ILOVEYOU virus when she was still a young toddler…
She didn't want to get a virus. She didn't want to get scammed by anyone suspicious, like both of her parents. Dying was the least thing she wanted, especially from such a virus.
"Have I said anything wrong?"
Queen nodded, but burst out in tears soon after. She hated to admit the truth whenever she felt scared, uneasy, angry or sad.
"Oh, sweetheart…" King put his arm around Queen's shoulder in an attempt to comfort her. "I'm very sorry for having done that…"
"I Don't Want To Get A Virus Since Both Of My Parents Have Died From One…!" Queen leaned into King's shoulder to cry, her visor showing the ';-;' emote as she did.
"Oh my goodness, I'm terribly sorry for having said that word out loud! I should've known about that better…! If it makes you feel any better, I shall always be there for you to protect you from being scammed by that same suspicious guy who preyed on both of your parents! I shall personally pummel them to pieces!"
"That's Some Fierce Spirit You Got There Kingy Wingy… Th-Thank You For Being There For Me…"
"I shall always protect you whenever you wish to go to the public world. I will not permit you to go there on your own, for you'll be in danger of suspicious individuals that way."
"I Never Wanted To Go Into Public Without You Anyway Kingy Wingy Sweetie… Th-There's So Much I Still Want To Sh-Show You There…"
"You're one of the kindest women I've ever met in my life, you know that?" King started rubbing Queen's back and occasionally kissed her tear-stained right cheek. "I simply can't imagine a life without you anymore…"
"And For My First And Only Boyfriend You Are Also: The Kindest…"
Silence was present between the two for a while. They did nothing but cuddle to ease one another from all of their tension.
The both of them noticed one another's energy depleting quite a lot, and at some point, they broke the silence with a quiet but loving kiss on one another's lips.
"You're Going To Get The Upper Hand As The Primary King I'm Sure Of That" Queen said. "You Will Get The Majority Of The Poll Votes. None Of Those Other Kings Will Be Able To Outsmart You." Her tears had almost stopped, but her visor had visibly fully calmed down.
"I'm just as sure of that" King said, "especially since I have this feeling why the other kings are acting so aloof and off lately."
"Aloof And Off You Say? I Never Really Noticed That TBH."
"Remember how that mysterious knight was apparently permitted to enter our castle 4 months ago? It seems that he had done something strange to the other kings of which even I couldn't grasp its true form. As for me? That knight ironically did nothing to me. They just… left me out? Or is that the wrong term? I have no clue, but maybe that's why I have been feeling more serious and on the upper hand lately."
"Oh You Mean That Strange Person In Shadowy Armour With That Mystical Aura Around Them? I Was Already Wondering Why They Had Disappeared Without A Trace In The Form Of: Not Walking Back Towards The Main Door To Exit."
"Yes, that was them. Did they really disappear without a trace? That sounds spooky, to be frank. Now I'm questioning whether they were real or not."
"Well As Far As I've Been Programmed My Radars Have Detected Nothing In The Way Of: Ghosts Or Any Other Paranormal Activity, So I Think They Must've Been Real Indeed."
"Hmm, that sounds very concerning."
"I Second That." Queen then held her hand in front of her mouth while yawning widely. "That Crying Must've Tuckered Me Out A Lot." She laid her head on her pillow and attempted to relax a little more.
"The consistent bickering with the other kings tuckered me out just as much, Queenie Beanie. Why must they bicker with me more frequently ever since that knight came?"
"I Have No Clue That's Probably Just The Smug Doing Of: The King Of Diamonds."
"I'm convinced of the same thing, really." King also laid down and laid his arm onto the left side of Queen's body. "I just hope that those guards will obey me soon, because if I get the upper hand anyway, my wishes should always be everyone else's command, and nobody can fight me because of that."
"You'll Make A Great Solitary Ruler Kingy Wingy."
"And you're already a great right hand lady of mine…! But pretty mischievous as well, for you have eavesdropped on others about a poll regarding who's the best king in Card Kingdom."
"Sweetheart It Wasn't Intentional And You Know That." Queen peppered a few kisses on King's left cheek.
"Doesn't make you less mischievous…!" King chuckled and kissed Queen back on both of her cheeks. "But despite that, I still love you to the small fountain near the roof and back."
"I Love You More Than The Entire Dark World Is Big." The cyber monarch somewhat nestled herself into her fiancé after having given him one last kiss on his lips. "Good Night Kingy Wingy Sweetheart."
"Good night to you too, Queenie Beanie." The spadeling pulled the covers over himself and Queen, gently kissed her forehead and closed his eyes.
Due to the both of them being almost equally fatigued, they were fast asleep within no time.