Just as she promised with the King of Diamonds, Queen had officially moved into Card Castle the day after that sudden but fun and high-quality gathering, but not before throwing a grand good-bye party at her own mansion to somewhat commemorate that.
Once that was all over, she was said goodbye to with many tears and Swatchling screams, but also with many smiles and, most importantly, promises that they'd all keep in touch with one another via the phone or Spyke, which had recently been installed on all of the computers in Queen's Mansion.
Speaking of which, as soon as Queen had settled into Card Castle, one of the first things she did was update all of the computers that were present there.
Most of the residents of the castle were initially very confused about this sudden upgrade, but soon after, they quickly got used to it and approved of it big-time. They were even happy that Spyke had also been installed on their computers so that they could keep in touch with their families, friends and acquaintances easier when both parties would be at their respective homes.
For the first few days, Queen was especially busy teaching the digital illiterates how computers exactly worked and sharing tips on what not to do on those devices. I mean, if this is some type of order, why not?
As the days went on, the orderliness inside of Card Castle also became significantly better compared to when it was just the four kings. But that didn't mean that the chaos was completely kicked out of the castle, of course, and not just because Jevil was still in his jail cell in the deepest depths of the castle.
Speaking of Jevil, the day that he got locked up there many years ago was now declared by Queen to be a yearly event of humiliating him big-time, which was a great big success among those of Card Castle and Queen's Mansion alike, and especially one of Tasque Manager's favourite unofficial holidays since she hated chaos with her entire heart.
Back in Queen's Mansion, however, just because Queen herself was no longer there didn't mean that she was no longer the topic of any conversations that were held there. Everyone still praised their original leader big-time and hoped that she'd continue to keep that up at Card Castle.
Rest assured, she definitely did, and everyone at Card Castle praised her just as much as they did to the four kings there.
One and a half years had passed ever since that very day, and aside of being a stupendous female monarch, Queen was also one of the sources of entertainment at Card Castle with her seemingly never-ending talks about whatever topic one could possibly think of.
It was currently almost Halloween, and some of the Card Castle peers were very eager to exchange ghost stories with one another, but those weren't too scary or entertaining for most of the time… or were they?
It was 9 p.m. by now. In the gigantic main room, Queen sat on her favourite armchair, shining a flashlight underneath her face and telling a ghost story to the Rudinns, Hathies and Ponmen who sat around her on their own floor cushions.
The four Kings idly sat on their own nearby armchairs: those of Spades and Clovers actually listening along as well, but those of Hearts and Diamonds were just casually sipping from their last cups of tea for the day.
"And Even Though The Computer Was: Off And Unplugged" Queen said in a somewhat eerie tone, "An Image Stayed On The Screen. It Was…" Three seconds of silence, "The Windows Logo!" Upon saying the last sentence, she edged a bit closer to her listeners with her flashlight still underneath her face.
However, only one male Hathy, whose name was Amore, slightly jumped in the tiniest bit of shock, but shrugged it off just as quickly.
"Ah, banana oil!" Cathy scoffed, "that's not scary!"
"It is if you're a laser printer" Iggy snickered with a side-eye, which immediately made her and the others, including Queen herself, laugh heartily.
"Where'd you get that story from anyway?"
"The Skittles Back At My Mansion Once Told Me That Story When I Was Barely 5."
"Wait, whom? Ah, that's right, Bowen and company! Were you scared back then?"
Queen laughed even louder in response.
"I'll take that as a yes." Cathy laid down on her stomach and leaned her head on the tips of her two tentacle arms. "Does anyone else - who isn't Milo or Nico - have a ghost story?"
"Aww, why not us?" Milo and Nico, teenage twin Rudinns, said in a sad tone.
"They never humoured me, if I may be frank."
"Oh But Please Do Humour Me Twins" Queen said. "Have You Looked Up Anything Scary On The Computer Lately?"
"What?!" Milo exclaimed as their eyes widened. "No way that I'd do that!"
"Yeah!" Nico added, "that stuff is significantly scarier than our ghost stories!"
"I happen to know just the one" Amore said. "It's not from the internet, but I heard it during summer camp 11 years ago. Perk your ears, everyone." He cleared his throat before he started.
Meanwhile, among the four kings…
"If I may be honest" the King of Spades said, "she has one peculiar sense of humour. Sometimes, I can't even, pardon the pun, decipher it myself…!" He burst out in laughter himself too, albeit not as loudly as his girlfriend.
"I don't understand?" the King of Clubs said with his heads cocked.
"She's a computer, you pillock! Actual nerds decipher computer codes!"
"Ah, decoding!" the left head of the King of Clubs said, "like that!"
"Yes, of course like that!" the middle head said.
"I still have no clue" the right head said.
"Ah, never mind."
"Sometimes, I can't decipher your self-bickering either" the King of Spades chuckled. "But then again, which king of us can?"
"When are you ever planning on marrying Queen?" the King of Hearts asked.
"Not just yet, puh-lease! I'm absolutely not ready, while I can sense that Queen might obviously be, however. Hopefully we won't clash that much with that anytime soon."
"Okay, don't need to get so worked up about it."
"Well, you tell her instead."
"But she's not even my girlfriend."
"Plus, you never even had a partner before, Hearts" the King of Diamonds said with an all-too-mischievous smile. "But then again, neither have I."
"Checkmate to us, then" the King of Clubs said to the King of Spades. "We've both had our partners. But! I'm the first of the kings to have a child of his own!"
"How many children do you want anyway, if I may ask, Spades?"
The King of Spades was silenced for a bit upon hearing this question.
Man, he thought, that's one of the most difficult questions I've ever gotten, can I even answer it? What if I can't?
"I wanted more" the left head of the King of Clubs said.
"I wanted three" the middle head said.
"We can no longer have any without my late wife" the right head said.
"I have no clue yet" the King of Spades eventually answered, "how about that?"
"That's okay, too" the King of Hearts said. "And if you don't want any children at all, that's okay as well, since I don't want any myself. I do want a wife, though."
"But nobody can just have a spouse within the blink of an eye…!"
"I know, I know. To be frank, I'm just quite jealous that you and Clubs have already had your partners… well, in your case, you still have Queen, but you get the idea."
"I'm just not ready yet, since common sense is that one shouldn't have children before they get married, and Clubs lived by that common sense perfectly, you know what I'm saying?"
"Ah, like that. I see. Well, it runs in all of our royal families."
"True" the King of Diamonds said. "As for me? I want a big family once I ever get married, but I don't think any of you would approve of that."
"How big is big?"
"I don't know… like, maybe 5 or 6 kids?"
"That's a galore of mouths to feed, nappies to change, crying to stop, runny noses to wipe, clothes to wash, and eventually college funds to spend!" The King of Hearts laughed to the point where he eventually had to catch his breath for a while. "Doing this to just one child is already a pain in my butt…!"
"You might change your mind once you're married…!"
"Yeah, I guess you're right about that. If I really had to choose? I think 2 children would be fine enough for me."
"There you go, that's the spirit!" The King of Diamonds laughed heartily and patted the shoulder of the King of Hearts in quite a rough fashion.
Later on, it was almost 1 a.m., and thus only just the next day.
After about 2 hours of a half-sleep-like trance, neither King nor Queen could continue sleeping, no matter how much fun they had many hours beforehand.
"Queenie Beanie?" King asked.
"Yes Kingy Wingy?" Queen replied as she unplugged herself from the socket and joined King in his bed now that she was fully charged.
"Um… imagine if we get married… h-how many children would you want to have?"
"How Should I Know?"
"Well, um, I discussed th-this with the other kings last n-night, and, um… I, myself, am not quite sure yet…"
"You Shouldn't Think Of This Just Yet, We've Only Lived Together For: One And A Half Years. AKA: Nothing."
"You call that nothing? It's quite a lot, if you ask me."
"Huh I Guess Time Flew By Before I Could Even Compute It." Queen couldn't help but snicker a little, while her visor showed the text 'haha' as she did.
"Before we know it, we'll probably be as old as time itself, and you'll probably have a very modern operating system inside of you, hahaha!"
This statement made Queen laugh harder.
"We shouldn't put our marriage off for too long, though, in that case…!"
"Well Imagine If We'd Get: Married, Who Would You Invite?"
"Not the emperors, in any case. As for the other kings? Maybe. But definitely some of the peers around here."
"What About Roblox Or Whatever His Name Is?"
"Rouxls? No, man! Marriages make him blubber his eyes out to the point where this castle suddenly gets a ditch where all the fish die straight away due to its high amount of saltiness!"
"Sodium!"
"Now, who would you invite?"
"Well Most Definitely Swatch And The Other Swatchlings As Well As Tasque Manager."
"And that fivesome, too? Won't they continuously scream when we walk down the aisle?"
"No Clue Because Last Time Someone AKA My Mother Got Married I Was Merely Aged: 3, So No I Don't Remember Any Of That."
"Aw, you definitely missed out on that one! I only remember snippets of that wedding, but they were pretty beautiful!"
"Swatch Also Missed Out Since Back Then They Were Merely Aged: 1, So We're Even."
"Pretty sad how at such a young age, you can't even remember the most beautiful things in life, but that's probably just me."
"That's Not Just You Kingy Wingy."
"Phew, briefly thought I felt left out that way."
Queen rolled over to King, put her arm over his chest and peppered his left cheek with many small kisses.
"Say Imagine If We'd Get Married What Music Would You Want To Hear When We Go Down: The Aisle?"
"Ooh, that's not an easy question that you just asked."
"I Already Know And Yes It's A Classical Music Piece Just Like You Probably Want."
"Well, you got me there already…!" King chuckled for a bit. "Ah, there's this symphony that I first heard about 3 years ago… and now that I think of it, it sounds just perfect for a wedding!"
"Ooh! Okay At The Count Of 1 We Shall Both Say The Song We Desire At The Same Time! Ready?"
"S-sure?"
"3, 2, 1… Planet Observatory 2!"
"Tales From The Scarlet Forest!"
Upon hearing the song that King wanted to hear during the not-even-yet-planned wedding, Queen's visor showed two address signs and her mouth was agape in disbelief.
"What? Is my choice of music not dignified? Johann Swatch II didn't become famous for nothing, you know?"
"No It's Just… It's Just… Well A Very Long Song And As Far As I Know A Walk Down The Wedding Aisle Does Not Last: 12 Minutes."
"Oh yeah? Well, I never heard of your choice, if I may be so frank."
"No?! Kingy Wingy You're Missing Out! Planet Observatory 2 Is An Amazing Song! Swatch Spyked Me Last Week And Subsequently Played It For Me On The Piano!"
"It's not that I have all of the time in the world to talk to others on Spyke, Queenie Beanie. I wish I did, but such is the way of a king."
"Sweetheart Honey Baby Neither Do I Have All Of The Time In The World, But Whatever Happens Just Happens Right?"
"Who'll be playing our wedding music anyway?"
"Well Swatch Will And Probably Also Some Of The Swatchlings Of: My Mansion's Newly-Established Miniature Symphony Orchestra. That's 60 Musicians BTW."
"Doesn't sound like a bad idea to me. As long as they're professionals, one won't hear me complain."
"Oh Don't Worry They Never Fell Asleep Of Boredom Back At The Conservatory So They're 100% Professional."
"Better."
Queen giggled softly as she planted another kiss on King's cheek.
"You know? I initially started this whole topic because I think common sense is that one shouldn't have children before they get married, especially not if you're a monarch like us."
"I Partly Agree On That. However My Mother Couldn't Help But Marry Dad Since The Two Were Just Madly In Love Despite Already Having Me And Swatch Respectively. Beforehand It Was Indeed Your Common Sense Since My Mother Married My Biological Dad Before They Officially Had Me."
"In the case of Rolek, I won't judge you. Sometimes, people who already have offspring of their own just can't help falling in love with one another despite everything, and that's okay, too. But for a king like me, it just doesn't feel good to have children before even being married. For me, marriage will open the doors to many possibilities in that way…!"
"Hey Don't Worry I Currently Don't Want Any Children Anyway. All I Want Is You Sweet Kingy Wingy Because You Already Mean Everything To Me."
"Aww, aren't you sweet…?" King kissed Queen's cheek for a few times. "But if you had to choose how many?"
"Just One."
"Just one, huh? You want to take it easy?"
"Yeah Unless We Have Twins Then That's Another Story."
King burst out in loud laughter and really had to catch his breath at times.
"Twins? I don't even want to think of that! That's twice the nappies, overall laundry, bottles to feed, consistent screeching, toys that we shouldn't trip over, hours of lost sleep… man! My ears are already ringing at the mere thought!"
Queen was now howling with laughter as well, her visor showing the text 'LMAO' once again.
A parent's first few years with their offspring would always be tough enough, but with two at the same time? Make that a very high level of difficulty and challenges!
"Oh Kingy Wingy Your Humour Is Timeless…!"
"I just love to exaggerate stuff…!"
The two lovers ended up laughing in one another's loving embrace until they finally realised they were tuckered out enough to go back to sleep.
"Well That Decision Of Just One Child Surely Induced My Sleep." Queen yawned widely and held her hand in front of her mouth while she did. "And You're Sure You Still Don't Know Your Answer To Your Own Question Yet?"
"That's a good one. In fact, I second your answer. Just one child is okay, but if we want more by then, that's up to us. Sound good?"
"Sounds Just About Perfect." The cyber monarch pulled her boyfriend into her grasp for a 10-second lip-lock. "Good Night Kingy Wingy Sweetie Honey Darling Gravy I Love You."
"Good night, Queenie Beanie. I love you, too."
Queen made herself as comfortable as possible in King's loving grasp, and it didn't take too long for her to fall asleep… or should I say, go into sleep mode?
King himself almost immediately fell asleep soon after as well.