And here is chapter two! It's short and light and fluffy and that is very misleading, because shit hits the fan in the next chapter. Enjoy the adorable while you can. Also, I've been on a role so chapter three is already almost done. In fact I can say with near-certainty that it will be uploaded tonight and ensure that you won't be able to sleep after reading it because I am a sadistic writer.

In the two months since I became Lord N's knight, I learned a great deal about my master.

For the most part his days were filled with reading books and doing paperwork, but even those mundane tasks were not boring, simply because it was him. Lord N was the most fascinating person I had never known could exist.

With almost everything he did, he had to be outside, usually in the vast gardens behind the castle, regardless of the weather. He would sleep in the grass, pick flowers, and feed the birds. I was stunned the first time I saw how animals gathered around him. Birds landed on his hands and arms and even in his hair, while squirrels and rabbits settled down in his lap, and deer came right up to him. He would spend hours talking to them as if it was perfectly natural, calling each by name. Then he would lay down and take a nap, and they would sleep there with him. It certainly added to my theory that he was an elf of some sort.

Then sometimes he would bring out a whole stack of books from the library and leave several open in front of him, apparently able to read more than one at a time, and at truly startling speeds.

Or he would just sit and look at the scenery quietly, the very picture of contentment as his fingers absently picked at the grass beneath him.

So many times I wanted to say something, to strike up a conversation, even though I had never really been the talkative type. I just wanted to know what he was thinking about, if what he was reading interested him, or how he was able to tame animals like that. However, that would be out of line. It was not my place to speak unless spoken to, so I only looked on silently.

Then one day he brought a large sack out with him, and as always I lingered a ways away while he dumped the contents out on the grass. It was full of toys. Somewhat flabbergasted, I just stared as the king, three years older than myself, spent hours playing with those toys, as well-entertained as any ten-year-old would be. I could not decide if it was bizarre or adorable.

It was not until the time Lord N happened to spot some children on the other side of the castle wall that I began to understand why he was the way he was.

At first I just watched him watch the group of children laughing and playing together. He seemed so interested, and almost wistful.

I almost jumped when he suddenly addressed me. "What are they doing, Black?"

"Well," I stepped out onto the balcony where he was so I could get a better look at the children. "They're playing hop-scotch, I suppose."

"What's hop-scotch?" Lord N glanced at me, and I realized he really did not know.

"It's a game." I answered rather stupidly.

"How do you play it? They seem to just be jumping on marks drawn on the cobblestone."

"Er.." How exactly does one explain hop-scotch? "Well, you make a series of squares or circles and mark them with numbers. Then you have to step on them in order. There are variations you can add to make it more fun, but that's the basic premise."

He blinked at me, then went back to observing the children. "I see." After a moment, he turned to me again. "Have you ever played hop-scotch?"

"When I was kid, yes."

Those eyes stared at me for a while longer. "Will you teach me?"

"W-will I..?" I stuttered. Teach a king how to play a simple children's game?

But he nodded, perfectly serious.

"Of.. Of course, Sire. If you wish me to."

Lord N's face lit up. "Then let's go!"

"Uh, wait!" I called out, seeing as he was already halfway to the door. "We'll need chalk or something.."

This did not seem to be a problem. "Alright." He said easily, heading for one of the chests he kept in his bedchamber and rummaging around for a while before pulling out a tin full of chalk sticks. "Will this do?"

"That's fine.." The part of me that remembered being a child felt just a little jealous seeing the multitude of fine toys piled in that chest.

With the chalk now procured, I soon found myself standing in one of the small courtyards in the garden, explaining the method of drawing a hop-scotch course in further detail.

"So it's alright to make it a bit more complicated?" He inquired, having taken in my fumbled instructions quite well.

"Yes, I suppose."

"Right." And with that he got to work, a look of concentration on his face.

"I.. I can help.." I offered weakly, still unsure that this was a good idea.

"No."

"..Alright.."

Feeling very weird about this whole situation, I sat down on a nearby bench and watched my king busily draw across the stone ground.

Not for the first time, I wondered what kind of childhood he had had. Playing so happily with toys, but not knowing what hop-scotch was? He was such a youthful, innocent person that I often felt as though I was babysitting a very tall, very handsome child, but he was also very smart and solemn beyond his actual age. My Lord N is an enigma.

"Black, I'm done! Come show me how to play, now!"

Looking up from my thoughts, I stood and walked over to the large array of very neatly-drawn squares where His Majesty waited. When I saw just how he had made it "a bit more complicated", my face drained of colour.

"So, instead of just hopping from one number to the next, I made these formulas that– What's wrong?"

"H-Highness.." I began, feeling my eyebrow twitch. "Forgive me, but.. I only have a commoner's education.. I don't understand this at all." Written inside each square were various complicated symbols combined with numbers and letters, and I could make neither heads nor tails of any of it. I had neglected to remember that on top of everything else, Lord N was a genius.

He visibly deflated. "You don't? It's all quite simple."

"Yes, well..."

We stood there looking at the overly complicated hop-scotch, both at a loss as to what to do now. Finally I looked over at him.

"Perhaps we should play something else."

"Like what?"

"Like.. Tag, or something.."

"What's tag?"

"...You don't know what tag is?"

"I've never heard of it."

It would be almost certainly out of line to ask this, but.. "Didn't you have playmates as a child?"

"Of course I did." We stared at each other silently for a moment before he elaborated. "The animals."

I ran a hand through my hair. "Well, I guess then you wouldn't know about games you play with more than one person.."

"There are many such games?"

"Yes."

His eyes widened excitedly. "Teach me! All of them!"

I blinked in surprise. "What?"

"I want you to play with me, Black!"

"But I'm just.. I'm not.."

He stepped forward and I took my hand in both of his. "Please play with me. Tell me all about what it's like outside this castle."

For a moment I could only stare at him. All this time, he must have been so lonely.. Without a real childhood, without knowing how to grow up... "If you wish it of me, my Lord."

That was how we spent the next month. I taught him every game I knew, how to climb trees and to swim. At some point, we forgot that we were king and knight, and just became friends, albeit only in private. Even though I felt awkward, stepping across the gap between us, it was so nice to be able to talk to him, to listen to the things he wanted to say. That I could be his first human friend meant more to me than anything.

Over the course of that month, little by little he told me about himself. Because of the witch's prophecy, the Seven Sages deemed that he would be kept in a "controlled environment" so as to keep his mind and heart pure and perfect, and locked him away in a small room in a far part of the castle. It had but one barred window through which he made friends with the animals of the forest just outside, and knew no human contact but for the Seven who tutored him and the two nursemaids who cared for him until he was old enough to do things by himself.

The result of this method for raising a child, of nothing but solitude and study, was a brilliant and innocent young man who only knew the world through the books he read. Oblivious to the harshness of reality, he was exceptionally kind to the point of naivety. This wise and caring person was truly a fine king.

Or rather, he would be, were it not for a terrible problem. One that even I was unaware of until I received a letter from Cheren.

Apparently the world beyond the castle walls was far displaced from the timeless cheer I now shared with Lord N. I was stunned to read that unfair laws were being passed to raise taxes and cast a merciless shadow over any and all who could not comply. Cheren was nearly furious, demanding to know what the king I was so enamored with was doing.

It was not until that moment that I realized something I could not believe I had neglected to notice: Not once had I ever seen Lord N do anything resembling a king's duties other than sign piles of documents. He attended no meetings, dictated nothing, and heard not a single word from his subjects. For all intents and purposes, he was left to wander about doing whatever he pleased while the government was run without him.

But why? Lord N was perfectly capable of running this country, so why then did it seem like he was nothing more than a puppet ruler?

The reason came too easily: Ghetsis Harmonia. He was the one controlling everything, it was obvious. I had only met him formally once, but it was known across the kingdom that he was very fitting as the leader of the Seven Sages. The Harmonia bloodline had served the royals since the founding of this country, and they were rumored to be mages. However, Ghetsis was now the last of the clan, yet he took no wife. All I really knew about him was that he was an almost eerily charismatic person who claimed to be Lord N's mentor. But the few times I had been in his presence, one could only feel intimidated, and now I suspected that Ghetsis was the one behind the rising turmoil in the kingdom.

It was inexcusable, but what could I do? I should of course tell Lord N, but then what? Somehow I had a bad feeling about this entire situation.

What could have gone differently had I been able to know that our month of happiness was only possible because that man was gone on a journey around the kingdom, and that with his return he would bring with him the nightmare would threaten to consume both Lord N and I.