Cardverse Hetalia ~ Kingdom Of Spades ♠️

Chapter 22 - The Tragic Secret Of Arthur Part 1

The next morning, Arthur woke up in the peaceful stillness of the room that was lit up by the sunlight illuminating through the balcony doors. He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes to find he was all alone in the room. Arthur scanned the room in case his master was merely obscured from his view only to find his presence is non-existent. He saw a note next to the bed on top of the book that Arthur holds dear and he picks it up to read the following

Morning Artie,

Think of this day as a free day. You can do whatever you want to do. You deserve it after all for being a fantastic servant. Don't worry about me, I can manage with Yao for the day. He said he's got the potion sorted so that I can finally make snow angels and have snowball fights with my brother again. That's the hope anyway. Now then, rest up well and I'll see you soon.

Alfred

P.S. I know you like reading so I left a small gift for you to keep. It's yours.

Arthur raised an eyebrow at the note. No one in his whole life has ever given him free days without conditions before. He wasn't sure how to react to such a generous gesture, let alone from a young Prince. He lifts his journal to find a dark leather book, decorated with a beautiful rabbit design on the front. He opened the front cover and the first page he says has the title

The Velveteen Rabbit

Arthur looked up to the door before resuming down to the page. He never read a story book like this before, especially one with such a fancy name for what felt like a short story based on the weight and size of the book. It was about the size of Arthur's hand and was as thin as a pencil. He decided this can be one of the ways to spend his day. With an optimistic smile, he turns the page to read the first paragraph of text, illustrated by a beautiful rabbit toy peeking from a sock drawing complimenting the font of the book.

Meanwhile, Alfred was with Yao in a special room where there were bottles with labels, books on spells and potions as well as small trinkets that were associated with magic. Yao was shocked that the royals once used this room to help create remedies from natural ingredients and minerals before the queen died, leaving the room sealed off until now. Yao presented Alfred with a glass filled with yellow liquid that appeared to be sparkly within with hints of light aqua peeking from the hue in the potion.

Yao pushed the glass forward. "Here you go, sir. I presumed this is what you were asking for." He stated with confidence in his voice. Alfred looked down to the drink before him then back up to the man. "I presume it's not going to be pleasant for taste, right?" He asked. Yao shook his head while smiling. "That's usually from cold and cough medicines, but this one has a taste of Jasmine Rice and hints of Orange within. Go ahead and taste for yourself." He said with encouragement. Alfred thought felt at ease begrudgingly agreed to take the drink. He sips the formula slowly, allowing his taste buds to take in the unexpectedly sweet taste of the rice and orange, alone with tastes that is equivalent to eating a warm apple pie topped with cream and sprinkled chocolate. Alfred continuously drunk the formula until it was gone before carefully placing the glass on the counter. Yao gestures to Alfred to take a seat in case of side effects such as dizzy spells, nausea or anything else that could lead to someone fainting.

Yao took a dark oak stool from the counter and brought it to himself as he took a seat next to the prince. "How are you feeling, sir?" He asked. Alfred definitely felt something gradually build up in his body, his blood pressure seemed to have increased a bit, his skin was feeling warmer and his feet and fingers twitched more frequently than usual. "Am I suppose to start feeling this warm, Yao?" Alfred asked nervously. Yao nodded in response. "It will pass sir, it's nothing to worry about. If you were feeling warm then ice cold then that would've created even bigger problems aru." He explained before getting up from his stool in order to obtain some snow balls he collected from the garden area. He put on gloves to avoid the snow balls from melting and carefully passed it over to Alfred. "Okay, the moment of truth. Beforehand, you said that holding a snow ball for about 1 minute made your body react like it was about to freeze completely, Am I right aru?" He asked, to which Alfred nodded in response.