The Royal Rescue

Chapter 23

Ricardo's PoV

I didn't realise that Serenity had fallen asleep until we reached the castle, which wasn't that long after she initiated the hug.

It was kind of cute though, seeing her face look so at ease and relaxed as she very lightly snored. It just made me fall in love with her even more. She was my little beacon and as selfish as I am, I'm never letting her go.

I laid her gently on our bed and ensured she was comfortable before walking toward my office downstairs. I hadn't shown Serenity this room as well because it's another royal room but maybe one day she'll come in here. Till then, it'll just be me.

I'm going to just let her sleep for the time being until she wakes up on her own.

I figured that since she had a long day, I would let her rest for now whilst I did some urgent paperwork that needed to be finished by the end of tomorrow.

As king, I'm in charge of making sure that each part of the kingdom is treated equally and well provided for. I had to make sure that there was sufficient financial stability and resource availability to meet the town's requirements. It's a long process considering the many changes that happen in my large kingdom but it has to be done once a month. Those many changes were births, deaths, marriages, moving from one town to another, adoption and most current being homelessness which I added to the new building. I've been trying to prolong doing it due to wanting to spend time and care for Serenity but now it's too urgent for me to ignore. I've got twenty-seven towns and nineteen villages to go through with the villages being quicker to complete due to population sizes.

As I was a quarter of the way through, I noticed that Pembroke's population count was back on track after the recent financial burden. At first, I thought nothing of it but then as the complaints came in, I also saw a loss of fifteen per cent of the town. Considering there are over four hundred citizens, that's quite a lot for an average month.

I know it sounds bad but I am so thankful for that issue because if it didn't happen then I would have never met Serenity and in only a matter of months, she's become my lifeline.

I had been doing all this paperwork for about an hour when an urgent knock on my door sounded. Knowing it must be important, I summoned them in and just like that, a guard rushed through the door. He was panting and breathing heavily as if he had run a marathon and it didn't look very good.

"What is the meaning of this?" I asked him in a firm tone. This better not be anything stupid as I would like to finish this paperwork before dinner so I can spend the evening with Serenity. I didn't even know if she had woken up yet or if she was still asleep as I haven't been able to check in on her.

If she did wake though, I know she'd probably find a way to keep herself occupied.

"Your highness, I apologise for interrupting but there's a man who refuses to move today until he gets a presence with miss Beaumont. He says it's very important that he speaks to her. We did forcefully escort him off the premises around nine times before today, even with threats not to return, but he's persisting that he needs to speak with her on urgent business. I figured that it was time to bring it to your attention considering your most recent announcement." He says bowing his head in respect and slight nervousness which he should feel because he didn't tell me any of this beforehand.

I mean she's my girlfriend and she could have been harmed at any given point.

"So he's been at this castle nine times before today and no one dared to tell me? Nine times, are you kidding me? Don't you think it would have been smart to tell me of these things, especially in regards to someone residing in my castle? We went in public today and who knows what could have happened. For all, we know he could very much be dangerous and a threat to us all. Next time, alert me immediately especially in regards to Serenity as this is a serious issue." I sternly stated and made sure to make my frustration known. I didn't appreciate being told about this man beforehand.