The Orphan King and The Witch of the Woods (KINGDOM Arthur X Female OC)

Ch. 3: The Promise of the Throne

It was night.

Well, in actuality, it must have been much later than that.

And yet, as the moon shone high above the Viridian fields and the fireflies played freely among the trees, Arthur lie awake in his bed, unable to sleep.

Staring at the ceiling while lying still, it would be hard to believe that for the past few hours, he had been staying awake in that position, only shuffling every now and then when he felt too uncomfortable.

Something troubled the boy, clearly. But he didn't seem to keen to let anyone know...

Until he heard his roommate shuffle in his bed.

"Peter?" the boy calls out softly. Suddenly, the shuffling stops, and with his brows furrowed, Arthur calls out to his roommate once again. "Peter!"

"Gah!" Suddenly, from the other bed in the room situated opposite of Arthur's bed, the very boy he had been calling falls with a thud.

Peter, also turning 18 but around the peak of autumn, is Arthur's only roommate, and also the child living in the orphan house known to be the most knowledgable in all the tall tales and stories in the land.

He is also quite a goofball.

"Peter?" Arthur calls out again, though sounding more concerned this time after he had heard the boy fall. Peter suddenly hushes him, however, and Arthur quickly shuts his mouth, freezing as he looks around warily.

A few seconds pass. And yet nothing happens. And as Arthur looks back at Peter, the latter meets his eyes with a glare.

"Next time, try not to put us in a situation where it looks like we had been up way past bedtime," Peter warns him, scurrying back onto his bed like a mouse. "Hoo! I could have died back there if I had been caught by the matron."

Arthur watches him silently. His brows had furrowed as he watches his mouse-like roommate get back in his bed, but as soon as the latter had finished, he calls his name again. "Hey, Peter?"

"What?" Peter responds sharply, turning back to the boy with his glare returning.

Arthur pauses, thinking about something, then when it returns to his mind, he looks towards Peter once again. There would be no harm in asking, after all. "The sword... the one standing in the middle of town... Is it true that no one has ever moved it? Like at all?" he asks.

This time, Peter's glare disappears, and the boy actually starts to seem interested as he eyes his roommate. "Oh? I had always thought it was only Lily who was interested in that sword. Has she finally convinced you to join her?" Peter grins mischievously, only for his grin to disappear in the next second when a pillow hits him in his face. The boy falls back onto his bed with a light thump, then his irritated mood returns as he removes the pillow from his face and looks towards Arthur. "Hey–"

"So have you changed your mind about getting caught by the matron?" Arthur asks even before he could continue, and Peter, upon realizing his situation, immediately stops himself.

It seems, Arthur was winning this argument.

And Peter just frowns as he looks towards the other boy. "So, what is it exactly that you want to know about the sword? It's the king's sword. It's found in the middle of Viridis. Whoever pulls it out will become king, and yet even to this day, no one has ever been able to move it," the boy explains impatiently. "What else do you want to know?"

Arthur looks at him hesitantly, then, looking away, he proceeds with his clarifying question. "You say no one has been able to move it. So you mean... not even by an inch?"