To Wear The Crown

23

"That's understandable." The prince takes the letter from Charlie. He had a thought that the physician might have some conditions of their own before accepting. Giving the letter a scan, the prince nods his head as if he is happy to comply with the wants asked in the letter. "Charlie, can you grab me another ink pot?"

Charlie retrieves the ink pot as the prince moves his books and the extra studying material to the side of his table, to place down some fresh pieces of paper. "Your highness." Removing the lid, Charlie places the pot on the table.

"Thank you" The prince dips his quill in the ink pot and begins to write a series of letters— three to be exact.

Nellie sits on the floor beside Charlie, rubbing her head against his leg as she waits for rubs. Eventually, she starts to whine until Charlie finally bends down and rubs the top of her head and scratches her chin at the same time. Her tail beating against the floor as her whole body wiggles. "Who's the cutest girl in the whole wide world?" Charlie coos and Nellie woofs back.

The prince scoffs when he turns to see Nellie enjoying love from another person. "Traitor." He jokes when he and Nellie make eye contact. Nellie barks back and trots over to the prince to rest her head on his lap. "Oh, so that's how it is then. You think you can go around and come back to me like nothing happened, huh?" The prince squishes Nellie's cute cheeks. "Of course, you can. I will always love you because you are the cutest girl in the whole wide world. Everyone should love you-"

"Ackem." Charlie coughs and brings the prince back to reality.

"Right, yes err... sorry." The prince takes the letters he's written and hands them over to Charlie. "This one is to go to counsellor Ajayi. This one is to go to the stable master. And this one is to go to the physician."

"Got it." Charlie nods, remembering whose letter belongs to who. "I'll go do that now."

"What no. You can do them after lunch. I need my armour cleaned first before training..." The prince goes silent, scrunching his brows. "That... that came off a lot ruder than I meant. What I meant was, that it is not so urgent that it needs to be done right away, as it will take a while to sort out what's needed anyway so you can go after lunch. You should eat first... and I do also need my armour polished so if you could do that in the meantime... please." The prince nervously smiles.

Charlie internally laughs at the prince's cuteness. "Of course, your highness. I shall deliver the counsellor's letter first as that is in the castle and then I'll polish your armour."

"Thank you."

Charlie nods and leaves the prince's room. One letter in hand and two in his pocket. It doesn't take him long to reach the counsellor's room. Knocking on the door he gets no reply. Looking down both sides of the corridor and knowing it's clear of other servants, Charlie slips into the counsellor's room. Looking around: the room is pretty boring with a bed on one wall and then a desk and bookshelf on the other. Walking over to the desk, Charlie places down the letter and makes sure not to peek at the open letters and documents sprawl out. However, his eyes can't help but lock onto a letter that has many scribbled-out words. 'To my love xxxxxxx, I fear you already know what is happening in xxxxxxxxx. Please do not go there yourself. A terrible disaster is happening like the one I feared you predicted. People are dying and xxxxxx xxxx xx xxxx. I do not want to lose you that way. Please stay here and stay safe. We are getting someone else to go there. They can fix it and if something goes wrong, at least it's not you. If it xxxxxxx, xxx xxx xxxx, I have you with me. x xxxx xxx.' "What the...?" Charlie rips his head away from the letter to not read anymore. He never knew counsellor Ajayi had a lover, and whoever they are, he loves them very much.

However, what Charlie did read seems familiar— as if Ajayi's writing about Redcliffe. Not wanting to be caught in the counsellor's room and reading a private letter, Charlie makes his way out of the room and swiftly down the stairs to the armour room.