The Love in your Eyes

IV | Distraction

MISAEL

"Sire? ... Sire?"
It was the quiet, raspy voice of Alexandre piercing through my thoughts. My head snapped towards him a little faster than I would have liked. Alexandre's face was riddled with worry, steel blue eyes piercing through my dark ones, his small wrinkles set deep. His normally straight posture, slightly bowed towards me. "Are you all quite right, Sire?" Worry was written all over his face, after I did not immediately answer his question. Was I alright? I truly did not know. I never did. But what I did know with all certainty was that I, under all circumstances, had to be. Showing signs of weaknesses, was unacceptable, and I already felt shame creep up my spine.

"I am fine Mister Laffon, there just seems to be a bit of a cold wind coming from the annex." In mere seconds I had regained my composure. My hands balled to fists, my head up and determined, shoulders straight and back. The dark thoughts locked far away from my consciousness, where I –hopefully– could never reach them ever again. As steadily as possible I walked into the annex, straight towards the empty chair in front of me.
"Good morning to you once again, your Majesty." It was Evangeline greeting me first then followed the other persons in the annex. She was standing next to her chair, Philip's hand softly holding hers, as she waited for me to take my seat first. I did not hesitate and sat on my chair, so did Evangeline on my right side and Philip right across from me.
"A good morning to you both as well." I smiled softy at the two, then I took a deep breath while looking around me taking in the beautiful surroundings I found myself in. But I quickly shifted my gaze to my wife and child, my heart warming up as I watched the two interact with one another.
We were quickly served breakfast whereupon a comfortable atmosphere surrounded us, Philip and Evangeline were immersed in their own little world as I fondly watched them.

"Princess?" I found myself asking for Evangeline's attention which was given to me after a short moment. "Yes, your Majesty?" Her russet eyes were on me, curiosity evident in them.
"I had planned to inspect the palace household affairs today, right after breakfast and I wanted to ask you for you to join me." I realised too late that the question ended up sounding more like a command, but Evangeline was nonetheless thinking about my request.
"Well I do not see why not, your Majesty." My wife finally answered with a polite smile on her face as she took a sip from her tea.
"Fantastic," I smiled as I laced my fingers together, "furthermore, as of today I have introduced a new rule for Mister Laffon, which is that I am to be addressed as 'Sire' by him from now on, as he is my right-hand man. And I wished to expand that rule onto you as well, Princess. I mean we are a married couple." I explained to Evangeline, which made her instantly stop eating the fruits on her plate. It was quite for a moment even Philip had stopped eating to stare at me with huge eyes.
"Really?" Is all Evangeline asked, whilst she seemed to be deep in thought. But before I could say anything else she nodded her head, as a smile spread on her face, a genuine one.
"I will gladly follow your new rule, Sire." Immediately I was flooded with relief content that my wife was on the same page as me.
So, we continued eating breakfast as I quietly, but happily, watched my wife try to make little Philie eat his vegetables.

We finished our breakfast and left the annex to go towards the main entrance and exit of the palace.
"Philie, you will do great at the academy, truly. Besides you will not stay there the entire day but just a mere four hours." Evangeline was currently helping Philip to ease down, whilst we stood on the stairs of the palace's main entrance. A carriage with Philip's nanny waited for him at the end of the stairs, but I understood that it was something rather difficult for the boy. It would be the first time he would leave home without his parents by his side, though only for four hours, but I nonetheless understood how agitated the boy must feel.
"Philie how about this, Mama and I will both come later to fetch from the academy." I proposed the idea without really thinking about it, too distracted by Philie's sad hazel eyes and his small shaky hands.
"Yes, please!" The boy instantly answered while nodding his head eagerly, his eyes shining in happiness, which only caused for me smile happily knowing I had made my son happy. When I looked at Evangeline, I was surprised to see a soft smile on her face, her soft russet eyes still on me as Philie gave his mother hug, his little arms tightly wrapped around her waist. Then suddenly his arms were wrapped around me causing me to take a small step back by the impact the sudden hug. Without hesitation did I place my hands on my son's shoulders, carefully rubbing them, as my eyes started to sting with hidden unshed tears.
And so Philip left for his first day of the academy, and I remembered how in my past life I hadn't even been present to bid him farewell.

"You are different Sire... did something happen?" Suddenly asked Evangeline, as we both watched the carriage of Philip depart. Immediately I turned to my wife, who was already looking at me with furrowed eyebrows and a slightly tilted head.
"Yes, a horrible nightmare." I instantly answered her, half truthfully, she certainly wouldn't believe what had happened to me, I couldn't even truly believe it and still had to somehow figure out what had happened.
"Oh well, everyone gets them once in a while I am certain that you will recover." Said Evangeline with a soft smile on her face, as the cold October wind blew around us, causing for some of my hair strands to fall into my face, as was it the case with Evangeline. Though her hair was put up and held in place by a traditional Benineé hairpin she always adorned her hair with, some curly strands came loose. My hand itched to brush the hair strands out of her face, away from her eyes, but I knew better than not to touch Evangeline as I pleased.
"Shall we then commence with taking a look at the palace affairs?" I changed the subject trying to distract myself from Evangeline's beautiful eyes.
"Yes, Sire." Agreed my wife with her soft honey voice, sending shivers down my spine.

✧✧✧

"But isn't it strange that the part time servants are paid the exact same amount as the full-time working servants of the northern wing?" Questioned Evangeline quietly as she paced in front of my desk with various papers in her hands. I was sat on my stool behind my mahogany desk as I investigated several documents regarding the funding of the different parts of the palace, whilst Evangeline investigated the payment of the servants. We both had come to the conclusion that revising the household affairs would most certainly be a matter that would take a week, if not even two or three. Considering that Philip's birthday ceremony would soon take place, I was sure we would need at least a week. But I didn't have an issue with that and neither did Evangeline, quite the opposite she had even enthusiastically offered her help, which I had of course accepted. Knowing I would from now on have a good excuse of spending several hours together with my wife filled me with an unbelieve amount of joy.
"That is truly strange, perhaps you will find more answers in the red binder." I agreed to what the Princess said and pointed towards where the red binder laid.

"Sire I wanted to remind you that you still need to choose a valet." Reminded me Alexandre who was standing next to me also revising some documents regarding personal information about all the servants in the palace.
"Ah yes, thank you for reminding me Mister Laffon. Please have the five men be brought here." I ordered whilst still looking at the papers laying in front of me. Alexandre then vanished and so I was left alone with Evangeline, who was now reading through the documents in the red binder and the papers she held in her other hand. Evangeline had a concentrated expression on her face, her eyebrows furrowed as her russet eyes read all the information in front of her intensively. Every now and then she would squint her eyes to read the fine print on the documents, humming to herself whenever she found new information. She was completely lost in her own world, as I made sure she didn't notice my intense staring.

I entirely forgot about the papers and the work I had to do as I observed my wife. The way she would sometimes stand still and then start pacing again, or how she held all the papers and the ledger but would still have a free hand to write down some notes or circle certain information. As much as I tried, I couldn't tear my gaze away from her. Lost in her beautiful eyes and her adorable, concentrated expression. All I could think about was what a magnificent wife I had been blessed with and how I could manage to get closer to her. I wanted Evangeline to trust me, feel comfortable and at ease around me. And deep inside I wanted Evangeline to also like me enough for her to enjoy having me around. Which currently was a rather difficult task, considering that Evangeline was still distant and rather cold towards me. She tried to not show it and stay respectful, but I could see right through her and the way she would distance herself from me whenever she could. I knew that I was deserving of this treatment, still it broke my heart and somehow made the urge to hold my wife in my arms grow more with every minute I spent in her presence.

"Your- Sire, the servants have arrived." Announced Alexandre which instantly teared me out of my intense observations, as I snapped my head towards the entrance of my bureau.
"Yes, then I do not wish to keep the men waiting." I said as I stood up and walked towards the five men who were standing next to each other in one line.
Unfortunately as the men introduced themselves, I wasn't entirely listening to everything they were saying as my attention was once again on my wife. Maybe spending the next days with Evangeline, who was evidently a distraction, wasn't the best idea. I was unsure how I was supposed to get any work done, when my heartbeat would quicken every time Evangeline would so much as look at me.

✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧