The Crown

52. Army checks

As , per Victoria's request the army made their way down to the grounds. In full uniform all of the members of the House Demure army stood in formation ready for Victoria and Francis' inspection. Heading into the grounds Francis and Victoria watched their drill March and stand to attention. Walking up and down each line of Soldiers checking their uniform , stance and concentration was perfect. Once they were happy Francis asked about the statistics of the army and made sure they were on guard 24/7 all around the house grounds from now on since it was getting very close to the crown wars. Also , the Valois family had been trying to make house Demure crumble. Since they didn't want the underdog to be their competition. But both Victoria and Francis had worked hard to create a new reputation for House Demure and to wipe away their adulterous reputation that still held up in history. Thankfully not so recent history.

After their checks they sent round an inspector to check all around the grounds to make sure their wasn't any way any attacking family could sneak in. Sure if they broke a wall or gate they could but they wanted to make sure they couldn't walk in when they pleased. Which thankfully came back as perfectly safe. Victoria headed to Johnathan's nursery taking him out of his crib to sooth his cries. Once he was calm she placed him on the floor and he immediately pulled himself up using the cot bars using anything he could to pull himself to get to his toys.

Gulliver came into the nursery and Victoria smiled softly at him.

" The checks are all complete , the army is deployed. We are all set for the crown wars next month." Gulliver says and turns to head out of the nursery but Victoria stops him.

" Oh .. Gulliver ... I hope this doesn't cause any problems but I told Francis what happened at the masquerade. "Victoria says looking down to the floor of the room.

" He is your husband and King so he deserved to know. We just need to hope the Valois family don't catch wind that anyone other than me and them know." Gulliver says

" The secret is safe with us. The only way they would know is if they had spies in the house." Victoria says and he nods saying goodbye leaving Victoria with Johnathan who was throwing his wooden car around the room.

Bending down to his level Victoria took the car from him making him begin to scream and cry. Placing the car on the floor gently he began to pick it up again.

"Darling, you have to play with your toys nicely. Not throw them about or someone could get an ouchy." Victoria says and Johnathan repeats ouchy

" Yes. So we play with it like this." Victoria says holding her hand over his which had the car in in. Pushing the car gently around the floor until Johnathan understood and continued to push it around the way it was shown.

So, Victoria sat in the middle of the nursery floor as Johnathan pushed the car around the floor around her and up her legs and into her lap. Making her smile and giggle as he made vroom vroom noises as he pushed it. Curtesy of Francis' teaching which always made Victoria chuckle because sometime Johnathan tripped up on the words and ended up just dribbling and blowing air everywhere. Sure it got very wet and sticky quickly but it made Victoria smile. Even though he was growing up so fast in front of her. Reminiscing about how his hand would grab at anything when she was feeding him. His , peaceful milk drunk state when she would take him to see the ducks. Now , he threw more than just tantrums and had become the right little terror when it came to eating and sleeping unless he was very tired. It was funny how even in the midst of the crown wars coming around again , Victoria was still able to have these special moments with Johnathan.
Which made her happy after her mind kept thinking about the masquerade and all the what if? That linked to that night. Like what if Gulliver had successfully completed the plan. What if the Valois had killed Johnathan and Francis? She shouldn't keep dwelling on the what ifs because if she wasn't careful they might no longer be what ifs.