✧ Lovelorn ✧

XVIII ✘ PoV of the King

Sanguis Diatiro gazed atop of the mountains of paperwork, blinking lightly. Avarys Diatiro dumped another batch of papers down the floor, before dusting his hands and smothering a grin.

"Hi Dad!" His heir greeted a bit too happy for his liking. When Avarys gives that smile, it means he wants something.

Here we go again.

It would be improper for the Light King to sigh in exasperation or facepalm, so he suppressed the urge.

"So I finished the load you gave me. Oh, please send the person who did the accounting to the dungeons and throw the list of people I wrote on this note down the cliff. I also investigated the cases you sent me and I noticed a lot of foul play from a select few nobles, if you don't mind dad, can I attend the court meeting the day after tomorrow?" He said that in one breath, still grinning brightly. Familiar amethyst eyes gazed back at him in expectation.

Avarys had been taking his duties seriously. He usually joins during what kids would call "boring and tedious" court meetings and trials. The kid was really helpful in ridding the country of "evil" and would go above and beyond in presenting his proof and validating his accusations. King Sanguis does not know how his son does it, but already, he'd seen Avarys grow up in front of his very eyes at eleven years old, he already looked a few steps closer to being the great king he could be in the future.

Thankfully, he recovered from that "misshap" from about a year and half ago. It was frightening that they never got to find Shade Oriel, and when he personally inspected the dungeon with Lidius Skotadi and Aima Rosemond it was caked with dried up blood and children were no longer to be seen. There was an evident scene of fighting, as the Oriel Family's Nature Manipulation was seen on the walls when tropical trees not to be found in dungeons were growing there with twisted trunks. Never the less, Aima had burned down the dungeon and Lidius submerged it down a rather deep lake.

It was terrible that his son has to go through that. His son, Avarys would not be able to kill someone right?

"So, I already finished my classes and dismissed my professors for the day. They said they'll give you a report on my progress on translation, fencing, piano and world history later today," Avarys informed. "I'm done with pretty much everything. That means I'm free to do whatever now, right?"

"Well done my son. Do as you wish." King Sanguis nodded, dipping his nib pen down the bottle of ink.

"Can I go to Duke Skotadi's Estate?"

Apparently, King Sangui had sighed the paper a bit too hard, it ripped at the end, splattered by big black ink. He looked up to his son who still held a smiling face. He narrowed his eyes in an act of intimidation. Had Avarys been a lesser man, he would've peed on his pants and run down the hills, but this is Avarys we are talking about. He had the guts of a smitten boy.

"Aren't you frequenting the estate a bit too much these days?"

"Father, you jest," Avarys comically rolled his eyes. "I am building good connections with the future Duke Skotadi and also with my future Queen."

It seems like this time around, Avarys had found a reasonable excuse for his sporadic visits to his fiancee's estate. Sanguis really wished that Lilia was here, she was always the one who was better at handling this troublesome son of theirs. Plus, Lilia was the one more knowledgeable on the matters of the heart. Through the whirlwind of events happening, he was sure Avarys would be able to cope better if Lilia was here. She was always the one closer to them. Too bad she has something to attend to at No Return, so it's a surprise how he managed to raise the two without going nuts yet.