Broken Crown - Merlin

South

(disclaimer: I do not own Merlin or any of the characters. BBC does)

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The bells sounded throughout the kingdom. It was peaceful. The citizens of Camelot had begun working, doing their thing to survive and live a good life. It pleased Arthur to see. This was one of the things he enjoyed most of all - looking out the window, seeing his people happy. Ever since he became king, he had worked hard to make sure his people were happy and satisfied and made sure no harm came to them. With that being out of the way, his regular morning routine could not be completed without the disturbance of Merlin running around and talking nonsense as usual.

Arthur let out a sigh and found himself wanting to go back to sleep. It was too early for his liking. And yet, here he was, making ready for one of the most boring chores he had as a king: the council meeting. Sure, there was a lot of important information to go over. But what could go wrong on a day like this? The king found it hard to believe that anything bad could come out of a meeting.

"you know, the downside of being king is all of these responsibilities," Arthur took a few steps towards his servant, and soon found himself wearing his cloak with the Camelot sigil sewed onto it. "yea? what about the king's servant? Maybe you should have thought of this before you decided to be born a royal" Merlin responded with a slight smile, fiddling with Arthurs collar, adjusting it to look better.

"Merlin... I didn't choose how I was born" Arthur frowned at his servant's choice of words but was not surprised. Merlin always said things like these whenever he tried to hide the fact that he was unsatisfied with something. And yet he never shared his thoughts. He was a riddle, Arthur thought.

"Hm. Right. will you be needing me to attend the council meeting with you, sire?" Merlin asked. Clearly, he was changing the topic, but then again, Arthur was not surprised. If anything, he would be surprised if his servant did not say a word. It had happened a few other times, and nothing good ever came out of it. Arthur didn't like to admit it – thinking about it, he never had – but his toad of a servant was often right, and Arthur couldn't help but consider his choice of words wisdom. To a certain extent, of course.

"uh, no. I think I can handle that myself, Merlin. Although that gives you some time to make up for your lack of knowledge, by cleaning my chambers" Arthur smiled jokingly, and gave his servant a friendly pat on the shoulder, before leaving. Or, trying to leave, "um, I'm afraid I don't have time for that, sire" Merlin stood awkwardly and awaited an answer, knowing Arthur would not be happy with whatever his 'excuse' was.

He often avoided doing his job – not really on purpose, but because of the... Well, the reason he showed up in Camelot at all, all those years ago. There were too many dangers lurking in the shadows, which often caused Merlin to not return for days. Arthur, of course, found it very annoying, and often just assumed Merlin was extremely lazy. What he didn't know, was that Merlin basically was the reason Arthur was able to shout at him in the first place. Arthur didn't know about Merlin's magic. And hopefully, he never would. It pained Merlin more than anything, because, underneath all the shouting and teasing, Arthur was his friend and the other way around too. That's what kept him going. But if Arthur ever found out who he really was, Merlin wouldn't know what to do with himself. He would either be banished, spend the rest of his days in the stocks, or Arthur might even have him executed. Obviously overthinking, Merlin thought. But he didn't want to put Arthur in a position where he had to decide between those possibilities.

So, he kept his little secret to himself.

"and why is that?" Arthur asked. He almost sounded offended.