The Royal Romance - The Valtoria Diaries

Percival

After lunch and a little more socialising with Bertrand and Savannah, it was finally time for Maxwell to tackle his bedroom. He was hoping he could keep Jen downstairs for a little while when he began his task, as he hadn't stepped into it since the day before the engagement tour began at Fydelia, and even at that point it was in an ungodly mess. Now, four months later, it was probably going to smell like someone had died in there. But, amongst the muddle, he knew that there were treasures to be found and transported to his new home.

He stood up from the table. "Right. If you'll excuse me."

He dashed out of the dining room and headed towards the staircase, but was distracted by the open study door as he passed it. Yes, that was right. He was going to show Jen something. He crept in, and glanced at the old oil painting on the back wall. At least Mrs Walker hadn't moved this beauty anywhere. He crept towards it, and grabbed his phone from his pocket to take a quick selfie of himself next to the painting. He looked at the result, and laughed.

"What are you doing, babe?"

He turned to see Jen leaning against the study door, a curious expression on her face. "I thought you were going upstairs to start packing? Savannah was saying she found you some boxes.."

"Oh... just... hey... remember I told you about this painting?"

Jen's eyes widened and she approached it. "Percival Beaumont." She studied it for a few moment. "My goodness, Maxwell. I can definitely see what Bertrand means."

"You can?"

She nodded, biting her lip. "He's like a sexy renaissance version of you."

He pondered on that for a moment. "Wait, are you saying I'm not.."

"That beard, though." She stood back a little. "I'd get him to shave that off straight away."

"I'm guessing you wouldn't be too keen on the idea of me growing one then.."

"I'm pulling rank if you ever consider it," she said playfully, touching his chin. "As Duchess of Valtoria, I forbid you to cover those cute dimples with facial fuzz."

"You have no such jurisdiction here in Ramsford," he retorted. "I'm staying here and locking myself in my room without a razor for a month."

"You couldn't live without me for a week, let alone a month," she said smugly, and the annoying thing was that he knew that she was right.

He drew her in for a kiss, which felt a little bit like breaking the rules here in the study. Mind you, Bertrand clearly didn't follow those rules, given that his nephew had apparently been conceived in here. Eww, don't think about that Maxwell. Just keep kissing your hot wife.

Afterwards, she turned and leant into him, looking out at the painting again. "Do you know much about him?"

"I remember a few things from my family history studies. He had a younger brother called Emery, we don't know what he looked like but I'm willing to wager that he was Bertrand's double.."

Jen giggled. "I guess we'll never know."

"Back to Percival, though. Legend has it that Queen Genevieve of Cordonia was madly in love with him, and he with her. But as he had already made an advance on her sister Annalisa, his principles would not allow him to follow his heart."

Jen tutted. "Oh, you Beaumont men. You're all the same."

"Hey, I followed my heart eventually."

"After some persuasion." She kissed him on the cheek. 

"Yeah, so anyway, she went on to marry Rick's ancestor King Fabian in the end." He had a thought. "But think about it Jen, if Percival had married Queen Genevieve, he'd have ended up a King... and I'd have been royalty!"

"Oh, I'm loving the irony.." Jen giggled. "Rick would have brought me over to Cordonia to compete for your hand.."

He laughed with her for a moment, but then stopped suddenly. "Wait, what about Bertrand?"

"Oh, good point. Well, maybe he'd abdicated like Leo did or something.."

"Nah. Can't see that. He'd never shirk on his responsibilities..."

"To be fair, he'd make a great King," Jen mused. "But, just for the purposes of this exercise, say something had happened.."

"Well, he had a child out of wedlock..." Maxwell pointed out. "And the shame he felt compelled him to abdicate the throne..."

"YES!" Jen giggled, turning to place her hands on his shoulders. "And you were suddenly thrown into being King, and needed a bride ASAP.."

"So the question is," said Maxwell, pulling her close. "Would you have gradually fallen for your handsome sponsor, Lord Rick of House Rys, while he made fruitless attempts to get the two of us together?"

"Hell no. I'd have been, get that crown on me already. I'm gonna be King Maxwell's possession."

She kissed him, long and sweet, and for a minute, he felt kind of sorry for Percival.

"Oh. And the other thing I know about Percival Beaumont is that he had a tattoo on his..."

"Chest?"

Maxwell winked. "Backside."

Jen's expression was thoughtful. "Where's the portrait of that?"

(AUTHOR'S NOTE - if you're intrigued as to how the alternative universe might pan out, you might want to check out my next series "The Queen Maxwell Needs." Coming soon...)