Troubled

I sat cross-legged on the floor. This was so uncomfortable. The couch in my parent's place had seen better days, but now I felt bad for ever complaining about that. Sitting on this floor of cobblestone was the worst thing for my butt.

I swear, if I got hemmoroids or something, I was going to sue these guys. Wait, did this kingdom even have a legal system? How would it work?

As this very unimportant questions went through my mind, I saw Rafael stir.

"Oh, are you finally awake now?" I asked. Hopefully he wouldn't just pass out again.

Rafael looked at me, wide eyed.

"Are you finally going to explain what is going on?" he asked.

I took a couple seconds to decide what approach to take. Eventually I decided that a straightforward approach was the best and least likely to get me in trouble.

"You tried to kill the King." I said.

He stared at me for a moment. I looked back at him.

"What's the punchline?" he asked.

"It's not a joke," I retorted. "I don't know who it was, but suddenly the King went limp and stopped moving. Then you tried to choke the prince."

He stared at me with shock, "If this is some crazed attempt to seperate the King and I, it won't work. I've been loyal to him for—"

"—four hundred years. Yeah, you said that too."

Now his face went pale and sickly. Maybe the honest approach wasn't the best after all... I didn't want him fainting again.

I placed my arm on my shoulder and steadied him, "Why don't you explain your situation?" I asked. A part of me was curious, but mostly I wanted to make sure he kept talking.

He blinked a couple times as if registering my words. "Oh," he finally said.

"Yeah?" I asked.

He took a couple more moments to ponder it. "Actually, I wonder if something might have happened with the bear earlier?"

"The bear?" I asked.

"Yes. The one that rampaged through the throne room?" He looked at me confused, "Unless you have forgotten it so soon."

Annoyed, I replied, "No, I haven't forgotten it. But why do you think that was the cause?"

He began to play with his fingers. He looked down at them and refused to make eye contact with me. Highly suspicious.

"Well, maybe uh... something could've happened then."

It didn't take a genius to figure out he was being dishonest. What was unclear was on which topic. Was he lying about something happening then? Or did something happen, and he's just pretending not to know?

I took a deep breath, "Tell me the whole truth."

He laughed weakly, and then coughed. "That would take ages to narrate."

He wasn't in that bad shape if he could crack jokes at least. I asked, "Then give me the cliffnotes version."

Rafael replied, "What's cliffnotes?"

I struggled to explain, "Uh... it's like this..." Explaining the concept of a 'website' was probably way too much for a person who almost died, so I opted for a minimalist version. "It's basically a short summary of it."

He leaned back on the wall and adjusted his posture. "There isn't much. I was contracted to work for the Kingdom, and so I did."

"Contracted?" I asked. When I thought 'contracted', the only thing that really came to mind mind were Computer Science workers that would do projects for companies. Not really protecting a King.

He smiled sadly, "Yes, contracted. I did not have a choice in the matter, really."

Now this was just confusing. This guy needed a better lawyer. If you're forced to sign a contact, then that contract is not legally binding. At least, that's how it was where I was from. This guy really needed a better lawyer.