The Advisor to the King

Leopold had spent the days immediately following the Courtship ceremony lost in thought. In general he was a very thoughtful, perhaps even cunning man, but since that day he had been having trouble focusing on anything. He always put great focus on his appearance due to the importance of his status in society, but as the days passed with no word his growing anxieties caused him to begin to neglect his carefully constructed image. His short, curly, black hair was usually slicked back, but now fell freely and wildly about the top of his head. His usually clean shaven face had at least three days of stubble that had grown enough to almost be presentable as a small beard. In truth he had barely even put enough thought in to prepare matching clothing. In short he was a nervous wreck, and to those who knew him it was clear as day.

"Leopold McAllister! Are you paying any attention to me at all?" came the shout of an increasingly frustrated man.

Leopold looked over at this man with a small sigh and said, "Of course I am your majesty. You were wondering what to get Maria in recognition of the anniversary of the day you first met. Which I might add is a luxury you can only afford because you are the King, something you won't be much longer if you keep getting distracted from affairs of the state." While Leopold had been somewhat distracted at the moment his remark hit straight to the heart of the matter. He had known His Majesty King Jakob Stewart for many years now and the only thing that he ever seemed to get so anxious about was Maria. Leopold had always wondered what it was about that woman that kept such a hold on him, but had given up trying to figure it out a while ago.

"You criticize my attention to my duties, yet you hardly seem as though you've been here for days." The king responded, with a shake of his head and a heavy sigh. "If I'd had any idea you would wind up like this I would have barred you from the mating cycle this year. It's truly sad, and worse yet, you won't even tell me what happened."

As he said this he put on a face as to suggest that he was most upset about the notion of Leopold keeping a secret, but Leopold could see through this with ease and had no intention of relieving the king of his curiosity. Even the idea of stoking his curiosity felt like a dire misstep. This choice was about to be taken out of his hands as a young knight bearing a letter from The Rose Palace was currently headed their way. As he entered the room and announced that he had a letter from the rose palace the king would take the initiative to assume that this letter was for him. Given the current topic of their conversation Leopold would have no reason to believe this was wrong. However, upon taking the letter the knight said. "Forgive me Your Majesty, but the letter is actually for Lord McAllister." Rather than being stunned by this revelation Leopold, who had been hoping for some indication that Elisibeth was interested in him, snatched the letter eagerly and began to read it.

The King, however, was rather stunned, not only by the knight's words, but also by by Leopold's reaction to it. He had served as the King's top advisor for a number of years and in this time he had criticized him on several occasions for his relationship with Maria, yet here he was eagerly grabbing a letter from a woman as if it were the most pressing matter in the whole kingdom. He watched as Leopold read the letter, waiting for some indication as to what it said, yet Leopold gave no hit as to it's content. Finally growing impatient with his friend's silence he decided to ask. "Well?" He said, impatiently. "What does it say?"

Leopold looked up attempting and failing to hide the smile that had spread across his face. "I've been invited to a lunch at The Rose Palace" He replied, unable to hide his excitement.

The King smiled seeing this. Leopold was never one to get emotional about anything, so seeing him like this was a rare sight. Still, he wanted to know who the woman that had brought on such a transformation after a single night was, and given his mood at the moment there was really no better time to ask. "Really?" He asked, curiously. "and who are you having lunch with?"

Leopold simply responded by saying, "The woman I gave my favor to during the Courtship ceremony, of course. Who else would it be, Jakob." He didn't often refer to the king by his given name, but when he did it was very much to make a point, and this time was no different. There weren't many people who could easily call him Jakob without consequences, and those who did so were all people who were important, not to the country, but to the king himself. This was Leopold's way of reminding him that they were friends, and that friends were sometimes allowed to have thing that they kept to themselves.

The king understood Leopold's meaning very well, and didn't appreciate having their friendship used to distract from the topic, but he also knew that pushing farther would do him no good. "Fine," He said with a pout, "but you can't blame me for being curious, Leo. I've never seen you act the way you have lately, and I'm dying to know the cause."

Leopold sighed. "Don't worry too much about it." He responded with a sorrowful glint in his eyes. "She's just going to pick him in the end anyway." There was a bite to the way he said him that came across clearly, and while he may have felt sympathetic, the king didn't have any words that could help him in the moment. Even if he had, Leopold didn't give him the chance to express them. Instead, he said, "I've got a meeting with the representative from Illastia." and excused himself from the room.