Comfort

THIRD PERSON POV 

With a hesitant hand, Regulus knocked on the door. It took a few seconds before a response was heard.

"Who is it?" A soft feminine voice called out from inside the room. "It's me Regulus, I was just checking up on you since…. A king should always maintain good relationships with his people, am I right?." He responded in a joking tone.

The young king facepalmed from the terrible choice of words he said. "I doubt she would even believe me after saying that.." He murmured to himself as he was genuinely embarrassed.

"Oh… If that is what you want to know…. then yes I'm alright- '' But she was cut off by Regulus.

"Can I come in?" He said, this time getting straight to the point. After a few seconds of silence Alicia responded. "Of course your majesty."

Regulus then opened the door and entered the room. Inside the room was quite unique. A bookcase lay on one side, a cabinet lay across and an armor stand stood beside it. Finally a bed sat in the middle, and on that bed was Alicia. She wore a white nightgown, indicating she was ready for bed. 

Although her eyes appeared to say otherwise, they were red, confirming that she was indeed the source of the whimpers, just as Regulus suspected.

"You're not doing well…" Regulus said in a soft and caring tone as he silently closed the door behind him. 

"What? No! I'm doing fine, there's nothing wrong with me!" Alicia said as she tried to deny Regulus accusations.

"Your eyes are red, you've been crying haven't you?" Regulus as he stepped closer to the girl.

"No, I was just rubbing them! That's why they're red! I promi-'' Alicia attempted to explain, but Regulus swiftly interjected, "Is it about…. A few days ago?"

This eventually caused Alicia to finally break down in tears, finally admitting the truth.

"I-I just can't get over that day… His face, th-the moment I killed him… The face he had… That face of fear and despair… It keeps on haunting me in my dreams!" The poor girl cried as she broke down in tears her breathing growing erratic as the moments pass.

Regulus stepped forward as he wanted to comfort her, but he wanted to also respect her personal space. But he eventually decided to go with the former, coming up and sitting down on her bed, gently embracing her while murmuring words of comfort and reassurance.

"It'll be ok… That's normal in the life of people like us. We protect what's good, in return we have to do things that may seem morally wrong. But that is the sacrifice we have to make in order to help the few people we can help in this chaotic world." Regulus said as he tried to comfort the young girl.

"If you hadn't struck him down, he would have landed a fatal blow, worse even kill you." Regulus said as he continued to comfort the crying Alicia. 

Silence engulfed the room as Alicia's soft whimpers began to subside, her breath was now much more calm, her eyes no longer gushing out tears. Eventually after a minute or two, Alicia fell asleep on Regulus' shoulder. 

The young king, not wanting to disturb her, gently placed Alicia onto her bed. Being extremely careful not to wake her up. After doing so he stood up and neatly fixed his clothes, following this he started to walk towards the door. Slowly opening it, making sure it doesn't creak or make a sound that would wake up the young woman behind him. 

Once he had gotten out he went inside his room, then he took off his tunic and removed his shoes as he lay down onto his own bed. Closing his eyes, he soon succumbed to sleep.

Though his slumber would soon be interrupted during the dead of the night.