The Love Potion 35 - 36

 Sometimes I wonder if I should bother with pictures, finding the ones I like take too much time!

35 Ernest: His Majesty’s Agony

The majestic castle bell tolled as the bright clear day came to an end with the sun sinking down to the horizon. The civil servants working in the palace began to wind down their work at the sound. Ernest finished reading through the documents in his hand, and stretched in his chair trying to work out the stiffness that he had accumulated .

He heaved a deep sigh and sat forward putting his elbow on the desk and rested his cheek in his hand.

‘Iris…’

What was his beloved doing now? She must be awake by now. For the past week, she had been dealing with his obscene demands every night till morning came; she must have accumulated a lot of fatigue. As she continued to be deprived of her strength, a part of him felt sorry. But another part, felt a dark sense of security; she could not escape today. With the conflicting emotions battling inside him, Ernest sighed again.

He heard footsteps come to stop outside his doors, followed by a perfunctory knock. Sirius entered,

‘Your Majesty, I am sorry to bring this to you at the end of the work day; but these documents need to be looked through as well.’

Although he said he was sorry, Ernest did not think he truly was.

Sirius handed him the sheaf of papers to study.

‘Very well…’ he replied. As he took the papers, he noticed Matthias had come in behind Sirius, but he had no documents in hand. Ernest wanted to ask what he wanted, but he held his tongue.

He must be here about his beloved sister in law; a guilt rose in his heart.

He turned his gaze to the documents and began to read.

After a short while, Ernest stamped the document.

‘Thank you, sire,’ Sirius said. ‘Since there are no particular objections, we shall proceed with the maintenance of the highways.’

‘Good.’

Sirius bowed and left the office.

Ernest leaned back tiredly in his chair as the doors closed behind Sirius.

As soon as he was gone, Matthias smiled at him,

‘Your Majesty, might I enquire about the health of my sister in law; she is alive, isn’t she?’

Ernest frowned at him in surprise; that question was so outrageous.

Matthias, on the other hand, lowered frowned darkly,

‘If something happened to my sister in law, my Letty will be saddened.’ (Zuben: I find that distinctly hard to believe)

He spoke casually, but the eyes that watched Ernest were full of concern. Usually, he was all smiles not allowing others to read guess he true thoughts. Ernest turned away from him, and replied,

‘She is important to me, I wouldn’t kill her.'

‘Ah, that’s true.’ Matthias said with a breath of relief. Then his expression turned teasing, ‘It seems that you truly cannot accept any woman other than my sister in law.’

Ernest and Matthias had been friends for a long time. He was familiar with Ernest’s sexual situation, as was Sirius. Even during the minimum required class on sex education a royal like him had to take, he could not carry on because he became nauseated. Not to mention whenever he was in the presence of women during a ball, they all flocked around him trying to push their bosom, ample or otherwise, against him while their coy expressions were beseeching, he ended up losing consciousness from fear.

Ernest nodded at the comment. But Matthias looked at him sternly, ‘But, isn’t it too much to make her so exhausted that she can’t even see Princess Rosemary?’

‘How do you…’ know that? But it was useless to ask, Sirius would have told him.

Iris was unable to get up in the morning because he had been with her all night. She had not been able to teach Rosemary embroidery all week. Rosemary must have complained to Sirius. Matthias smiled smugly at a silent Ernest.

‘I know it’s because I told you about the letter.’

Ernest sighed and replied, ‘It’s not your fault.’ (Zuben: It is yours.)

‘That is correct.’

Ernest raised a brow at him. Matthias was his friend so, he could be impertinent. But it didn’t mean that Ernest was not annoyed.

‘While I don’t think it was my fault, Iris’ letter was a shock to me too!’

Eight days ago, Matthias had shown Ernest the letter. The moment he read it, Ernest turned dark before his eyes.

She had wanted Matthias to create an antidote for the love potion, and she had threatened to expose them if he didn’t. She also wanted to move to the villa outside of town after Ernest was cured.

Seeing the letter, Ernest could only ask one question: Why? Why? Why did she want to leave him?

He fell into despair.

Then foolish Ernest realised; she had never told him she loved him.

He was already feeling guilty about deceiving her about the love potion, and making her sign a marriage contract she could not easily get out of. He had gotten complacent, thinking that she felt the same because she gave him her body. He had gotten in a tangle the moment he realised that her heart could had not become his. 
He had been stupid. 
He smiled sadly.

Yet, despite this hopeless reality, he was filled with a desperate need to keep her bound to him anyway he could. Even though he hated himself for making his beloved cry, he could not let her go. He was just forcing his love on her (Zuben: Why is it that at no point does he think telling her the truth would be a viable option?)

He was a terrible man. Even though others saw him as a wonderful wise man; he was just a poor man starving for love.

‘Matthias, what would you do if it were you?’

Matthias regarded Ernest for a moment before replying, ‘Me? I would probably chain Letty’s ankle to the bed.’

‘Hey…!’

‘I have to punish my cute pet for biting her master’s hand, right?’ Matthias said with a dark smile. Looking at Ernest’s troubled face, he said to Ernest,

‘But I don’t think you are able to do that kind of thing.’

‘I don’t think most people can.’

‘That’s true. But are you going to give up on Iris?’

He was feeling guilty forcing himself on her so much, but he did not want her to escape him. He loved her so much. He remembered the dark joy he felt inside her, and shook his head. Matthias shrugged.

‘Isn’t it strange? You can’t be around women, yet you gave your heart to Iris.’

He gave his heart to Iris.

Ernest still remembered the first time he saw her vividly… 

36 Ernest: The Making of a King.

On a hot summer’s day twenty nine years ago, Ernest was born. He was the third child of the royal couple, and the first son.

As a Prince, he had many obligations as he grew up. The duties of a Royal were not all fun. Even so, there were no problems with food or clothing. He knew the life he lived induced great envy in many people. As a royal, he did appreciate this. But even though he understood that he was lucky, he still would have liked to run away, for he felt that his life, at his tender age, was harsh.

‘Well, well, look who we have here.’

Ernest had gone to the library to find materials for the assignment that his tutor had given him. He had only pushed the door to enter when he heard the familiar voice behind him.

He turned to see his elder sisters; Tierra and Lucia.

‘Tierra, Lucia…’

The two young girls glared at him; they looked at him as though they had found prey worth bullying.

‘Ernest, it looks like you have nothing to do.’ Tierra said maliciously, ‘I am busy preparing for a tea party; I need you to finish my assignments and tasks by the end of today,’ holding out her books to him. 

‘How sly, elder sister. Well Ernest, mine as well.’ Lucia added

His two elder sisters always pushed their assignments on him. What did the tea ceremonies matter; isn’t it just to ridicule others and listen to gossip?

‘Elder sisters, our tutor set the assignments for your improvement. So…’ kindly do them yourselves.

But Tierra had grown jealous of Ernest’s emerging excellence, replied, ‘What? You’re just a spare part. Are you using that to refuse me?’ Her sharp tones pierced his eardrums.

‘No, I wasn’t trying to…’ Ernest replied stepping away from her.

‘Sister, calm down.’ Lucia said over both of them, ‘Ernest, calm down too.’

‘I’m sure you only asked Ernest in error, right?’ Lucia asked. (Zuben: you asked him to do yours too.)

‘Lucia…?’

‘Because, sister, you are the next ruler of our country. This sort of thing should be easy for you to accomplish.’ Lucia said with an air of confident exasperation. Although, Ernest thought she was taking the opportunity to needle Tierra out of the frustration amassed from following her around obediently.

‘You should have just agreed from the start; you should be happy to use the brains acknowledged by mother and father.’ Tierra said sarcastically. With a huff of resentment, she took back her school books, she turned on her heel making her lovely dress swing out around her, and walked off.

Lucia quickly followed after her.

They seemed to find it fun to use their brother to relieve their everyday trivial squabbles.

Ernest sighed once they were out of sight, and entered the library.

‘They’re the worst.’

Their parents were usually away at dinner, so the four children had dinner by themselves. Rosemary was still a baby under one. While they all quietly ate, the third Princess, Lydia, puffed out her cheeks in displeasure,

‘I hate this vegetable.’ It was asparagus marinated in a paprika and lemon marinade.

The marinade coated the taste of the vegetables with the acidity of lemon; Ernest did not like it either. He also wanted to avoid things he didn’t like. But the food had been prepared by the chef in charge of Ernest’s health. He could not leave it uneaten.

Lydia’s grey eyes shone as she saw her elder brother eating the food, ‘Brother, you seem to like this marinade.’

‘No Lydia, I also don’t-‘

‘I will give you my asparagus since you like it so much.’ Lydia said putting her uneaten asparagus and marinade in his plate without listening to him.

He had been eating the food trying not to think about it.

Ernest tried to return the food, but Tierra lifted her red lips in a sneer like a little devil,

‘Oh Ernest, you must be so happy to have a kind sister like Lydia.’

‘Tierra…?’

‘Or something. You are recognised as a candidate to the throne, how could you not accept the delicate kindness of your younger sister?’

 Tierra was well aware Ernest did not like the marinade.

Lucia smiled in malicious glee.

The fourth princess, Pricilla, also piped up, ‘That’s unfair, Lydia! Ernest, Pricilla will also give you all my marinade and asparagus.’

She hopped out of her chair and brought her plate round to Ernest. She was innocent of Tierra’s machinations; she just wanted to get rid of the marinade.

‘My my, Pricilla is such a good girl.’ Lucia said.

‘Am I really? Am I really a good girl, Lucy?’

‘Yes, very much so.’

‘Yay, I gave Ernest the marinade.’

‘Wonderful, Priscilla. Isn’t that right, Ernest?’ Lucia laughed derisively as she tucked her red brown hair behind her ear. She didn’t have silver hair like her brother which was a trait of the Berghausen royals. (Zuben: Even so are people going to say: Look, there goes Lucia, her hair is red; the queen shagged someone else?)

His two older sisters took great pleasure in Ernest’s discomfiture. In truth, his younger sisters were unconsciously similar to their older sisters; they took great pleasure in torturing Ernest. (Zuben: They are being taught)

His elder sisters were vicious.

His younger sisters were cunning.

Living in such a miserable environment; Ernest was unable to fight back. 

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