Chess Piece

To Fulfill One's Demands

He was not supposed to be distraction for her.

Yet after what had occurred during their outing the other day, of the kiss that she had allowed to happened between them despite the fact that she had once wished for him to keep his distance with her, his presence had haunted her mind, enough to make her unable to sleep well in the night, scowling at him who slept just fine on the other side of the bed.

The lack of sleep in the night had left her restless, her mind finding the mean to focus harder than before, that she truly had to furrow her brows during meetings whenever her mind had slowly drifted away and the discussion with her council faded into the background.

Though the mention of a certain topic did jerked her mind awake as she turned her attention to Lord Russet, a middle-aged man with thinning hair and round glasses over his face which frame made of gold, who watched her as he waited for her respond. "Excuse me?" She had to be certain that what she had heard had not been wrong, that he had not just propose for her and Hans to-

"A honeymoon, Your Majesty." He had repeated, and her fingers curled on the table as she attempted to push down the thought of her with Hans to spend time to actually do nothing but to consummate their marriage after refusing to during their wedding night. "I believe it would improve your relationship with Prince Hans to be better."

"I do not think it's quite necessary." It would require her to leave, no matter how long or short the duration would be, her duties and work abandoned for a certain amount of time while she had to somehow figure out of the way on how she would even allow herself to be so intimately involved with her husband. And if she did not find a way then it would be all but a waste of time and fortune that she could use to better the lives of her people.

"Quite the contrary, Your Majesty, we think it is." Another man had spoken up then, though her mind was still occupied on attempting to wrap itself around the idea of honeymoon to pay attention on who it had been speaking. "The wedding has long since happened, sooner than you would think people would begin to expect for an heir, you would have no other excuse then. They would begin to speculate themselves of whether you had bedded your husband, especially since you have displayed very minimum amount of public display of affection with him."

If she was to conclude of the point her council men had been trying for her to get, then she dared say that they wish for her to give her marriage more feelings and for her to produce an heir, whether she was happy nor agree to it all was deemed to be unimportant.

And she had sworn to serve her kingdom in the name of her father.

--

The sunlight had not been shining that brightly, and yet she was still required to be shielded away by the umbrella one of her ladies-in-waiting had carried as she made her way across the courtyard of the castle.

She was informed, when she had asked Kai of the whereabouts of her husband, that at this time of the day when he was not down in the docks doing the duties that she had ordered him to attend to, he favored to practice his swordsmanship with the Captain of the Guard.

And indeed, the two men were focused solely on their practice, so engaged in it, swords clashing against one another, that they had failed to acknowledge of her presence. It had not bothered her mind at all though, as she found the view to be quite the entertainment, seeing how they moved fluently as they switched between defending oneself and to attack in order to win.

"Excellent form, Your Highness," the Captain had complimented once his opponent's blade had only an inch away from his throat, earning an amused chuckle from the auburn haired Prince as he wiped his face with a damp washcloth. She was no expert in such sport, sword-fighting was more of an Anna thing really as the younger sister used to play with their Father with wooden swords the appropriate size for a young girl, yet even from what she had watched herself, Hans' stance was truly remarkable, his footing was firm and yet allowed him to duck his way in times of need. It seemed that he would have spoken some more, if only his eyes did not catch the glimpse of her, prompting him to bow at her direction instead. "Your Majesty, forgive me, for not noticing you sooner."

"It's quite alright, Captain." She had smiled at the man before her eyes had darted toward the Prince, who only had looked over the cloth he was holding with a raise of his brow. "Although, I must disturb your practice with Prince Hans for I need to talk to him, if you don't mind."

"Not in the slightest, My Queen."

With another respectful bow, the Captain had turned and gathered his belongings, excusing himself from the two royalties before he had made his leave. Hans had remained silent before he was left alone with Elsa and her ladies-in-waiting, and she began to wonder if he was waiting for them to be completely alone, yet she was not in the plan to dismiss anyone else.

"And what it is that my Queen required of me?" He had spoken up as he came to stand closer, and from the small distance that he had closed between them, she could see the sweat that glistened against his skin both from practice and from the sun. "For you to come looking for me, must be quite the importance."

"I wish for you to come with me on a carriage ride this afternoon." It was the safest decision that she could come up with to satisfy her Council's demands, for they would show themselves to the public together, it was a step closer to what they wished for her to do.

"Oh?" His head had tilted to a side in wonder as he watched her, if only for just a short moment, before nodding in agreement. "Well, I would be honored to accompany you this afternoon."

That was all that she had needed from him, to ask instead of ordering him to come with her, and he had agreed to it, there was nothing else that she should do, yet she had not turned and leave right away. Instead she had sighed as her gloved hand reached for the washcloth, letting it slip from his grasp. "And please," she had whispered as she reached up and ran the piece of cloth in her hand from his cheekbone and down to his jaw, to dismiss of the dirt that had found its's way onto his face. "Do clean yourself first."

She had not expected for his hand to come and take ahold of her wrist, although she should have really, and for him to smile as his eyes bore into hers. "I would only present myself in the best manner for my Queen."

Tugging her wrist free, she had shoved the washcloth into his hand instead as she quickly turned to leave before he could comment on how flushed she was, for even she could feel the heat that had climbed from her neck and up to her cheeks.

Why would she have to be so embarrassed in the first place? He had done nothing but stared at her and to express on how people are supposed to always present themselves to her. It was all normal, wasn't it?

--

In such tight space that was the open carriage that they had boarded, it could not be avoided that they would brush against each other, eventually.

She had to continuously reminded herself, as she waved and smiled at the people gathered at the sides of the road that they had passed, that it was all necessary for her to do this, for him to be at her side was a part of his duty as her husband, and that it had not also come from her own heart and selfish desire to be closer to him because how close could they possibly be more than this?

A useless self-questioning, of course, since she was well aware of the answer, it was the one thing that she still could not bring herself into doing, to devote herself into, she wasn't ready for it, no matter how many times she had told herself that she had to prepare herself for it ever since her Father had told her of his decision.

"Please, stay still," his whisper toward her had jerked her back into reality, and though she wished to turn and raise her eyebrow at him as she questioned of his intention, she remained still just as he had asked. "And do forgive me for doing this, please consider your reaction carefully."

His hand rested over hers on her lap before he had leaned even closer to her, and suddenly before she could even think of what he had meant precisely, she had felt his lips pressed against her cheek in such a sweet kiss that had the crowd cheered even louder than before.

Has he really aware of her intention in this then, for he had done exactly what her Council had wished for them to do, to show public affection, and for him to warn her beforehand had prevent her from reacting out of instinct and ruin the whole ordeal by showing how awkward they were had explained how well he could read one's situation without even a word muttered to him.

Thus, instead of throwing a glare or a baffled stare at him that would drive the cheering crowd into knowing the things she herself had wished to be concealed behind the closed gates, she had turned to him with a smile of a happily wedded Queen amused by her husband's action.