♠️ Exceptis Centrum ♠️ ✔︎

Chapter 3

Alfred should’ve know that Yao would find something for him to do. He sat before his desk and stared at the mountains of paperwork that needed to be completed before days end. It was all basic stuff but it was so trivial and tiresome. Some of it didn’t even needed to be completed for months but Yao wanted it done now before the King forgot about it.

Worst of all, whilst he was trying to fill in the paperwork, Yao had a dull sounding planner come in, pitching his ideas for the Four Kingdoms dinner party next month. He droned on about the colour of the tablecloth matching which table wear, and wether if it should have bird or venison with certain vegetables.

“The King of Hearts is fond of venison, but the Queen of Diamonds prefers pheasant over venison depending on how it’s cooked, however the Queen of Hearts has recently acquired a golden pheasant as a gift from the King of Clubs, who dislikes fish but likes the taste of rabbit. However the King of Diamonds is quite fussy when it comes to how he likes his rabbit cooked and-“

Alfred rolled his eyes as his hands were going numb from signing his name over and over, as well as his ears.

“Just let the chef cook whatever his specialty is,” ordered Alfred in an uniterested voice.

“Yes, but he still needs to decide what meat to use,” answered the planner, “I was told he’d use duck but the Queen of Clubs despises duck due to the grease, however the King of Hearts can tolerate as long as it’s prepared properly and as long as it’s not too tough for the Diamond Queen has sensitive teeth-...”

Alfred groaned as he continued to sign documents about policies and complaints whilst listening to the most boring man in existence, who was talking about the damn seating plan.

“The dinner will take place in the White Rose suite on a traditional four sided table which seats two on all sides. It is recommended that we keep the Kingdom of Hearts opposite the Kingdom of Diamond, or if you prefer we can have the Kingdom of Diamonds sit opposite you and have the Kingdom of Clubs sit opposite the Kingdom of Hearts but doing so will have you sit quite close to the King of Clubs and-“

Alfred released a loud sigh of annoyance. “Just do what you said first,” he huffed, gritting his teeth as Yao dumped another pile of paperwork onto the already cluttered desk.

“Also, your majesty, would you prefer to have the traditional empty chair next to you or shall we remove it?”

Alfred almost snapped his pen at the mention of the empty chair he had to sit next to. With or without it, he was still going to be the only one at that table without a Queen. Seriously, could he not go through one damn day without being reminded of what his Kingdom lacked?

“Keep it,” he huffed, not really giving a damn anymore.

“Excellent, now about the floral arrangement, would you prefer roses or lilies, though I should point out the King of Hearts is sensitive around pollen, but the Queen of Hearts loves flowers so I was thinking if we could have some fake flowers, yet we might risk upsetting the King of Clubs as he adores flowers-...”

Alfred wanted to die.

The clocked ticked and tocked, syncing with the planner’s dull voice as he talked about which direction the table should face, if they should import the wine or use their own, if they would provide the music or request the Kingdom of Clubs to lend them their talented Jack. The paperwork piled up and no matter how many he signed, the stack of forms didn’t seem to shrink.

Time passed and Alfred stared up at the clock, wanting to cry when he saw that it was no where near lunch time. He leaned back in his chair, his grip on his pen now weak and the way he wrote his signature now looked barely recognisable. The planner continued to drone on but now Alfred wasn’t even certain what he was talking about. His head bobbed up and down as he was both fighting to stay awake and desperate to fall asleep.