♠️ Exceptis Centrum ♠️ ✔︎

Chapter 11

Munching away on some cookies, Alfred walked back and forth between the whiteboards he had placed in his office, all of them filled with all the information he had on everything he was going through. He had to order a couple more boards as he was running out of space on the last one and purchased a few some more markers after the last one dried up. He had taken Arthur’s advice and prioritised everything, with his running of the Kingdom his top priority.

“No question, Kingdom comes first, that’s an absolute, number one, top of the list priority,” declared Alfred as he munched down on a cinnamon flavoured cookie. “Now then, next on my list of priorities would be... hmmm.”

Alfred wanted to pick Arthur and his garden but as far as he was concerned it wasn’t exactly causing him any problems. It did worry him that he was just popping over there without anyone noticing, but he came to realise it wasn’t exactly doing him or anyone any harm. In fact visiting Arthur was making him feel a lot better about himself and he enjoyed his company. He actually liked the idea of having his own personal friend. It was still a mystery but a mystery that didn’t need to be solved for now.

“I’ll just move him to the bottom of the list,” decided Alfred, “so next on my list would be... the missing Queen? Or that door?”

He had all sorts of research on the missing Queen thanks to his predecessors, even though none of it seem to point to a solid answer, but he did have some new knowledge thanks to the Joker. He had noted that the last Queen died an unknown and horrible death, and according to the official records she supposedly died from a heart attack. It was possibly a cover up but the records were never meant to hold lies, however Jokers never lied either.

Still that door in his dreams made him worry. It he had seen it twice now and even the Joker warned him about it. He wasn’t sure if it was an actual door or a metaphor for something, but Alfred could feel it in his bones that the door was holding something terrible back. He recorded everything he knew so far, including the little girl and those creepy children who ran away from him. Perhaps it would be best if the door became his second priority and the missing Queen his third, he could always change it if the situation demanded it.

He stood back to look at all the data and it still appeared to look like the ramblings of a lunatic. “I probably still don’t have all the information I need,” muttered Alfred as he placed the cap on his marker, “and I’m not asking that Joker again. I’ll just have to figure this out as it comes I suppose.”

It was all he could do unfortunately. There was no one he could talk to about any of this without them raising an eyebrow, and Yao was already accusing him of letting his imagination run wild. Until he actually got more information he couldn’t act, so for now he was going to have to wait and hope another clue would come along. It wasn’t as if he could just go and look for one right now, he had some important work to do today.

The usual workload was dumped on him; documents that required his attention, paperwork that needed signing, meetings with officials from all around his Kingdom, and updating his schedule for the upcoming dinner party. It was in three weeks and according to Yao everything was on track. The rooms were being carefully prepared, the chef Yao hired would be arriving soon, and the only thing they truly had to worry about was small trivial things that could easily be remedied. Then of course there was that dessert tasting thing Alfred was looking forward to, but that wasn’t on till tomorrow night and the sweet craving King could not wait.

Throughout the day Alfred did look out for any clue to his investigations, but he remembered what Arthur told him and focused on his duties first. Alfred could only hope something would come along soon and shed some light.

“Alright, that’s everything done for the day,” announced Yao as he put his folder away. “One last thing, I arranged your lunch date with Lady Isabelle Hamilton at the The Spring Avenue Restaurant. It’s in two days so please don’t forget.”