The majestic castle bell tolled as the bright clear day came to an end with the sun sinking 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.
'Amber…'
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 until 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 workday; 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 pang of 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 to tease, 'It seems that you truly cannot accept any woman other than my sister in law.'