With a yawn and a stretch, Kathrine Ann opened her eyes to an empty bed. Looking to the bathroom, she saw it was dark and wondered where Lucifer had gone so early but shrugged it off and threw the sheet back as she began preparing for breakfast. After about an hour, Kathrine Ann appeared in the hall sporting a floor-length, pale red maxi dress with off-the-shoulder sleeves and her hair pulled up on each side of her head, creating two buns. When she entered the dining room, she saw his spot empty. She sat, and a plate was placed in front of her, along with a glass of water and juice,
"Good morning Kathrine Ann." Greeted Lord Lucifer, "I hope you slept well."
"I did, my Lord. Thank you, though I am curious where my husband is." She answered, bowing her head.
"Ah, I fear that is my doing. We received a particularly nasty soul early this morning, and I wanted to ensure it got a proper welcome, so I summoned Louie." He explained.
"Well, I'm sure he's making it quite comfortable." She smiled awkwardly.
"How are you enjoying married life?" He asked.
"It's fine. Not much has changed, honestly." She shrugged, and the Lord's brows knitted.
"I see." He sighed, "I'd hopped Louie would settle,"
"Oh," Kathrine Ann intruppted, "No, no. Louie's been, uh, good?"
"Has he?" He asked, raising a brow.
"I mean, not perfect," She mumbled, "still 'going out' every once in a while, but he's kept his word and actually kinda sweet when he wants to be." She reassured.
"Very good." The Lord nodded and turned the conversation to those around her, allowing her to quietly eat.
Once finished, she excused herself and began roaming the castle looking for something to do. Making her way to the game room, she found Milril and Orad playing some unfamiliar board game.
"Greetings, milady!" Orad called as they both bowed dramatically low.
"Clowns." She huffed, rolling her eyes as she walked in.
"What?" Orad replied, "You're officially our Princess now. Tattle on us, and Louie might cut our heads off."
"What are you two up to?" She chuckled, sitting on the couch and crossing her legs.
"Nothing really," Milril yawned, dropping himself into one of the chairs, "Louie's been so busy lately with work and you that we've been bored."
"Is entertaining him really your job?" She asked.
"Yup, and we help around the castle when needed but mainly keeping our young Prince entertained," Orad replied as he rolled two different dice, each with a different number of faces.
"When we were younger, the job was much more demanding, not that we minded. Louie is our friend, but as we grew, he took on more responsibility and us less. He still comes to hang out now and again, but truthfully we see more of you now than him." Milril added as Orad moved his piece,
"Not that it's a problem, milady." Orad quickly added, pausing his turn, and glared at his brother.
"Oh, please, I'm married to Lucifer. I'm sure he's said something worse to me this morning, and I haven't seen him yet." She giggled, "What are you two playing?"
"Jangbojen! Silly name, hard game." Orad replied, turning his focus back to the board.
"Did you mean for that to rhyme?" She laughed.
"Sadly, it's the slogan." He answered, picking up a card from the deck, "HA!" He smiled wildly as he picked up a small deck next to him, arranged a few cards, and threw them on the board, only to grab some coin-looking things and toss them as well. "Beat that, brother!"
Milril scowled at him and crossed his arms, "Yea, yea, whatever, Orad. Princess, would you like to play?" He offered as they both worked on cleaning off the board to start a new game.
"Sure, how do you play?" She asked, leaning forward and looking at the board covered in space tiles with unrecognizable symbols.
"So you choose a game piece, pull three cards, take two copper coins, one silver and then roll the number cubes to see who goes first. When it's your turn, you roll again. Take the big cube's number, divide it by the little cube's number, and that's how many spaces you move. Once you land on a space, you do as it says, then it's the next player's turn. To win, you have to have the three power cards, all of a different color, and four gold coins, oh right, the coins. You collect a copper coin every time you pass the collection spaces, but a silver one if you land on a collection space. You can trade five copper coins for silver and three silver for gold." Orad explained as he handed her the cards; of course, she couldn't read them., "Also, before you roll, you can request a trade with the other players in which you can trade cards but not coins. After your roll, the other players can request a swap for coins.
"On second thought, I think I'll just watch." She laughed, changing her mind as she stared at the strange writing on the cards.
"Right, you can't read the cards, can you?" Milril asked, and she shook her head, "Makes you feel any better, we can't either. We just know what everything means. This was one of Louie's favorite games, so he taught us the meanings of all the spaces and cards, could ask him to teach you too." He suggested. "But in the meantime, we can play something else. I'm sure there are some Earth games. Oh, what about that Cat On game? We haven't played that one in a long time." He continued getting up and walking across the room while Orad packed up Jangbojen.
"What about Monopoly?" Orad suggested, folding up the board.
"Hell no!" Milril snapped, stopping and eyeing his brother, "You take that one way too personally, and I can have you cursing our Princess."
"Seriously, Kathrine Ann is fine." She grumbled.
"No way." They both replied in unison as Milril turned and rounded the couch.
"Cat On will work," He stated, reaching for a closet door.
"Cat On?" She asked as he opened the door, and her eye's widened. From wall to ceiling, was stacked with board games, "That is a lot of board games." She commented.
"Oh, this isn't even all of them. These are just the ones we played a lot. Ah, here it is, Cat On." Milril smiled, pulling out a red square box and causing the stack it was in to wobble dangerously. Tucking the game box under his arm, he walked out of the closet, leaving the door open. When he got close enough, he tossed the game box to Orad, who threw Jangbojen back so Milril could store it. Kathrine Ann looked at the game and laughed,
"Settlers of Catan." She smiled.
"Cat On, Catan, whatever. You've played it, though?" Milril asked, slamming the door shut.
"Oh plenty, it was William and my favorite game." The mention of the man she lost struck a chord in her, but she pushed it away, "You two know how to play?"
"Eh, it's been a long time, but I'm sure we'll pick it up pretty quickly." Orad reassured, opening the box of hexagonal pieces, as Milril hopped over the couch next to her, "But I think you should set it up."
She did and gave a brief review of the goals and rules then they started. She won the first game, but Milril and Orad caught on and evened the playing field as they continued. They were on their third game when something began to ring, and before she could ask, Orad pulled out a cell phone from his pocket,
"Hey, ma, what's up?" He asked, using his shoulder to hold the phone as he rolled the die, "Yea, she's here. We're just playing a board game." He grabbed the phone with his hand and straightened up as he listened, "Ok, I'll send her that way. Bye, ma." He hung up the phone and crammed it back into his pocket.
"You have cell phones here?" She gasped,
"Cell phones?" Orad tilted his head a bit in confusion.
"What you were just talking on?" She asked.
"Carry phone." He answered, still looking a bit confused.
"Cell phone, cellular device, mobile phone. That's what we call them on Earth, and I did not know Hell had them."
"Yeah, duh, how else would we get in touch with each other? Just stand by the table phones all day waiting for people to call." Milril laughed, "Louie didn't get you a carry?"
"No." She huffed.
"You should ask him for one. He probably didn't think about it." Orad suggested.
"Right, you think the man who won't even let me choose my own clothes will give me a cell, er carry phone." She sighed.
"Wouldn't hurt to ask, but speaking of our young Prince, he's requested your company for lunch."
"Oh? That's odd. Wait, how'd your mom know that?" She asked, now sporting a confused look of her own.
The two brothers looked at each other and laughed, "He really doesn't tell you anything, does he?" Milril sighed, rolling his eyes.
"Vassal is our mother, Milady," Orad explained, composing himself better than his brother.
She sighed, "Dining Hall, I'm guessing?"
Orad shrugged, "She didn't say, but that would be my guess."
"Thanks for the game, boys." She bid them as she got up and walked for the door. How did she not know that? She didn't spend much time with Vassal or the brothers, but surely it should have come up? And Lucifer, she huffed to herself, was this part of his little game of annoying her? With a deep breath, she shrugged it off as she strolled through the halls, but when she got to the dining hall, it was Vassal that greeted her,
"Lady Kathrine Ann, the young Prince is waiting for you in the garden. Come with me." She instructed with a slight bow and quickly shuffled off with Kathrine Ann right behind her. She smiled, hearing the lady call her by her name, which reminded her,
"Vassal, why didn't you call me by my name before?" She asked as they walked.
"Oh, kinda embarrassing actually, milady." Her cheeks glowing red, she replied, "Truthfully, I didn't know it. Lord Lucifer only referred to you as his son's fiancee or future queen, and the young Prince always calls you Baby Girl. I don't think you wanted me calling you that." She chuckled.
"True, you know I wonder if either of them knew my name before the wedding? Lord Lucifer never asked, and Lucifer staunchly refused to hear it." She pondered as they walked through the back door, and the sunlight blinded her for a second.
"If you prefer, I did not call you by your name," Vassal began.
"Oh no, I would prefer you did." Kathrine Ann quickly replied. Vassal bowed her head.
"As you wish, Lady Kathrine Ann." She smiled.
"Any chance I can get you to drop the 'Lady?'" She asked.
"No, Milady. The young Prince is right over there." She answered with a smile and pointed in the opposite direction before ducking back inside.
Turning around, she caught sight of Lucifer sitting at a small table with two chairs, looking over some papers. As she crossed the lawn, she watched him push his hair out of his face, only for the front pieces to slowly slip back into his eyes.