At exactly 10 pm, Valerie walked slowly to garden in a beautiful long red dress that had lace seam at the top. She put Alan to bed early, so he wouldn't know that she wasn't with him that night. She often heard him in his dreams mumbling 'Mommy! No! Don't leave me! I promise I will behave better!' and it breaks her heart.
She walked to the garden to find the King sitting near a bush humming a song, he sounded worried. Perhaps he thought Valerie would stand him up, but no one would ever stand up the King.
"Hey stranger, how's it going?" said Valerie as Malphus opened his eyes to look.
"You look great Valerie" Malphus stood up and lifted the back of Valerie's hand and gave it a kiss.
"So what is it that you have planned? Alan gets scared at night." Valerie questioned the King as they walked into the forest.
"Just go with the flow princess." Malphus could see Valerie, but didn't have to turn his head to see her.
They walked for 15 minutes and during that time they talked, they didn't talk about in particular, they just talked to enjoy each others company.
When they arrived to where they supposed be, Valerie saw a silver platter on a table with a white tablecloth under it. It had a candle on it providing a dim lit and a rose in a skinny translucent vase. It also had two wine glasses and a ice bucket with a bottle of wine inside. Behind it was a beautiful forest under a cliff which had the table right next to it.
"Oh my! Malphus did you do this all yourself?" of course Valerie knew he didn't, she had smelt the pasta cooking in the kitchen and went to it check to see a chef making it. She had also seen the butler with the same translucent vase and rose in his hand heading out of the castle.
"Yep, I made the pasta and everything." Malphus lead Valerie to one of the chairs and pulled it out for her and pushed it in as she sat down. Then he went to sit at his side of the table.
He opened the silver dish up and served Valerie half and took half for his self. Then he popped open the wine bottle easily, and poured Valerie and himself some wine.
"Oh! Shrimp pasta, my favorite!" Valerie's eye lit up.
"Oh? You've had it before? I thought it was a food for the wealthier people." Valerie passed him a glare as she placed the fork in her mouth. Of course she knew he was joking, but it still hurt that her family lost their job.
Only it didn't, she had found new family at the castle. She found a new family in the cook, the gardeners, the stablemen, Malphus, and Alan. It was like the castle itself was her family, they had sheltered her for almost year now.
"So, I heard that most people of Cliffered- Riverdale are taking you being their new ruler nicely." said Valerie as she took a sip of wine.
"Some?" Malphus gave Valerie a puzzled look.
"Yes, others have thought about moving to Fildleson, but of course you know how expensive things are over there so people won't move." answered Valerie.
"What about Ashton, why don't they just move there?" Malphus asked with some sass in his voice.
"Well, unlike how his majesty Raymond makes it seem, Ashton is the worst Kingdom of the four. Death and kidnapping is normal there. The mostly non-stop rain causes lots of damage that the King doesn't take part in fixing. Crimes are at their highest peak there, and the whole kingdom supports sex trafficking and normal slavery. The most amount anyone will ever have there is $250, because the taxes are extremely high and unreasonable." said Valerie as she put another fork full of pasta in her mouth.
"Are you sure? You know personally that rumors can be a vile thing." Malphus hadn't taken anything but one bite of his food, he was too concerned about what he was hearing.
"Of course, Oscar decided to give the kingdom a try for a holiday. All our clothes were stolen from the hotel manager, we got kicked out for not having anymore money as my purse had been stolen. Before that we took a walk near town and saw a bunch of drunk men sexually harming a girl and someone being kidnapped. We saw a dead body just lying in the streets and a slave being hit by his Mistress, which looked just as poor as him." said Valerie as she finished eating her pasta.
Malphus gave a concerned look, before retreating to his plate which was now cold. He came out hoping to sway Valerie into something a little more PG-13, but now wasn't in the mood for it hearing how the people over in Ashton were treated.
"Why don't they just move to here then?" asked Malphus after a while.
"Well, other than taxes, things are extremely cheap in Ashton. You could buy a whole 10 pounds of meant just for $20. You could buy a two story house just for 350. Mostly poor people stay there, which is why there are no beggars in Fidleson and hardly any in Riverdale." said Valerie taking her last sip of wine.
"I believe we owe Raymond a visit."