Albert sighed as he read through some files on his desk, he had been in his office for a while now, and he would have forgotten that it was almost time for dinner if not for his lovely wife.
"Albie my love" said Christina as she smiled and walked into Albert's office without even considering knocking at all.
The door closed behind her as she walked to Albert's desk and gave him a kiss on the cheek to which he replied with a gruff mummer.
"What are you doing?" asked Christina as she smiled.
"Work, what else would I be doing?" asked Albert in an overly stressed tone as Christina frowned.
"Of course I know that, I meant what are you doing here by this time? It's already time for dinner" said Christina as she frowned and Albert looked up from his desk and looked at her with confusion until he was hit with a wave of realization.
"It's already time for dinner??" asked Albert in disbelief as he looked at her.
"Yes it is silly, I always tell you to open the windows in your office, if you had you would notice when it got dark outside" said Christina as she laughed and waved her hand as the light brown curtains in Albert's office were drawn back to reveal the somber early night sky.
"I lost track of time" replied Albert as he shook his head.
"Of course you did, if only you listen to me, you wouldn't have, why would you not lose track of time when you are here in your office all day without sunlight" said Christina as she frowned.
"You used you love being outside, but now all you do is stay couped up in your office, what happened to my adventurous Albie?" asked Christina.
"He became King and he now has a lot of possibilities" said Albert as Christina scoffed.
"Stop it Chrissy not now, we have a dinner to attend" said Albert as he tidied up his desk and and stood up.
"I know, I know, but we will talk about this later" said Christina as she walked forward and helped Albert adjust his mantle as she waved her hand over it to smooth out the creases that were created from him moving in it too much.
"Thank you Chrissy" said Albert as he smiled and touched the right side of her face which caused her to smile.
"Where is Oliver? He should come over to my office so we can all proceed to the dining hall together, I am sure that everyone should already be waiting for us" said Albert as he was busy in his own thoughts so much that he did not notice the change of expression on her face.
"I hope he was not like me and forgot about the dinner" said Albert with a chuckle as he noticed that Christina did not laugh at all.
"I can't reach him, I wonder where he could be" said Albert as he frowned and Christina took a step back as she was done fixing Albert up.
Albert's frown deepened when he finally noticed Christina's change in expression, he was sure that she was hiding something, and he was also sure that it had something to do with their son Oliver.
"Chrissy, where is Oliver?" asked Albert as the look on his face showed that he would not tolerate any lies, and he was not to worry, Christina was not going to lie to him at all, after all what would that do?
"Ollie is not in the Castle right now" said Christina.
"What do you mean not in the Castle right now? Where is he?" asked Albert as it was visible he was trying his best to remain calm right now.
"He's not here, he had some personal important matters to attend to, so he had to leave to go sort them out" said Christina.
"On the night of the High Council dinner??" asked Albert, his anger obviously visible, but so was his restraint.
"Yes, it is very important that he settles his personal matters" said Christina as Albert scoffed.
"And what sort of personal matters are those? Let me guess it has something to do with his supposed friends at the Palace" said Albert in a tone that was nothing less that unpleased.
"They are his friends, and yes, I don't expect you to understand that your son has his own lives as well" said Christina in frustration.
"I have nothing against him going out and hanging out with whoever he wants to hangout with" said Albert.
"What angers me is his lack of responsibility and arrangement of his priorities" said Albert.
"Don't you dare say that about our son" said Christina in an obviously angered tone.
"You of all people know that Ollie is the most responsible boy for his age, and he certainly has all his priorities straight" said Christina.
"Is that so? Then why would he leave on the evening of a very important dinner!" asked Albert as Christina scoffed.
"Important dinner my foot Albie" said Christina.
"There will always be High Council dinner meetings like this, it is nothing new at all" said Christina.
"And we both know that Ollie's presence is not really needed here, but if he didn't go back to the Palace, his happiness would not be certain" said Christina as Albert looked like he did not believe what she was saying at all.
"Look Albie, Ollie didn't even want to go back, when he told me what I what was bothering him I was the one who told him to leave and he was even hesitant because he was aware of the dinner tonight" said Christina.
"If you are upset just because your son didn't attend one measly dinner then you are highly unreasonable Albie, Ollie is a good boy, he deserves a break from official matters" said Christina as Albert sighed.
"I don't want to argue with you Chrissy, not here, and not now" said Albert.
"And neither do I, just let it go, there will be many more dinner that he will certainly be present for, just let him be this once" said Christina.
"And in my opinion he really won't have any fun sitting at the dinner table listening to old men talking, he needs to be with people his own age, how else will he have new insights on how things are done differently?" asked Christina.
"You could have at least informed me that he would not be present" said Albert as Christina smiled.
"Says the man who even forgot he had a dinner to attend today" said Christina as Albert sighed.
"Come on Albie, let's go, we can't keep our guests waiting for long" said Christina as she smiled and tapped his right cheek.
"You are right... we should not continue to keep them waiting" said Albert as he stepped forward.
"Good, and you will not be upset with Ollie, if anything I was the one who gave him permission to leave" said Christina.
"And you know that I cannot remain upset with you" said Albert.
"I know, and that is why I did it" replied Christina as she winked at him with a smile as Albert shook his head.
"Now now my love, enough with this arguing that is getting us nowhere, let us go now" said Christina as she hooked her arm in Albert's as the doors of his office opened and they walked through them together.
"You know that you are very annoying right?" asked Albert as his words caused Christina to chuckle.
"I know, and I also know that you would not want it any other way" said Christina as Albert said nothing, hating the fact that she was right.
...
There was a light chatter going on in the dining room as everyone waited for the arrival of the King and Queen, some were worried that they were this late while some were wondering what could have happened to delay them this long, while others remained calm drinking wine leisurely.
"May all rise for his Majesty King Albert and her Majesty Queen Christina" came the loud voice of the announcer in the large dining hall as everyone quickly got up while Christina and Albert proceeded into the dining hall.
Christina was all smiles while Albert had a neutral look of his face that reeked of nothing but regality and calmness.
Albert pulled out Christina's seat that was right beside his as she smiled at him and thanked him before he moved on to sit on his own seat and that was the cue for everyone else to sit down.
"Good evening everyone, I sincerely apologize for lateness this evening, I truly lost track of time, I hope that everyone would please forgive me" said Albert as he heard some acknowledge his apology.
"As you all know, this is not just a usual dinner of the High Council, this evening, we are celebrating the final defeat of a man named Azazel, who I believe needs no introduction" said Albert as he smiled.
"I sincerely believe that this evening will mark more of the many celebrations of peace that our Realm will have" said Albert.
"And with that, I declare that this dinner begin, Cheers" said Albert as he raised his wine glass filled with red wine.
"Cheers" said Christina with a smile as she raised her glass.
"Cheers" said the others as they did the same and placed their glasses back on the table before they began to eat.