Leo stood in the hall of the Dunch's big home, listening to Lady Anne while looking around. His men were spread around, guarding the place, and he was a bit nervous. This visit was important, and he was scared of its outcome regardless of what it ended up being.
According to Lady Anne, Coraline was very popular in Alderaan, which he had noticed, and it was something that scared Palpatine more and more with time and that was a reason his treatment of her worsened as she got older.
"He was afraid of coups to place her on the throne. No letter for or from Cora was ever left intact, no gifts were allowed, and she could barely see anyone," she told him. "We were fearing for her life."
Palpatine hadn't been entirely wrong. Some noble were intending to kill the usurper and put her on the throne, and were part of the very same families that had already expressed their wishes of seeing Leo marrying her.
"She's the perfect queen," he commented, unable to control himself. "She only needs a crown."
The lady turned to him and Leo looked away, realising what he'd done. Lady Anne was said to have been an almost identical copy of his grandmother Padmé back when they were just children, and was her lady in waiting before her tragic death. Leo never met Queen Padmé, but he knew Coraline, and Lady Anne and Coraline had the very same face - something that was a bit scary. They shared the same hair colour, cheekbones, eyes and large toothy smile, along with a similar tall height and slender body. He wondered if Coraline's mother was any similar to her mother the way her child had been. All he knew about her was that she was a tall blonde.
"You intend to marry her," the older woman exclaimed, covering her mouth with a hand in shock. "Your majesty!"
Leo blushed, turning completely hot on the face.
"I'm here to discuss a marriage between the Lady Coraline and I, yes," he confirmed. "But I want to talk to you, her grandparents, about it."
Lady Anne looked over her shoulder and then up, making Leo frown and follow her eyes before she reached for his forearm, and guided him up the stairs in such a quick place he could hear her shoes echoing against the wood, and locked him in a study room where Lord Leonard was already waiting for them.
"Your majesty," the old man bowed for him.
"Arise, my lord," he said uncomfortable. It was still so strange to be talked to like this. His whole life his mother was the true Queen, and now he had to get used to being her replacement. "It is a pleasure to finally visit your home. It is a beautiful castle."
"I'm glad it pleases you, your majesty," he smiled. "I have recently found a new appreciation for it, if I am to be honest. My granddaughter is enchanted with everything in it, she finds the smallest of details wonderful and all that…"
Lady Anne agreed.
"Coraline loves exploring the rooms," she smiled, so similar to her granddaughter. "Once she spent the whole afternoon just trying to learn about each family member who had their portrait on our walls."
He tried not to look too interested or surprised, and took a seat in front of the pair, finally allowing them to sit down just as well.
"I'm glad you brought up Lady Coraline," he said slowly. "I'm here to talk about her, and it's rather important."
Lord Leonard's face fell in less than a second, changing to absolute fear when he misunderstood the meaning behind his words.
"Your majesty," he dropped to his knees on the carpeted floor. "I beg you, in name of the friendship our families have fostered through these years, don't arrest my granddaughter! She has no fault for the name she carries. Coraline has a good heart and would never, ever, betray you!"
Leo flushed, feeling his face completely hot in a complete loss of words. His mind instantly moved to the moment Coraline had knelt for him herself and begged for mercy.
"My lord," he stood up, reaching for the old man who had once been his grandfather's best friend, trying to help him stand. "My lord, please stand up. I don't want to hurt her and I trust your family's integrity. That is not why I'm here!"
Lady Anne took her husband opposite arm, and they both pulled him up, aiding him to sit down again.
"Forgive me, your majesty," he stared at him. "But I don't understand."
He wanted to grimace. He should have done this differently, he knew it; visiting them first was not the best way to break the news of his intentions, Bryton - one of his advisors, the only one around his age and who actually explained most the things related to protocol and simply being a king - had told him it was a bad idea. Proposals were complicated and needed to be slowly negotiated, specially for a man in his position. But he had decided to ignore his advice and do it his own way. Bad idea. Bad, bad idea.
His parents were a strange couple, strong opposites, but they loved one another and had married for that very reason – something Leo wasn't afraid of using as an inspiration for his own life. He knew he couldn't do the same as his mother, but he wanted a wife he at least could spend time with, and didn't hate, not just a baby-making thing.
"I don't know if I will yet," he affirmed before they could say anything. "I want to talk to the two of you and her, and figure if this is… reachable," he said slowly. "But I'm thinking about proposing and marrying your granddaughter."
He waited, and watched as Dunch's face slowly changed as he absorbed his words.
"You want to marry Coraline?" he asked back.
Leo nodded.
"I do," he confirmed. "She is a lovely lady and people have a lot of good things to say about her, and she was trained to be Queen her whole life. She loves the people and the people love her back. I think she's the best choice."
Lady Anne and her husband exchanged looks, and Leo couldn't help but just hold his breath.
"Do you think we can discuss the details of that?"