In the office connected to his bedchambers, King Zander was looking through a few documents that his ministers had brought before him in today's morning court session.
He had already sent Treegan away on a different task and thus was alone right now to focus on the work at hand.
Lifting his head, the man with golden eyes glanced in a certain direction where he was sure that his chamberlain was present.
Loud thumps reached his ear which could only belong to the man currently in the room adjoining his royal chambers.
The heartbeats he could hear were too loud and its pace was also hastening with every second.
'What has gotten him so worried?' He frowned as he could sense the anxiety coming from that direction, the loud heartbeats even confirming his speculation.
The only cause he could think of for this sudden shift in Rein Melk's emotions was something that might have taken place today.
Since Doctor Bundt had already revealed that the poison still in his body posed no threat to him, his mind leaned towards another notable event that took place today.
'He should not have stood up against Treegan if he was going to be this petrified.' He shook his head at the timid man who was panicking right now.
King Zander assumed that Rein was finally realizing the blunder he had made by messing with Treegan, giving him that strange punishment which the aide would have to undergo early tomorrow morning.
The time and venue for the punishment had already been set so no matter what Rein felt now, the punishment would go as planned.
He was the one who had announced what punishment Treegan should face so there was no room for regret anymore.
It did not matter why Rein had come up with that strange punishment for Treegan, all that mattered was that he had gone ahead with his plans so now there was no use for regretting his past actions.
Once a decision was made and even implemented, regret meant nothing as time could not be turned back.
Therefore, the King hoped he would understand and follow this lesson well as it was one of the most important truths of life.
'He should learn to be more confident about his decisions.' He scoffed as now that the decision was made, instead of panicking, he should be confident in his ways.
At this thought, the King sighed and wondered if there was even a single proud bone in Melk's feeble body.
However, in the next second, he recalled another incident that he had accidentally eavesdropped on earlier.
Back when Rein was trying to negotiate with the Royal Physician, he and Treegan had been in his office, discussing some urgent work matters.
They had never intended to eavesdrop on the conversation taking place next door but their heightened hearing had made it possible even if they never planned to do anything of that sort.
Therefore, when they unintentionally overheard the Chamberlain negotiating, shamelessly without a doubt and even justifying his demands, they were left speechless.
Treegan was scoffing at that man but the King had his brows raised as he was pleasantly surprised that his chamberlain was capable of pulling off this stunt.
Wanting to see what else he was capable of, he had even meddled in this matter, lending Rein a helping hand.
The voice that had reached the physician's mind, instructing him to agree with the young chamberlain's conditions belonged to the King.
Thanks to the King's intervention, Doctor Bundt did not bargain on the demands Rein had put forward, instead, accepted them without delay.
King Zander thus got a chance to witness just how calculative and greedy his usually timid and silent chamberlain could be.
Since Treegan had no clue about his Master's interference, he was further surprised when the Royal physician agreed to those ridiculous conditions.
Hearing them debate on the time and place for their next meeting, the aide grimaced when Rein explained why he could not meet the old physician early in the morning.
While he was busy cursing that other aide in his heart, those two had come to a consensus and the physician left the room soon after.
Ever since then, silence prevailed in that room and Treegan too left the office with a sullen mood after receiving a command from his Master.
Now coming out of his thoughts, King Zander's ears inclined towards that same room and found that the loud thumping of a beating heart had diminished by a large percentage.
'He calmed down quickly.' He remarked before shaking his head and returning to the task at hand.
It did not matter if Rein was panicking about what he had done to get back at Treegan as that punishment would take place regardless of how he now felt about it.
Therefore, he was glad that the other servant had managed to compose himself and had not spiraled down into a hellhole of anxiety and panic.
Thus tossing thoughts concerning Rein out of his mind, he once again concentrated on his work as there was a lot to do and very little time to do it.
A lot would happen in the next few months and he, as the King of Valanthur, needed to be prepared for every situation.
With furrowed brows and attentive eyes, he focused on the letters reporting the condition of various cities in his Kingdom.