How to cure a Dark Lord

I walked down the hallway to the king's chambers, clutching my ceramic teapot as usual. I avoided being late by all means to prevent being punished like last time.

Last time, that evil man made sure I had spent exactly an hour helping him to sort out his papers and whatnot, before letting me go. Talk about being petty.

Now it was exactly dinnertime and I was on time. What could possibly go wrong now? I stretched out my hand and knocked on the door. Then I waited. One second, two, three, five, seven then the door was opened.

The castle's butler opened up. He was not surprised to see me. He actually looked like he had been expecting me.

"Good evening, Gilbert."

"Good evening Miss Frieda. You have his Majesty's medicine, I presume?" He asked in his usual emotionless tone.

I nodded.

"His Majesty is not in his room right now." The butler informed me.

Where was the king then if he wasn't in his room? Hopefully he wasn't in the music room. I didn't hear any music while I was coming up.

"Where is His Majesty?"

"He's working in the castle's library. You can go and meet him there."

I nodded to that and quickly spun around, walking down the hallway the way I had come.

Talking the stairs back down to the third floor east wing, I was at the library's door in no time. The library was such a vast hall that if I knocked on the door, the Dark Lord might not hear me from his desk that sat at a hidden corner of the library.

I pushed the door open. It was mostly dark because it was night time save for a dim light I could see from the back of the hall.

The castle's library contained rows of shelves and I had to find my way around them without bumping into something, tripping over something or stubbing my toe on something. And I did all of those things.

When I finally got to the back of the library where his desk was, there was no one there. But the desk held books and parchments and was illuminated by a bright candle. He had been sitting here recently.

I turned and looked around me. There was no one in sight. Maybe I should wait a little for him. I was quite tired and there was no where to sit except at the desk.

And I couldn't even sit there because it was the king's seat. I could get beheaded for inhabiting his seat.

After standing for a while, I realized I couldn't stand anymore. I was really, truly exhausted from being up on my feet all day. The Dark Lord wasn't in the library right now.

If he came back in, I would surely hear the loud creak the double doors made whenever someone came in and that would be my cue to stand up and pretend that I had just gotten here.

I dropped the pot of medicine by the side and sat on the comfortable chair. I neatly arranged the papers on the desk to make space where I would lay my head.

Maybe I could get a quick nap as well. I was a light sleeper so as soon as I heard the creak, I would wake up and when he or anyone else gets here, they won't find me on his seat.

I closed my eyes and tried to get some rest. I even had a little dream as I slept, or was it a memory?.

Six year old me lay in my snug little bed where Papa had brought the brazier in to keep me warm on a cold winter night. He had given me the warmest blanket to ensure I didn't catch a cold.

Papa decided to watch over me that night. I was asleep, but I could feel his loving eyes on me. He came closer to me and removed the strands of hair falling over my face and tucked it behind my ear. Then he adjusted the blanket and brought it all the way up to my chin so I could be warm all over.

Then I heard him whisper close to my ear

"Are you having a good sleep, Miss Frieda?"

Or not. Papa never asked me that. My eyes snapped open and my eyes were met with a set of amused looking golden ones.

"You - Your Majesty!" I stammered and bolted up from the seat, stubbing my big toe again on the desk so hard I felt my toe was going to come off.

I limped out of the seat despite being caught sleeping on it red handed. How did I end up sleeping so deeply? I had hoped to wake up when I heard the door's creak but I heard nothing at all until it was too late.

"I step out of my seat for one minute to look for a book and I come back to find someone else sleeping on it." He asked me with his hands folded against his chest.

"I-I'm sorry, Your Majesty. I didn't mean to fall asleep. I was just so tired and..." I trailed off, deciding not to continue with my excuses because I doubt he was going to buy it.

"That was bold of you to sit on my chair while I was not around. Suicidal but bold." Mr Kellan nodded with a dry smile.

"Please don't punish me, your Majesty, I didn't mean any disrespect. I'll stand from now on when I'm waiting for you." I said with my eyes cast down, not wanting to see the expression on his face.

He leaned in, chuckling softly "Punish you? I wouldn't. Not in the slightest. You're already in a lot of pain right now. It would be heartless of me to add to it."

I didn't get what he meant until he hit my big toe with the tip of his shoe. Pain shot up from my feet to my brain.

"Oww!" I exclaimed, hot tears springing in my eyes. I reflexively grabbed my foot while standing.

I had quite forgotten about the pain in my toe because I was too busy wondering if this evil man would kill me or not for deciding it was the best idea to nap in his chair.

And worst of all, he kicked my toe. What a heartless fellow. He knew about the pain in my leg and yet he kicked it.

My fear was replaced with a wave of anger as I glared at him.

"How could you kick my injured toe?"

"How could you sleep in my chair?" he asked in a mocking tone.

"Well, for your information, I've been up and on my toes all day because I'm trying to make a cure for you, your Majesty. When have you ever thanked me? For my tireless efforts?" I asked with an unknown boldness.

The king looked up with a dimpled smile, trying to recall if he had ever thanked me or not. But I decided to save him the effort.

"Never. That's right. Not a single thank you. So if you must know, I deserve that nap on your royal chair and I don't regret it one bit." I stared back at him and watched his smile widen.

"You're bleeding, Frieda." He said with a chuckle escaping his lips.