2 The First Official Meeting

Roland slouched into his chair the moment he returned to his chamber, not even bothering to remove the heavy coat draping over his shoulders.

This was hardly a posture fitting of a warrior, or a king, both of which he was, but he could not care less at the moment.

Right now, he just wanted to rest.

"Good work out there, Your Hig-Your Majesty," Rose stumbled over her words a little. As excellent as she was, it was still a tall order for her to immediately change the way she addressed her master.

What do you mean good work out there? I froze up for a moment until you prompted me from behind! That was so pathetic!

Roland helplessly let out a sigh of regret before replying, "Do you truly think that I did well just now?"

"Yes, that was a stellar performance from Your Majesty. I had definitely expected less," Rose nodded.

Damn, you could have left out that last part.

Roland grumbled in his heart before getting up from the chair, but only to walk a few steps and plunge face-down into the comfort of his bed.

"You have a meeting with your royal siblings and the Chancellor in an hour's time, Your Majesty," Rose's voice sounded out once again.

I get it, I get it! Stop bothering me! Can't you tell that I'm exhausted right now?

Roland continued whining in his heart, but as usual he took care not to let his thoughts escape through his mouth.

"Wake me ten minutes before the meeting. I want to meditate a little for now," Roland didn't even life his face from the mattress.

"Are you going to meditate in this manner, Your Majesty?" Rose blinked blankly as she watched her master's current unsightly body position.

"Yes!" Roland's voice almost sounded annoyed this time, but it was probably her imagination.

"I understand," Rose did not question him twice, and walked back to her chair.

---

The young Prince Timothy sat quietly at the long oak table that stretched across the room, the gaze from his bright eyes never leaving the door as he patiently waited.

He had chosen not to return to his chamber after the Coronation Ceremony from before, and thus was the first to arrive, accompanied by his personal maid Camellia.

Just as he was starting to feel bored, the door opened, and Princess Erin stepped through the door, her long hair waving softly behind her.

"Your Highness," Camellia greeted with a bow, but Princess Erin did not bother acknowledging her.

"You are early, Timothy. I see you did not return to your chambers," Erin took her seat at the table opposite Timothy, and her personal maid, Lily, stood behind her respectfully.

Lily did not have to greet Prince Timothy in Princess Erin's presence, due to Erin's standing in the family being higher than Timothy's.

Their family standings were determined merely by age and nothing else. Timothy was the youngest, followed by Annabelle, Helena, and finally Erin in that order.

Roland was the eldest amongst them, or at least he was the eldest now that their three elder brothers had all perished on the battlefield.

Of course, even if he wasn't the eldest, the fact that he was now the king would naturally place him the highest in terms of standing.

"Ah! Yes! I came here right away!" Timothy replied enthusiastically. "You are early as well!"

"This is our first official meeting after our royal brother became king after all. While it is unlikely, I do not wish to risk being later than His Majesty. I am sure Helena and Annabelle will be arriving shortly too. As for the Chancellor, he might be a bit later since he would have to fetch the documents for this meeting."

As she finished her sentence, the door opened once again, and Princess Annabelle entered the room with her maid Jasmine following closely behind.

"Your Highness," Jasmine bowed towards Erin, but once again the greeting was ignored.

"Your Highness," Camellia greeted once again, this time towards Annabelle.

Facing Camellia, Annabelle brought her right hand up to her own left shoulder then slowly moved it to her right, before swiftly placing her palms together in front of her. She then briefly closed her eyes and gave a half bow in response to the maid's greeting.

This was not the common greeting in the kingdom, but probably that of some unknown religion. Annabelle had always been very invested in these different cultures floating around after all.

Not knowing how to respond further, Camellia simply returned to her position.

"Stop doing weird things and sit down," Erin rolled her eyes when Annabelle did the same greeting towards her.

"Okay," Annabelle walked over to sit down beside Timothy, turned to look at him, and then repeated that same greeting towards him.

"Ah! Er…you too!" Timothy hurriedly copied her in response, drawing faint smiles from everyone in the room.

It didn't take long before the door opened once again and Princess Helena walked in.

"Your Highness," Camellia and Lily both greeted since Helena was higher positioned than Annabelle and Timothy.

"Hi, hi!" Helena waved to the maids with a smile, then turned to Erin unhappily. "Why didn't you wait for me? I told you that I would be done soon! It's so cruel of you to just come without me!"

"You said that the previous time when you made me wait more than thirty minutes as well," Erin once again ignored the greeting from Helena's maid. "And I did tell you just now that I am going to come here first."

"I thought you were joking!" Helena sulked as she sat down beside Erin, her maid Blossom standing in position behind her. "Isn't Erin too cruel, Annabelle?"

Annabelle turned to look at Helena blankly, before shaking her head briefly.

"Annabelle! You don't know how that answer breaks my heart! Timothy! You do agree with me, right? Right?" Helena was leaning so far over the table towards Timothy that her butt left the chair.

"Ah! Y-Yes!" Timothy hurriedly nodded.

"Stop trying to intimidate Timothy! And sit down properly!" Erin chided.

"Cruel person!" Helena pouted as she sat back down. "I'm sure Roland would agree with me!"

"You are not supposed to address our royal brother by name anymore. Take note not to make that mistake in front of others," Erin shot her a warning glance.

"Ah, that's right. Who would have thought this day would come?" Helena did not retort this time, instead letting out a helpless sigh.

"This is for the best. I can't imagine those three other idiot brothers of ours sitting on the throne, it would have been a disaster for the kingdom," Erin's words were sharp and to the point, directly expressing her thoughts.

"Ah! That is a little harsh, isn't it…?" Timothy timidly interjected.

"Yeah! Erin! That's cruel! Don't you have any compassion for our elder brothers who valiantly sacrificed themselves in battle?" Helena added agitatedly.

"The three of them only rode to battle because they wanted to collect honours under their name, all to add to their claim to the throne," Erin crossed her arms in front of her chest and leaned back in the chair, not relenting on her stand. "They even blocked our royal brother from joining them in fear of his martial prowess, not wanting him to outshine them. Otherwise how would we suffer such heavy losses? Pieces of trash."

Timothy nervously stopped speaking after hearing the cold tone in her voice, but Helena seemed oblivious to it.

"Erin, you need to stop that bad habit of always thinking badly of people! Not everyone is as bad as you think!"

"You are the one who needs to stop thinking so well of other people. Thankfully Blossom has been taking care of that for you up to now," Erin replied, giving Helena's maid a quick glance.

Blossom bowed slightly in acknowledgement, but Erin's attention had already shifted to the door.

She was not the only one though. Everyone's eyes turned to the door as it opened once again, and Roland made his entrance along with Rose.

He was no longer dressed in his ceremonial outfit from before, and had changed into an outfit that was much easier to move around in.

"Your Majesty," everyone in the room immediately stood up and bowed upon seeing the entrance of the king.

Roland was stumped for a moment at everyone's sudden gesture, but quickly recovered after remembering that his current identity was no longer the same.

"Take your seats," Roland gestured for them to recover from their bow with a wave of his hand, and made his way to the chair at the farthest end of the table. "Where is the Chancellor?"

"He should be arriving soon after preparing the documents for the meeting. Shall we send someone to hurry him?" Erin was the first to respond.

"Looks like there is no longer a need to, it seems he has just arrived," Roland's keen ears picked up on hurried steps approaching the door from the outside, and leaned back comfortably in wait.

His siblings were more than familiar with how he had been passing his time these years, and knew exactly how keen his senses were. So they did not ask further, simply turning their heads to face the door even before the knocking sounded out.

"Enter," Roland answered the knock with the deepest and most solemn voice he could muster, and Duke Ivan promptly walked in with a stack of paper in his embrace.

"Greetings, Your Majesty," Duke Ivan bowed respectfully the moment he entered.

"Rise."

"Thank you, Your Majesty."

Duke Ivan straightened his back, but remained standing where he was.

A few moments passed, and nobody said a word. Roland nervously took quick glances at his siblings, who all seemed to be calmly looking at Duke Ivan.

What is going on? Why is he just standing there like that?

He had always skipped out on such meetings in the past, and thus had no idea how it usually went.

"Are you not going to take a seat?" Roland finally asked, no longer able to control himself any further. If he did not speak, it seemed like they would just keep staring at each other for the rest of the day.

A look of surprise spread across Duke Ivan's face as he heard those words, and his gaze instinctively shifted from Roland to Erin, as if hoping for some hint towards what he should do next.

"What are you looking at me for? Can you not recognise the impatience in His Majesty's words? Do you think His Majesty was truly asking you to take a seat? Or could it be that you were waiting for His Majesty to plead for you to start the meeting?" Erin snapped back coldly.

"My apologies, Your Majesty! I do not dare!" Duke Ivan immediately fell to his knees in horror.

Roland's jaw almost fell to the ground at the sight before him.

What? What just happened? How was it possible for my words to be interpreted that way?

Cold sweat was starting to accumulate on Roland's back once again.

But he could not show any signs of panic, or he could very well find his prestige being questioned by his own siblings, the ones from whom he was hoping to obtain the greatest support while he held the position of king.

"A-As long as you understand. Rise and continue."

"Thank you, Your Majesty!" Duke Ivan quickly got to his feet and took a deep breath, before walking around the table to place a small stack of paper in front of each person.

Roland looked at the papers in front of him that were filled with walls of text, and felt a bad premonition about what was to come.

"Your Majesty, these are the matters arising that require our attention. There are 121 matters in total for this meeting, all of which are described in detail. Please take your time and peruse the document," Duke Ivan had returned to his position and stood at the end of the room opposite from Roland.

Is he serious? Is this a meeting or a study group?

Roland took another few quick glances at his siblings, who had already started reading through the document.

It was not that he was illiterate. Many training manuals and magic books were filled with lots of text as well. He would never have reached the level he was at if he was unable to understand words.

However, just a quick glance at the first page and there were already tons of content that were alien to him. As a king, would it not be too embarrassing if he were to read through the document and ended up still having to ask others about it?

He had to do something about this situation, and fast!

His brain went into overdrive, desperately trying to come up with a solution to this problem. After a few short moments, Roland nervously swallowed the saliva in his mouth before finally speaking up.

"I think you misunderstand, Chancellor."

"Your Majesty?" Duke Ivan had only just started to relax a little after the initial scare, but was startled once again upon being called out.

Roland saw that everyone had stopped reading as well, and had directed their attention onto himself. Now, he had to make sure the following sentences sound right.

"I am not my father, nor his father. I do not wish to sit here all day reading through stacks of documents when all of us can be off using this time in a more productive manner," Roland looked straight at the Chancellor. "Do you not want to have more time to tend to your own matters as well?"

"Your humble subject does not quite understand what Your Majesty mean…" Duke Ivan tried to be careful in his choice of words. He was unfamiliar with this new king, and was afraid to unintentionally incur his wrath once more.

But it was not just the Duke who was confused. Even Princess Erin, who usually had everything in the palm of her hands, was looking at Roland blankly.

"How much do you think I trust you, Chancellor?"