13 The King's Chamber

As someone who had constantly pursued the pinnacle of strength, Roland was well aware of the irritation that a person would feel when his training was interrupted.

Thus he quickly made his exit, leaving Timothy and Annabelle to continue practising in the courtyard.

Witnessing the young Timothy hard at practice had spurred the passion with Roland once more, and he quickly returned to his chamber to meditate.

But before that, he still made a mental note to remember to ask Annabelle more about exactly what she was capable of doing. After all, the field of Celestial Magic was largely uncharted territory to him, and he truly wanted to understand more about it.

The sky had already turned dark by the time Roland returned to his chamber, and he meditated late into the night before finally going to bed.

And that marked the end of day two of King Roland's reign.

---

The atmosphere was solemn.

Every piece of furniture in the chamber, every painting on the wall, they were all masterpieces in their own right, each worth a fortune if they were to be offered in the market. Unfortunately, no one was in the mood to appreciate these beautiful works of art at the moment.

Roland stood quietly by his father's bed, watching as his sister embraced their father for the last time.

She was trying to control her emotions, trying not to cry, but the regular sniffling more than gave it away.

"Do not…cry, my precious…Helena," their father stretched out his trembling hand to wipe away the tears on her face. "Father…is just…going to take a short rest. I…will be back…soon."

That feeble voice of his was truly heart-breaking to hear, and even Roland could feel his eyes getting a little wet.

How mighty was he when he was commanding the thousands of soldiers on the battlefield?

How majestic was he when he was passing down his royal decrees to hundreds of officials in the royal court?

Yet looking at his frail frame right now, one could hardly believe that he was the same person from their memories.

"You will be back? You promise?" with every blink of her eyes, more tears flowed down Helena's cheeks.

"I…promise," the king nodded gently before his eyes turned up to gaze upon Roland.

"Father," Roland noticed his father's attention falling to him and stepped forward immediately.

"Be…a…wise…king."

Due to the long breaths he had to take in between each word, it took him a while to complete that short sentence, but those were the final four words of the king before he entered eternal slumber.

---

Roland opened his eyes to see the ceiling of his own chamber. He reached out to feel the corner of his eyes, and it felt moist to the touch.

It was a dream about the moment of his father's death.

Perhaps it was a coincidence, or perhaps it was not, but today was the day that he would officially move into his father's sleeping chamber for good.

That was the chamber for the king after all, it was hardly sensible for him to continue staying at his current chamber which was made to suit a prince.

Of course, if he were to insist, nobody would have the power to stop him. But Roland decided that there was no reason to do so.

He quickly got into his daily meditation routine once again, and after he was done, he had Rose dress him up before leaving his chamber.

Unlike the day before, Roland was not the last one to arrive at the Dining Hall today.

When he entered the Dining Hall, he saw that Prince Timothy was the only one present. After gesturing for them to dispense with the pleasantries, Roland took his seat.

After a short while, the jingling of bells could be heard from beyond the door, growing louder as the source approached.

When the door opened, Roland's eyes involuntarily twitched in discomfort.

"Your Majesty," the duo at the door stopped to greet him, to which he promptly gave a slight wave of his hand in acknowledgement.

But what made him uncomfortable was naturally not the arrival of the duo, but the getup on one of them. Namely, Annabelle.

Annabelle was wearing a contrasting robe which was black on the left and white on the right, with two belts securing the robe tightly across the waist. On each belt hung a row of tiny bells, jingling noisily with every slight movement that she made.

After greeting Roland, Annabelle no longer paid any attention to anyone, and started hopping diagonally forward as she made big swings with her hands.

"Ahmananamomomana, ahmanamomomana, ahmanamomomana…" Annabelle started chanting as she started to make a few rounds around the Dining Hall.

Is this really the person from yesterday who was able to use Celestial magic flawlessly?

Helpless, Roland could only turn to Jasmine for an explanation once again.

"Your Majesty, Princess Annabelle is praying to the God of Harvest today, and this is the morning ritual that has to be performed before breakfast," Jasmine promptly explained.

"I see," Roland took another doubtful look at Annabelle who was still making her rounds while chanting, completely unaware of what others were thinking of her.

Looks like I should probably find another day to ask her about Celestial magic…

Even though Roland was used to seeing Annabelle act unconventionally, that did not symbolise his acceptance, but merely his tolerance of it. Still, sometimes it got a little out of hand, just like how it was today.

Thankfully, Annabelle settled down at her seat after just five minutes, sparing everyone else from anymore of the noisy chanting and incessant jingling of bells.

It was fortunate that it ended before Erin arrived at the Dining Hall too, otherwise who knew how Erin would have reacted?

Breakfast ended rather uneventfully without much conversation, and they each left to tend to their own matters.

Roland naturally had to prepare for the moving of his items into the king's chamber, as well as get rid of whatever he deemed unnecessary.

For that, he headed straight for the king's chamber right after he had his fill.

As he approached the king's chamber, he could see the Head of Staff Veronica standing outside along with a few other servants. It was apparent that they had been waiting for him to arrive.

"Your Majesty," Veronica took the lead and bowed along with the rest.

"Rise. Is there anything that I need to know before I enter?"

"Everything has already been relayed to Your Majesty previously," Veronica reached out to hold Roland's hands in her own. "Your Majesty simply has to instruct us on what you wish to be removed from the king's chamber."

"Understood, let us start then," Roland nodded before pulling his hand away uncomfortably, and the doors to the king's chamber finally opened for the first time since the king passed away.

After closing the door behind him, Roland stood by the door and gave the chamber a quick cursory scan.

It was exactly as he remembered it to be, with elaborate works of art displayed against the walls. A huge bed stood at the far end of the chamber, just like what he had seen in his dream the night before.

Veronica and the rest of the servants did not enter along with Roland, and neither did Rose.

This was a time for Roland to look through the belongings of the previous king, and Rose had no authority to watch by the side.

After all, there could have been some top secret documents left behind by the previous king that was to be passed down only to his successor.

Roland quickly got to work, looking through every cabinet and wardrobe, ignoring all the artifacts and items that were stored and only reading through the letters that were left behind.

To his disappointment, his father had not left behind any instructions for his successor, or at least Roland was unable to find anything like that even if his father did.

Roland sighed as he sat down despondently on the bed.

Don't most rulers usually have a plan for the developments of the kingdom for the next ten to twenty year? Why didn't father write down any such instructions?

Roland felt like crying inside.

He originally still held a tiny strand of hope that the king would have already penned down his plans to develop the kingdom for the next few decades, and that he could simply follow those instructions.

But alas, it was not to be.

All he could find were records after records of boring information such as information on the various noble families as well as their past contributions, the changes in price of goods over time, relations with other realms etc.

In other words, things that he would simply chuck aside.

Just as Roland was about to give up all hope, he finally came across a letter than piqued his interest.

It was a letter addressed to his father, by a lady named Iris.

The name Iris struck a chord with Roland's heart immediately, and with trembling hands, Roland gently opened up the piece of paper to read its content.

Turner,

If you are reading this letter, it would mean that I have already left for the next world. I apologise for leaving our children to your care, but I am sure you will do a great job caring for them. There are no secrets between us, or so we promised each other…I lied. There is something that I have always been keeping from you, but now I have left it in the secret room. Go take a look and you will see what it is exactly. Thank you for everything that you have done, and sorry for always having to bear with my selfishness.

With love, Iris

A deep frown appeared on Roland's face after reading the short letter.

His late mother had died long ago due to an illness that was beyond the means of even the highest ranked priests in the kingdom.

Roland's impression of her had always been a loving wife and a doting mother, yet there was a secret that she had been keeping for his father?

Unless it was something extremely major, it was unlikely that she would have mentioned it in her final letter.

What could it be?

Roland had no way of knowing where was this secret room that his mother mentioned, and even if he did, the item within should have already been removed by his father. So he could only curb his own curiosity and give up on finding out more.

Still, after recalling the mother in his memories, Roland felt a tinge of sadness and a sense of longing in his heart.

Previously, he had been frowned upon by most of the nobles for abandoning the study of governance, literature, and other etiquettes expected of nobility, instead choosing to single heartedly pursue the pinnacle of combat.

At that time, his mother had stood up for him against the pressure from the nobles and defended his way of life even when he was not present.

When he got to know about it, he felt truly thankful to this mother of his.

Due to that incident, he grew much closer to his mother than he was to his father. It was just that she passed away early, and thus his longing for his mother had gradually faded with time.

But now that this sense of longing had been reignited, he was no longer in the mood to continue looking through the items in the chamber.

After exiting the chamber, he saw Veronica rushing over from afar, and decided to wait for her at the doorstep.

Rose was right beside her, but despite approaching at the same speed, Rose's steps were light and seemed like a casual stroll in comparison.

"What are your instructions, Your Majesty?" Veronica sounded completely fine even after running over from afar, proof of her great stamina and lung capacity.

"Leave everything for now, the chamber is big enough. Bring over the items from my chamber that I have told you about, I will instruct Rose on how to arrange everything later."

"Everything?" Veronica was surprised to hear that, and a brilliant light flashed in her eyes, one filled with nothing but admiration.

"You heard me right. Leave everything for now." Roland had a bad feeling about the expression on Veronica's face, but nodded nevertheless.

"Yes, Your Majesty! The late king would be glad to know how Your Majesty feels!" Veronica bowed in acknowledgement of the instruction.

"I-It seems like you realised my intentions, but let us not get carried away, Veronica," Roland had no idea what was in Veronica's mind, but it did not seem to be negative and thus he decided to just leave her be before seeking to quickly change the subject. "It will be best for me to get going now, there is something important for me to attend to after all!"

Naturally, there was nothing for him to attend to, but he simply wished to get out of this incomprehensible situation.

Who knew that upon hearing this, not just Veronica's, but even Rose's eyes actually widened in further astonishment!

"Was the sudden arrival of the envoy from the Grand Wyvern Kingdom within the scope of Your Majesty's plans as well?"