6 The Vigour Potion

Roland sat down at his desk with a serious expression on his face, contemplating about the events that had occurred tonight.

The banquet had just ended and he had finally returned to his chambers after a long day, but what was that announcement by Duke Ivan at the end of the banquet?

Less than an hour ago, as the banquet was drawing near its end, Duke Ivan had announced that King Roland would be paying a visit to the Royal Army facility tomorrow.

That part was fine with Roland, since Roland was the one who suggested it earlier during the meeting after all.

But right after that announcement, Duke Ivan immediately passed an instruction for every noble to join in during the visit, as well as to bring along all the guards and soldiers who had accompanied them on their visit to the capital.

Why? Why did the Chancellor ask all the nobles to bring along their soldiers? Didn't I only request to visit the Royal Army? Or did he think that it would be best for me to address everyone together? But I wanted to take this chance to practise a little first before trying my speech on the nobles' armies! Now that it had come to this, I guess I have to just wing it and hope it all turns out well…

Roland let out a deep sigh before slouching into his chair. At that moment, he suddenly recalled a conversation he had with one of the nobles during the banquet.

"Rose, do we still have that vigour potion from before?" he called out without turning his head.

"Yes, Your Majesty. Shall I retrieve it for you?"

"That would be good. I was thinking of gifting it to Marquis Berghis in a few days' time. But since all the nobles will be visiting the Royal Army facility tomorrow, I might as well take that chance to pass it to him," Roland nodded as he responded, though the nod was hardly visible to Rose from his slouching position.

"A gift to Marquis Berghis? Why a vigour potion?" Rose was slightly confused.

A vigour potion was not exactly the most conventional of gifts. It served to temporarily increase a person's stamina for a prolonged period of time, but it was generally used for people who were involved in physically draining activities, such as for soldiers or blacksmiths.

"Didn't you see his face just now? The dark circles around his eyes were terrible! He probably hadn't had a night of proper sleep for weeks! And considering that he was smiling so widely when I asked him about it, that made me certain about what happened to him!" Roland turned around to look at Rose with a smug look on his face. "I am sure he had taken in a new concubine!"

"A new…concubine…?" Rose was slightly taken aback.

With her keen senses, she too could tell that Marquis Berghis looked visibly tired and moved in a slightly lethargic manner during the banquet. Thinking back, it truly made sense. If it were such a reason, it also perfectly explained why Marquis Berghis was reluctant to come clean about it. He must have felt too embarrassed to mention taking in a concubine in front of his king who had not even gotten married yet!

"You truly have much to learn about reading people, Rose! How could you not have gotten it with such obvious hints placed right in front of you?" Roland shook his head in disappointment. "But even so, that Marquis Berghis truly is much stronger than I thought, having the stamina to sustain so many nights despite his age! He truly is deserving of being the Head of the Tonquello Family!"

"I will take note and pay more attention in the future, Your Majesty."

"Yeah, don't worry about it. Maybe it is slightly easier for men to understand each other when it comes to these kind of matters after all. Go get the vigour potion ready and go to bed. I will be turning in as well. What a long day!"

And as Roland finally crashed into bed, that marked the end of day one of King Roland's reign.

---

When Roland woke up from his sleep, the first thing he did was to sit up in bed and start meditating. This was his daily routine, and it would not change even though he had been crowned as the king.

"Does Your Majesty want to have your breakfast with your royal siblings, or to eat in the chamber as always?" Rose inquired just as Roland ended his state of meditation.

Her timing was impeccable as always, knowing better than to disturb her master during his meditation.

Roland had always led a life similar to that of a hermit in the palace, only interacting with his siblings occasionally when the need arose. Thus instead of dining with the rest, Rose had always brought Roland his meals for him to eat privately in his room.

However, his identity had changed now. That was why Rose wanted to reconfirm his thoughts. It would be terrible if she misunderstood her master's intentions and made a wrong decision.

Roland pondered for a while, "What do you suggest?"

"I believe Your Majesty should start dining with the Prince and Princesses. I have always thought that it is disrespectful to be eating privately in the room when everyone else is dining together," Rose answered without a moment's hesitation.

"Fine, I will listen to you this time!" Roland pretended as if he did not hear her second sentence as he stood up and stretched his hands out by his side. "Dress me."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

It did not take long for Roland to get dressed, and he quickly made his way towards the Dining Hall with Rose in tow.

When the door to the Dining Hall opened, Roland entered to see a bunch of shocked faces staring blankly at him.

Prince Timothy, Princess Erin, and Princess Annabelle were all present. Only Princess Helena seemed to be absent. But Roland had heard that Helena always slept for long hours on normal days, so she had probably not woken up yet.

"His Majesty has decided that he will have his breakfast here today," Rose announced matter-of-factly to break the silence.

"Greetings, Your Majesty," as if broken from their daze thanks to Rose's words, everyone immediately stood at attention and bowed towards Roland who was casually taking a seat at the long table.

"Rise. Do not mind me and go about doing your usual stuff. Rose, bring me my breakfast," Roland gave the instruction and Rose got ready to leave immediately.

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Just as Rose left the room, Roland saw Annabelle walking over to him.

"What is it, Annab-" Roland blinked blankly as Annabelle poked him lightly in the glabella before she smiled in satisfaction.

With his reflexes, it was ridiculously simple for him to dodge it, but Roland chose not to. Seeing the big smile on his sister's face, he was glad that he made the right choice. Even so, he turned to look at Jasmine who was dutifully standing behind Annabelle's seat.

"Your Majesty, Princess Annabelle is praying to the Divine Phoenix today, and that is the religious greeting as written in the Divine Phoenix Holy Scripture," Jasmine promptly explained the moment she caught sight of the king's glance.

"Oh, okay then," Roland shrugged nonchalantly.

Even though he spent most of his time training with Rose, he still had occasional interactions with his siblings. Over the years, he had already gotten used to Annabelle's tendencies to perform actions that appeared to be out of the norm, and it seemed that this time there was a proper explanation for it just like always.

"Stop doing weird things and go sit down," Erin said without even turning to look at them, instead choosing to focus on the bread and fruits in her hands.

"Okay," Annabelle nodded and returned to her seat promptly.

"But why is Your Majesty having breakfast here today? Will it be the norm from today on?" Timothy's bright eyes shone with anticipation.

"I just thought that it would be a good idea to eat together. I will definitely try to do this from today onwards."

"Ohhhhh..." Annabelle exclaimed in surprise.

"Ah! Okay then!" Timothy grinned in glee. "As for the visit to the Royal Army Facility later, can I go as well?"

Eh? Why is he asking? He is a prince after all, so shouldn't it be okay for him to go wherever he wants? Or is there some protocol in place that I do not know of?

"Ahem!" Roland cleared his throat and tried to steal a quick glance at Erin to see her reaction, only to see that Erin was already looking straight at him.

Oh shit! I got caught! Quick, think!

It was too late to look away since Erin already caught him looking at her, so Roland decided to follow through with it and turned to completely face Erin.

"Have you not told them about the plan later, Erin?" that was the best save Roland could come up with.

Erin's eyebrows creased slightly in surprise, "My apologies, I dared not think that I fully understand Your Majesty's plans, and thus refrained from giving instructions that might be wrong."

What? Are you being sarcastic here? Didn't you already make changes to my plan by getting the nobles involved? Or was that just Duke Ivan's idea?

But on second thought, Erin's expression appeared to be genuinely apologetic.

"It troubles me to know that even you are worried about such a thing. Do not fret, Erin. Just say what you understand of it. I will correct you if you are wrong," contrary to his confident tone, he was praying hard that he was not making a grave mistake here.

"Yes, Your Majesty," Erin nodded obediently before turning to everyone else.

Timothy and Annabelle immediately shifted their attention to her as well, ready to listen.

"I believe both of you already know that there are two main reasons for this visit to the Royal Army facility. The first is to raise the morale of the soldiers, and the second is to find a way to improve on the military strength of our Royal Army. Simply for the first reason, I believe that we should have as many of us join the visit as possible. So you will be coming along as well, Timothy."

"Ah! Okay!" Timothy nodded with his trademark grin.

"Annabelle, you will be coming along too," Erin quickly added after seeing that there was no reaction from Annabelle.

"Okay," her youngest sister gave a brief nod.

"Ah! Then what about Helena? Will she be going later too?" Timothy posed another question.

Hearing that, Erin turned to look at Roland, "I have been wondering about the same thing. Your Majesty, should we bring Helena along?"

"I understand where you are coming from with that question," Roland thought about that sister of his and had to seriously contemplate the matter as well. "But no matter what, during last night's banquet, it appears that she is extremely popular among the young nobles. So if the soldiers are similarly tuned, having her join us would probably serve to raise the morale of the soldiers even more."

"Understood. Lily, send someone to inform Blossom about this later," Erin directed her personal maid.

"Yes, Your Highness."

At this time, Rose returned to the Dining Hall with Roland's breakfast plate in hand.

She might be an extremely well-trained warrior, but her etiquette as a personal maid of the king was definitely on point. In fact, nobody would have guessed that underneath that perfect image of a servant was a combat specialist second only to her master.

It was similar to how Timothy looked to be a cute young boy on the outside, but was in fact a fearsome magic user.

"Here is the vigour potion as Your Majesty requested," Rose reached into her pocket to retrieve a small bottle filled with a yellow liquid, and showed it to her master. "Should I wrap it up?"

"Vigour potion?" the three royal siblings of the king turned to look at Rose in confusion.

"Right, it is meant for Marquis Berghis later," Roland explained. "You do not have to wrap it up. Just pass it to him later when you encounter him. Thank you, I almost forgot about it."

"Why would Your Majesty pass Berghis a vigour potion though?" Erin could not help but ask while Rose slotted the vigour potion back into her pocket.

"Hahaha!" Roland burst out into a hearty laughter, but seeing the frown deepen on his sister face, he calmed down and explained with the tone of an elder. "You are still young, Erin! As smart as you are, there are still some things that you do not know as well as I do! But do not worry; you will understand these things in time to come."

Erin's frown did not ease up, but Roland did not care to explain further either. He was no expert at sex education, and did not know how much Erin already knew.

So he could only choose to let nature take its course.