A new dawn emerged, where Arthur still heart broken was did not even want to leave his bed. The only place where he thought he was safe from the world. The outside world, it.. Is very scary. The assassination attempt did not scar him but what did was his own mother ordering the assassination. He thought that his own father was lying. Her mother who loved her son with her own life why would she even do such a deed.
Due to stress everything in Arthur life was moving out of balance. He was now sleep ridden because he would have such anxiety and fear to be attacked in his bed at any time. Rolling on the bed for hours on end. When he fell asleep it was time to wake up for the rest of the world.
And this was the rough start of Arthur's second day as a king. The crown was set besides Arthur's table. For some the crown was absolute power whoever shall have it shall become the king. But that is just flat out wrong.
Arthur woke up counting his days since he began to see the world in a new way. He stared at the ceiling and started counting. It has been just merely 3 days and a lot has happened. Arthur just felt like sleeping but soon the head maid came to wake Arthur up.
" Your highness please wake up it is morning". Saying this she opened the curtains and blinds. Allowing the early morning sunlight to fall on Arthur's tired eyes. Arthur felt like throwing a tantrum but he was too tired to even get angry.
He just sighed and woke up and asked his face with warm water as it is said to energize his face. He felt the warmth of the water deeply seeping into his face and felt a sense of refreshment.
His eyes finally opened to the world of the awoken. The maid bowed her head " Your Highness, the bath is ready for use". After this Arthur took a kuxirous bath where more warm water made him feel alive and relieved some of his anxiety. After the water was cooled to his temperature he got out of the bath and finally changed clothes. As a gift his mother had bought him news clothes for the occasion. Arthur inspected the clothes and even used his hand to check for any powders or any illicit substance or poison.
He was very skeptical of the clothes a malicious thought of burning the clothes seemed plausible to him but alas.
After finding absolutely nothing wrong with the clothes he wore then and he actually looked majestic. Even Arthur himself was surprised how well the clothes were suited for him. As if he was moving naturally within them. The fabric was very soft and not irritating so it gave a sense of comfort.
When Arthur stepped out of the room he encountered Sieg who was running towards him. "My King, there are many private matters which require your immediate attention"
Sieg was also present during the coronation he was watching thr king from afar. Sieg just like Roselina had been beside Arthur since his childhood. At first they were just friends playing around together. Sieg belonged to the family of the great Marquis Fried. He was the youngest to be born.
Thus he was quickly pushed out of the race for succession of thr marquis. But to make himself useful even as a smudge he was pushed to the King where his talents were recognized and he was made a secretary to Arthur who was learning administrative procedures.
Although he had no real power of his own. By this way he was able to get closer to the throne even more than some nobles which made them extremely jealous. And in the past there have been many instances that he was attacked just for this petty reason. Even being bullied by his own brothers since he was the youngest and also extremely close to the throne.
Arthur looked directly in Sieg's eyes. And unconsciously began to judge Sieg again. Arthur inside his own mind was contemplating whether he should trust Seig or not since his closeness with Arthur could lead him and the Kingdom to certain doom.
Sieg plainly responded to Arthur's antics " My King, as I have stated before these matters require your immediate attention".
Arthur had no choice but to agree with Sieg as he just nodded. Arthur had a wicked idea in his mind as he was walking down the aisle. He looked at Sieg and asked
" Do you think the spies who providing intelligence might be double-crossing us".
Sieg didn't show any emotion while answering and didnt even hesitate once "They might, considering your recent behavior. Please pardon my rudeness". This is the exact answer Arthur was expecting from Sieg if it had been anything else. Things might have become worrisome for him.
A secret meeting was conducted which consisted of the former king trying to give a helping hand to his son, Arthur himself and the spymaster. He had some crucial intelligence he had uncovered. Sieg was barred from entry. Until the meeting behind closed doors was concluded.
The spymaster who was already present had hidden himself behind a smiling mask. The mask itself was made of porcelain giving it a distinct look as it won't crumble easily on the mask itself eyes and mouths were painted but from afar there were no eye holes for the person to see.
The environment was very tense and despite the cool temperature of the room. Arthur himself was sweating somewhat. Small droplets of sweat were forming on his skin some converging with the other droplets to make a big drop and fall down on the ground. Arthur used his handkerchief to wipe his forehead.
The spymaster looked at the former king and started speaking "Your Highnesses, my spies were able to uncover some good information this time". The former king asked "What is the information". The spymaster passed the ledger to the new king Arthur. It seems to be an neatly maintained ledger. And that too in a different speech. It was written in runic language. The entire ledger was filled with runes written as records. It is very odd approach.
Runes are words which from an ancient language which were inscribed onto different things to imbue then with magical properties. And stellarium allow conductance and sometimes amplification of magic.
When Arthur opened the ledger he was able to recognize few letters and there were numbers in the runic language as well so he was able to differentiate numbers with the words.
And from the latest information it seems that large amounts of money was being moved somewhere. When Arthur imbued the ledger with mana nothing happened. It meant that it was written in such a language but magic was not intended to be used on the ledger.
Arthur questioned the spymaster " Who's the owner of this ledger". Because of the spymaster's mask he emotions could been seen just predicted. It felt like the smiling face on the mask was directly staring at Arthur determining his worth while keeping a straight poker face. After a short moment of silence the spymaster gave his answer.
" This ledger belongs to the Count of another kingdom, it seems that he is moving very large amounts of money descretely renaming them under different expenses".
This time the former King spoke " Any idea on their intention?". This time instead of waiting the spymaster immediately started sputtering his thoughts " I don't have a concrete answer but I have a theory, there are many rumors floating around about an substitute for stellarium. If my guess is correct they might be researching or manufacturing an alternative for stellarium".
This was indeed a very grave news for Arthur as stellarium itself makes up a large amount of the kingdom's external revenue. If they managed to succeed in creating an alternative for stellarium. It could deal a catastrophic blow to the kingdom itself.
The former King and Arthur still retained their poker face as this new information was relayed to them. The former King looked at Arthur " What do you think Arthur?". Arthur looked at other records and they didn't stand out very well. Everything seemed normal except for the fact that the entire ledger was in an ancient language. " I shall study this ledger and it's contents a bit longer. If possible can you bring some kind of confirmation on the rumors". The spymaster thought for a second and he had his answer ready " This ledger is just a reproduction of the actual ledger, it might not have anything worthwhile. And my men are already looking into the rumor and tracing the movement of the Count for days. I'll have them look into it" .
The spymaster concluded his speech " This is all from my side your highness. I would like to take my leave now". As he said that Arthur felt something ominous within him as if something was reaching for his neck. But Arthur toughed out. And the spymaster who was before Arthur disappeared into darkness.
He had completely disappeared from the room no trace of his existence was even left. Arthur was both in shock and awe. The former King looked at Arthur experiencing things.
" I shall be leaving this evening for a small vacation, Arthur keep everything in order for me". When he heard the words he had the flashback about the same words which were written in the note. He could clearly imagine the note Sri) being in his hand. And the time had finally arrived which was written in the note. Arthur could do nothing but just sadly nod as his father left the room and Arthur was left standing there staring blankly into the space his mind was scattered on what he should do next. His head were filled with many ideas but the strength to execute them were slowly leaving his body. In the end a terrifying thought intruded in Arthur's mind. What if he had become a former shell of himself. The same Arthur who was reliable, trustworthy and a competent person was now slowly becoming untrustworthy, paranoid over thinking, over contemplating person. Arthur's confidence in himself was slowly being withering him from the inside. But in between those thoughts an idiom came by " Only the sound mind stands tall before any challenge ". Realizing this he he picked himself up dusted himself off and left the cellar.