Sitting in the inner council room, Alfred sat, waiting. His hand didn’t stop moving as he wrote hundreds of letters to be sent out. Whilst he could use William to spread the word to his army to mobilise, it was something that was better if he had done it himself. The door opened, and Horace walked in with Esmond. Looking at Alfred, the two bowed before taking their seats.

They didn’t talk, seeing Alfred still working and patiently waited. A couple more minutes passed, and Desmond walked in. Fixing himself, he bowed and waited for Alfred to let him sit. "Thank you. Please sit."

"I am a bit thin on time these days, so I will be quick." Alfred turned to Desmond. "Desmond. I know Esmond told you a few years back that there was a chance you could prove yourself. Now is the chance."

The mayor straightened his back and suppressed the excitement he felt. He had thought that it was like Esmond had told him after a year of waiting, but seeing Alfred’s serious eyes, he could see that he was right to bide his time. He had made preparations for this day, and finally, they would pay off.

Seeing Desmond’s suppressed excitement, Alfred smiled. "During the war, Isra decided to join me on the front. I need a regent, and obviously, this won’t be you; it will be Issac. But he needs support. You will become indispensable to him. So Desmond, can I trust you?"

The mayor stood up and fell to his knee. Bowing his head deeply, he smiled. "I live to follow your will, Your Majesty," Desmond said proudly as he deepened his bow. "Just tell me what you will have me do."

"Rise, Desmond." The Mayor quickly got up and looked at Alfred, "This will be nothing like Far Mile, and failure is not an option. This is a chance. Don’t squander it. Make your preparations and wait for Issac’s return."

Desmond nodded and quickly left the room. Looking at Horace and Esmond next, Alfred took a deep breath. "Esmond, keep my children safe at all costs. If anyone was to target them, now would be the time. Horace, I need you to prepare to deal with the Commonwealth nobles. You have the most experience with them. Find those useful in my occupation and have the rest dealt with. The passive approach we took with the Safrid’s won’t work on them; my reputation is too terrible over there."

The two bowed and got up, leaving Alfred, who returned to work on the letters. Looking down at them, the words started to overlap and wincing. He dropped the pen and clenched and unclenched his fist. He couldn’t even remember how many he had written by this point, but it was becoming something that he couldn’t keep doing. Going over to one of the drawers, he put the finished ones away and left the room.

His first thought was to find Isra and relax with her, but thinking about what she would be doing. While he was sure she wouldn’t mind him bothering her while working, Alfred thought it was best not to. She had a lot of work to finish before in the next few months and had almost finished the preparations for the people courts. If the preparations could be finished before the war, there was a chance he could return, and Issac would have implemented it.

Entering a room, he saw Frdia playing with the twins. Their heads snapped to the side, and seeing Alfred walk, both smiled and ran over as quickly as two-year-olds could. "Daddy." They spoke in unison and hugged his leg.

Bending down, he gently roughed their hair before standing. Despite having grown to love the children, a part of him still couldn’t fully accept them. He wished he would feel like that, but staring at the two, especially Astrid, he couldn’t help it. The girl was a carbon copy of a young Helga. Looking at his son, he looked like him, but his blue eyes that would put gems to shame weren’t his. It was small things, but they ate away at him.

"Your Majesty." Frida bowed towards Alfred in the Empire’s language. Giving her a slight nod, he sighed and looked at the children as they ran off to play again.

"Has Edward been here?" Frida sadly shook her head at Alfred’s question.

"The Empress still like them separated." It was a bitter thing, but Alfred understood why Isra did it. He had chosen to embrace the circumstances. He couldn’t get rid of his children, so he found the next best thing. But Isra was different. She could have done it. They weren’t hers.

"Okay. I only wanted to pop in." Leaving, the children didn’t even notice Alfred’s departure as he walked over to Edwards’s room.

"...and the three travellers." Coming from inside, he heard the soft voice of a woman reading a book. Peeking inside, she saw an ex-sister of Gaia sitting with Edward on her lap. Despite the book being coverless, Alfred instantly recognised it as religious scripture, specifically, The Book of Travels, the story of how the three main Gods split.

"Edward," Alfred said causally to his son, who looked happy and smiled.d The sister put Edward down as the boy dragged himself over to Alfred. It was an impressive sight for Alfred, watching his son drag his entire body with his arms alone. He had always wondered if Edward would be forced to rely on his chair the whole time, and whilst dragging himself around like this, it couldn’t be a thing when he was solder; it at least meant his upper body would be strong.

"Dad." Edward cried out happily as Alfred picked him up and kissed his forehead.

"What are you doing?" He asked softly, poking the boy’s nose and annoying him.

"Reading," Edward said happily as he looked at the sister. Looking around, Alfred saw Daisy watching everything carefully and gave her a small nod. Walking back over to the sister, he put her back on her lap.

"Behave." Edward chuckled mischievously before looking back down at the book in the woman’s hands and tapping it.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Your Majesty." A servant walked into Isra’s office, followed by Horace. Seeing him, Isra waved off the servant and went around to the sofa, taking a seat. 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

"You hardly see me. What is it?" Isra asked casually, reading the document in her hand.

"I have to leave for a while. This is just a catch-up before I do." Ever since their agreement, they had met occasionally, and Isra nodded, finally paying attention.

"I have done all I can for Edward right now. I spoke to that woman, sister Alice." Horace groaned, hearing her name as he rolled his eyes. it was a common reaction to hearing about the woman in the inner circle. They all respected her devotion to Alfred, but she was too much for them all. "I won’t call it a deal, but she seemed to love the idea of having Edward be taught the scripture. She gave a speech about the grace of the Gods and how great it was for Edward’s future and happily provided a teacher for him. Edward likes them, at least."

"Were they vetted?" Isra nodded, and Horace sighed. "His Majesty has warned that attempts may be made on the kids in the coming months. I just wanted to warn you."

"Appreciated. If that’s all, then I have work to do." Getting up, Horace took a final look at Isra before walking off. Putting down the paper, Isra sighed and walked out afterwards. "You two. Come in." Summoning the two royal Guards, she retook her seat at her desk.

"Which of you is stronger?" The two looked at each other, and one stepped forward, bowing. "When I leave, you are to remain behind and protect my son."

"Your Majesty.." The two said in confusion, but seeing her cold eyes froze. "The Emporer won’t like this."

"I don’t care. You’re mine. I will talk to my husband, so just do as I say." The two shared another look and sighed, giving her a nod.