Of course Vela would demand all of the details.

As Lewis walked in, he gave a halfhearted wave. Saoirse was nowhere to be found, so when Xeik stated what he had thought happened, Lewis nodded.

“I knew it,” Xeik responded as he looked at Vela. “You owe me fifty.” He held out his hand with a smirk. “Told you he didn’t have it in him.”

Lewis raised an eyebrow, “What was that supposed to mean.”

At once, both Vela and Xeik glanced his way. “Nothing,” their voices rang in unison. It seemed as though there were more to this bet, but the tyrant king made no effort to pry.

It wasn’t long before Saoirse waltzed into the room, her ‘charming’ voice ringing as she looked around. “Good morning all! I had a wonderful night dreaming of my handsome-” Her eyes set on the mark left by Simone, and her face paled. “My…my handsome…” She marched over, her words escaping her as she slowly went from pale to red. “WHAT DID THAT HARLOT DO TO MY PRECIOUS LEWIS’ SKIN!?”

“Whatever she wanted, apparently,” Xeik replied with a grin. “I heard a rumor that the beds didn’t stop squeaking till early this morning. I’d be careful, Sao. He might be grumpy with his lack of sleep.”

Saoirse was fuming, “I’ll show that bitch what it-”

“You are not to harm her in any way,” Lewis commanded, his tone suddenly serious. “If you so much as lay a finger on her, no treaty will stop me from putting you in the ground.”

Lewis had never ever let her leave a mark on his skin. The fact that harlot was allowed to pissed Saoirse off to no end. Who did she think she was? Saoirse was seeing red but Lewis shocked her more. “My lord! I have served you faithfully! I have thought nothing but of your kingdom! I even gave you my body for your heir!”

“No one asked you to do any of that,” Vela said as she waved her hand.

Saoirse made a face and stormed out slamming the door.

“We should have gotten Simone sooner. I like this side of Saoirse. I’ve never seen her this pissed off before,” Vela was giggling.

Saoirse was waiting outside Simone’s door but Simone never came out. “Come out here right now!”

One of the maids came into Lewis’s study, “My lord… Lady Saoirse… Had to go to the infirmary apparently, Princess Simone opened the door and threw a book at her face. And uh… Princess Simone says she’s coming to dinner.”

During dinner, Simone came in dressed up. She was going out of her way to actually piss Saoirse off. It was working too. Saoirse was sitting next to Lewis. The women of his harem were on one side. “It’s custom for the hare–”

“I’m not part of his harem,” Simone answered Saoirse as she went to the other side of the table moving a chair up by his.

Vela was starting to laugh, “You know King Lewis, you should keep Simone around as your adviser.”

“I was an adviser to the old king. I was responsible for many trade routes.”

Lewis was surprised that Simone had actually come to dinner. Sure, the maid has reported that she was going to attend, but that meant little to Lewis. Actions always spoke louder than words. Surely enough, though, SImone’s actions were indeed true to her word.

As she sat next to Lewis, Saoirse almost jumped up. “H-how dare-,” she started, pointing. “That’s where a Queen would sit. But King Lewis has stated multiple times that he has no plans for a Queen!” She seemed adamant about that fact, but Lewis neither confirmed nor denied it.

Instead, Lewis listened to what Vela was saying, and nodded thoughtfully. “Xeik has been telling me that he can’t keep up with the workload, and Simone does have the sway of the people here…” He smirked. “It wouldn’t be the worst idea to have an advisor for the Auclair affairs.” He sat back in his chair. “Well, Simone?”

Saoirse seemed to be flustered, and slammed her hand down. “A-a-absolutely not! King Lewis! A woman of the harem cannot be an advisor. There are conflicts of interest!” She glared at Simone and pointed. “How dare this harlot say she’s not a part of our King’s harem…after all, she practically threw herself…shamelessly might I add, at our Lord’s feet. I bet you she’s after the riches…”

Drake and Vela stared at Saoirse for a good moment. “Wow…pot meet kettle…” Drake muttered under his breath.

“What was that!?” Saoirse demanded.

“Nothing,” Drake said as he stood up. “Just thinking about King Lewis and his well being is all…”

Saoirse seemed satisfied with the answer, and once again turned her attention to Simone. “WELL THEN, HARLOT!? I DEMAND YOU TO TAKE YOUR PLACE AT THE END OF THE HAREM TABLE!” She pointed at the very last spot on her line of seven women.

Simone nodded to Lewis’s proposal, “I have no issue with that. I was raised my whole life to help with these sorts of things so I have no problem with it.” She was ignoring Saoirse.

“THAT IS WHERE THE QUEEN WOULD SIT!”

Simone tilted her head at her, “Didn’t Lewis tell you?” She took his arm and she put her head on his shoulder. “Darling Saoirse… Didn’t you get told first?”

“Tell me what?! Get off of him!”

Simone did but only to clap as the maids came in with a piece of paper. “Please read.” The paper was given to Xeik.

“This is… a marriage contract between Princess Simone and King Lewis…” Xeik read the whole paper.

Saoirse stood up in shock.

“You see Saoirse… I am Lewis’s future Queen. Last night was just us sealing the deal,” Simone smirked and Lewis looked shocked for a second before getting kicked in the shin by Simone. "That means that I am above you and always will be above you… So sit your fucking ass down and stop moving that hole you call a mouth."

As Xeik read the parchment out loud, everyone in the room gasped out loud. Vela was practically hopping up and down, a gleeful look in her eyes. Perhaps there was more to the bet she had with the primary advisor. Even the harem seemed surprised, and a few started to clap. Most were fully aware of Saoirse’s bullying.

Lewis, though, seemed the most shocked. “I wha-” There was a solid kick to his shin, and he winced, realizing that Simone was practically giving him a permanent out to escape Saoirse’s constant attention seeking behavior. That brought a solid half smile to Lewis’ face, something that Vela and Drake both took notice of. It wasn’t often that they saw their king smile.

Saoirse sat down, obviously still in a state of shock. “B-but…the harem…and…my place at his side…”

“Of course, the harem stays,” Lewis said firmly. “I promised to take care of them all. I would never abandon any of you.” He cleared his throat. “However, I must admit that keeping up with so many of you might be…difficult, as I must prioritize creating an heir.” Of course, he had no intention of doing so. “So…if you wish to seek…outside comforts, that is acceptable.”

That must have been a breaking point for Saoirse, because at that point she seemed to completely withdraw from reality.

Saoirse couldn’t even try and argue Simone’s right to rule. She was a blue-blooded princess. Saoirse was out-classed by the sassy princess in front of her.

“I’m so happy for you both!” Vela was clapping. “You look so good together.”

Mone was honestly blushing at her words and taken back. “I suppose so.” She only took a few bites of dinner before she touched Lewis’s hand. “Don’t forget to come by my room.”

She left nearly all of her food and Xeik took notice, “She still isn’t eating that much. She’s barely gained any weight. My lord, her body wouldn’t support a child right now.” Once Saoirse had left with the harem this was the first thing he would tell Lewis. "Though, I don't know if her body can support eating a lot right now. Still, a caring fiance like yourself would make sure she would eat yourself."

Of course Xeik would catch on. He was far from oblivious, unlike a certain angelic scout. He mad ea valid point about making sure that Simone was eating properly, and that meant that Lewis had to step up.

“Of course,” Lewis said with a forced smile. “I’ll take care of that at once…”

Of course it turned into not dealing with it right after dinner. There were far too many pressing matters to attend to, and in the end, he found himself finally arriving at Simone’s room late at night. He was a little surprised to find that she was still awake, a small candle lit as she poured over a book. She seemed not to notice that he had entered the room, apparent wit the fact that one of her nightgown straps had fallen off, revealing a bit more skin than usual.

Whether or not she cared was another matter entirely. Lewis wandered over to the changing curtain, not waiting for her to take notice. When he pulled the curtain back, she was still reading, oblivious to the world.

“Simone?” he asked. “Hello? Are you there?”

Simone was startled as soon as he spoke to her, “Lewis!” She blushed a bit as she shut the book. “I didn’t realize you had come into the room.” She was still blushing as she looked away and put the book on the table. “I suppose if we’re engaged now we should spend more time together. We don’t want Saoirse trying to drug you into sex.”

She didn’t trust the woman. She got up and took Lewis’s hand, “I’m sorry I didn’t ask for your opinion but she was driving me nuts. I’m sure you felt the same way. You didn’t like it either…” She looked at him and tilted her head. “Has she always been like that by the way?” That means… “You’ve never liked it?”

She pulled him over to the bed and had them sit together. “So… The king is actually shy and doesn’t know what he’s doing?” She was teasing him.

It was almost endearing how she seemed so engrossed in her book, and when Lewis finally had her attention, he couldn’t help but smirk. When she mentioned Saoirse drugging him for sex, he waved his hand.

“She already tried a few different times. Let’s just say I had to invest in some new cooks. More…trustworthy ones.” The fact that the mad woman had tried such a thing should have ended their relationship there, but the reality was that it was just harmless aphrodisiacs and ‘love’ potions.

“It’s…fine,” Lewis stated as he thought about it. “The marriage proposal can keep others off my back as well. She’s always been rather bold in her approach. I think her father had been pressuring her so that his legacy can be preserved.” The King shrugged. “The expectations from her are grand indeed, and she does not want to disappoint.”

When Simone asked if he had ever liked it, he thought for a moment. “It’s…fine, I guess. Nothing special. There are urges, of course, but nothing about it ever seemed special to me.” He wondered if it was like that with everyone else, or if he was just weird. He glanced to the side, though, when she mentioned that he may not know what he was doing.

“Saoirse never seemed to compla-” He started, but realized that Saoirse would likely lie about whatever encounters they had. He frowned. “I know what I’m doing…”

“Prove it…” Simone said with a half smile. “I bet you can’t…”

Lewis glared for a moment. “Shut up…”

Simone’s face broke into a full smile. “Oh? Did I hit a nerve?” She suddenly rolled over onto him and started to tickle him. In defense, Lewis squirmed underneath, and a strange noise that was rarely heard from Lewis erupted from his vocal chords.

Laughter.

Of course, the King fought back, tickling her back in self defence. He had no other option, and the two ended up rolling off the bed in a mess of blankets, tangled up in each other, hitting the ground hard.

The noise from her room had perked up Xeik, Vela, and any one else that had heard it. The king was… laughing. Followed by Simone’s own laughter. Then the thud happened and while both were laughing still Simone noticed that her arm wasn’t moving without being in pain. She had wrapped her arm around Lewis when they fell. “Ow,” Simone winced and Lewis took her arm.

“How the fuck… Did this happen?” Xeik held a serious look on his face as Lewis had broken into the room with Simone in his arms.

“Lewis… You’re overreacted…” Simone was blushing a bit and Xeik was humored by it.

“Were you doing some strange sex act?” He already knew that’s not what it was but he couldn’t help but watch as Simone got even redder.

“No! We were…” She looked away. “Tickling each other.”

“Tickling each other? You hurt her… by tickling her?”

“I… kicked him when he tickled me and we fell off the bed,” Simone hid her face in his chest. It was childish but they had, had fun.

“…Everyone heard you laughing,” Xeik said with a straight face.

“YOU KNEW?!” Simone yelled and felt even more embarrassed. “You were just fucking with me.”