Hello, fellow readers! If it all goes according to plan, The Duty of a King will be a multiple-chapters series. I will try to write said chapters in a certain way that you can only read the ones you want, and in no particular order.
But that's enough about me talking. Enjoy!
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Once upon a time,
In a faraway land,
There was a kingdom.
Shadowvale was located near the sea, and mountainside. The castle overhung the town that kept growing with the winters that passed, symbol of a prosperity that gave the people a fine standard of living. Craftspeople, nobles, knights and maidens lived together in harmony with nature and time.
Shadowvale was a prosperous kingdom, with a substantial wealth due to the trade of wood and gemstones. Its King, Alexander, was a good one. Strategist, intelligent, and fair. He knew what he had to do to make his kingdom and people prosper, and never was afraid to do so. Alliances, trades, even wars.
But Alexander was also handsome and charming. He had been blessed with the looks of a deity and had been aware of it at a very early age. Women started looking at him with desire in their eyes as soon as puberty made his child body grow into one of a man : he was tall, with a figure well-built that he maintained through regular exercise, and a beautiful face with fine and elegant features. Eyes that seemed to be able to pierce through your very soul.
As a result, Alexander never truly understood the idea that men should find one wife and stick to it. Women liked him, and he was definitely not going to deprive himself of the pleasure of their compagnies for some concept of faithfulness.
Therefore, he got intimate with a lot of them, gaining experience as the years passed. He got better and better at detecting the signs that a woman was getting aroused by his attitude or his presence, and at pleasing them the right way when that time came.
And, as he sat on his throne, not being able to really move as he was the subject of a portrait that would soon be sent to a lot of other kingdoms to signal that he was looking for a spouse, he got all the time he needed to notice the signs in the painter.
"Aria, is it?" He asked, breaking the silence of the room.
The young woman looked up from her canvas, seeming genuinely surprised that he decided to speak to her. It took her a few seconds to answer, and it was simply a nod.
"Your professor told me a lot of good about you. He seems to think you are gifted."
"Mister Abernathy is too kind, Your Majesty." She answered with a pleased smile.
"Are you implying that my portrait is in poor hands?"
Aria reacted immediately, the smile being replaced with a look of surprise and realization.
"Of course not, Your Majesty! I assure you I will not stop working on it until it is absolutely perfect and you are satisfied."
Alexander smirked a bit, resting his chin on his closed fist.
"I suppose it means we will spend a lot of time together then."
