"I hear that you will be seeing her tomorrow? Is that why she has been delaying her return to Moaran, even after the annulment?" Charles asked his younger brother.

"She requested a private meeting, in father's old office." Just like when they were children, Mathias did not look comfortable discussing subjects that Henrik had deemed unworthy. His size was made bigger by the

"Now she's pursuing you?" Henrik said, like a cat that had just spotted a new prey but was still lazy with satisfaction, unsure if to attack again. "She will stop at nothing to get herself on this throne. Why did you accept?"

"I never thought I'd see you two fighting over a woman. It made me curious." A pause let Charles contemplate the sting. "An illegitimate female heir actually crowned Queen."

"Not only that but the daughter of a courtesan. It appears they employ them openly there now, at Sunnah Palace," Henrik said, not even bothering not to sound envious. "Probably her mother's highest hope was that the girl would follow in her proud footsteps, hence the whore name." Having concluded his thoughts on the subject, he returned to his chicken leg.

"It's that idiotic law King Eamon the Fair left behind," Charles said, so obviously happy to contribute with his own opinions that he got his younger brother to actually turn to face him, for a change.

"Any citizens who want to form a family can legally become one, as per His Majesty's will and with His Majesty's blessing," Charles recited. "People applauded, orgies were organised, prostitution became an actual profession. And then he died, peacefully, surrounded by his four wives, eight mistresses and around twenty children, only some of them his. The Moaran Royal Family!"

He washed away his disgust with the atrocious white wine, before continuing, "There have been attempts to stop her ascension to the throne, but... since she's actually his, there was nothing we could do. There have been illegitimate royal sons that ruled, even in Leront."

"She replaced her regent uncle four years ago," Henrik spat. "That was most unfortunate, as Drav and I had a mutually beneficial and friendly rapport. No one knows where he is now, she probably she had him executed."

"And she attends the Guardians Council? With Archbishop Beauregard?"

If the youngest of the d'Athanar brothers had possessed any capacity for theatrics, he would sound surprised, but Charles heard no emotion. Intentionally flat, he thought.

He knew that the Archbishop finally opposed categorically to Mathias's proposal to marry his daughter, Rose, as he should've done a long time ago. Without his lands and the title of Prince, his brother was a simple Lord of the Leront Court, even if a theoretical heir of the throne. He was unsuitable for a union with the Beauregards, the second most powerful family in the country.

"She even has opinions", Henrik groaned. "It's a nightmare! The Free Islands are constantly supporting her on every little thing she harps on... Meetings last an abominable amount of time. I hand to give up on some points just to make her quiet."

"It's no wonder it took you all so long to make a decision. Now we've lost momentum and I don't know if we can recover." Mathias tried to reason with his King, "If we -- "

"You will not start this conversation here! You will not bore me like that harlot! Let me have one day, my long lost brother, without our differences getting in the way."

Mathias relented. He was still loyal to Henrik, Charles assessed. The joy that spread all over his oldest brother's face when Mathias asked, "Has anything else happened while I was away?", told another story, one that hurt even further.

With an overly courteous gesture, Charles deferred to Henrik, to see how he was going to answer that simple question. Of course, it was by avoiding it altogether.

"I will not talk politics, so nothing much..."

"Nothing much?!" Charles would not let this pass unacknowledged. It was beyond the pale that Henrik would treat his failed marriage plans in such a dismissive manner. "Well, let's see... Yes, I was about to marry a Queen and become King, all without having to plot my brother's assassination. Even if King of such a horribly tiny God-forsaken whore country!"

His rage was adding more words than necessary, so he paused for a breath, he did not want to appear ridiculous. "And then my brother decided to seduce her, preying on her cheap morals and wounding me. With full intention of doing so!"

Mathias turned to Henrik to see if he had anything to add. The latter could not be more annoyed, still, he offered a thin excuse, carefully avoiding an admission of guilt.

"Brother, I tried."

He had that smug, satisfied face that Charles hated, the one that he started noticing only after he had been defeated in their petty rivalry.

"But you were there, you saw her. When she wants something, she has a... way of obtaining it. My only fault was letting her believe I would make her Queen of Leront faster than you would. I was weak, I admit."

He pointed the small chicken bone he had just finished licking towards Charles's face, "But you must also admit I may have done you a favour."

Charles was livid. His fitted red coat displayed an intricate embroidery that represented the river map of the Empire and its major cities, each marked by their emblem painstakingly woven into the wool. It simultaneously did not allow him to breathe as freely as he would have needed to contain his outrage. A heat surged inside him, flushing his cheeks.

"You knew I would never marry her after you've touched her! I cannot even bear the thought of eating from the same plate as you!"

"Aren't we all eating from my plate, brother, seeing how I am King of this castle?" Henrik wondered, intentionally passive and still enjoying the obvious discomfort he was causing. "It never bothered you before."

Then, with a knowing smile to his other side, he added, "I think our brother may have had some... feelings tied to that woman. Which is most unfortunate, but not a reason to blame the innocent."

"Innocent?!" Charles could not believe the nerve.

"You should've let him have his toy, he would've been bored in a year," Mathias said to Henrik, quick to support him, even in the most idiotic of purposes.

"King Charles I of Moaran, Land of Whores!" Henrik declaimed mockingly.

"Say what you will about their country," he laughed further, to Charles. "But their leisurely ways would've suited you well. All considering, I did not think you would be so quick to annul the betrothal. I just wanted to amuse myself. But, when you decided to turn your entire future into ashes, that was when I realised that perhaps the harlot had gotten to your shriveled heart, after all! It was all for the best, you were clearly out-maneuvered." A loud chew punctuated his words, before finishing, "To think that I only approved of your future union because I thought that you would keep her under our control."

Charles turned away from him. "You still think all is exactly how you left it? Henrik, your hero, and me, your irresponsible brother?"

"They look the same. You should've married her anyway."

Before Charles could interrupt, his younger brother continued, "It was not an amorous endeavour, it was your duty to preserve the good relation with the second most powerful country in this Empire. Let her and Henrik have their sordid affair."

"I couldn't! Why do you always absolve him?"

"I'm saying that you could've reduced his enjoyment."

Mathias looked like he did not know what joy was, with his tangly beard and peasant hair, both flailing with the draft.

Henrik laughed to himself, shaking his head, not even looking up from his plate.

"Yes, brother," Charles turned to him, "My predicament amuses you, I understand. I now have no immediate marriage prospects. Certainly, no other prospect to be King, unless you decide to try Hell's wine collection. I am also the subject of ridicule and rumours that plague this unruly castle!"

"And you," to his other brother, "Preach some more wise words to us so that Henrik can fall asleep, head on the table. Oh, don't bother, his eyes tell me that he's on that road anyway."

Then, inflamed, "It takes one hour for you two to get back to your well-rehearsed let's mock Charles until he cries act!"

He imitated the King's official voice, the one that Henrik used when he needed to assert authority over non-benevolent allies. And, thanks to their father, Leront had enough of them.

Henrik had also had enough.

"Brother, what did you do for all these years, while Charles wasted precious silk on his tears?"

"I boarded a ship to the Free Islands," Mathias was relieved to help ease the tension. "Spent a few months in Reina, their largest port, then a ship of Leront explorers arrived and I joined them. We spent a few months to draw some maps for the Ivory coasts. Then the Carpathian Border War started, and I enrolled. And we do not mention the war."

It only appeared to be a rehearsed speech because of his way of saying all the words equally, but Charles was certain that it was the exact report of his actions, simplified and in chronological order. Some things never changed.

"You did good there, I think you are a Commander, now? I was impressed to hear!" Charles said.

He was not one to occupy his mind with meaningless and likely uninteresting military efforts, especially when they were uneventful, hundreds of miles away and did next to nothing to influence his enjoyable life. Most of the Leront nobles were avoiding a clear position on the Western War, so the discussion about it in social settings was minimal, exactly how he preferred it. It tended to darken the mood in a room, he agreed with Henrik on that.

"I think my royal status - such as it is - played a part in that," was his youngest brother's reply.

Accurate, Charles thought. At least Henrik was entertaining, but hearing about how his brother slept next to lowly pirates while sharing fleas and the sea toilet made him realise that perhaps he had not missed him as much as he had thought. He certainly did not miss his lack of manners and inability to engage in good disposition. Or his union with the thief Henrik.

"I've heard voices that want you leading our armies," Charles tried to find out more.

At that, Henrik was quick to interject, telling Mathias, "If you want to, I am willing to discuss it. I need someone I can trust fully. But not tonight! Tonight, we drink! And we celebrate!"