Iveca wasn’t thinking much, even after hearing the news that the King himself had come to the Bureau of Judicial Affairs. She only needed to ask whether there was something to discuss with the Attorney General, then look into some case files. Those were her jobs for the day and that was what she was focused on completely. She got up half-heartedly to stand quietly at the very end of the line, before her turn rolled around to hold the King’s hands in hers in greeting.

The King who came without warning, Daniel Latnis Ametham, received a long greeting from the Attorney General, Orem, that Iveca only heard in her back of her ears. She bowed, only looking at the tip of his shoes, his hands still in hers, without seeing the King’s expression.

Looking at Anriq—the King’s personal guard—I can’t control my expression, she thought to herself.

The Young King was sculpture-like, a handsome man with the royal combination of blond hair and blue eyes. His white skin was gossamer-smooth, he had perfectly symmetrical features, a towering height and intimidating appearance, though that initial shock of seeing him was offset by his gentle voice.

Iveca apparently could not overcome her curiosity, as at some point she had raised her head unknowingly and glanced at the king’s golden hair. It was a lot shinier than the blondes her own family had; it was brilliant as on the verge of being perfect.

Beautiful.

That is the first impression that Iveca got from the King. He looked like he came from a fairy tale.

Daniel, who was politely listening to Orem’s long greeting with a smile on his face, shook his head when Orem then offered to lead him to his office.

“No, General Attorney. I have business with one of the staff members.”

“I’m sorry? A staff member?”

“I am sorry to bother you during working hours, but I don’t think it will take long to discuss the matter with the staff member in question. Would it be okay for me to talk with them for a while in the garden on the front side?”

“Yes, of course” Orem replied, still scarcely believing this was why the King had dropped by unannounced.

Deep in her mind, Iveca thought this was all very strange. If he wanted to meet an employee in person, he could just call for them, surely? Why would he come to this small Bureau of Judicial Affairs by himself? Iveca glanced at the guard again, before correcting herself. Not quite by himself.

Daniel smiled again. He was known as a polite king to most, using honorifics if the person he addressed was not close to him, which was unusual for a Royal. But in certain circles, he was known differently; “difficult” would be a kind way to describe it.

Due to the nature of the Judicial Affairs Bureau, there were many middle-aged people who worked for a long time, set in their ways. and they all insisted King Daniel being ‘the most terrifying person you’ll meet’. Iveca had also been told that ‘you shouldn’t loosen up just because he’s handsome!’. It was a far cry from the opinion of him as ‘kind, friendly, and gentle heavenly prince’ from among aristocrats four years ago, but Iveca suspected that the jealousy of over-worked, under-thanked Bureau workers was to thank for both statements.

Orem stuttered over the question that the room was thinking. “Then, who…”

“Iveca der Esselburn.”

Iveca almost slipped from her kneeling position on hearing her own name come from the King’s mouth. The effect of King Daniel’s sweet reply wearing off, she raised her head to meet his gaze. The King purposely came to the Bureau just to find her? Her violet eyes collided with the King’s blue’s. But why?

She forced her curious eyes away from King Daniel and turned to the guard standing behind him. Anriq was just staring at Daniel’s back with no expression. Although Iveca was sure that he was conscious of himself.

“Now that I have the esteemed General’s permission, please come this way for a moment.”

Iveca had no choice but to follow King Daniel out of the Bureau’s small office building. As if he didn’t have any intention to go far, he stopped in a small garden not too far from the Judicial Affairs Bureau.

“I am sorry to burden you like this, seeing as we’ve just met for the first time today. You must’ve been surprised to hear your name spoken when Orem asked who I intended to speak to,” he said.

Iveca smiled, trying to match the King’s grin but instead awkwardly grimacing at him.

“No, it’s okay.”

“I am sure you are busy, so let’s just keep things simple,” Daniel said, the smile on his face softer now. “I heard that the Telsey family has a fiancée. Is that correct?”

Iveca felt the words catch in her throat. How had he known? She had hardly known for all that long that she was even engaged, thanks to the Bureau. All this had been relayed to her after her memory was erased. A security measure, one which the Bureau seemed all too eager to administer to those who they thought might spill the organization’s secrets. When she had changed jobs, the secrets she knew were too much for her to be allowed to carry around with her. So she was given the two options the Bureau gave everyone and she took the mind wipe. And yet, it was still better than the alternative. So her arranged marriage, a much-celebrated bond between two families, hadn’t exactly taken her heart by storm. She barely even knew the man now. But as her two older sisters had been married off, she was told, she knew she couldn’t escape the reality of an arrangement forever.

“It is correct.”

“Do you love him?”

Iveca blinked her violet eyes, as though she was trying to force the question out of her head. The Young King, from the clear blue sky, suddenly came and asked whether she loved her fiancée?

Iveca replied stiffly, unwittingly nervous in such a strange situation.

“…I don’t really know. Truthfully, I haven’t had much chance to get to know him. When I came to my senses, after the wipe, they told me I have a fiancée. That was the first I really knew of it.”

Daniel looked at her as if he heard something funny.

“It sounds like it’s okay to marry anyone.”

Iveca cocked her head ever so slightly.

“Not for me. Surely you, my King, know better than anyone that being born into a noble family means an arranged marriage.”

“And that suits you? Working at the Bureau, an arranged marriage. There’s not a lot to look forward to there, is there?”

Iveca recoiled at the suggestion. She might not have been born smart enough to avoid a job at the Bureau straight out of college, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t her own woman. And sure, her chosen path had not exactly panned out. But she could live with that, because it was her choice and her consequence.

“There are things you can enjoy as a noblewoman” she replied, “I just have to fulfill my birthright, that’s all.”

Anriq’s face still remained unchanged behind the King, and Iveca waited for Daniel’s reply with her head tilted down slightly. The King smiled, unseen by the two he was surrounded by.

“If that’s so…”

As the King spoke, Iveca raised her head and looked into his eyes. Her reflection shone in the pools she found there, down to the last detail of her brown, unflattering Bureau uniform.

“…How about marrying me?”

Iveca didn’t respond, such was the scope of her surprise. He was joking. He must be joking, right? When his face remained the same after a few moments, she whispered back.

“Pardon?”

“You don’t really know your fiancée from the Telsey family, am I correct? How different is it that a King you don’t know is asking?”

The smile never left his face. Iveca studied him as intensely as she had ever studied anyone before, looking for the joke so it could be revealed to her. But that perfect face revealed nothing. His glittering blonde hair was unmoved, his statue-like face untelling. And those eyes; blue eyes as clear as water. Looking into them, she felt like a bug trapped under a glass. Finally, Iveca was able to muster a reply, which tripped its way out of her mouth like a mouse on stilts.

“Your Majesty… my marriage is not my decision…”

The King interrupted without a trace of malice.

“I was originally thinking of speaking to your father, Count Esselburn, directly. But it seemed more polite to talk to the person involved first.”

The situation had stopped making sense several sentences ago. Iveca felt like she had been hit in the back of the head, and as she felt her mouth gape open and closed, she knew she must have looked like a fool.

Then she realized; he truly was being serious about taking her thoughts into consideration. Had he just gone directly to her father, she’d probably already be in a wedding dress by now. Count Esselburn had no reason to not give his third, unmarried daughter to the king. There was no room for her opinion in his mind. Just as her engagement with the Telsey Family. But he had come to her directly to make his proposal.

But still, nothing about this made sense.

“I’m glad you are not in love with your fiancée,” the King spoke, breaking the silence that had fallen over them.

“Your Majesty…”

Iveca’s eyes flitted between the King and Anriq behind him, searching for some truth and reason to this madness, but Anriq did not look at her and remained as stoic as he had been the whole time. She lowered her head and spoke quickly.

“Why me, your Majesty?”

“Ask Count Esselburn why. I am sure you will know soon enough, however.”

That settled it then, thought Iveca. It’s political. If it’s a reason that she needed to learn from her father, it had to be a political intention. Count Esselburn was a neutral representative. Iveca, therefore, had ties to real power. And through marriage, she was there to be taken by the highest bidder.

“Although…” the King spoke again, turning his eyes from her.

“What is it, your Majesty?”

“I’d like to ask you something. A favor, if you will.”

“A favor?” Iveca was too stunned to argue the point.

“I would ask you not to quit the Judicial Bureau once we were married.”

Iveca’s mind went into overdrive, the last sentence from the King breaking a barrier of confused numbness in her head. Of course, she didn’t want to quit the Juridical Bureau just because she was married. But in her heart, had already given up her job, because as soon as the engagement was decided, she needed to quit her affiliated agency once again. But now, she was being given a chance to stay…

“A hundred years ago, it said that Queen Evena also continued to work in administration.”

Iveca knew this; but also knew the intentions behind it. She remained at work to keep the King’s favor in the Bureau. Which meant she was to do the same. Could she do that?

Her head was twitching, seemingly full of revelation but full of nothing all at once. The King wanted her for her unique position, that much was for certain. He needed support from neutralist aristocrats and someone to do specific work in the Judicial Bureau. She could do both. Some fairy tale romance, she thought.

“Do you have anything else to say?” he asked. He was smiling again now, looking at her. Blue on violet. Even though it was spoken politely, it was shown from his expression that no further dialogue was needed. The decision was made.

“Wonderful. The news about the engagement will be broken today, and soon the national marriage will take place.”

“Soon?”

It was starting to get too much for Iveca to even think again.

“In ten days.”

Iveca felt a little like she was drowning. The words were finding her ears and hitting her brain; but it was being relayed to her in slow motion. He had proposed, she knew that was a fact. That in and of itself was crazy. But then somehow, despite the competition, he’d managed to say something even crazier.

“…I’m sorry?”

King Daniel was a sea of calm. Ten days, he had said. A royal wedding in ten days! Suddenly, the very slight feeling she’d had before that he cared about her opinion of the matter evaporated as quickly as it had come. One absurd question about her fiancée was all he had deigned to bother asking her, then straight in with the question that was a solution to all his problems. He had even replied as if he had guessed what she wanted to say just by looking at her expression.

“Since you were born as a noble, you said you’d marry as your family decided, right?”

Iveca knew that her father would be pleased all night with the achievement of his third daughter, as though she had finally amounted to something useful. He would have the wedding ready in three days if he could.

King Daniel had adapted a tone, as though he knew the answer to her next question. Of course he would; he had her on the ropes now, didn’t he?

“Of course, you can refuse my proposal if you don’t like it. Maybe you don’t want to be a Queen?”

“We…Well, it’s not like that. How could I…”

Iveca needed a minute to think. This was all beyond sudden, a slap to her senses. She couldn’t clear the foggy clouds from behind her eyes no matter how hard she shook herself.

The King had all the information he needed. Smiling by way of a goodbye, he stooped into a shallow bow, before straightening up.

“See you later, then.”

King Daniel turned around. Iveca started after him, a thousand questions trying to force their way out at once. But it seemed he did not have any intention of taking her back to the Judicial Bureau as he strode away, leaving her with a barrage of thoughts he had stirred up in her. Only Anriq looked into her eyes for a moment before passing by. And then she was alone.

She remained in the garden and tried to organize her thoughts, but there was no path to a conclusion. No, she thought, the conclusion is already decided. If the King wants to marry to a noble family, there wasn’t any need to think about anything else. Or, much to the point, really anything she could do.

The idea of returning to the Bureau and facing a second barrage of questions from her curious colleagues was a little too much to bear. Perhaps the King had done her one consideration there; to leave her in the garden alone and return by himself first. That way no one would dare ask too many questions and once he had gone, the excitement of the situation would surely have calmed down.

She didn’t walk so much as she tumbled back to her office, tripping over endless thoughts of the situation she now found herself in. This really was a new half of her life. Whatever dreams of a free and independent life she felt sure she had harbored before her memory was erased were gone now; replaced instead by royal proposals from out of the blue. Not to mention another marriage she would now have to break off. It hadn’t even been a month since she had been wiped and now she was set to be a Queen.

She sighed as she swept her long black hair back from her eyes. Did she really want to be a Queen at all?

***

“You proposed to the Esselburn daughter?”

Daniel’s close friend, Kayden Ruthe, was employed in the Bureau; a natural talent of the sort of magical interest the Bureau had. He looked the King over with dark black eyes; the tone was sour. Daniel smiled gently and nodded, gripping a file in his left hand.

“There is no reason not to do it,” the King replied.

“I hardly think…”

“There is a revolution going on right now. Republicanism is sweeping the continent, threatening to unseat the monarchy, and science and engineering is emerging on behalf of magic. I am tired of having someone of faith staying next to me.” He glanced over Kayden as he informed him. “Didn’t everyone expect me to marry a neutral noble daughter, or an affiliated worker?”

The file Daniel was holding was shifted from left to right hand. It was a personal investigation, and the words “Iveca der Esselburn” could just about be seen poking over the top of the folder it was in. A black and white graduation photo taken in college was attached to the front by a clip.

“Iveca is both,” Kayden replied. He had already known she came from a neutral aristocrat family; her job at the Bureau was the cherry on top for Daniel, he thought. “I know your angle, but it won’t be easy. Even though Lady Esselburn is an employee of the Judicial Affair Bureau, if it’s because of that…”

King Daniel made a noise under his breath, which interrupted Kayden’s words. He tilted his head and turned back.

“Anriq.”

“Yes.”

Daniel sighed. Anriq was his escort secretary and personal bodyguard. He protected his brother, William, who originally was the First Prince, and also the Crown Prince. But after William’s death he had come to him. The King turned to look at Anriq, who was doing a good job of hiding the fact he had been mentioned in the conversation, if he had heard it. Anriq’s job was to chase him like a shadow and guard his back, stony and unmovable. This bit of information had the best, if any, chance of shaking that exterior.

“The file mentioned Iveca’s first love, Anriq. Do you have anything to say on the matter?” Daniel probed.

Silence.