Firstborn: Return of the heir

“Come on, how long are you going to keep working? Everyone needs at least a quick break!”

Thinking about his current situation, Saulus only gripped his pen tighter before returning to work. No matter how ridiculous the ongoing event would look to anyone brazen enough to spy on the two of them, he couldn’t allow this mischievous girl to pull him away from his duties.

Not during the last day of relative peace.

“You know I need to finish this. I promise, once I get this paperwork done, I will join the royal entourage. Now, go and have fun yourself. What’s the point of being the queen if your life is even duller than it was before?”

Smiling gently in response, Saulus attempted to shoo the girl away. As little hope as he had in his actions actually being successful, the disappointment clearly showed up on his face when Venna refused to leave.

“To think that a retainer would dare to refuse a direct order from his queen…”

Muttering those words under her breath, Venna tacitly looked away. Saulus’ face changed instantly. Slowly standing up from his chair, he approached the girl before grabbing her chin and forcing Venna to look him in the eyes.

“If that’s what you wish to use your royal powers for, then I will listen. I just want to make sure you are perfectly aware of what your choice entails.”

It would be a lie to claim that Saulus knew what to expect. From one side, he saw Venna trying her hardest to be the best queen that she could be. But from the other side, there was no denying how attached she was to him, making it all the harder for her to accept his absence during the initial moments of festivities.

“Eh, you are no fun. Fine, stay and work yourself to death!”

Venna’s face twisted in slight annoyance as she jumped from her spot and stormed out of the room. Thankfully, she remained cool-headed enough to keep her real self within the room, returning to her queen-like appearance as soon as the doors opened.

“I will come as soon as I finish this urgent part of work. You know I would never forgive myself if something were to happen because of my oversight.”

The sentence directed at nothing but a set of doors, Saulus hid his face in his palms. Even with the immense workload of managing the economy of an emerging country, Venna wasn’t making things easy for him, either. Even if she couldn’t be blamed for how new this situation was for her it didn’t change the fact that the two of them had a different perspective of what ruling was.

For Venna, governing a country was always something that was distant yet close. Distant, because she wasn’t involved in ruling during her father’s regime and later on because she had to hide her true identity, for years. But it was also something close, as she always bore the royal blood of the Burn household, capable of claiming a Firstborn’s heritage with it.

To her, ruling meant to give orders, settle the differences, and honor the worthy. For Saulus on the other hand, ruling was no different than a huge workload of an administrative job. Because in order for the Queen to decide on how to settle a matter, she had to know what the entire matter was about. And it was Saulus’ job to construct a stable country where Venna could enjoy her part of ruling.

With his thoughts in a slight disarray, Saulus forced himself to continue reading the papers one after another, putting his signature and wax seal whenever he deemed it necessary. Every single paper that he checked and signed would result in some kind of group experiencing the crown’s favor or wrath. Every wax seal he stamped meant that something would change.

But there were some papers that he could only read, leaving the decision of what to do with them for the Queen herself. Yet another point that his childhood friend most likely failed to notice.

“So they will cooperate after all… And here he was, making me worry…”

Putting the note away that the palace received from the emissary from the south just this morning, Saulus stretched back on his seat. Before he noticed, the sun had already moved past the breaking point in the skies, heading behind the horizon.

The last paper that Saulus opened up finally took the greatest worry off his shoulders, and the general released a deep sigh before standing up from his workplace. Stretching his limbs for a moment to improve the blood flow, Saulus felt the energy slowly returning to his exhausted limbs. Soon, he cast aside his comfortable clothing before changing to a suit befitting the head general of a rebellious country.

Stepping outside the palace was already a magnificent experience. With its entire inner architecture considered a work of art, one could think that he was watching the history of the fallen household of Burn while walking through the corridors, with all the subtle changes to the decoration that appeared in the outer areas of the complex. But today, this feeling was reinforced with the fact that starting right at the palace’s courtyard, a huge festival was taking place.

Officially, it was actually an inspection. According to the tradition that even the patriarch decided to keep after conquering the lands, both Venna and Saulus were supposed to inspect the livelihood of the townspeople by taking a walk through the main street of the city. With golden coins tossed for every step of the Queen, this kind of event was simply too expensive to be held outside of huge ceremonies, like coronations.

But for Venna right now, it was a relatively inexpensive way to harness the gratitude of the people. An opportunity that a weak queen like herself needed to take. Yet it didn’t mean that this event could be considered wasteful.

“They really pushed forward a lot…”

Usually, the entire festivities could last for the entire day and night given how the royals liked to walk through even the most obscure streets of the city. Yet from the looks of it, Venna had to somehow find out about the poor economic state of the land, by forcefully cutting the minor alleys in favor of the main streets of the city.

“This little…”

Even though he was whispering, Saulus didn’t dare to put Venna”s current title at the end of it. Not in the middle of a huge crowd that bustled in Aldo’s streets.

There was a reason why he allowed and even inspired the organization of this event himself. Right now, this rebel country had no economy to speak of. While there were a lot of coins and goods moving from north and east to the capital, if Saulus were to just distribute it like that, the price of everything would plummet. As strange as it was, an event like this one was the best way to inject huge sums into the pockets of everyday citizens, forcefully kicking the economy in the rear and starting it up!

“There you are…”

Finally catching up to the royal entourage, Saulus didn’t need to be a strategic genius and former spy to notice how angry Venna was. Or instead of being angry, her face told him that she was simply disappointed. Instead of enjoying the cheers of the population, she walked as if it were a march of shame.

“Look who finally found some time to assist his queen…”

Even though everyone’s attention was on the queen, the thick blanket of veteran guards that shielded them from the crowd was more than enough to let the two of them speak relatively freely.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. Please, don’t sulk anymore. I brought some great news!”

Only with unusually energetic movements of his hands did Saulus manage to force Venna’s attention on himself. With a big smile on his face, he caught the Queen’s eye before whispering.

“Rylas promised to take the southern general on himself. Right now, we are good to go with everything!”