Power and Love

Chapter 5: Brother

Arthur's POV

We walked down the corridor. Our chatter had died a few minutes ago and a silence was heavy between us. Alfred had showed me the ballroom, kitchen and servants' rooms.

I glanced Alfred. He looked like he was deep in his thoughts.

"Alfred?"

"What's wrong?" Alfred looked me and a lively twinkle had returned to his eyes.

"Nothing. What were you thinking?" I asked.

"I wasn't thin-"

"Yes you were. Don't lie."

Alfred sighed.

"Jeez, dude, you can be really stubborn."

I huffed.

"I thought about the prophecy." He finally said. I raised an eyebrow.

"I mean... I don't want you or Yao to die." Alfred stated when he saw my expression. "When my father was King, our terms with Clubs weren't best in the world."

"So there might be a war?" I shuddered.

"Yes."

Alfred didn't lie. He only said the truth, and it scared me more than any threat could scare.

My father had been told me about wars. Hundreds of people died in wars. And soon we would have to lead our people to war.

We arrived at the stairs. Handrails were plated gold and stairs itself were mahogany. We began to climb upstairs. The walls were covered in paintings. In the first painting, there was portrayed the first King and Queen of Spades, their possible kids and Jack of Spades. Under the painting, there was a little, golden slab. In the slab was a black writing:

The First Reign
The King, William the Conqueror
His Queen, Amelia
Their kids, William II and princess Jillian
The Jack, David

Alfred noticed that I had lagged and he turned to watch. He watched the painting and walked down to me.

"They are my ancestors. Quite funny that I don't resemble much William the Conqueror or his son." He chuckled.

"Well, over a two centuries has passed, why do you expect that you would look like him?" I snapped.

"Pff, I don't know." Alfred smirked. I huffed and turned my gaze to the next painting. A serious looking man and his beatiful Queen watched jugdementaly down me and Alfred.

"The Second Reign
The King, William II
The Queen, Mary
Their kids, none
The Jack, Benjamin"

Alfred read.

"So they didn't have kids?" I asked.

"Yes. Queen Mary died in a battle between Hearts and Spades at age of 26, two years after their coronation."

"She was so young..." I said silently.

"Yes. It is quite sad, and King William II never recovered fully after her dead. History books say that they were in love." He told me.
"After William had died, very bloodthirsty and violent King rose to the throne." We moved to the next painting. A very fierce looking man was painted on the fabric. There was no Queen or Jack. Or kids.

The Third Reign
The King, Erskine
The Queen, none
Their kids, none
The Jack, none

I read. My interest woke up and Alfred must've seen it, because he smiled and said:

"Nowadays people see him as a interesting person, not as a bloodthirsty monster. He attacked to the Clubs, and when he couldn't conquer their place, Erskine attacked to Diamonds. Of course losed, so he had to retreat. Erskine only reigned for three and a half months and he was assassinated."

I was little shocked. My interest vanished and I huffed.

"I'm glad that you aren't like him." I walked upwards the stairs, until I arrived at the final painting. Alfred followed me. I watched the painting and I recognised the boy in it. The young boy was Alfred. I read the golden slab.

The Nineteenth Reign
The King, Aedan III
The Queen, Theresa
Their kids, Alfred I and prince Matthew
The Jack, Martin

"You have a brother?" I turned my gaze to the young King. Then I watched Matthew's picture. He had a light brown hair, but his hair was even lighter than Alfred's. His eyes were violet.

"Matthew was very kind and shy. I was the loud one, so he was the quiet one. We were very close." I heard Alfred say. I turned and watched him.

"Why do you speak in imperfect?"

"He died. We were playing on the cliff, where we usually hung out. We played tag, but then he slipped and fell. My father and his soldiers didn't find his body, so there wasn't even a grave where to mourn." His hands clenched into fists.

I didn't usually feel guilty, but now I did. I had reopened Alfred's wounds and I saw, how much it hurted him. I walked down a few steps, next to him and said:

"I'm sorry."

Alfred looked surprised.

"... You didn't know." He finally stated.

"That's right, but I should've realized."

"Don't you blame yourself." Alfred said, his voice demanding. I opened my mouth to say something, but then we heard a distant clock's sound.

"Your training starts today." I heard Yao's voice in my ears. Alfred smirked next to me.

"What?" I asked defensively.

"Let your training begin."

My idea of cardverse is... Weird? Or it is just different than other cardverse fics what I've read.