Ephemeral Elysian

Snow White [1.1]

A young man sat rather lazily upon the throne, a cape messily thrown over one of his shoulders as he placed a hand under his chin, trying his best not to fall asleep.

Unfortunately, his crown tipped to the side, almost falling off his head. He reached up to push the crown back, sitting it right on top of his golden locks which curled a bit.

"Your Majesty, the villages on the outskirts of our kingdom have been overrun by the bandits! The village chief has been slain and the rest of them are running amok! We must do something quickly before the bandits continue pouring in!"

"Your Majesty, what about the taxes? Her Majesty the Queen rose it up even further than the last three years! Our people have been suffering," another man declared.

"My king, there are even less crops growing this year due to the coming drought! We're having problems with the water also declining! How will our farmers cope with this?"

The young king was in a slight daze, basking in the warm sunlight that slipped in through the windows. When his advisors noticed the king struggling to stay awake, they grew a bit quiet and glanced at each other, hesitating whether or not to wake him up.

There was a silent rule amongst his advisors and servants, to anyone who's ever worked alongside with the king and in this castle.

They couldn't disturb his sleep.

Before they became even more restless with wanting to continue, the king yawned a bit before fixing his position and tapping his staff in boredom.

Jade-like eyes glanced down at his ministers, boring holes into their faces. They all shut their mouths up as the king's expression grew blank in contemplation. The men had to look away, casting their gazes down at the marbled floor with crimson staining their cheeks.

Their king was truly a beauty.

"Less crops, you say?" His Majesty hummed with a bit of a frown. His voice was thick, slurring with a bit of allure since he was still trying to wake up from his previous nap.

"Yes... my king, these past few months the people have been receiving less food and the farmers are unable to plant more crops since water is becoming somewhat scarce."

"That'll be a problem for our livestock," the male sighed. "A drought... a drought..."

"Your Majesty?"

"Her Majesty the Queen wouldn't even bother with these kinds of things." The king craned his neck to watch the rest of his advisors, sluggishly moving forward on his throne as their stances became tense with the mention of the queen.

The same man spoke up, "My king, what do you plan on doing with the crops? Her Majesty the Queen neglected this problem before, letting the people suffer for many months. If a drought is to happen again-"

"Why not just build a water storage system? There's still some time before the drought fully hits us, and winter won't be here for a few more months so it's best to start planning the water storage now. The time when we get the most rainfall is in two months, and the fall is mostly irregular so we won't know whether or not the rain will decrease or increase. Have someone prepare the water storage, make sure to inform the rest of the farmers. They'll need to know how to manage it as well." With a tap of his staff, his advisors quickly nodded their heads, almost relieved at his words.

"Yes, my king."

"That's not all. It's best to also make sure of plants that have high-tolerance against droughts. Find out which crops we'll need and switch it out with the plants we usually use. In this way, our people won't have to starve. Maybe we'll have more crops to grow in the future... possibly..." His Majesty the King murmured to himself, as if the other men weren't there in the room. He was too focused on the idea of having more food to eat.