As soon as I opened my eyes the next morning, I found myself face to face with Eulisses. I got so surprised seeing someone stare at me that I screamed:
"Ah!"
Eulisses just closed his eyes, waiting for me to calm down. I quickly recognized him and raised my hand to my heart. I was about to laugh, saying how surprised I was but that was before I noticed other people in my room staring at me as well. Seeing strangers made me scream again. I did scream a bit more silently but I still screamed and the strangers rushed to my bed, worried:
"Duke Consort, are you okay?
-Should we call for a doctor?"
Eulisses quickly shook his head:
"Don't call a doctor, the Duke Consort isn't fully awake yet. Prepare a bath for him."
The strangers nodded before rushing to the door connected to my room. Seeing my confusion, Eulisses explained to me:
"HIs Grace the Duke sent them to help you get ready."
I still didn't understand:
"Sent by who for what?
-The Duke sent you four menservants to help you get ready for your breakfast."
Eulisses looked down at his watch:
"You should quickly get ready. His Grace always has breakfast at seven.
-What does that have to do with me?"
Eulisses was very patient seeing that I still wasn't fully awake yet:
"His Grace declared that you would have your meals together starting today.
-No.
-He asked for you to be ready for seven.
-No!"
I hid back under the covers.
"I don't want to eat with that guy! What if he confuses my eyes for cake and eats me?"
Eulisses pulled on my covers and I curled up to protect myself from the cold.
"I am sorry, Duke Consort. But it is an order from the Duke. You should hurry up and go to your bath.
-I don't want to see that guy! I will have breakfast in my room.
-The Duke asked for you to eat together.
-I don't care. Give me back the covers.
-Mister Sliske..."
I hid back under my covers, decided not to move. I heard Eulisses' sight but he didn't insist anymore. When the servants came back into the room, he even told them to leave. They refused once fearing that the Duke would get mad at them but after Eulisses insisted that he would take full responsibility, they finally left. When I heard the door close, I finally peeked out from under the covers.
"Thank you. I will give you five months of vacation as soon as my ankle gets better.
-I sent them away to prevent the Duke from hearing about what is being said here. You should really pay attention to what you say around other people. What if the Duke imprisoned you for insulting him?"
I shook my head:
"He can't imprison me. The King wouldn't let him.
-Anyway, I am sorry to insist but you should hurry out of bed. I don't think that the Duke would take well if you didn't show up.
-Let's just tell him that I already ate."
Eulisses sighed but didn't have time to say anything because the next second we heard someone knock on the door:
"His Highness, the Duke."
They didn't even wait for an answer and opened the door. At least ten people rushed in, putting two plates down on my little coffee table, bringing cakes, tea, coffee, bread, jam... In a second they turned my room into a dining room and I started questioning if I had slept here. I thought it would never end and continued staring at all that food, wondering how there could be so much space in such a tiny table. Even my chairs got exchanged to two armchairs and once satisfied with their work, the strangers left as quickly as they appeared.
Two of them stopped at both sides of my door and seeing them bow, I looked at the door. What I saw immediately made me lose my appetite. Ephraim was standing in my door, a smile on his face. He was wearing a red and black uniform and seeing him walk inside made me grimace.
"I hope that my dear wife slept well."
The closer he was getting, the deeper my frown was getting. Seeing me like that made Ephraim smirk:
"I missed you too, darling. I couldn't wait for the Sun to rise and for us two to reunite."
I started rubbing my eyes:
"I'm sorry. I think I am still dreaming."
I pretended to yawn:
"I should probably go back to sleep. "
Ephraim rushed to my bed:
"Are you still tired? It is not normal for someone to sleep so much. Perhaps you are ill?"
He raised his hand to my forehead and I slapped it away by reflex:
"You don't seem to have a fever. But my dear wife never was the type to complain in the first place. Maybe I should sleep in this room for a few days. Just to make sure that you are okay.
-No!"
I jumped up on the mattress:
"I am not tired anymore. It suddenly went away."
Ephraim didn't even hide his amused smile:
"I am relieved. Then we should get started shall we?"
He grabbed my hand and placed it around his arm before escorting me to the coffee table. More dragging me than escorting but that was a detail. He pulled my chair for me and helped me sit down before taking place in front of me. The servants immediately served us tea and they brought the Duke his letters. The latter shook his head:
"I will read them later. I would like to spend this quality time with my wife. You are all excused."
The servants bowed before backing away. Ephraim started spreading butter on his bread slowly. I really wasn't hungry at all and just stared at his hands while he was doing so. Feeling my stare, Ephraim suddenly looked up, making me jump on my chair:
"What is it, my dear wife? Is breakfast not to your liking?"
I immediately noticed the chef shaking at the door. Would he die if I didn't like the food? Seeing Ephraim glance at him answered my silent question and I screamed:
"No! I love it. I love it so much that I couldn't choose."
I grabbed the cake closest to me and pushed it into my mouth. I pushed it so hard that I almost choked on a cherry.
"Eat slowly, wife. We have all the time in the world.
-Stop calling me wife."
Of course, Ephraim didn't listen at all. He didn't even wait a second and started questioning me:
" I heard that Mister Grendel Lynx is coming here. Do you remember him?"
I tried my best to remember who that Grendel could be. I didn't really pay attention to the extras in the story and had no idea who Ephraim could be talking about. Of course I couldn't tell him that and I decided to bluff. It would be less weird to say that I knew him when I didn't then the other way around. I could still pretend that I heard about him or that I was confusing him with someone.
"Yes.
-Do you? That is impressive. I heard that you were very young when you last saw him.
-Really young indeed."
Ephraim noticed that I didn't want to say more but he didn't let me get away with it that easily:
"How old were you exactly?"
I shrugged:
"Why would I remember something so random?
-My apologies. I asked something stupid."
Seeing him laugh was pissing me off and Ephraim noticed:
"Don't frown like that, darling. You aren't pretty when you frown."
That made me frown even more:
"Who cares what I look like? I can be ugly all I want! I am already gorgeous. I deserve some ugly moments too."
Ephraim just laughed:
"Don't get mad, darling. This is all happening because you are pretending to be dumb. This would be way easier if you just admitted that you had no idea who Grendel was."