The King's Unbreakable Wife-Chapter 28: Weight of a kingdom (1)

"Would you care for something to drink, Edgar? Or perhaps a snack? You didn’t eat much for breakfast and you’ve been working away," said Alfred, Edgar Collins’s butler. He worried that Edgar might get a headache from not eating much.

"This is the fifth time you have asked me and my answer remains the same. I am not hungry or in need of a drink. I need time to think if I wish to put money into this business idea. It could be worth it in the future and pay me handsomely or be a waste of my money," said Edgar, keeping his eyes on the paper with the money he needed to spend.

Alfred placed a cup of water down on Edgar’s desk though Edgar did not want it. "It is good you work so hard, but you have enough money for yourself with your inheritance and all the businesses you have already. I might understand it better if you were looking to have more wealth for the family you intend to have."

"Do not start this again, Alfred. I’ve already started to burn my mother’s letters that mention that woman she wants me to marry," Edgar replied, looking up at Alfred.

"I believe her name is Heather and not a bad choice if she weren’t so close to your mother. I prefer that you go out and find a wife on your own. Only then can I see the marriage working. Your mother will not be pleased to hear me say this, but an arranged marriage would not work for you," said Alfred.

Alfred didn’t see why Edgar’s mother was going so hard to get him to marry a woman of her choice when Edgar was not thrilled about marriage. It was best to let Edgar do the picking of the woman and go from there.

"There was a loud noise just now. Please see what it was. If it is my mother, tell her that I am about to leave home," Edgar said as he was not in the mood to entertain his mother. Or father.

If his mother wanted to talk about marriage or complain about his father, he would suddenly have somewhere to be.

"Excuse me," Alfred said, leaving the table to inspect who was causing noise when Edgar was working. He instructed the maids not to disturb Edgar so it shouldn’t be one of them.

Before Aflred could reach the door, it swung open and in walked Tobias.

"Prince-"

"You can call me Tobias, Alfred. No need for all the other titles when we are close," Tobias said, walking up to Alfred to hug him. "If you ever want to work for me, say the word and I will come get you."

Tobias always wished that he could steal Alfred from Edgar and take him to the palace. There wasn’t anyone as loyal as Alfred who wasn’t related to you but treated you as if he had a role in creating you. For Edgar, Alfred was like a father and if you didn’t know that he was just the butler, you would assume that Alfred was a Collins.

Sometimes Tobias thought that the two looked alike. No wonder Edgar’s parents seemed to hate the butler.

"He shouldn’t be calling you anything since you should be in the palace. Did you jump my gate again?" Edgar asked, putting down the paper he was reading because now he had to deal with the prince.

"I had to. What if someone were to see me coming through the gate and it started to spread around that I am here? I don’t want my mother to know where I went. She locked me in my bedroom. Again," Tobias added as this was not the first time.

It had been a while since she had done something like this. He was younger then and less bold to be jumping out of windows.

Edgar knew that once the queen was aware Tobias was missing she would know that he was here. It was the only place Tobias could run off to hide since Edgar never welcomed the palace or town guards into his home unless he truly did something worth answering questions.

Edgar wasn’t one to pick a fight with the queen but when she started to poke around his home looking for her son whom Edgar didn’t invite, he had an issue with it. His home was his place of peace and he didn’t need the palace shit to start piling up in here.

"The palace is big enough for you to find a room to be away from your mother. There is no need for you to come here. Don’t serve him," Edgar said, annoyed by the sight of Alfred going to Tobias to ask what he wanted to eat. "He is not our guest. Go back home."

Despite what Edgar said, Tobias sat down on the chair on the opposite side of Edgar’s desk. "If you didn’t want me running to your home, you wouldn’t let your guards ignore me when I jumped your gate. Even birds have a hard time flying across your land but I get in without being attacked. Admit it Edgar, you love me."

"I pitied you the first time and allowed you to enter that way, but you have abused that I granted you entry into my home-"

"You pitied me? Edgar Collins pitied me? Did you hear that Alfred?" Tobias asked, looking up at Alfred to see if he had also heard Edgar. He smiled, excited to hear Edgar had pitied him.

"I did," Alfred answered.

Tobias touched his chest. "I thought you were a heartless bastard who didn’t care for me, but you pitied me. See, I know you like me. You wouldn’t have come to visit me in the palace if you didn’t like me." frёeweɓηovel.coɱ

Edgar stared at Tobias, hating him once again. Tobias took one sentence and turned it into something more. "Get out. Go back to the palace and talk to your mother. You’re about to be king. Will you run from your mother each time you disagree with her?"

"That’s funny advice coming from someone who runs from his mother. Your father has been speaking with mine and it seems like you have potential women to become your wife lining up to marry you. There is one your mother likes-"

"Then she can wed her," Edgar interjected. "I ran from my mother to my own home. You run to my home. There is a difference as to why when you do it, it is annoying. Use your money to buy an estate so you don’t have to come to mine."

"You didn’t buy this. Your grandmother loves you so much that she granted you this big estate and all the land behind it that belonged to your family. Would you like to run away with me, Edgar?" Tobias asked.

Edgar frowned and clenched his fists to resist giving into his desire to throw Tobias out of his home. If this was about the two of them getting married again because Tobias wasn’t fond of the women in the palace he had to pick his wife from, the kingdom was going to lose its only prince.