The King's Beloved

[Music Recommendation: "Dear Friends" - Final Fantasy V OST - available in Spotify or Youtube]

"Humm… Hum-Hum-Hum… dari-dat-daraaaa."

A cute humming sound of a little girl, barely the age of three, could be heard echoing in the silent office. Her tiny hands were busy scribbling on some papers she found lying on the table. As to what kind of paper it was… she thought it wasn't important. After all, she had always seen her father's seal of a Verus Amor flower everywhere. It should be normal, right? Not some important document he signed or anything. Although, you'd want to take note that this little girl was the very first princess herself—daughter of King Elliot and Queen Rania—Princess Ellira Verus Regis.

While the princess was busy doing her thing, sounds of footsteps started to draw near her. There were men discussing things that didn't make sense to her. One of the voices belonged to her father, which she recognized immediately, and her face lit up. She had been waiting for him since earlier, and actually the reason why she was in his office in the first place, sitting on his desk.

Soon, the door opened to reveal King Elliot, Clavis, and Calum talking to each other.

"So they're requesting to expand the boundaries, huh?"

"Yes, your majesty. I can send you the rest of the documents later."

"Alright. I'll check it later."

"Please check the document I sent this morning, too," Calum said.

"Ah, that one. I'm already done signing. You can implement it as—"

"DADDY! You're back!" Ellira interrupted them, much to their surprise.

The little girl hurriedly scurried towards her father and jumped into his arms.

King Elliot's face, which was serious just a second ago, immediately brightened up when he saw his beloved daughter. He hugged her back and kissed her forehead, much to the little princess' delight.

"Ellira, what are you doing here?" King Elliot asked. "Did you miss me already? And where's your nanny? Mommy is busy inspecting the area, so you should be with your nanny or at least the maids. Did you sneak out on them again?" His eyes squinted, knowing what she had done even before she admitted it.

"Well… that's… Okay, maybe I did sneak out? It's not my intention to, I promise! It's just that I'm faster than them. I was just normally running here and there, and the next moment, I don't see them anymore," Ellira replied, deliberately acting cute so she wouldn't be scolded much.

But King Elliot knew too well to trust everything she said. She had that habit of telling the truth in a way that it sounded like it wasn't her fault, but truthfully, it was so… nope, he's not getting fooled by that cute smile and big sparkling eyes, and—Okay, let's take that back. He got fooled.

"Alright, let's say you were just faster than them," he conceded and patted her head.

Then, they walked inside the office and sat down on the couch while Elliot went to his desk, carrying Ellira in his arms. He was about to get the document he mentioned to Calum when—

"W-What the—my documents!" King Elliot's gasped in terror. 

His hand trembled as he touched his precious documents filled with scribble on them. His eyes then turned to Ellira.

"El-Li-Ra…"

"Oops! So those were important. He-he-he. Sorry about that, daddy. You should have put a note not to touch them or something, you know."

"PFT! HA-HA-HA-HA!" Clavis and Calum laughed out loud.

"You should see your face, Elliot," Calum teased him.

King Elliot sighed deeply.

"Haah… Ellira, from now on, you're not allowed to come inside my office."

"Huh?! What?! That's unfair!"

"This is my workplace, so you shouldn't even be here."

"But I just missed daddy! And I came here to discuss an important matter! That's what the office is for, right?"

"And what important matter is that?" he asked, as he used magic to erase the scribbles Ellira made on the documents and the desk.

"Let's sit down first. I learned that important matters should be discussed while sitting and enjoying hot coffee or tea. With snacks, too."

And so, the diligent servant outside heard it and prepared it immediately. Once everyone was seated—with Ellira in the middle and her feet hanging out since it was too short to reach the floor.

"Ehem, ehem," she cleared her throat.

Clavis and Calum did their best not to laugh—same with the other servants and guards around. King Elliot, too, suppressed himself from being swayed by her cute ploys. He wondered what her little girl wanted that she had to arrange a formal meeting with him.

"Here it is," Ellira said, handing out a piece of paper to her dad. "I have summarized all the details that I want in that document," she continued, trying to speak formally, "but all in all, what I want is…."

Dun-dun-dun-dun…

Everyone's heartbeat grew in anticipation.

Meanwhile, King Elliot was already checking the paper and—

"I want a baby brother," Ellira confessed.

"PFT! HA-HA-HA-HA-HA!!!" everyone laughed out loud.

King Elliot's face grew so red even his neck and ears were red. Trying to hide his embarrassment, he covered his face with the paper.

"Hey, daddy! Be careful with that document! It's really important!" she nagged him and slapped his knees. "You need to read it carefully!"

She then stood up and took the paper from her dad.

"First, I want my little brother to be so cute and kind like mommy, okay? I don't want him to be stubborn and nag me as you do. You always blame me for doing things which you shouldn't be since I'm still a child, and you know, children are prone to doing… stuff."

Everyone was still laughing, but they did their best to listen to her demands amidst the laughter.

"So he needs to be obedient to me, okay?" Ellira continued. "And loves me and cherishes me a lot, okay? Like how you always love mommy to the point you forget that I'm in the same room as you both. But it's fine. Once I get my little brother, then we can be together, and you can have mommy all for yourself. You got that? So, do we have a deal?"

Ellira extended her tiny hands towards her father with sparkling eyes, anticipating a closed deal.

"Ellira, children don't just—ugh…." King Elliot sighed. How was he supposed to explain such things to her? "About having another child, that's not a problem, yes, but as for the gender… It's not up to me. What if she becomes a girl? Then are you okay with a little sister? And we have to ask mommy for permission, too."

'Oh my goodness! He's not even saying no!' Clavis, Calum, and everyone thought.

But of course, it was very favorable to King Elliot since that only meant more lovey-dovey times with Queen Rania.

"But I want a little brother!" Ellira complained. "I'm already a girl! If it happens to be a girl, too, then it's fine, I can have a little sister—but I still want a brother! So you have to try and try until I get a brother, okay?"

"Pft!" King Elliot tried to suppress his laugh. "I think you should say that to mommy, not me. If she agrees then, I'm good with it."

"Tsk! You just don't have any say when it comes to mommy, huh? You mommy SIMP," Ellira mumbled and rolled her eyes.

King Elliot's eyes widened.

"Princess Ellira… Can you tell me where did you learn such words? And what does SIMP mean?"

Clavis' eyes widened, and sweat formed on his forehead.

"Ahm, your majesty, about that…."

"I learned it from Aunt Selena," she answered smugly. "It means you're a total sucker for mommy. And that you love her sooooo much you can't live without her."

"S-Sucker?" King Elliot trembled at her words. "Such vulgar words…." His heart cried inside. "We didn't teach you those words…."

"Why? It's cool! It explains a lot of things I want to express."

"Clavis…" King Elliot gave him a menacing glare. "Can you please tell your wife not to say such words and teach such words to the princess?"

"Selena would never teach those to a child," Clavis defended his wife. "Rather than teach, I believe she merely 'heard' them instead and decided to use them."

"I see," King Elliot replied. Turning to Ellira, he said, "Little princess, I think that's enough mischief for today. We need to talk to your mom. She's going to hear all about this."

"Huh? W-What? To mommy?" Ellira trembled and sweated. "Uhhh… There's no need to go that far. I didn't do anything bad. Basically, I just wanted to ask for a little brother."

"Oh, yeah? Let's see about that then," King Elliot smiled mischievously. "We'll discuss this with mommy, and she decides, okay?"

"Tsk! SIMP," she mumbled again.

"Did you say something?"

"Oh, nothing, daddy. Nothing at all."

And so, the little princess' days of mischief just began.

On a side note, when they discussed what happened to Rania, she scolded them both—though most were for Elliot. After all…

"Hmm… I wonder where she got that stubbornness from?" she teased him. "I'm pretty sure the Supreme called someone stubborn. I wonder who that is."

King Elliot was unable to utter a single word.