Mark arrived with the emperor at the doors of the meeting room, where Rose was already waiting on her feet beside the entrance with a couple of scrolls under her arm.

"Master," she said upon seeing him approach. "Yuki already filled me in on the situation, so I’m up to speed on everything."

"Then you already know this turned into a disaster," Mark said quietly.

"Something like that," Rose replied with a half smile. "Emilia and the princess are already waiting inside. She’s been keeping her entertained for a while, so it would be a good idea not to make her wait any longer."

"I hope I don’t mess things up..."

"Stay calm, Master," Rose replied, placing one hand on his face. "I’ll be in the room next door listening to everything. If at any point they ask you something you don’t know how to answer, just think it and I’ll tell you what to say through the mental link."

"You’re going to be feeding me the answers like it’s an exam?" Mark said, somewhat amused.

"More or less," Rose said with a smile. "You focus on keeping a serious face and looking intimidating... I’ll handle the diplomacy."

Mark let out a short laugh.

"Alright... I trust you."

"Of course you do, Master."

Mark approached the meeting room door, but just as he was about to take the handle he paused for an instant and let out a long sigh.

’Right,’ he thought, looking at the wooden door. ’Let’s get this over with once and for all.’

Then he opened the door and walked in, followed by Emperor Joseph.

After that the meeting began and, as was to be expected, it was tense.

Princess Luna had arrived expecting a private meeting with the Emperor of Death, convinced she could make her proposal without witnesses or complications.

And instead she found herself wrapped up in an improvised summit of heads of state, sitting at the same table as the emperor of a human empire her kingdom had never had any relations with.

Meanwhile Joseph, true to his style, tried to lighten the mood on more than one occasion. He made casual comments, diplomatic jokes, and told anecdotes intended to break the ice between the three rulers.

It didn’t work.

Princess Luna responded to his attempts with curt replies and cold looks, clearly annoyed at having to share the attention she had come to seek.

And Mark, for his part, simply maintained a serious expression while following the instructions Rose whispered to him through the mental link.

’Please someone get me out of here...’ Mark thought to himself throughout most of the meeting.

Even so, the meeting pressed on, and after a couple of hours of uncomfortable conversations, the three managed to reach several agreements.

Both Emperor Joseph and Princess Luna pledged to publicly back Mark’s new government before the rest of the human and demi-human kingdoms on the continent.

And, to be honest, that was an enormous diplomatic coup.

Having two powers back his government completely changed his standing before the rest of the world.

They also agreed to open trade routes between their respective kingdoms, something that benefited everyone involved and would help stabilize the elven kingdom’s economy, which was still wobbling after the recent changes.

And, in general terms, both expressed their interest in increasing cooperation with Mark’s kingdom going forward.

When the meeting finally came to an end, both Joseph and Luna, each on their own and without coordinating, asked Mark for exactly the same thing: to be able to discuss certain matters with him privately the following day.

Mark exchanged a few words with Rose through the mental link before accepting both requests.

And so, the exhausting afternoon finally gave way to night.

"That was a damn nuisance," Mark said, stretching his arms above his head as he walked through the palace corridors.

Aria, walking beside him, let out a small laugh.

"You’ll have to get used to it, Master," she said in an amused tone. "These kinds of events are only going to become more frequent from now on."

"That’s exactly what I’m afraid of..." Mark replied with a sigh. "And honestly, I hope that’s not the case."

"It’s part of the job, Master."

"...I suppose you’re right."

Aria laughed a little more at her Master’s complaints.

Both continued walking toward Mark’s room, crossing the palace’s empty corridors that at that hour of the night were silent except for the sound of their own footsteps. 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

Then, without warning, Yuki materialized before them.

"Master," she said with a brief bow of her head. "I came to inform you that both the emperor and the princess have already retired to the rooms assigned to them for the night."

"Good work," Mark replied.

"Is there anything else you need from me?"

Mark thought for a moment.

"Yes, I want you to keep an eye on both of them throughout the night," he said. "I want to know if they talk about anything when they think nobody’s listening, or if they do anything out of the ordinary... Anything that might give us an advantage over them before tomorrow’s meetings."

"Understood," Yuki replied. "If I discover anything relevant, I’ll report it to you immediately."

"I’m counting on you."

Yuki nodded once and disappeared again just as silently as she had appeared.

Mark and Aria continued on until they finally stopped in front of the door to Mark’s room.

"Well, you’d better get some rest," Mark said with another sigh. "Something tells me those two are going to give me even more headaches tomorrow than they gave me today."

"Probably," Aria said with a smile. "Either way, I’d better go give Rose or Emilia a hand. With all the paperwork those meetings left behind, they’re surely buried in it."

After that Aria said goodbye and continued down the corridor, while Mark watched her for a moment before going into his room.

Mark closed the door behind him and fell back onto the bed without even taking off his robe, staying for a moment staring at the ceiling as the accumulated exhaustion of the entire day finally caught up with him.

"Nobody told me governing would be this tiring..." he murmured, closing his eyes.

...

Emilia walked through the palace corridors with her shoulders slumped.

After spending hours entertaining the princess to buy Mark time, and then enduring an entire meeting full of tension and uncomfortable silences, her head was complete chaos.

"My head is killing me..." she murmured to herself while massaging her temple with two fingers. "I just want to sleep..."

But then a voice called out to her from behind.

"Queen."

Emilia stopped and turned toward the voice, finding Princess Luna standing a few meters away in the corridor.

"Princess," Emilia said, quickly recovering her composure and forcing a smile. "Do you need something? I thought you had already retired to rest."

"...Do you have a moment?" she asked in a serious tone. "I’d like to talk with you. In private."