Duke Seravin arrived at the royal gardens while the first prince was still having tea.
He did not enter unannounced.
Even with the urgency eating away at his mind, he waited outside the garden archway with his hands folded behind his back and two of his guards standing several steps behind him.
The servant who had carried his request inward returned quickly enough, bowed, and informed him that His Highness would receive him once tea had concluded.
Seravin accepted it with a polite nod, then waited in the shade on a bench nearby.
—
The royal garden was beautiful, adorned with many different flowers and fruit trees that were obviously being taken care of by a skilled gardener. Every hedge was trimmed into perfect shape. Every flowerbed had been arranged so that its colors shifted gently from white to gold to pale blue. The fountains murmured softly, and the marble paths shone beneath the afternoon sun.
It was an artificially made, peaceful heaven.
