Work Text:
By silent candlelight the Rules Card wrote, dipping his quill in royal blue ink. Mountains of paperwork to look over, all dumped unto him by the terror of His Majesty. How long had it been since he'd put Lancer down to sleep? He didn't know. Hours ago probably. Hardly important now, he figured, with so many deadlines to meet.
Another paper in the finished pile, another paper plucked from the work yet to be finished.
Ugh. Another new puzzle architecture plan to look over. Rouxls swore he could feel his brain oozing out of his ears from the sheer monotony of it all. Allowing himself an annoyed groan, the Duke rubbed at his eyes which were drowning in sleep, hoping to massage them to life renewed. A deafening clank soon arose from outside Rouxls's quarters, however, waking the Duke up far faster than even the strongest espresso coffee.
The clanking only continued. It almost sounded like armor.
Roused from his chair, Rouxls took the white candle by the silver handle of the home it made in the extravagant candleholder befitting the rest of the royal's decor and crossed the floor quickly to make it to his door. He knew what the night patrol sounded like as countless nights up working made him very familiar to jingling footsteps ambling in the dark but this... This certainly was not any one of them. With a quiet creak, Rouxls opened the door to peek through the widening sliver, hoping to see whatever fiend may have lain past it.
There was a heavily armored figure there, in the dark, just beyond his candle's light. Rouxls's eyes widened, unfamiliar with this knight hidden in shadow. Had the Spade King somehow forgotten to clue him in on this strange Sir? Or did the King think such information beneath the Duke's station...
Rouxls was inspired to investigate regardless.
"HALT!" Rouxls called after the figure, soon stepping out of the safety of his room and holding his candle before him to light the space betwixt the two.
There was a man there. Tall and lanky, Rouxls could tell, even in shining platinum armor that broadened the silhoutte. And the man looked back at him from behind the shade of his helmet's visor. A pinprick of white in darkness.
Rouxls felt like he was sweating under the other man's odd gaze.
"Wh-who art thee? What be thine business h're?" Rouxls pressed on, despite his voice's faltering.
"I AM- YOUR KING'S KNIGHT," a surprisingly mechanical voice greeted Rouxls's query. Something akin to that one program that Rouxls vaguely remembered read text aloud. The Knight stepped toward the royal, causing Rouxls to jump just slightly. "CARRYING OUT ROYAL DUTIES. MAY I ASK WHAT YOU ARE DOING UP SO LATE YOURSELF, DUKE?"
"I-I, er- Uh... I'ms't carryinge out royal duties mineself?" Rouxls sputtered. How did this Knight know him already? Did his reputation as the new Duke of Puzzles really exceed him so much? "Lookingeth over puzzle plans and approvings't budgets and such..."
A strange silence hung over the air.
"I REMEMBER A TIME WHEN I HAD SIMILAR DUTIES. THAT TIME IS... GONE NOW. REGARDLESS OF THAT, IT IS VERY LATE. I SINCERELY HOPE THAT YOU ARE NOT OVERWORKING YOURSELF."
"'Tis... difficult not to, Sir Knight," Rouxls offered with a hesitant and awkward smile. "So many deadlines to meeteth..."
"AND SO LITTLE LIFE YET TO LIVE. IT IS BEST TO ENJOY YOUR TIME ON THIS MORTAL COIL, DUKE."
Ruminating on this thought, Rouxls looked at the man with a raised brow.
"...A fan of the great classics thyself, art thou, Sir Knight?"
"PERHAPS."
Rouxls felt like he was hearing things, but that robotic voice almost sounded to have a smile in it. Was it strange for Rouxls to be smiling wider because of it, he questioned himself.
"I MUST LEAVE NOW," The Knight began as he closed that space between he and Rouxls. "DO NOT OVEREXERT YOURSELF, THY GRACE."
And with that, a gauntlet shining white slid forth from the dark to pinch the candle's wick and leave Rouxls alone there in the sudden dark. So many emotions roiled within the Kaard as he wandered back to his room over the interaction with that strange Knight, it was safe to say he knew he wouldn't be sleeping for another good few hours.
Still, he skipped past the awaiting paperwork upon his desk and made himself ready for bed regardless of the feelings that arose from the oddly... nice encounter. Perhaps the Knight's advice was useful, Rouxls thought to himself as he clambered his worldweary bones into bed. Platinum hair met silken pillow and in but a few moments the world was covered in darkness. A darkness that felt just a hint less lonely.