Chapter Seventy: My Last Mistake:

“You couldn’t do it,” Judith said over my head. “You just couldn’t do it.” I said nothing. I couldn’t even look at her. I had failed. What made it worse was she didn’t sound surprised at all. Still, I could see the look in her eyes when she walked into my office. Judith sighed and rubbed her forehead.

“I should’ve sent someone to watch after you,” she said. I shrugged my shoulders.

“This is going to be a nightmare to fix,” she muttered.

“I know,” I said. She whipped around to me.

“Do you?” Judith asked. She glared at me. That was my cue to shut up. She cleared her throat.

“Anyway, I will deal with it,” my subject said. I tilted my head.

“What do you mean by that?” I asked. “What are you going to do?” Judith didn’t answer. Instead, she walked over to my office door.

“Judith?” I asked. She waved me off as she walked out of the room. I lowered my hand. I could feel my stomach sinking. I didn’t like where this was heading.

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The next few weeks were too tight. Judith kept a close eye on me. I was only allowed to work and see my children. My boys had their questions about their mother. I gave off on trying to answer them. Mommy was sick was the only thing I could tell them. The two older boys could sense that something was wrong. It hurt to see the looks in their eyes.

“You can’t worry about them,” Judith said. “You have to keep this kingdom together. They need you. We need you. I need you!” I turned my head.

“I don’t get it,” I said. She narrowed her eyes at me.

“Get what?” Judith asked. I put up my hands.

“Why do you even care?” I asked. She grabbed me by the cheeks.

“Because I want you to be the king I know you can be!” Judith shouted. “You are better than this! You shouldn’t lower yourself to his creatures!” I clicked my tongue.

“That’s my wife you’re talking about!” I yelled.

“And look what that got her!” she yelled back. I froze. Judith let go of my face.

“Now quit this tomfoolery and be better at your job,” she said. Her calmer tone sent chills down my body. Judith turned and walked out of my office.

“I’ve got a mess to clean up,” she muttered to herself. I sat as the door swung closed. Something inside of me started to click into place. I couldn’t keep going back and forth. I was the king and creator of my kingdom. My subjects needed a stronger leader. I have let things fall by the waste side for too long. Time to start screwing around take things more seriously. I made a promise to myself that I would so better. I wasn’t going to disappoint Judith anymore. I was going to do better and be a better king. I walked out of my office. First, I needed to clean myself up. If I was going to be taken seriously, I was going to have to look the part. Hey, it was all part of my plan to be better.

However, there was going to be hiccup in my plans.