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“You’re overdoing it again,” was all Felix said by way of greeting as he stood in the doorway to the king’s office.
Dimitri looked up from his paperwork, dark circles under his eyes. “Nonsense, Felix. It is not even midnight and I still have to review these papers and reply to Rodrigue’s letter.”
Felix didn’t look convinced. “Tch. My old man can wait. You barely slept last night either and you won’t write a coherent letter with such a sleep clouded head.”
With a sigh, Dimitri put down his papers. He supposed Felix was right; he had been attempting to read through the same document for the past half an hour but the meaning of its contents kept getting lost on him every time he felt himself nodding off and losing concentration. “I suppose you are right…still, I had better wake up early tomorrow. There’s still so much to do.”
“Focus on getting yourself enough sleep tonight before you start worrying about tomorrow? You won’t be of any help to anyone if you end up passing out from exhaustion.”
“Yes, yes I know. We’ve had this conversation many a time.”
“And still you never learn.”
“…You know, Felix,” Dimitri said as he followed him out of the room, a mischievous glint appearing in his eye, “When you come to my office like this every evening to make sure I’m not still working…it almost seems like you care about me.”
Felix scowled. “I care that the king of Faerghus doesn’t die of exhaustion. It’d be a pain having to deal with the fights over your succession.”
Dimitri chuckled quietly to himself. He had expected Felix would say something defensive like that. “Well you do an excellent job of making sure that doesn’t happen,” he replied. “I truly appreciate it.”
“Well…good. Putting the king to bed is hardly supposed to be one of my duties. Or anyone’s for that matter. You have to get a hold of yourself.”
“Yes I know…and I know I always say I will but there’s always so much more to do. And if I’m honest, I’d miss these conversations. It feels like we never get opportunities to talk nowadays.”
“We talked this morning about the treaty with Shreng.”
“You know that’s not what I mean.”
“…Fine. When do you have your dinner? If it’ll mean you get to bed on time I don’t mind rearranging my schedule so that we can eat together and we can talk then.”
“That sounds excellent. I look forward to it.”
“So do I…” Felix replied quickly as they reached the king’s chamber. “Now get some sleep.”
“I will. Thank you, Felix.”