“Damn,” Mark mumbled as he looped at the number of missives he needed to get through. The interface displayed on the desk said there were still 216 left, and every day more were added to the pile. Some days it was all he could do, but to break even. He had already taken care of like a 13 of them this morning, but would need to get through at least 20 to break even for the day. Of course his mentality was to continue to decrease the pile when he could. Another late day, Mark thought as he opened the next one.

  They were all nonsense. Suggested budgets and proposed rule changes. Bureaucracy at its finest. Couldn’t people just go with the flow? Why do people feel the need to regiment every matter of life? And why was he the one doing it all?

  Mark hmmpphhhd. Six months had passed since the end of the succession battle. Mark and Amelia had been forced through a whirlwind of banquets and meetings. It was an entirely new world for Mark, so why was he the better option for picking up the duties of the heir to the realm. Some things never changed.

  Amelia was not dumb, but she had some work to do before she was at the appropriate level to handle any of the work. Technically, she wasn’t the ruler of the realm yet. Her predecessor still likely had a few years left, but a small portion of the duties already fell to the heir. More would come as the reigns were fully handed over. Normally, most heirs had plenty of support from their families including people who had trained to handle administration duties for decades, but Amelia had wanted to cut off things with her family.

  Mark had fully supported the move since she clearly had not been treated too well growing up, but now it left him as the only guy to serve as her staff. He did not even understand half of what he was looking at. He spent half of his time scouring the interface to figure things out. Mark sighed. Amelia was going through a crash course of learning to get her up to speed, so she should be ready in another year or so. Not to mention there were plenty of responses to recruiting help. Despite her classes, Amelia was supposed to be the one looking through them first, but that had been the case for nearly a month.

  Light flooded into the room as the door to the office opened. It was Amelia. She was still small and dainty, but her pixie cut that she had sported at the beginning of the succession battle, now went down past her shoulder blades, and she planned to continue to grow it out. She looked slightly older, but still a bit young in the formal business blazer and skirt, like a college student trying to dress like a professional. It was attire that Mark would expect from a woman in her 30’s or 40s back on earth, but Amelia was clearly trying to look the part.

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  “Want to get lunch?” She said with a wide smile.

  “Some of us have horrible bosses who overwork us terribly, and the bosses aren’t doing their part to hire more help,” Mark said rolling his eyes.

  “I got a lot of expenses, a new residence for both of us, clothes, jewelry… I’m starting from scratch. The stipend is generous, but so are our costs right now. It’s not my fault they expect for us to have the support of a powerful family behind us. I will hire a few in a bit, just keep putting up with it for now. Now Come on lets go get lunch and then you can get back to it.”

  Mark just glared back at the girl.

  “Oh come on you need to eat. I plan to work you to death over a full life time, don’t want you timing out early.” She winked at him.

  Mark sighed standing. He threw back on his own matching blazer. To put it lightly, he was whipped. She had him totally under her thumb. In the higher realm, ties were important, and he had none besides her. It would be difficult to get anything of consequence with another group or company. Apparently, he could not really bank on having gained any popularity while acting as her champion, either. For most in the realm, she was the winner and he was just the hired help. Other than when he had saved her directly in the crafting house, the feed had downplayed his contributions.

  The only thing that got him through it was that they were pseudo dating… at least when they had the time… He was at least her date to the banquets they attended… Was she just stringing him along to use as a work horse till she was better situated? He dismissed the line of thought. He was closer to her than he had ever been to anyone not family, so it would probably all work out.

  “Have you been talking to Avery?”

  “Of course, she says she feels like an aquarium fish. I have to relate information about her enterprise back to her. For now, her brand is still pretty popular…”

  Mark should have known better. All of the other contenders were still alive… Well in a sense. It was a not so well guarded secret since there were conspiracy theories out there stating as much, but they were all still alive with their consciousness on a set aside server. As the heir to the realm, Amelia had some access as did most of the contender’s families to send messages. Ameliea used it to keep in touch with Avery, but had nothing to say but to gloat a little to a few of those she did not like as much.

  Apparently, he might have been included if they had lost… Maybe…. Sometimes Mark wondered if they were not the lucky ones. Alive for now in a separate dimension with no worries and none of the heir duties he was always swamped with. According to Amelia, she had been unsure of their fate, but Mark could not help but to second guess. The girl was clearly enjoying all the attention as the heir to the realm.

  “Come on, I’m hungry!” Amelia grabbed his hand, dragging him out. The door closed behind him. Amelia did not let go as the two continued down to the far too guchi cafe, in Mark’s opinion, on the third level.