[color=#b97703]“That doesn’t matter,”[/color] Cas shook his head. [color=#b97703]“It’s not like that’s new or anything, and it’s never stopped us before.”[/color] He didn’t like the way Iris was talking. The fact that she was bringing up more cons to their relationship made him nervous that she was weighing whether or not to continue being together at all. So, when she laid out her fear that she wasn’t good enough for him, he didn’t waste a second as he replied, [color=#b97703]“You know I don’t care about the fact that you’re not a highborn, Iris. I love you for who you are, and I still want to be with you no matter what anyone else thinks. As soon as I take care of the warrant, we can put all the other stuff behind us.”[/color]

At least, he hoped so. Realistically, he knew they would still have a few hurdles to jump even after they were able to get away from the long distance thing. Plenty of highborns wouldn’t be happy with his decision to be with someone from outside the capital—and who had been part of the Scourge—so he would have some cleaning up to do when word got out that he had a girlfriend. Still, he wasn’t too concerned about it. He’d been doing a lot of work to establish his reputation since he’d been crowned king, so hopefully the people of Aspiria were happy enough with him so far that they wouldn’t lose faith in him over something so trivial.

Deciding not to dwell on it when he didn’t have much more time left with Iris, he pushed the thoughts from his mind. [color=#b97703]“Talking to you is always the highlight of my day,”[/color] he assured her with a soft smile. [color=#b97703]“Things have been hard lately, but no one can control that. You don’t have to be upbeat all the time for me to enjoy spending time with you.”[/color] He didn’t want her to feel like she had to make him smile every time they had a phone call. That was too heavy of a burden for anyone to carry.

Taking her by the hand, he led the way into the kitchen and shrugged when she asked if he was sure he wanted to go through the old food. [color=#b97703]“No reason to let it go to waste if there’s something to be salvaged,”[/color] he said, glancing over the plates that lined the counters. Some of the food was obviously old and very stale or spoiled, while other plates were a little harder to estimate. All of it was something he never would have been served by any chef who wanted to stay out of jail for giving a royal food poisoning. However, he’d had a few tough meals in the distracts, so he wasn’t as unnerved by the thought of playing roulette with the food that looked okay to eat.

[color=#b97703]“Do you remember which dishes you ordered most recently?”[/color] he asked, hoping Iris could at least give some sort of clue as to what they could have for lunch that wouldn’t give them stomach cramps. With another day packed to the brim with meetings, he wanted to give himself the best odds to avoid running in and out of the bathroom all day.