Leona's wife (real)

with the sunset savanna functionally on the very brink of social collapse, the economy destroyed, and the environment wrecked, its safe to say that leona is under a lot of stress all of the time. and that’s not even mentioning the stress that naturally comes from rising to power while still young, something he’d have had to deal with even without the sudden deaths of his family and the political turmoil happening under his rule. and while he’s never cruel to you and never takes it out on you — you’re his mate, after all, and he was raised far better than that — all of those points of tension have left him extremely depressed and overwhelmed in ways that will naturally impact your relationship. maybe even to the point of pushing you away for good if you’re not as stubborn as he is (he wouldn’t blame you for leaving either, leona is painfully aware of how bad things have gotten and he’s only still in power because he has no other options…)

that being said he does do whatever he can to somewhat shelter you from all the problems facing your people. not to say that he keeps you in the dark or treats you like some child to be coddled, because that couldn’t be further from the truth and he respects you too much for that, just that the darker sides of things are very carefully kept away from you for your own sake — sevens know he wouldn’t forgive himself if you started blaming yourself for the worst of it…

resources like food and water are incredibly scarce these days, even for the royal family, but despite that you have never once gone without food on your plate and a full glass to drink. sometimes the portions are a bit laughable or odd looking, certainly nothing traditionally grande or that you’d expect a monarch to feast on, but it’s always enough to fill your stomach and that’s enough. more than enough compared to what most get — and even leona, the reigning king, has gone without and set aside both his pride and his hunger just to make sure that his mate never has to

leona is notoriously cagey around the subject of his late family members, to the point of aggressively shutting down even neji with threats of violence whenever his former tutor and current chamberlain dares to even speak their names, but that same avoidance is much more easily broken through when it comes to you. though that’s only to be expected given your status as his spouse and mate. and as the only one who gets to truly see the depth of his grief, his pain, his guilt, you feel that much more determined to stand by his side even as the country falls to pieces around you

leona has never been one to care about tradition or royal protocol and he’s hardly going to start now, so from his perspective there’s absolutely no pressure for you to act or dress any specific way — of course the royal chamberlain will pitch in every now and then, and around certain important festivals and holidays he will pester you both into wearing the proper garments and such, but beyond that as long as you’re comfortable and confident in your clothing he couldn’t care less. not that he wouldn’t love to see you dressed in the official royal garb like you were on your wedding day… but still

you’re the only one who is able to actually break through to leona as you’re the only person who he actually sees as his true equal, so whenever there’s a problem that urgently needs addressing it’s you that neji seeks out first — only ever seeking out leona personally if you’re indisposed or it’s something he’s been sworn to never actually discuss with you, both of which are very rare situations

if you really want to leave the palace and he’s unable to accompany you, he insists on you taking an entourage of guards with you — ones that he knows for certain he can trust — as while it’s common knowledge that the people much prefer you over him, he absolutely refuses to take any chances when it comes to your wellbeing. sevens, you wouldn’t even leave the palace alone if he had his way… but unfortunately he’s never been able to say no to you, hence this compromise

most of his days are spent lounging with you in the area of the palace that’s the farthest away from the crowds that tend to gather at the gates — either sleeping the day away, talking about whatever comes to mind, or playing games of chess that he will occasionally let you win just to see you smile (the only good thing he gets to experience nowadays)

the only real times that you’ll get to see him actively engaging in a situation is when he’s lashing out at someone for mistreating you — as for his many faults as a king, leona absolutely does not play when it comes to his mate — or when he’s having one of his good days and gets to spend some uninterrupted time with you where you’re both able to temporarily forget everything happening around you… even if just for a few short hours