Return in the morning

Feeling like a winner after the whole night marathon, you pull the hood low to cover your face, and begin the trek back toward the town center.

You haven't gone three houses when a shape lurches out of the grey gloom.

It’s the husband, staggering drunkedly, eyes unfocussed. He's so out of it that he doesn't see your outstretched leg and trip, his belly the only thing that prevent his face from smashing int the ground.

"Are you okay?" you ask, feigning worry.

A snore answers your question

You look down at him, and considered kicking him awake.

But you catch yourself, pulling your foot back. Every minute he spends dead to the world out here is a precious minute of silence back at the house. You think of his wife, still tucked under the heavy quilts, exhausted by the intense fucking the two of you did last night. She deserves the extra rest.

So, you leave him. Someone will find him sleeping on the ground later, or he himself may wake up. None of your business. With that, you return to the castle via a secret pathway. Since you're the king, you decide that you will reschedule any morning duties as you also need to sleep of the tiredness you're feeling right now.