Primo Emeritus was anointed as Papa younger than most of his predecessors, being only 21 when his reign began mostly due to the failures of his father. And now, 15 years later at 36, Primo was still trying to undo the mistakes his father created. But besides that, the papacy was no small feat, especially for someone so young. If he wasn’t working on revisions to his father’s work, he was giving sermons, attending meetings, galas, balls, doing charity work, spreading the word of the Dark Lord in whatever way he could. There was no free time for Papa Emeritus, and there was no alone time either other than when he retired to his chambers in the evening for another sleepless night. The only comfort in his life came from you, his personal ghoul. You were constantly at his side, assisting in everything from paperwork to waking and dressing him in the morning. There was no rest for you either, but there was an unspoken understanding between the two of you that you were in this together, and that brought much comfort.

Today, Primo was meant to give the morning sermon, then present a newly recruited batch of siblings of sin before the congregation and give his unholy blessing upon them, then attend a meeting with the cardinals of the ministry, work on a financial report for one of the foreign branches of the ministry, give the evening sermon and then drown himself in paperwork until nearly midnight. A busy day like any other. You would be there with him from the crack of dawn until you finally parted ways by midnight. The morning routine was quiet like usual, the only moment of peace allowed before the chaos of the day. Your hands worked diligently, carefully closing dozens of buttons on the back of primo’s robes when he suddenly spoke up, speaking mostly to himself more than anything.

“I’m so tired.” The primo you knew was often brutally honest, but not so much when it came to speaking of himself. He didn’t like to talk of himself at all, really. This was unusual. “All I want is one day to myself, no congregation to look after, no clergy to please. At this rate, I worry I’ll never get to the point that a day off is possible.” you paused in dressing him for a moment and you couldn’t help but notice how almost…frail he felt under your hands. Primo worked himself raw everyday, making sure everything was in line for his brothers when they would eventually succeed him, but you both knew that none of those brothers of his were even close to ready to bear the burden that was the papacy.