167 Giving Punishment, Promising Rewards

Alicia decided it was time to leave after her head turned into a tomato thanks to Blake teasing her. Her destination was a certain someone's office in the castle. King Augustus was in the middle of looking over some documents when two figures suddenly appeared on top of his desk. He recognized both of these figures. The smaller one was Alicia while the bigger one was Blake. Blake gave King Augustus a look of pity as he quietly jumped down from the table without leaving a single footprint. But Alicia on the other hand landed firmly on the documents on his desk and stared down at him with frosty eyes.

"Sooooo… Royal Father…. Not only was there a disaster ranked demonic beast but also a catastrophe ranked one as well." Alicia tapped her muddy foot on his desk showing no intention of getting down.

"Alicia let me explain!" King Augustus really could not handle Alicia when she got mad at him. Mainly because every time she was mad at him she always had a good reason!

"There is nothing to explain! Those Demonic beasts could wipe out the entire kingdom but you go and use them as a way of testing your daughter! There are so many things that need to be said right now that I am not going to say. I only ask that from now on you please think before sending me off to do any special training! This time's training was canceled because I had to use a spell that completely changed the landscape of the entire Frozen Forest!" Alicia jumped off the table and landed on the floor. She turned around and grabbed the document she stepped on to wipe her footprints off but what she saw made her eyes grow even colder than they were before.

Walking over and standing next to King Agustus Alicia waved the document in the air and asked: "Royal Father who sent this to you?"

King Augustus took the document from Alicia and looked it over: "Viscount Harlane did why do you ask?"

"Read the third paragraph." Alicia had skimmed through it and found a few disturbing things.

King Augustus did as she asked and the more he read the more his brow knitted. "Charles! Bring Viscount Harlane to the main hall this instant!"

"Yes, your majesty!" Prime minister Charles quickly rushed out of the room.

King Agustus stood up and turned to Alicia. "You come to, I want you to do the questioning and punishment." He then looked at Blake. "You escort her to one of the side rooms and have the maids get one of the dresses I prepared for her, and tidy her up a bit."

Twenty minutes later in the main hall, Viscount Harlane was kneeling on the ground in front of King Augustus. King Augustus had yet to say a word as he waited for Alicia to show up. Becoming a bit impatient, Viscount Harlane, slowly raised his head and asked in a questioning tone. "Your Majesty?"

"Viscount Harlane, show some patience! The one who will be talking with you will be here soon." King Augustus's words shut Viscount Harlane up. But in the Viscount's mind, he was actually cursing King Augustus, for making him kneel for so long.

Another ten minutes later passed and the door to the main hall finally opened and in walked Alicia with Rose and Claire at her side and Blake following behind her. "I am terribly sorry Royal Father. It took a bit of time to get ready. Oh? And who is this man here Royal Father? Is he a merchant? He must be a merchant, only merchants have such shiny tops to their heads."

King Augustus almost choked when he heard Alicia's words. But he understood this was her way of doing things. She wanted to rile the Viscount up so he would make slips of the tongue. He understood this tactic well since Prime Minister Charles uses it all the time.

"Who are you!? What right do you have to act in such a manner before his Majesty!?" The Viscount had never seen Alicia before and it seemed he was not up to date on the news. So he figured it was someone not from the Alastine kingdom. Which allowed him to grow a bit bolder. It seemed the Viscount had tuned out the whole Royal Father part of Alicia's words

"Who me? I am the one you are trying to marry off to some neighboring country, all because some prince that I have no clue about saw me and took a liking to me. Viscount Harlane, Do you even know who I am?" Alicia's gaze was sharp. This viscount wanted to marry her off to some prince who had been here for a trade deal. He wanted to use this chance to rise in rank by gaining a better deal if he could ship Alicia off to be married.

"You… You..." Viscount Harlane finally realized something was amiss. He looked at Alicia who was dressed in refined clothes fit for a princess and the people following her. He noticed her high level guards and even the youngest knight ever produced by the kingdom was present and following her. Cold sweat began to drip down his back as he realized he might have made a graze mistake.

"Oh… Seems you have realized something. So let me ask you Royal Father, what is the punishment for trying to sell off a member of the royal family?" Alicia turned and asked King Augustus.

"It is of course death by beheading and that also goes for nine generations of his family as well." King Augustus casually answered.

"Pri-Princess please have mercy I did not know!" Viscount Harlane quickly dropped to his knees and pressed his forehead against the carpet.

"Seeing as how you did not even know who I was, I will be lenient but… This does not mean you can get away with selling off the citizens of this kingdom to some prince from who knows where. Since Royal Father has given me full authority over this matter, you will still be a noble but will be demoted down to Baron. You are still able to rise back up but for the next ten years, you will work and help the poorer villages and towns within the kingdom and try to come up with ways to allow them to have better lives. If I see that you have done a good job on this matter in ten years' time I, Alicia Von Alastine, will personally ask my Royal Father to raise your rank to Earl. But if this ever happens again you will not only lose all noble ranks but will be brought into court to have your punishment decided. I do not think this is a bad deal, wouldn't you say?"

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