"I see," said Uncle Steve as he was about to nod, but suddenly he realized what Princess Darlene had just said. "Wait WHAT!!, you are playing with me right Princess? "
"No, I'm being serious Uncle" Princess Darlene was calm and cool as there was no uncertainty in her mind about her plan.
Unlike Darlene, Uncle Steve felt like he was just about to have a heart attack
"Princess, you didn't even meet with the king of Everlight? And what made you think he would agree to do this?"
"Uncle, have you ever heard of a kingdom called Everlight before?" Princess Darlene asked.
Uncle Steve rubbed his chin and pondered for a moment before answering
"Now you are asking, indeed I've never heard of it till a couple of weeks ago"
"Exactly, what does it tell you?"
"Either it's a newly found kingdom or a small puny kingdom," Uncle Steve said.
"For a king of such a small kingdom, he would do anything that gives him a chance to develop his kingdom and also he's just a man. How could he refuse to help a helpless Princess like me?"
Uncle Steve knew the Princess would never do something that she was never sure about and seeing her calm demeanor, it was clear that she's not going to back away from her plan. After thinking about Princess Darlene's he had one last question to ask
"Tell me Princess what are you going to offer him so he would do this bidding of yours?"
"I'm going to give..." suddenly Princess paused and looked at the door
"Who's there?" as the Princess asked, Uncle Steve saw the maid of King Warren slowly opened the door and stepped forward
"Princess, my lord they are here"
***********************************
"How's your journey, Joel?" as Warren greeted Joel, he gasped his mouth full of air seeing the girl stepping out of the carriage behind Joel.
The girl was young, fair, and beautiful, her slender figure looked like a perfectly crafted statue. As she finished stepping out of the carriage, Warren realized she was not a human girl but a demi-human noticing the fluffy long ears above her head, she was a bunny girl nonetheless she was extremely cute. Her black hair was as waves of pure clay, gently reflecting the light of the sun as each strand was swaying loosely in the breeze, a compliment to her black leathery dress.
"It's an honor to meet you, King Warren" The girl had a voice that's so gentle and sweet that it almost sounded like music in Warren's ears.
"Honor is mine, miss?"
"You can call me Glacia, King Warren.I'm just a bodyguard to Mister Joel "
"You bastard, you have such a cute girl as your bodyguard" Warren's inner voice cursed Joel but he couldn't afford to show his emotions like that given he's a king now.
Awkward silence for a moment between the three of them.
"King Warren, I assume we have guests waiting for us?" Joel asked and broke the silence.
"Yes, follow me" Joel and Glacia started to walk towards the throne hall following Warren with his four guards following them.
Entering the throne hall, Joel saw the newly decorated hall of former King, King Hedor. A long red rug was spread down from the throne for a few meters before coming to an end while rounded banners with adorned tips were swinging gently from the walls.
At the end of the hall, a striking throne made of mahogany sits under an impressively decorated canopy like structure and was adjoined by two smaller and less fancy seats which one of them was for most likely for Loren as Joel thought.
"He looks..." Princess Darlene pondered seeing the blonde youth following King Warren.
"Ordinary?" Uncle Steve said standing beside Princess Darlene.
No matter how Darlene looked, the youth was not what Darlene imagined in her mind. Although the blonde youth had a well-built body and seemed a little handsome, in Darlene's mind he had no aura of a king just like Warren.
Princess Darlene was slightly expected more from the king of Everlight when she heard the events that happened during the final stages of the rebellion in Emir from her spies. However seeing the ordinary looking youth before her, Darlene was sure most of the stories were fabricated or exaggerated. Nonetheless, Darlene was not going to back away from her plan and from her experience, she believed that normal looking guys like him would certainly be mesmerized by her beauty and do anything just to have a chance of talking to her let alone helping her and earning her favor.
"Thanks for coming to see me, King…?" This was the first time Joel seeing a Princess in a hand reach distance. The girl before was the definition of beauty, with her cherry lips and rosy cheeks, she would never fail to raise a youngster's heartbeat. Her sweet voice was every bit as stunning as her beauty, her golden dress was tight enough to show her flawless figure.
Seeing the princess reaching out her hand for a handshake, Joel lowered his head and bowed towards the princess
"Your Highness, Princess of Korrinth I'm Joel, just a messenger for His Royal Highness Don, the king of Everlight"
"That explains it," Darlene thought to herself and noticed the demihuman girl standing behind him.
"This is?" Darlene's voice had a small variation when she asked Joel looking at Glacia. The girls and women Darlene had seen since now were not even close to Darlene's beauty but the demihuman girl before her nearly shook Darlen's arrogance about her beauty.
"I'm Glacia, Princess" Glacia did a curtsy and introduced herself
"And are you?" Darlene wanted to ask whether she was a slave as having a demihuman beauty as slaves were usual among the nobles, however seeing Glacia's outfit and the way she conducted herself before Darlene had shown that she was not a mere slave.
"I'm the guardian for Mister Joel, Princess " just like Darlene had thought she was not a slave. Warren saw the princess also flabbergasted at the point that this cute bunny was a bodyguard.
Unlike Warren, Princess Darlene's interest in Glacia peaked. At this moment Darlene didn't think about anything else but Glacia's strength.
Joel felt like he was invisible to the princess as she studied Glacia from top to bottom.
"So tell me Glacia, what level are you?" Darlene asked. Normally, mages or people would not ask about someone's life energy cultivation level because having an element of surprise in the battle was crucial to winning, besides this unwritten rule kept weak or low-level mages safe from being bullied by the strong as no one would no someone's level until they cast a spell or engage in battle.
However being a princess gave the privilege to ask such questions like this, especially to someone who's not a noble or royalty such as Glacia.
Joel and Warren felt uncomfortable when they heard Darlene's question but Glacia smiled "I just entered into the great master level, Princess"
Darlene's heart skipped a beat when she heard Glacia. Darlene could see Glacia was younger than she is but reaching the great master level at such a young age would certainly be a rare talent.
"You are a talented one girl," Uncle Steve said and nodded his head.
"Let's have a seat and talk about other matters, shall we?" Warren clapped his hands and the maids came carrying various refreshments.
After taking their seats, Warren dismissed the guards from the hall. Warren sat on his throne while Joel and Princess Darlene sat facing each other. Uncle Steve took the seat beside Princess Darlene as Glacia just stood behind Joel.
"I was expecting to see your King, Mister Joel" Princess Darlene put down the glass and said.
"Your request was too sudden Princess, His highness couldn't leave. You know how it is, running a kingdom"
Princess Darlene nodded her head
"Where's your kingdom, Mister Joel? To be honest I've never heard of Everlight before"
"Everlight is a newly found kingdom princess and it's too far away from here"
"Couldn't he stay in Emir? I know King Warren swore his loyalty to your King, doesn't it mean he's the true king here?"
Warren didn't take any offense hearing Princess Darlene since he knew what she just said was indeed the truth,
"That's because His highness has full confidence in King Warren's ability to rule Emir just like he would"
"We didn't mean any offense King Warren, Mister Joel"
Uncle Steve said looking at Warren and Joel as they both shook their head
"It's alright, the Princess's questions are reasonable," Joel said and sipped some of his drink.
"I'll be direct with you Mister Joel, the reason I'm here is to ask for your King Don's help.it's a quiet sensitive matter that's why I asked your king to meet me in person"
"Rest assured Princess, talking to me is the same as talking to his highness. You can tell me what you want from us?"
Princess Darlene sighed and started to tell the events from her marriage union with the Agorian prince to her plan to get into the Cold Moon Palace as an inner disciple, she also didn't hide the fact she ran away from Korrinth without telling anyone.
When she finished telling her story, Warren wiped away his cold sweat from his forehead and looked at Joel.
Joel understood how the marriage union works and the consequences of breaking it but he didn't understand why the princess asked for Don's help or how he was able to help the princess with this situation.
"This is a tricky situation Princess, but I don't get why you are asking for his highness Don's help? I'm not sure how he can help you?"
The Princess showed her beautiful smile as she said
"I'm sure he can help me, Mister Joel. The question is will he help me?"
Joel still didn't get how can Don help with her situation and Joel waited for Princess to tell what she wants, however when Joel heard the princess he almost coughed up all the drink he had
"I want King Don to pretend to be my lover for two months,"