Chapter 54

“Your Majesty.”

Lu Havre had a clear smile on his face.

“Speak. I was listening.”

Duke Morhus cleared his throat. “Yes. First of all, we once again apologize for changing the subject of the meeting all of a sudden.”

“It’s no problem.”

“Thank you, Your Majesty, for your generous mind as always. Now, the subject…”

The duke had inner sigh, then stood up from his seat.

“It’s more of just a collection of our opinions on this subject. Please excuse the way I stood up without asking you first, Your Majesty. There are lots of people who would like to know the meaning behind your action of escorting the princess last night at Menang. Of course, Your Majesty—”

Lu Havre did not stop the duke from rising up. Then he gestured for the duke to stop talking.

And the king laughed. It wasn’t the same as when he had his knife covered in blood. It seemed true as if coming from his heart.

“Yes, so you are asking about what’s on my mind.”

“Yes. Would you like to share it with us, Your Majesty?”

“I will confirm my opinion here, today.”

As looking at the king smiling, Duke Moncheta doubted what he just saw.

The king was human, too, he thought. There had been numerous types of people that he’s seen as a duke for past years. He was sure that he knew a person when he saw them, but the king seemed to be the exception. He thought he knew the king. However, he only thought that the king has a cold heart with his knife and blood, but that was wrong. He was surprised.

“The princess of Skara, Ashite, will get married with me.”

Clearly, Lu Havre knew a more specific expression than this. He wanted to marry her, or he wanted her to be his wife. However, it seemed unnecessary to tell these people in front of him. They would’ve understood what he said either way. The most important thing here was his strong will, that the king of this country was sure about this and he and Ashite were seeing each other. He wanted to make sure that these people wouldn’t say any other words.

Even this did not matter to him, frankly. He did not care what they said. But there was a reason why he was doing this. To Lu Havre, it was making an environment for her to comfortably make her own decision. He wanted her to make her own decision for her own life and emotions without worrying about anything else.

Lu Havre gently looked down. Dark, thick lashes made a slight shadow on him. He hoped they won’t deny it. That was coming from his heart.

“Your Majesty.”

The first one to open his mouth was Marquis Banassi. Lu Havre looked into his eyes, pretending like he was not concerned.

“Speak.”

Marquis took a deep breath. He had to choose his words wisely. If the princess became the queen, it was not okay with him. If everything got decided here, even he couldn’t wish for his tiniest hope. That was how he came all the way here, so he could not back off now.

But, him saying it was truly dangerous. The words could stab the king, or himself back, too. And he would end up seeing his own blood.

“You cannot let the blood of a free spirit run through the Monterobis royal family. We cannot let the blood of unknown root to be mixed with the blood of the dragon. As a vassal, a servant of Nante, we cannot let this happen, therefore we gathered our opinions. Your Majesty, please consider this again. There are plenty of ladies in this country from various noble families that would be a perfect fit for the queen’s position. And your majesty is aware of this. Please think of this matter again.”

It was not hard to clearly say their purpose. It’s not that he would lose his confidence in the king’s red eyes. However, just thinking about starting this made his throat dry. He was anxious. It wasn’t just him — everyone in this meeting could not say anything, although they all saw what happened last night. Lots of people had agreed that they cannot see the princess becoming the queen, and that was why it was important to change the subject of the meeting.

However, the marquis already knew that no one in this meeting had guts to say what they wanted to say.

The origin of Del Monte III was not the greatest, either.

It was bad that even the previous queen mentioned it at the Terre festival. Everyone knew that Del Monte III was truly a Nante. There was no way people didn’t know about it, and no one was denying it. However, the story was a bit different once the story of his mother got involved. She was from a similar background as the free spirits. That made the reasons to deny the princess less effective. Also, free spirits tended to be treated better than the people of Skara in this country. Compared to what Tara had done, what that free spirit girl did to Skara royals was nothing.

And the king was aware of it. Marquis Banassi bit his lips. He could not even figure out where everything went wrong. He didn’t even know if anything was wrong. He was rushing only in the beginning, and after the princess from Skara was not even someone he could have predicted. Once he noticed there was something going on between the king and the princess, it was too late. There was no going back. Even the realization was late. There was nobody who could stop Nante’s will. Everything he’d done was for nothing.

“I—” Lu Havre smiled as if he saw through their mind. “—think that there is no better partner than her.”

He said it in such a friendly tone. People were confused if this was the office at Moinster’s or if that person was the king. Duke Moncheta held onto his laugh that almost burst out. It would have been enough for the king to say that the princess was the perfect fit as a queen. The king was cutting any options off by saying so.

Lu Havre did not wait for any responses.

“First of all, it’s mentioned on Jeice Pact.”

It was such a small part of the pact. There was no mention about the marriage between Del Monte III and the third princess of Skara. Just as it said, it meant that nobody could interfere with the way the king treated the princess. The princess could have been a slave, a prostitute, or a servant.

Or she could also be a lady who was treated the best in this country to be on the most luxurious and beautiful position. That one meaningless part of the pact became such an important point on this subject. The king had her, and he decided to marry her.

“Second of all, there had been a talk of marriage with Skara and according to Latrice Pact, and nobody from Skara can interfere about my decision.”

The point of Latrice Pact was to avoid a power battle between the new heroes of the countries, opening up the new generation of the world. This was also a reasonable point for the subject. It meant that even if the princess became the queen, Skara could not control or handle any part of Monterobis. The family who married a royal, whichever family she was from, would enjoy both their wealth and reputation. In some cases, this further affected the safety of the country. Therefore, this pact showed that the princess wouldn’t cause a threat to the safety of the country.

However, this also meant that the current royal could not expect any reputation, honor, or wealth from the queen’s side either. The king was not hesitating, although he knew about this.

Marquis Banassi was biting his lips so hard that he was almost eating them. All these points that the king stated were all known by the nobles. So, the king was not stating these just in case his vassals were worried. From the beginning, he is just confirming how strong his will to make this happen.

“Don’t you dare go against my will. You cannot stop what the king wants to do. She cannot threaten this country. You all are aware of this, and you dare interfere with my decision to pick my own partner just for your own benefit?”

“However, Your Majesty…” Duke Morhus took a second. The king won’t be able to say anything anyway. He had to lead the way with his knife. He understood Duke Moncheta’s intension. He was aware of this. He himself wasn’t even that desperate, either. However, he thought it was only right to say what needed to be said as a vassal of Monvixo royal.

Therefore, the duke tried to get straight to the point in this conversation that was just going in circles the most important part.

“The princess is…” Duke Morhus did not take his eyes off of the king. He only needed to say one more phrase.

“Tell me.”

Only the words were soft. The king already knew what the meaning behind them would be. Lu Havre stopped smiling. It was good to make a strong point and use his smile as a weapon.

“The blood―”

“Duke, are you aware of what you are saying right now?”

The meeting froze up suddenly.

The duke wanted to continue what he was saying. He tried to tell himself. This was all the king’s acting. The king would not show his true emotions easily. It was only to stop him from saying it, or to show his will; the king was only pretending to be mad. So, he tried to finish what he was saying.

“Do you not know how Monterobis was built?”

The king brought up a different topic.

Right before the first wall of the moon that divided the ancient time and current time happened, the dragons felt an abnormality in the world and went back to their birthplace. However, there was one young dragon who lost its one wing from humans’ hunting and was left in the world alone. A low-class woman took care of him. She took care of him so well and the dragon was with her knowing her kindness to him. But it was not easy for a woman to survive in chaos. The story was told that while he was gone to help his son out in Mons war, he lost the very first and very last woman in his life, then he went back to his nature again.

After that, the first war of a long battle against evil spirits was done, and the heroes of Latrice built their own country and became the leaders of their own country. The dragon put his son in charge of taking care of the country. However, he used his name and his woman’s name to name the country. The only woman that the dragon loved was a low-class person who died before the country was built. Most of all, in order to write a history just to respect Monvixo and Nante, the woman was degraded and still was known that way now.

So, the reason why the king was bringing this up was to confirm his will as part of the dragon Monvixo, and furthermore as a blood relative of his.

Duke Morhus tried to keep his face straight. However, there were only a few who would predict what was about to come. This made the atmosphere a bit awkward. Before all of the nobles were confused, Lu Havre continued what he was saying.

“Also, Duke. Are you indirectly talking about my mother?”

“No, Your Majesty.”

The answer came out right away. It wasn’t on purpose.

No one expected the king to bring up his mother before anyone else. The story of Tara was treated as if it were banned. Ever since Del Monte III became the king, no one talked about the previous king’s fourth concubine. Of course, Lu Havre did not have a reason to bring it up first. It wouldn’t help him in any way, as it would only remind him of negative things. No one could dare talk about her in front of him, or even behind him. Everyone would be aware after seeing the king’s cruelty.

If the king brought this story up on his own and showed his emotions at the office of Moinster, it meant something.

“Duke.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Continue what you were saying.”

The way he spoke slightly changed. The atmosphere was completely different now. Lu Havre lightly leaned on his chair. His posture was that of a predator, and his facial expression was cold.

Duke Morhus was older than the king and more experienced. Still, he was still scared to see the king after the coronation.

It felt like the king was warning that nothing could be a reason to disagree with his decision with the princess. Any other reasons that the nobles have been prepared became useless once the class and the root of the blood did not matter. No ladies in this country were in a higher class than the princess. Also, she wasn’t lacking in any culture as a noble or as a queen. And most importantly, she opened the king’s heart. Also, she made the king have her.

Lu Havre lightly gestured as the duke stayed speechless. Then he smiled. Just like a few minutes ago, the frozen, awkward air in the room melted away. However, it felt as risky as melting down the ice with the wind.

“It’s okay. I know you were not trying to degrade me.”

He decided to let this one go. The duke replied in relief.

“Your Majesty, thank you for the kindness you showed to me.”

“It’s no problem. Please be careful next time.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Although it was a conversation just between the king and the duke, the king meant to say it to everyone in the room. And everyone understood him. Lu Havre smiled. It was so rare to see him smile that it was safe to say he never smiled like that — ever. No one could believe that he could smile that brightly.

“I’ve said it clearly.”

There must have been lots of people who got nervous again in the room.

“That I am choosing my own partner,” Lu Havre said gently. “There will be no trouble following, either. I have made the best choice out there.”

Lu Havre tapped the paper containing unimportant things written with his pen. Then he wrote something on it.

“Are there any more opinions?”

Few people nodded silently. Then everyone could finally breathe freely.

“Then I will officially present this to the public later. There’s going to be my ball happening just in time. We will cover what we were going to cover today tomorrow. The meeting has ended.”

Lu Havre stood up without hesitation. Then he looked at the chairperson who was a bit far from him. Duke Morhus. The vassal bowed to the leader as he read the sign. Soon he left with his red cape blowing softly.

Everyone kept the silence for a while after the king left the office of Moinster. Then a big sigh broke the silence.

“I was right,” Count Guillaume said as he smiled. If someone who did not know what was going on saw him, the one would think something good happened.

Duke Moncheta couldn’t even sigh. The count said that the king was clearly jealous, and he was right. Duke Morhus seemed to be in his thoughts. He had two daughters who still hadn’t been married yet, so he must have been thinking of that. Confused on Count Guillaume’s purpose in saying that, Marquis Monhen spoke to the count.

“Yes, you were right.”

It sounded sarcastic. He also had an unmarried daughter. The count did not lose his smile, however. That was just the way he was. He did not expect anything of the marriage from the beginning. It seemed like he was the only one who actually thought the situation was hilarious.