Chapter 922

Chapter 922: Standing Before The King (1)

Queen Zena’s lips curved into a self-deprecating smile when she realized that even a single glance from her could make her child tremble in fear.

Sadly, she could blame no one but herself for what she had done in the past.

Her actions had instilled the image of a stern and cold-hearted mother in the mind of her daughter who now was unable to look at her for longer than a few seconds without panicking.

King Ophire had been busy discussing the state of the Brodie fief with the Duke so he missed this sight but the Prince who was sitting idle had witnessed everything without fail.

Though he too had been initially stunned when he noticed the sudden changes in his mother’s behavior as it wasn’t something he had expected at first, he later realized that she was making an effort to restore the strained relationship between herself and Felicia.

Fritzen was glad that their mother wasn’t ignoring Felicia any longer but was trying to diminish the distance that was existing between them.

At the very same time, he also could not fault his sister for panicking when she realized that their mother was looking at her.

.....

The change in the Queen had come too suddenly which startled him as well so it was understandable that Felicia had not yet decided how to behave now that their former frozen relationship was beginning to thaw.

However, the result of this attempt was that his sister was trembling in fear and his mother had a saddened look on her face after discerning her response.

Witnessing this sight, the Prince could only try to appease both sides as he was the one who sat between the two of them.

Thus he shot his mother a reassuring smile first before patting his sister’s hand to show that she would be fine.

Princess Felicia raised her head to glance at her brother and shot him a forced smile that did not ease his worries.

This sight was caught by the young miss of the Brodie family who smiled when she noticed how kind and gentle the young Prince was toward his little sister.

While other members of the Royal family were focusing on different matters, the King had just completed his conversation with the Duke.

He then turned his attention toward the Duchess, asking her about how she was, and received a polite answer from her.

The King was familiar with this lady so there wasn’t much he wished to ask of her so he turned his attention toward the little girl with them.

Miss Glennise was already used to facing the King who often visited the Princess when they were completing their home assignments after class hours.

Therefore, even Glennise was able to converse freely with the King which made the other nobles praise her courage and wit for being so confident as she replied to his questions.

___

Yvonne had both read the script and seen the dreams of the future so she knew that Glennise rightfully deserved the seat of the Princess’s playmate not just for her status but also for her intelligence.

For this reason, she wasn’t too surprised when she watched them conversing from afar.

As she continued observing her surroundings, the next nobles were summoned to greet the King according to their status.

They wished the King for his birthday and spoke to him, following which they brought forward their presents.

Yvonne was excited to see what present each noble family brought out as it could not be anything simple or unimpressive.

Discerning and assessing the presents that had been given until now, she was not let down as they had put in a lot of thought for this event.

The Brodie family had gifted the King a scroll with ancient text that seemed to have been used many generations ago.

This ancient scroll contained the seal of the Rosenhyde Kingdom, implying that it had once upon a time belonged to the Royal family.

The Duke had acquired it through great effort and had decided to give it to the King as he could be considered the true owner of this scroll.

Thus the first gift was already one which had impressed the King who liked to learn more about his ancestors so the other Fief Lords needed to do better in order to do better than him.

From the Tanner family, only the Duke and Duchess had arrived as their sons were still in the academy.

During the previous birthday celebration, the Duke had presented a sword created by a mysterious but highly-acclaimed sword maker.

It was capable of restoring itself by using the blood of the enemy it slashed.

Therefore, many were excited to see what the Duke would bring out this year.

However this year, the Duchess was the one who had prepared the birthday present for the King.

A life-like painting of the well-known Lake Poliza that is a popular spectacle in Amarthea was brought before the King.

Except King Ophire who had been to this lake during his younger years, none of the other members of the Royal family had seen it ever before.

Therefore, they marveled at the sight that had been depicted beautifully on the canvas that the Duchess had presented to the King.

As Prince Fritzen stared at this lake, a spark ignited in his eyes as his desire to visit this place grew stronger within him.

King Ophire not only praised the Duchess for her beautiful present but also had a few words of admiration for the painter who had worked hard to create this breathtaking piece.

Duchess Beatrice Tanner was famous for being a strong supporter of artists as long as they were capable of catching her eye.

???????????????? ???????????????????????????? ???????????????????????? ???????????????????? ???????? ????????????????????-????????????.????????????

Therefore, everyone in the Capital had already known of her vast collection of paintings and even musical pieces.

Hence when King Ophire heard that she had discovered this new budding artist and saw great potential in him, he nodded in acceptance as he too acknowledged the talent of this person who had painted this image.

He had visited the lake during his youth but had been unable to return after he had sat upon the Throne.

However, now that he was viewing this painting, it seemed that this place had not changed much since his days of youth.

Yvonne was standing at a distance and thus could not take a look at the painting which the Chamberlain had taken away to set aside once the Tanner couple had returned after greeting the King.

Had she seen the painting and the signature that was present at the bottom of the canvas, she would have known exactly who the painter of this special painting was.

However, she did not have the chance of noticing the painting let alone the signature, and hence remained in the dark about its creator.

The five Marquess families were next in line to present what they had prepared for the King.

Marquess Samed’s fief had more land than people in it so the area for vegetation was great as well.

Having fertile land made the Samed fief an excellent place for growing all kinds of fruits and vegetables.

Hence Marquess Sullivan Samed had revealed before the King that he would be sending half of this month’s produce into the King’s storehouse that would be of assistance during the coming winter months.

His gift caused an uproar where many noblemen accused him of cursing the Kingdom to have another tragic event where such massive amounts of food and grains needed to be stored.

However, the King, who had always liked to see the generosity of his subjects, silenced these voices with just a single glance.

Half of the produce of the Samed fief could have been sold to different places for a high price but the Marquess had given it up for the King who would most definitely use it to aid the poverty-stricken areas of the Kingdom during winter.

Hence King Ophire was greatly impressed with the Royal Tutor, praising him more than even the two Dukes of the Kingdom which was sufficient to express how much he was pleased with this young man.

‘Show off!’ Yvonne rolled her eyes at the smug look that had formed on her tutor’s face as he walked back to his place after his conversation with the King.

The Yona family went next with a box filled with jewels they had purchased at a high price followed by the Jorbin family where the Marquess had announced that their gift was something he had brought back from a neighboring Kingdom he had visited recently.

As always, the Leopold family whose heir, Jozef accompanied them, had also presented the jewels which they were famous for.

At a glance, anyone could tell that the Yona family’s present was something that they had gained from the Leopold family but no one uttered a word about it.

After the Leopold family, the final Marquess was the Kiron family whose heir, Maximillan, was teaching at the Academy whereas their second son was working in their fief hence they could not appear before the King today.

However, the Kiron couple stood before the King with their other three children.

Princess Felicia was close to Rika but she did not dare to smile at her friend as she was worried about being scolded by the Queen.

Therefore, she sat in silence and tried her best to not attract the Queen’s attention.

Meanwhile, the Marquess and Marchioness greeted the King after which they brought out something which attracted the attention of everyone present in this hall.