King of the North’s Thoughts
“Onii-sama, I am sorry to disturb you so early in the morning.”
Luna placed the towel in her hand down and then backed off to one side. She was wiping Troy’s body down, but Freya suddenly came in.
Troy nodded: “It’s all right, Freya. Is there something important?”
“Yes. This is a letter from Ikana. There should have been no need to come see you so early, but after thinking about the youngster from yesterday, I believe the letter will come in useful.”
Troy’s expression changed for the worse. Luna softy giggled: “Your Majesty, I, too, really like the four Princesses; however, I do not think the child would not do that to Liu Yue. After all, there are no ulterior motives in his eyes. Additionally, he merely wanted you to help. It must be a misunderstanding. I think you will damage your title as the Hero King if you kill a young man due to a misunderstanding.”
Freya’s gaze on Troy was aimed at comforting him: “I concur. The boy does not look as though he is someone bold enough to try such a thing. That being said, I do not mind how you deal with him. If you wish to kill him, it is unlikely anyone will know.”
Luna indirectly responded, “It is not true that no one will know. We know. While we will not say anything, would you not regret it afterwards? If you will not regret it, I think you are no longer the Troy that I know.”
“Miss Luna, while it is a fact that you have a good relationship with Onii-sama, do you not think you have crossed the line? Onii-sama has never changed. He is merely doing what he should do in his position. As his personal servant, should you not avoid getting involved with so much?”
With a calm smile, Luna elaborated, “Your Majesty, if I have stepped out of line, I hope you can forgive me. With that said, I do not think killing in your daughters’ presence is by any means a good method of protecting them.”
Troy scrubbed his head then looked at the two bickering indirectly with a hopeless expression: “Okay, okay, I understand what you two mean now. I won’t kill him, then. Luna is right. We can just send the guy away anyway. It’s true that I don’t want to be involved with the affairs between the two nations since I have nothing to gain from it.”
“Understood.”
Luna reacted with a happy smile, while Freya pursed her lips but didn’t comment. Freya didn’t want to concern herself with what Troy wanted to do. Her attention was on the letter in his hand. Troy, too, was interested, so he wasn’t interested in concerning himself with the youngster. He considered sticking his nose into it as a stupid endeavour; but nonetheless, he was interested as to what exactly happened there. Specifically, he wanted to profit from the situation. The reason he didn’t want to do anything was because Vera was too weak. If Ikana could offer him something, he could consider it. It hinged on Ikana’s request. He was open to discussion as long as what was offered was enticing enough.
Troy tore the envelope open and took out the letter. He deliberately wrote in his own language when writing letters to Ikana, thereby forcing her to translate them. Ikana, to the contrary, always wrote to Troy in the North’s language. The letter wasn’t a national letter but a private letter. In other words, Ikana went out of her way to learn the North’s language. That was the reason he always had a decent impression of her.
Freya sauntered over to her brother’s side and curiously asked, “What did Ikana say?”
“Haha, it’s a strange letter. She suddenly invited me and my family to spend a vacation at her place. She said that Abner’s fifteenth anniversary as their King is soon coming up. She wants to invite ‘my friend that puts me at ease more than anyone else’, in other words, me.”
Freya smiled: “So that was what it was… The youngster did not lie, then. Ikana has, in fact, killed the envoy team sent here. I must say that Ikana has unquestionably gone a little too far.”
Troy gave his sister a coy smile: “Freya, ‘going too far’ is part of your vocabulary now? If you ask me, some of your plans are even more frightening… In saying that, I can see that Ikana is evidently mad. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have been so vicious. I think she’s worried about me intervening. That’d explain why she sent me this private letter to go to her side.”
Troy placed the letter aside then wore an eerie smile: “Actually, I think she anticipated that I wouldn’t go over for a vacation. She wants for me to refuse her opposition, nonetheless. To be honest, both of them are mad about recruiting me to their side. This makes me more eager to dip my hands in their affair. Logically speaking, I think this is a simple succession war, but their personal grudges have blown it out of proportion. That’s how women are. Sometimes, they adamantly refuse to compromise. My examples are Nier and Lucia. Thus, I might be able to catch myself quite the reward from the two of them this time,”
Composed, Freya said, “Put another way, you plan to get involved? If you want to get involved, it is not too late to call the youngster over.”
Freya’s suggestion for Troy was based off what they stood to gain. The key lied in whether or not Troy wanted to profit from it. Ikana might’ve possessed a lot of power, but she stood no chance against the North. It was unlikely she wanted to become an enemy of the North. As a consequence, she was likely to suffer in silence. If they sided with Vera, things would be simple. Ikana was basically capable of dealing with her own end, so there was no need to do anything. All they had to do was ensure that Ikana didn’t do anything.
“Your Majesty, if you wish to get involved with this, I would not recommend taking the initiative to go over. I, instead, suggest sending some people you trust there. One mere letter cannot make clear one’s stance. You need to send somebody you can trust over. Mm, ah, right, I think Gerald and Ying are good choices.”
“Ying?”
“Miss Ying is courteous. While she does not know how to handle political affairs, as you said, this is a personal grudge. Consequently, Miss Ying does not need to do anything there, and she will be safe. Neither side will dare to do anything to our people. Wherever they are will indicate which side we are siding with. As such, they just need to have a tour there, and we will have perfectly involved ourselves. Further, I think we should ignore both sides in this matter. We should send our people there as tourists. Have Ying and Gerald on standby. We are not well-informed of the situation there, after all. It will not be good for us to get involved if we do so with the wrong approach. We will be able to decide where they go from information Gerald and Ying report back with.”
Freya’s analysis was sound. was meaningless for Troy to write a letter, but if he sent a few people over – especially if they were people close to him – that would signify his stance. Neither side would have the audacity to harm the North’s people as doing so would provide the opponent with the perfect excuse to recruit the North to their side.
“Speaking of holidays, I haven’t taken my girls out in a long time.” Troy stood up. Luna picked up his short and handed it to him. Troy draped it on then slowly did up the buttons. He laughed: “If possible, we can go for a short holiday.”
“But you will need to go to Troy City to discuss things with Queen Vyvyan and Empress Elizabeth in the next few days. It has been another three months. I am sure both of them are dying to seeing you. If you do not go, I am afraid they will come here.”
“You’re right. Is the train ready? Luna, go and call the kids. We’re heading out today. We don’t want to be late; else, my moms won’t be happy.”
Luna nodded before heading out to go call the kids. Troy gently shook Nier by her shoulder. Nier slowly opened her eyes. She lazily stretched her arms out. While she was at it, she pulled her husband into her embrace and kissed him on his lips. She quietly giggled: “Good morning, Dear.”
“Good morning, Nier.”
Freya silently clicked her tongue, irritated at the sight. She inquired, “Onii-sama, there are no issues with your schedule, are there? If there are no problems, I shall go and arrange it. As for Ikana, what exactly do you think? Do you want to get involved with this, or did you want to watch from the sidelines?”
“Mm… I think that there’s quite the significant meaning to this, so how about sending a representative over. Freya, I’ll leave you in charge of this. You can send anybody around me. By the way, remember to have bodyguards accompany them. I don’t want anybody I care about to be in danger.”
“Understood.”
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