Proposal
“This is the imperial palace!! This is where Her Majesty resides! How can you soldiers come here and audaciously break the laws?!!”
The young man grabbed the lady-in-waiting’s collar. Being covered in blood, his cape and clothing were glued together. His face also had blood stains on it. After defeating the garrison soldiers, they didn’t stop to rest for a moment. They led their knights to the imperial capital. Virtually all of the guards in the imperial capital went to the front lines with Queen Sisi. Thus, even if the ones remaining in the imperial capital were to put up a resistance, they would be no match for the military guards who had fought hundreds of battles.
In a serious tone, the young man taunted, “It’s only called the imperial palace for as long as the monarch is present. Imperial palace contains the ‘King’ character, which replaces ‘imperial’. With Queen Sisi missing, he removes the ‘King’ character; therefore, it’s just ‘palace’. That’s why he specifically says that the imperial palace is only called the imperial palace. Where is your monarch now?”
“Queen Sisi will be back!! Her Majesty is not dead! Her Majesty will be back!” The lady-in-waiting grabbed the young man by his arm and belted. She looked at the group of soldiers without a single trace of fear in her. She then looked back at the young man and raised her voice: “Putting aside Queen Sisi’s current state, you should all be executed for trespassing into Her Majesty’s residential palace!! The next ruler in line won’t ever be you!!”
“The imperial family is no more. Queen Sisi was the final member of the imperial family. You’re right about one thing, though. I don’t plan to be a King, either. I serve the nation. My honour is defined by offering my life, body and soul for this nation.”
The young man pulled his hand out and turned around. His knights had seized authority over the imperial palace. All of Queen Sisi’s vassals were brought under their control. Nobody was allowed to leave or enter without permission. Soon enough, the main army would arrive to seal and control the entire imperial capital. Once that was done, he could go and bring over the next ruler.
“You trespassed into Her Majesty’s palace. You’re a soldier, yet you’re not going to Queen Sisi’s rescue. Instead, you’re blabbering about justice. I’ve never seen anyone so shameless.”
The lady-in-waiting attempted to slap the man, only for him to catch her wrist with a vice-like grip. He argued, “My loyalty is not devoted to the Queen. My loyalty is devoted to this nation. Queen Sisi almost destroyed this nation. I can’t respect her or dedicate my loyalty to her. We need a new Queen, a rational Queen, not a maniac. I already have a candidate in mind. After I bring her here, she will be crowned. I now need to go and set up defence lines in case the elves attack. You people watch over this place and prepare clothing for the new monarch.”
“You… You have no right!! You don’t have the authority to select a ruler!! You’re just a military officer. You have no right to interfere with the selection of a ruler and most definitely don’t have the right to appoint one!!!”
The young man paid the lady-in-waiting no heed; there was no need to concern himself with statements of those without power. The people he had under control were the ones who had no right or reason to speak on the matter. Only one with military power could act as the leader; therefore, the new Queen was up to them to decide.
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Current time at the elven forest…
“Ah… I… Umm… I… Uhh…”
Lucilia stammered, but failed to piece together a coherent sentence. She tightly gripped her ring finger. Hot flushes flitted across her face. She didn’t even dare to raise her head; even her voice became incredibly weird. I knew my proposal was beyond abrupt, but I had to strike while the iron was hot. I pulled petite Lucia into my arms. I noticed the two elves behind her with their eyes enlarged. Lucia didn’t resist; she went along with me and trembled in my arms. It was a proposal, yet she reacted as if I threatened her.
For example, if I sew a studio or company broadcast an awesome program, but the program was tremendously popular and a huge success, they wouldn’t sell it to me. If that was the case, how could I get the program? Simple, go and buy the studio or company. Then, sell off the parts I didn’t want while keeping the awesome parts of said program for myself. As for how I would force the company or studio into selling their ownership to me, that would be the next step. In saying that, the prerequisite to successfully pulling that off would be concealing your intention.
There was no chance the elves would release Queen Sisi even if my relationship with Lucia was hypothetically better. The only way to have her released would be to pay the thirty-thousand gold coins ransom. There was still no word from humanity, which suggested they planned to abandon Queen Sisi. I was Queen Sisi’s last hope. I had to engage my brain to bring her back.
The plan was to marry Lucia so that I would become the elven heroine’s wife. Once they dropped their guard or if I made Lucia mine, I could use an excuse to smuggle Queen Sisi back to humanity’s lands. The next phase would be a confrontation between the field military and the elves. In the end, Queen Sisi would negotiate with the elves. I placed my bet on the elves opting not to fight beyond the forest, citing their disadvantage. As a subsequence, the elves would have to accept a negotiation with Queen Sisi. Paying some money beat letting them take Queen Sisi hostage for a ransom any day. The requisite to the plan’s success was that I had to marry Lucia. I needed to have a useful status in the elven lands.
“I sincerely like you, Lucia. If possible, I hope you will accept me.”
Lucia’s entire body shuddered when she heard my confession. She then raised her head but still didn’t dare to look at me. She stole a glimpse of me then lowered her head again forthwith. She gripped her left ring finger. In a soft voice and, with some sobbing, she stammered, “I… I don’t know… I-It’s to sudden… I’ve never… proposals or… I… I… I don’t know… Umm… Veirya…. Veirya….”
“Veirya is just my master. I’m a gift Queen Sisi bestowed Veirya with. However, Queen Sisi is no more, so I’ve basically been granted freedom. Lucia, you were the one who stood up for me when Queen Sisi humiliated me. When Leah and I were about to head to the North, you helped us, too. You also saved me in the forest and then protected Leah. You know, I loved you from day one. It was just that I had no right to tell you. Now, though, I’m a free man. I can express my love for you. Lucia, I truly love you.”
I could control my emotions and my feelings. Though I appeared to be brimming with affection, the truth was I didn’t have any romantic feelings. As a matter of fact, I perceived it as my revenge on Veirya. While such vengeance was merely to comfort myself, and Veirya might never be affected, I still pathetically believed Veirya cared about me.
Lucia looked into my eyes. Perhaps she was trying to determine my true feelings. I couldn’t look away when she looked at me. Realising that I was looking at her, smoke whisked from her blushing face. She shifted her line of sight away. I, therefore, immediately hugged her tighter and went down to kiss her cheek.
“Kyaah!!”
Lucia shrieked. She then looked up at me in a flustered manner. Tone affectionate, I said, “Lucia, I hope you can give me an answer no matter how you feel about me. Whatever your answer may be, I’ll still love you.”
Lucia quivered as she shook her head: “I don’t know… I don’t know…”
“You… don’t love me?”
Lucia abruptly raised her voice to cut me off: “No!!”
I was relieved to hear her response. By the sounds of it, she did think positively of me to a degree and was flustered purely because it was the first time she received a confession. She warily looked at me with her hands clasped together: “But… we… we… are not… not… uhh…’
“You just said we were the same type.”
“Y-Yes…”
Anxious Lucia’s long ears shivered. She stole glances at my face every now and then. She reacted in a flustered fashion similarly to a frightened rabbit when she noticed that I didn’t move my gaze. Her usual look of competence was nowhere to be seen; instead, she was as shy as a kid.
“Umm… We… we… are… umm… mm… Veirya…”
“Veirya won’t care.”
“Sh-She won’t…?”
“I’m no longer her slave, nor do I want to be her slave. She’s never viewed me as a human being. Never.”
Lucia finally looked up at my face. She touched my face then checked out my body. I had no clue what she was thinking. After a while of checking me out, she took a light hold of my hand. She lowered her head and mumbled almost indiscernibly, “I… I… accept…. It’s just… just… I have an older brother… he… umm… You need to see him with me…”
I nodded: “I know.”
I released Lucia. Lucia stood in front of me with a shy expression and didn’t dare to move, though. I grabbed hold of her left hand. She clung to my body and kept her head down.
“Let’s go, Lucia. Let’s go see your brother.” I bent down and gave Lucia’s ears a light kiss. It was quite fun to see her ears go red again.
Lucia obediently mumbled, “Uhm.”
She leaned onto me as a lover would. The two elves most probably never saw their hero behaving so shyly, but Lucia ignored them. Lucia’s brain was jumbled. I, to the contrary, remained calm and focused. My aim was fixed on my goal. I didn’t go to the elven lands to marry Lucia. I went there to rescue Queen Sisi.
I promised myself not to hurt Lucia too much; not even her feelings. At the very least, I’d treat her well as my fiancée and wife before I left.
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