“I’LL PASS the title as the Grand Duke to you if you marry Sonata Florin, son. If you really need to enter Mount Ashira, then you need to become the Grand Duke first.”

Diether, for the first time, felt the strong urge to marry Sonata Florin.

He only agreed to the engagement the first time because his father threatened to exclude him from the expedition to subjugate the monsters in the North. It was an expedition that he didn’t want to miss because of the Artifacts he needed to gather for Francine.

But after he backed out from the engagement, his father really excluded him from the expedition.

It was okay since a new opportunity to lead an expedition arrived.

However, this time, his father was saying he was going to pass his title to him.

[I’ve been recognized as the successor ever since I was born. But this is the first time Father directly said he’ll hand over the title to me…]

The offer suddenly became tempting.

“Dear nephew, before you make a decision, let me be clear first,” King Seymour, his uncle said, said after sipping his tea. “It’s true that the Grand Duke of House Hexford has access to Mount Ashira. However, that access only applies to a few areas. Even my dear brother cannot roam the entire mountain freely.”

He was conflicted.

Of course, it would be nice if he could explore the entire Mount Ashira since Francine didn’t see where exactly Celeste disappeared in the mountain.

However, having the right to step foot on the mountain was already good enough.

“My dear nephew, I can give you the right to own Mount Ashira.”

Diether’s eyes widened in shock. “But Mount Ashira has always belonged to the king of the Zerua Kingdom, Your Majesty. Shouldn’t you pass it down to the Crown Prince later?”

The king waved his hand dismissively. “My precious Jericho won’t mind since he’s scared of Mount Ashira. I brought him there for a tour when he turned seven, but that lovely child of mine just cried his eyes out. He claimed he saw ghosts roaming around.”

“Your Majesty, even if it’s fine with the Crown Prince, will the higher nobles accept it quietly?”

“My dear nephew, your hair color is proof that Goddess Avari chose you as her warrior,” the king said, smiling proudly. “Who would have the guts to criticize me for gifting Mount Ashira to you? It’s the resting place of the evil dragon that Goddess Avari had slain in the past, so it’s only fitting for you– the goddess’ chosen warrior– to receive it.”

If that was the case, then…

“What do I have to do in order to inherit Mount Ashira from Your Majesty?”

“It’s very easy, my dear nephew,” the king said, smiling. “If you conceive a child with Lady Sonata Florin, the entire Mount Ashira is yours.”

That was ridiculous.

Having a child for a selfish reason would be cruel to Sonata Florin.

“Why are you so eager to marry me off to Lady Florin?” Diether asked the king and his father suspiciously. “Who is she?”

His father put down his teacup on the saucer before speaking. “Someone good for you.”

“The best noble lady you could ever ask for to be your wife,” the king added playfully. “Lady Sonata is the only woman worthy of our lineage, my dear nephew.”

[Ah, so they have no intention of telling me who Lady Florin really is.]

Diether hated what his father and the king said, so he just excused himself politely.

While on his way to the palace, he had already made up his mind.

[Lady Florin needs to marry me, too. If that’s the case, then I should just make a deal with her. And I need to let her know that even though I can’t love her romantically, I’ll be good to her and take care of the people she cares about.]

Diether’s thoughts were interrupted when he, much to his surprise, crossed paths with Sonata Florin at the main entrance of the king’s palace.

[Was she summoned by the king after I asked for an audience with His Majesty?]

The young lady had just finished showing her sapphire crystal eagle necklace– it was made in silver and encrusted with clear round crystals, square-cut sapphire crystals, and a large faceted oval-shaped sapphire crystal in the middle. The eagle had a small ruby gem for an eye.

[Anyone who has that necklace could enter the Royal Palace and the Royal Library even without an appointment.]

Only people that the king had handpicked himself could receive a sapphire eagle necklace.

[The king really trusts Lady Florin, huh?]

Diether stopped thinking when his gaze met Sonata Florin’s gold eyes.

[Ah, she’s really pretty.]

It was just a simple observation.

Sonata Florin, instead of a dress, was wearing a fancy black jacket with several gold chains attached to the lapel, a pair of tight pants that emphasized her shapely legs, and a pair of black boots. She also had a scabbard on her waist.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

[Ah, I see. Lady Florin is here as a dame and not as a lady.]

The lady’s knight uniform didn’t have a crest, though.

“Don’t people say that if you meet the same person three times in a row, then it must be fate?” Sonata teased Diether when she approached him. “Lord Diether, is this fate?”

If he didn’t feel tired from dealing with his father and the king, he would have been flustered. But since he just made up his mind about what to do a moment ago, he was actually grateful for this chance encounter.

“Lady Florin,” Diether said, and even in his own ears, his voice sounded tired. But that was out of his control. “Let’s get married.”

Sonata smiled, tilting her head to one side. “I’m sorry, but no.”

That was… fast.

He suddenly got somber, then he felt embarrassed for even thinking that Sonata Florin would easily agree to marry him.

[I thought she also needs to marry me…]

“I’m curious about what made you change your mind, but I have an official business with His Majesty so I need to get going,” Sonata Florin said when he didn’t react to her abrupt rejection. “Let’s talk when we meet again.”

“You talk as if you’re confident we’d meet again after you rejected my proposal.”

“Ah, it’s because your marriage proposal is lame.”

He knitted his eyebrows. “You agreed to marry me before, even without a proposal.”

“Well, my lord, you made me a laughingstock when you ran away from our engagement ceremony,” Sonata Florin reminded him. “If you give me a grand and romantic proposal that would make people forget about my embarrassing moment, then I’ll marry you in a heartbeat.”

That was a relief to hear.

[I’ll do anything to find Celeste, even if it means remarrying. I’m sure Celeste will understand.]

“Alright, I get it,” Diether said, nodding. “You can look forward to it, Lady Florin.”

***

SWORDS and other weapons weren’t allowed in the presence of the king.

Hence, Sonata willingly handed her sword to General Anton– the leader of the Soaring Eagle Order.

It was the Royal Knight Order under the direct command of the king.

“Welcome, Lady Sonata,” General Anton said politely. “His Majesty and Grand Duke Hexford are already waiting inside.”

Sonata smiled and nodded. “Thank you, General.”

The general just nodded back politely before he opened the heavy double doors of the palace’s Strategy Room for her.

As soon as she entered the room, three pairs of eyes instantly focused on her.

King Seymour Lomello.

Grand Duke Daniel Hexford.

Captain Redwood of the Secret Order.

[All my “superiors” are here.]

The three gentlemen were already seated around the long conference table, with the king in the center seat. Grand Duke Hexford was on the king’s right side, while Captain Redwood was on His Majesty’s left side.

Sonata greeted the three politely, slightly bowing her head in the process.

“Ah, please stop with the polite greeting, Lady Sonata~” King Seymour said playfully. “You’re making me feel bad.”

“Nonsense, Your Majesty,” Sonata said. “You’re still the king.”

The carefree king just laughed.

“His Majesty and I have heard the gist of the situation from Captain Redwood,” Grand Duke Daniel Hexford said sternly. “How bad is it?”

“It’s so bad that I would like to suggest that we pull Commander Diether Hexford to our side,” Sonata said in a serious tone. She addressed Diether by his proper title this time because it was his position as the commander that she needed to emphasize in the conversation. “Your Majesty, I understand that you excluded the Holy Knights from this mission because you didn’t want the Avari Temple to gain more power and influence than the throne.”

The king just smiled and didn’t deny what she said.

It wasn’t like she couldn’t understand where the king was coming from.

The Zerua Kingdom was known as the ‘Holy Land’ because it was where the Avari Temple was built. Moreover, the Avari Temple had Saintess Francine.

Most of the nations and kingdoms on the Alson Continent had Avari as their prime religion.

Hence, even Kaelus Empire– the most powerful and influential empire on the entire Alson Continent– couldn’t easily touch the Zerua Kingdom.

[That makes Zerua Kingdom the best hiding spot for someone like me.]

“The Saintess and the Avari Holy Knights have been focusing way too much on Corrupted Monsters that you could easily kill…”

Sonata trailed off because of how the gentlemen reacted.

The king laughed out loud.

Captain Redwood snorted.

And Grand Duke Daniel Hexford faked a cough, as if to hold back his laughter.

[???]

“Lady Sonata, your standards for things that you could kill “easily” are very much different from the standards of ordinary people,” the king said, obviously trying his best to stop laughing. “A group of Corrupted Monsters may seem like a small fry to you, but even my own knights have a hard time dealing with a hoard of them. That’s why the Avari Holy Knights are in charge of the Corrupted Monsters. After all, those monsters are weak against holy power.”

“In other words, you’re just too strong, Lady Florin,” the Grand Duke said. “Probably even stronger than my son.”

Captain Redwood nodded in agreement.

Really?

[The standard for being strong in this kingdom differs from where I came from.]

“I misspoke, and I apologize for that,” Sonata said, then she changed the topic. “Anyway, I can tell instinctively that we’re dealing with demons this time. But Captain Redwood and I can’t gather enough evidence to prove our claim.”

“Lady Florin is right,” Captain Redwood said. “Demons are supposed to turn back into their original form when their fake bodies are burned. But the demons we burned just turned into ashes, and it has been the case all this time.”

The king tapped his fingers on the edge of the table, obviously in deep thought. “How about the assassin that you caught? Did you succeed in making him talk?”

“We almost got a confession, but the assassin exploded the moment he mentioned the word ‘Rui,’ Your Majesty,” Sonata said. “It seems like a curse was placed on the assassin in order to stop him from spilling vital information related to the cult.”

“Rui was the evil dragon that birthed demons in the human world,” the king said, sighing while shaking his head. “Only the cult that wants Rui to get revived would do something as horrible as using children just to gather Corruption.”

‘Corruption’ was the dark energy that the cult needed to revive Rui, the Evil Dragon.

And the process to gather Corruption was brutal.

Innocence– it was the key ingredient.

“Children are born innocent and pure,” Sonata said, clenching her hands tight. “In order to turn the children’s innocence into Corruption, the cult would subject the children they kidnap to horrible circumstances such as selling them to brothels. Once the children’s innocence completely turns into Corruption, the dark energy would then feed on the children’s life force in order to grow quicker.”

“We suspect that the cult is using the Corruption they gather to turn humans into demons,” Captain Redwood added. “But it seems like it’s still in the experimental stage. Hence, most victims are lower nobles who spend too much time in the slums.”

Because the Red-light District was located in the slums, despite how glamorous it appeared to be.

Sonata turned to the Grand Duke. “About the death of the nobles that we killed that night…”

“I’ll take care of it,” the Grand Duke assured her. “I’ll inform their families that those bastards died in a shameful accident. They’ll keep their mouth shut if they want to protect their household’s reputation.”

She just nodded because she didn’t need to hear the Grand Duke’s detailed plan.

[As long as he takes care of the issue, I don’t care.]

“Lady Sonata, do you really believe it’s time for the Avari Holy Knights to be involved in this matter?”

[I don’t really care, but…]

“What’s more important to you, Your Majesty? Keeping your people safe or maintaining the throne’s power over the temple?”

“Both are important to me,” King Seymour said, the greed in his smiling eyes visible. “Hence, let’s not involve the temple or the Avari Holy Knight yet. Not until we gather evidence that the demons are back, at least.”

Sonata nodded politely. “As you command, Your Majesty.”

[So, there’s a power struggle between the throne and the temple in this kingdom, huh?]