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Father unwrinkled his weird looking mage robe. It was white with black buttons, and he had a white tunic underneath. He looked like a ghost with the amount of white he had on him, even his skin was pale from a lack of sunlight. I wasn’t any better in that regard, but I atleast had a light tan from all the running around in the sunlight.

He was preparing to leave my house and head to an emergency meeting organized by the Prince of Kori Soaro himself. According to Father, all of the the country’s greatest scholars were invited to come and report their findings of anything relating to the undead or the cycle of life. Even international scholars from nearby nations had invitations dressed in a royal red seal. He was one of those people.

I couldn’t help but feel off about something. Reading my father’s experiments and research gave me a weird sinking feeling in my gut. It was that same feeling I hate in the Dungeon of the Dead, the dreadful uncertainty that plagued me all that time since then. My hands shook with no sign of relenting, and I grasped the fabric on my chest without a thought. This felt like deja vu, like that same instance was happening again. I just couldn’t hold it in any longer.

Father was slipping his boots on at the doorway when I approached him. Lio was there to bid him farewell. Neither had slept last night.

When Father heard me coming, he ceased from tying the laces of his boots and stood up straight. “I am so sorry that I had to leave so soon, but duty calls. I’ll find time to visit you again for a vacation next time.” All he had to show me was a wistful smile.

Before he could walk out the door, I approached. “Father, do you have five more minutes?” I still had my hands clutching at my heart. I still remembered that face; how ugly, frightening, and menacing it was at the same time. Even all this time, it was clear in my head. I had a feeling it was propping itself up right now because of recent events. It was because of the undead.

“Sure thing, dear.” My father shifted his body towards me, and Lio listened from the sidelines. “What is it?”

“I know I should have written to you after this occurred because, you know, I could have died… but that’s not the issue.” I found myself struggling to articulate my worries. There was no real evidence to support my fears. But something was telling me to say it. Better to be safe than sorry. “I almost died in the Dungeon of the Dead a few months ago.”

“What? What were you doing there?” His jaw hung open in shock.

“I was doing freelance work for adventurers. But we encountered the dungeon master there. He’s so strong, and nearly killed us all, if it weren’t for Lio. My point is that I think he might be strong enough to influence the dead to such an elevated degree. If not, then he has to know more about the dead, since he himself rules over it.”

Father had his arms crossed and nodded. He tapped his fingers on his arm as he processed what I had to say. “Is this something you want me to forward to the Prince?” he said.

“Yes, it might be useful.” I wasn’t sure if it really was going to come to good use, I just wanted this terrible feeling lifted off of me. Sharing it would relieve me so much. Even thinking about the dungeon master had me quaking. He held so much power and so much knowledge of combat that he completely nullified everyone’s magic and make quick work of close ranged fighters like Kueler and Christia. I knew we’d lose if we decided to come back.

Father’s demeanor dropped drastically when he made eye contact with me. It was almost like he was mourning. He walked up to me and wrapped his arms over me. I’ve never felt a tighter hug in my life, and never a warmer one than this.

“Charliette, I think its best you tell Prince Arcite this yourself.”

“You think I’m allowed to? I’m not a scholar.”

“You’re the daughter of one, so they’ll let it slide, I’m sure. As for you…”

Father released his warm embrace from me and swiveled around to see Lio posted up against the wall near the entrance. “You’re coming too,” he said, pointing a bold finger.

“Carlon, I’m not a son of any scholar.” Lio was genuinely confused, scratching the back of his head and still looking down the point of my father’s index finger.

“They’ll let you through if we say you’re marrying Charliette.”

Lio and I stared at one another stupefied. His face was getting redder, and I could even feel my cheeks heat up like a stoked fire. He so desperately tried to cover his blushed face, while I stood still in disbelief. “Father!” I yelled. “That’s not true, though. We’re not even dating.”

“I mean, I want Lio to come too, so it’s the only way. It’s not like they’ll check marriage certificates, so all you two have to do is play along for just a little bit.”

Oh, he had the most devious grin I’d ever seen in my life. Father was breaking quite a lot of records, that was for sure.

X X X

I had never been to the Royal District of Galligar before, that part was exclusive to royal officials and workers. Galligar itself had a very unusual city layout, all the districts circled around the Royal District, cornering it in the edge of the city borders. It wasn’t in the middle of the city, but near the outskirts of one side of it.

Getting to our destination at the Royal Palace was rough too, since we had to go through multiple checkpoints back-to-back the moment we entered the district. Lio and I had to hold hands going through the checkpoints to subconsciously convince the guards that we were indeed lovers. Otherwise they wouldn’t let Lio through without authorization. Lio's hand was so soft and feminine, though. I couldn’t help but squeeze it a tad tighter. He reciprocated and grasped my hand firmly.

We were in the Royal Knight territory, no longer the jurisdiction of the Military Knights, which may prove to be a sizable problem given that those guys weren’t as nice or lenient as the Military Knights.

For my father, though, it was a breeze. Whenever we pulled up to a checkpoint where knights protected a closed gate on the cobblestone roads, all he had to do was pull out the letter he received from the Royal Family, marked with its crimson seal, and they’d led him in right away. The guards always gave us the stink eye, though. Maybe we should kiss to convince them further? No, no, no. I wasn’t ready for that. We weren’t dating, either, so it would be weird if I initiated it and he didn’t reciprocate. We made it through all the checkpoints just fine though.

The very last checkpoint was prettier than the rest, it being a gate made of gold and polished silver, unlike the gunky steel gates that made up the previous checkpoints. We knew this one was a big deal.

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My father walked up to the gate and approached the knights stationed there. He held up his paper to them and they gave him a thumbs up. It was our turn.

“These two are family, so they’ll be coming with me,” Father tried to explain to the guards. They shifted their focus to Lio and I. I squeezed his hand tighter.

“Are you two relating to Mr. Glaciare?” One of the guards raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah, what are your names?” the other guard added.

Lio stepped forward. “I’m Elliott Meyne, it’s a pleasure to be here to meet the Prince.” He courteously bowed like a gentleman. Now was my turn

“I’m Charliette Glacia—” I immediately stopped myself. That was right, I was supposed to pose as Lio’s wife. I quickly tried to salvage the mess of a sentence I’d conjured up. “Glaciare is my maiden name. I’m Charliette Meyne.” It felt so weird to say that… yet fitting.

“We’re married!” Lio finally interjected, noticing me getting flustered.

“So they’re both my family. My daughter and son-in-law will be coming with me, okay?” This was the second time Father had to reason with this stubborn guard.

He just gave up and rolled his eyes. Guess he was getting as tired as we were to deal with this situation. And that was how we managed to sneak by all those checkpoints to finally make our way to the Royal Palace.

The Royal Palace was greener than I had expected it to be. The three of us walked down the finely paved road to the palace, gawking at it in the distance. The entire area around the palace was gated and fenced off, that last gate went through had gotten us access inside its interior. Even though we were technically on the property of the Royal Palace, it was still a ways to go. However, there was no shortage of its beauty with the finely green lawns and hedges that covered the place. There were even small flower gardens scattered all around; the cool colors of the lavenders and globe gilias complimented the vast seas of green grass.

The palace itself was quite a sight to behold. Made of some sort of white or beige material—probably limestone—this palace towered over everything else and its side was covered in windows. There had to be more than a few dozen rooms, possibly even a hundred, and each of those rooms housed very politically powerful people. It still baffled me that we were walking into the very home of the leader of one of the world’s strongest nations.

We were making good pace, my father leading the charge with a puffed out chest. Lio, on the other hand, was visibly sweating and breathing loudly. All that sitting around for these past few days really had taken a toll on his athleticism, huh? Well, I guess once we’re done with this, I’d have to put him on a regimen to build up that endurance once and for all.

Royal Knights were marching in formation and began approaching us. They came from the direction of the palace, and made eye contact with Father. Their armor was gold and their swords huge.

“Excuse me, you three, may we ask you to state your business and your name?” The leading knight of the group stepped forward. He was the only one without a shiny helmet on, but rocked long, curled black hair. He had a heavy stubble, not quite a beard.

“Here,” my father said, handing the sealed letter to him. “My name is Carlon Glaciare, and these two are my family. I was invited to attend a meeting organized by Prince Arcite to discuss urgent matters.”

This man wasn’t a stickler like that other guy at the previous gate, I could already tell that straight away just from the gleeful smile he had on his face. “Oh, you’re Professor Glaciare? Great! We were expecting you. We’ll lead you all to the meeting room inside.”

They didn’t ask about Lio and I, that was a win. I guess we were getting more convincing by the moment, feeling more comfort in grasping one another’s hand. At last! We were finally heading into the palace, our destination had been reached.

X X X

The meeting wasn’t as civil as we were expecting it to be, sadly. The Royal Knights had guided us to a large dark wood double door, and we promptly opened it open to walk inside. What we saw was the crimson red banners plastered all over the place, long desks stretching from one side of the room to the other, and a stage with a podium at the far end. However, everyone was absolutely wild, yelling at one another and even getting physical. That’s the price you pay when you stick a bunch of geniuses with egos in the same room. It was pandemonium.

“That’s just not the correct conclusion to be made of the issue!” A scholar in white robes yelled. “My experiments prove that false!”

“Well your experiments were faulty!” Another scholar pointed a finger at his chest.

“Why you!” The two cocked their fists back and were about to throw down.

The three of us were too stunned to even move. What are we even supposed to do? And where was Prince Arcite?

Just then, a pair of scholars approached us. Father better keep his mouth shut!

“You’re a new face, and not a Soaran one.” One of them said, getting my father’s attention.

All he could do was clear his throat and reply in a dignified manner… unlike the disastrous environment around him. “You are correct. I’m from the New Lucrez Kingdom, born and raised.”

“What are you doing here? These are Soaran matters.”

“Ask Prince Arcite, he invited me.”

The scholar speaking to Father gritted his teeth. “That damn spineless prince! He would stoop so low as to beg another nation to send help. Are we Soarans not enough?”

Lio and I stepped back towards the wall near them. I had no idea where things were going with those two, but I could feel a hint of heat.

“A good leader throws pride away when his nation is at risk. Arcite was right to ask for assistance.”

“Of course you would agree, it gives you a chance to get out of a shithole of a nation that is the New Lucrez Kingdom to Kori Soaro absolutely free.”

“Excuse me? I lived in Kori Soaro long before I was even invited. I lived here for over fifteen years!”

“Fifteen years too long, if you ask me. Kori Soaro has thrived as a neutral nation, and asking for help while rejecting others clearly breaks that neutrality. I’d rather the Soarans handle it themselves, we’d done so this entire time.”

Father was scratching at the back of his ear. His smile was quickly fading and he pursed his lips. “It’s not my fault that I have research your leaders want that you don’t have!” My father snapped, stepping one step forward and leaning his body closer to his aggressor. It was about to get ugly.

“Fuck you!” The man stomped on the ground and contested Father’s approach. And from his large robe pocket he pulled out…

I jumped to action, dislodging my tome from its bag and flipped it open faster than the speed of light. I knocked Father out of the way. “Disperse!” I yelled,, and the man in front of us froze, his eyes popping wide open. The object in his hand slipped and fell onto the ground.

It was a tome, but not just any one. One especially built to carry the deadliest offensive spells. The skull dead center of its hard cover spoke volumes to me.

Everyone went dead silent, all I could hear were the clattering of armor as knights approached. Someone must have called over the guards.

This man wasn’t the only one with that sentiment. All the spectators glared at us with a deep disdain, some were probably thinking we initiated it, but that was totally wrong.

I never thought I’d have to stare at this many angry faces before. But there was one last thing that needed to be done, if we wanted to keep our livelihood at stake. The man I attacked with magic very well might be a donator or affiliate with the dungeons, so I best not be on anyone’s bad side.

I shot my hands up in the air in surrender.

“I’m so sorry!!”

Lio stared at me like I was a madwoman. He was right… maybe I should have gotten on my knees and groveled…