"Let's go, Alex." Said Father, taking the handle of my wheelchair.

From the sound of it, I believed no matter what I said, he would still accompany me. So, I let go of my hands and let the man push me.

Hundreds of eyes peered at us from all over the place. Not a drop of a pin could be heard, only the sound of Father's footsteps and the gliding of the wheelchair.

"Greet the king, and let me handle the rest. You have nothing to worry about." Whispered him softly from the back.

"Yes, Father," I replied cordially.

Placing my eyes further, I took notice of the man sitting on the throne, waiting for us with a touch of an annoyed glint buried in his eyes.

Truth be told, I was curious myself about the king and two princes. And now, it was my chance to gauge them with my own eyes.

'Now, let's see what this is all about.' I mused.

Father brought me beside Helena and Howard before stepping forward and addressing the greedy king.

"I greet the king. May you live long and prosper, and Light be with you." Saluted him perfectly.

"Dawson..." Returned the king flatly.

Father then gave a sidelong glance to me.

I received it and delivered my introduction.

"My name is Alexander Von Dawson, your majesty. It is an honor to be in the presence of the king of Boreas Kingdom. May you live long and prosper, and Light be with you." I finished my part in one breath, parroting after Father.

"..." The man in question merely stared in silence, seemingly lost within his own thoughts.

He then looked back to Father before opening his mouth again. "The date to decide on this affair has long been overdue...What is your decision, Duke of Dawson?"

Didn't seem keen on beating around the bush, he jumped right into the crux of the matter. Everyone waited in a bathed breath as Father took his sweet time to ponder about his answer.

Even amidst the daunting presence of the king and this humongous audience, Father stood strong and composed. He didn't buckle, nor was he defeated by the pressure.

"The House of Dawson wishes to prolong both Fourth Prince and Fifth Princess's stay in our fief. And in doing so, the engagement of my son, Alexander Von Dawson, and Princess Helena Demeria Boreas will be sealed in a formal agreement between my House and the Royal Palace." Concluded him in a poised manner.

'It happens at last...' I sighed in silence, furtively studying Father's steadfast side profile.

On the other hand, I could feel this heat coming from Helena's side, and I could tell that she was staring at me...Intensively...but I had no plan whatsoever to return it.

What expression should I wear? What response would she expect out of me...?

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

It wouldn't be fair to her no matter what I did.

Playing the fool was the coward's choice, but it was the best I could afford right now...

"Does that mean the Dawson will finally rally under the Royal banner?" Questioned the man further, his tone grew brighter in delight.

"The Ducal House of Dawson has been a loyal subject since her birth to the Royal Kingdom of Boreas, and I intend to keep it that way like my Father before me and his Father before him. But as Your Majesty had already perceived, the aftermath of the Bloodless Plague is still apparent in the north. I, George Von Dawson, will gladly stand beside Your Majesty when the call for my name comes, but please find it in your graceful heart to spare my family and the ones that are still recovering, for they still need protection, and they need to stay far from the flames of war."

Father's words were lengthy, roundabout, and seemed so loyal to no end. Nonetheless, his message to the king and everyone there was crystal clear.

That it was not time for war...

And he cleverly did that by excusing the family and others by mentioning the plague.

It had been more than a decade since the tragedy. Even the weakest fief had been recovering well, if not wiped out from the initial damage. It was laughable to think that the House of Dawson, of all else, was still suffering from the merciless plague.

And the reason he did that might be to indirectly remind the king where his priorities were, which was the safety of his family since the whole kingdom knew how sensitive the issue of Bloodless Plague was to Father due to almost losing Mother and supposedly resulting in my disability.

Or maybe it was Father's own way of telling the man that it was not a wise move to stage a conquest.

However, one might argue that the aftermath of the plague would serve as a good reason to attack the other race since, other than the Beastmen, the Dwarf and elf's rate of productivity was abysmal in comparison. The effect on them would be twice as much, if not worse, than the humans.

Attack them while they're weak.

It made a lot of sense.

It would...But only if they were going after the Dwarves and Elves...

But the thing was, it was almost sure that they were not going after the two. We all knew they weren't going to conquer the boundless snowy mountains in the north or to try their luck venturing deeper into the mysterious, impenetrable jungle in the east where the Sacred Tree's protection was still well and alive, keeping the invader at bay.

And god knows any human kingdom wouldn't be leaving the west and marched south to prick a hornet's nest that was the Demon's Kingdom.

How could I be so sure? Not by guts, obviously. But by studying the kingdom's movements. The fact stated that these nobles had been hoarding equipment and supplies instead of securing a stable means to produce them.

Putting the suicide mission of marching toward the Demon's Kingdom aside, invading the Dwarves and Elves was not impossible per se, but it could only be done with a huge amount of preparation of both resources and strategy...

To which the kingdom sorely lacked at the moment, by the way.

That left them with either to duke it out with the countless Beastmen tribes sprawled all over the damn world as their target or to raze another human kingdom to ashes for its meager-at-best riches while risking drawing the ire of every kingdom in Lorian continent because they would be breaking the alliance pact they've helped established in the past by their own hands.

So, the most likely target they would pick was the Beastmen in the end.

The very Beastmen who triumphed over humans in terms of reproductions and numbers. And that meant they would recover much better and much faster from the bloodless plague...

Thus, the premise had been broken, and they would be stuck in a loop of a series of flawed arguments.

It was idiotic if we were being honest. Blinded by greed, they couldn't even compute such a basic and logical train of thought...But frankly, I much prefer them being idiots than crazy.

You could anticipate how a stupid person would act based on their behavior. But when you dealt with crazy sons of bitches, you never know what was coming for you.

Things could get so quiet in a moment, and the next thing you know, it all turned into a looney fest where everything went to shit in a blink of an eye...

And that was my two-piece regarding all this...

"Arrogant..." A thick, grating voice with a tinge of contempt was squeezed out from the king's lips, ending my wandering thoughts.