Alaric bowed before the king as he said, “I greet the light of the kingdom!", his mother and Illic did so as well. The king nodded in return, smiling amicably as he said “Greetings, marquis violet, late marchioness and Illic, Garven has spoken very well of you.”
Illic bowed once again, saying “The prince exaggerated, I am merely working my best for the kingdom and its many citizens.”
“Very well.” The king nodded.
I took this turn to talk “The kingdom prospers truly under your kingships lead. My mother, the late marchioness, has found her long lost sister just a few days prior. They were only able to live well because of the kingdom’s generosity towards the less gifted.”
“It is a happy event; indeed, I look forward to meeting those that brought up such a wonderful lady from such humble origins.” The bitch was good in social events, which was why many were surprised to know she wasn’t born a noble but came to be as a commoner. Of course, they didn’t know that she learned it under the harsh training of father, a reason she resented him.
But this wasn’t the main theme, it was only fore-play for when Onaia comes into the picture, it would serve as a background story of sorts. Taking Illics hand into mine, I said proudly with a big smile to the king “And what is an even more exciting news, is that Illic and I have decided to marry! We had some relations over the year, and finally, I proposed to him, and he would marry into my household! You may as well call him marchioness now!”
I giggled a bit saying it, it was a true feeling, but I also greatly enjoyed the face of the queen that was constricting at the sudden news. She had never approved of her daughters crush on Illic, but she for sure thought that she was the only thing stopping it. It was a completely different thing when the person your daughter had a crush on, was actually going to marry a different person, and not just a person but a guy!
HAHAHA! Imagine if you think you got a chance with a dude, but it turns out, all the smiles he gave you were out of politeness and he’s actually gay! Well, Illic is more like pan or bi or whateverwhocaresaboutthisbullshit, he’s not straight as everyone assumed, and that is enough to cause those stuck-up people who think they’d get anyone they liked if they just put a thought to it. Especially people like the princess, who also, while acting shy, didn’t think she would be rejected if she earnestly confessed.
The king, in comparison, was happy about the reveal. Illic’s father, the southern duke, was part of the royal faction. So, with Illic marrying into House Violet, it was a way to announce them joining into the royal faction too. This would set many gears running, and the king couldn’t be happier, as this meant at least fifty years of prosperity for the royal family.
They’d only have to mend the relationship with the noble faction a bit, and those people would also rein themselves in and understand that it was better to wait for the next turbulent time of the kingdom than needlessly attack a strong royal family. The mending would of course be through marriage, say, if for example, a princess marries the northern duke’s bachelor son…
The son that would turn out to be very much entwined in shady business behind his nice-looking face. One could only guess how well it works for the princess and her future! Gosh, I can’t stop giggling, with just this sentence, the whole capital will be in turmoil for a quite some time, and we instantly gained the approval from the highest person. Now, he just has to be generous and give us a few gifts, announce our marriage, and accept the fact that we will be leaving the kingdom for a while as a honeymoon.
And if my mother suddenly dies during my absence, he would surely be more than happy to take care of my cousin that suddenly has so much more power. He could, for example, make the prince approach her and be amicable to her to influence her since she now technically governs the marquisate and all its wealth, which at least on paper, is a lot.
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In truth, we have so much more in liquid to be taken away as fast as possible, but on paper, we have quite a few herb gardens, some mines and other resources here and there that came into the possession of the family over time. Most of them were build or found while exploring and searching for ritual materials, but it didn’t hurt to amass some public wealth.
I then said to the king “As you know, we don’t have too opportune times in the marquisate since father died”, that was true, our wealth didn’t suffer much and our ownership was still working well under the care of Kendrick, but wealth was guarded by power, and the lack of power had brought many eyes on the herbs and mines of the marquisate. They only feared acting upon it too early would bring upon them the wrath of too many people. His mother had done a well job staying connected with the many higher nobles, and the royal faction also had an interest.
“And in all honesty… Illic and I planned to soon travel the continent a bit before we come back to settle down. After all, we are still young, and marriage is a matter of fully setting down… we are preparing to legally marry under the oath, but festives for our marriage will only be held after we return, we don’t know when that might be, it could take years.
I hope your majesty understands my request because of that. I want to ask whether his majesty announces our engagement here in public, that would make our departure easier.”
The king was once again pleasantly surprised. If it was held at either the marquisate or the duchy, annulment of the engagement was still possible. But if it was announced by the king, then any thoughts of annulling it was an afront towards the crown. This way, the king would be satisfied even without a ceremony for now, while still trusting Alaric enough to let him go.
It was good if a higher-ranking noble left the kingdom. His influence back home would be near null, no one would dare attack or something, but it was good enough to know that there was one less player in the murky waters of the political stage.
The king happy smiled and raised his golden staff with a yellow shining pearl in the centre, looking like a miniature sun. He pulsed energy into the staff, light shone from it. It wasn’t blinding light, no, it was soft and more like a filter that went on everyone. All groups of people turned towards the king, on the left the queen with a solemn expression, and on the right was Alaric who was holding the hand of Illic.
The prince looked over and frowned upon seeing it. He intentionally ignored the request of Alaric just moments prior, but now, they had actually gone to the king directly to announce it. It seemed that the previous talk wasn’t to ask him for a favour, but to warn him of what they would be doing and tell him that he had no decision in this.
The king said in a loud yet clear voice “On this happy occasion, I want to announce the union of Marquis of Violet, Alaric and the future Marchioness of Violet, Illic!”
A lot of shocked expressions came from below, then someone started clapping slowly, and soon more and more followed the wave. The wave brought with it many happy smiles, some sad ones, some full of anger, but mostly confused ones. They didn’t understand the sudden change, there was no gossip about this at all!
“Wow, I never expected this!” “Yeah, they kept it a good secret, it seems!” “Oh… why did this happen! Dear Illic, I always thought you were cold to all, yet you open your heart to another person… a man at that!” “No! Marquis! I- how can this happen!” “What is the marquis doing! Has he lost his mind? He is declaring his side!” “This- but brother! Didn’t you say that Illic only looked at Alaric as a temporary fling! Why- brother! You told me I would come together with Illic!”
PFFFFT, what do these people think? Especially you, princess! You disgusting piece of shit actually covet him so much, you can’t even keep your mouth shut? It doesn’t matter, if I heard it, then enough people did so too. HAHAHA; what a stupid brat. Now, to not cause a scandal, the king can only bind her to someone as fast as possible. Just look at that brat, northern dukes’ heir, how angry he is!
BAHAHAHA, he really can’t stand seeing his crush have a crush on someone that has a crush, what a mess the author of this book wrote, no one gets their crush in the end, only prince charming and his girl of commoner heritage are happy. But now see, one is going to lose his sister to a faraway territory, his best friend marries the friend he was forced to take, and he himself won’t get to even see his love, while his love is being bound on chains in some mad magicians underground!
Ahh, just for him to lose his crush, two others gain theirs, how stupid these romance novels are, truly. For the main couple, all the side characters are sacrificed. Now, the main couple doesn’t get to be, and so many side characters will live a fulfilling life.