“Is that you, Lucky?” The teacher asked upon recognising him.
“Yes. Do you know me, miss?” He asked her back curiously.
“Miss. Haha,” she said and laughed as if she found the term funny. “Sorry, but I’m married now compared to when I was single fourteen-years-ago when I taught you while you were my student.”
“You taught me?” He asked, looking surprised at this revelation. Taking a more focused look at her, he suddenly remembered a teacher from back then and exclaimed, “Hold on. Are you perhaps Miss Belinha Mckowen?”
“Yes, Lucky. I am happy that you remember me and my name after so long,” she said with a smile.
As the two began conversing with one another, the three younger girls stared at them with surprise. This lasted for only a few seconds before Priya broke free from her surprised trance and interrupted their conversation with her question towards her brother.
“Annayya, do the two of you know each other already?”
He nodded and replied, “Yes, we do. She was my teacher for the energy class when I attended the academy… although, this was before I dropped out though.” Then he turned to her and asked, “I’m surprised that you still teach here, miss.”
“Again, with the miss when I’m a married woman,” she remarked with a grin, “but I won’t refute being young as always. Anyway, I’m not yet old enough to retire, and I love my job too much to want to quit anyway.”
“I see. That’s good to hear,” he said her with a smile. Then he turned to Lina and greeted her with, “Hello, Miss Lena. I am Lakshman Chand. It’s a pleasure to finally meet you.”
He extended his hand out for her to shake, which she looked down at and then up at him with an unsure expression on her face. At that moment, Priya came in between the two of them and looked sternly at her brother.
“Annayya, before you do the greeting and all, I want to know why did you call Lina here?”
He blinked once without a chance in his cool expression and replied, “I’ll answer that in a moment, but first, answer my question. Why are you and Indira with her in the first place? I thought she’s your junior, and you aren’t close with her.”
“Well, that would be true but something happened yesterday that caused us to become friends,” his sister replied and turned to smile at their new friend.
“Really? What happened?” He asked as he had no idea what could have caused such a shift in their relationships and turned to look at the person in question. “Did you face any trouble, Miss Lina?”
“I…” The young girl began hesitantly.
“Hold on, annayya. You’re scaring her!” Priya interjected him fiercely.
“I’m… what?” He asked, looking surprised.
“Yes. You’re a complete stranger to her, and the only people she knows are the three of us,” said Priya, indicating herself and her twin, Indira, and the teacher, “so, she won’t feel comfortable speaking to you even if you are our brother because you are a complete stranger to her.”
She emphasised the words “complete and utter stranger” so much that he felt a pang in his chest as the words wounded him a little. Still, he looked between them and then asked Indira what the problem was. As expected, his cute and innocent sister began explaining the situation to her brother.
“Yesterday, her father arrived at the academy to take her back home because they seemed to have sustained heavy losses due to the recent lack of rain and their farmland not yielding much crop.”
Lakshman looked astonished by what he just heard and murmured, “Dear me…!”
“Not only that but he also wanted to marry her off to a suitor of his choice to help with their family’s financial problems,” supplied Priya with an irritated expression. “The nerve of him at using his second daughter as a bargaining chip for their own sake.”
“Priya…” began Indira with a glance towards their new friend with concern on her face. “Priya is just angry at the unfairness that you are treated with, Lina. She doesn’t mean to be disrespectful.”
“It’s alright. I know,” said Lina with an understanding voice as she wore a sad smile. “My father is usually like that. Someone that expects what he says should be done without question. I just… I just wish that my problem… wouldn’t have become… so public,” and she shed a small tear from the corner of her right eye.
“It’s alright, Lina. It’s not your fault that your dad is such an idiot,” remarked Priya angrily, moving over to console her.
“Priya! Stop insulting her father! It will hurt her!” Indira insisted indignantly.
“Sorry, chelli, but I have no respect for people of that kind,” replied Priya scathingly.
“Priya…” her twin sister said weakly against her strong front.
“Please don’t fight just because of me, you two,” said Lina, trying to calm the two of them.
Just then, Lakshman, who had remained silent up until this point, finally broke his silence and asked Lina, “Miss Lina, I have a question for you.” As she turned to look at him, he went on asking, “Are you satisfied with what your father is doing?”
She looked very surprised by his question, but her expression soon became grim as she replied, “I… don’t have much of a say in the matter. He is my father and as his daughter, it is what I can do best to please him by doing what he wants me to do. So, it doesn’t matter whether I am satisfied with it or not.”
“Lina,” said Indira sadly.
“Stop thinking like that because it does matter!” Priya said firmly with great seriousness.
“Hold on, you two,” said their brother in a curt voice that startled and made them look up at him. “I‘m speaking to her now, so stay silent until I’m done. Okay?”
They understood that their brother was very seriousness just by looking at the expression on his face. Thus, they decided to remain silent and observe as he continued his conversation with their friend.
He turned back to the person in question and asked, “You didn’t answer my question, Miss Lina. You simply dodged it. Please tell me how you truly feel.”
“I… I told you already. It doesn’t matter whether I am satisfied with it or not. Only obedience matters,” she told him, more firmly than before.
There was a moment of silence between them before Lakshman asked, “I asked for an answer, not for an excuse.”
This shocked her and widened her eyes because his words were completely unexpected. It appeared as though he could see right through her deceptive way of avoiding giving a proper answer. For some reason, she also felt that he knew how she really felt and wanted to have her express herself more clearly instead of hiding behind lies and self-deception.
He breathed a sigh wearily and muttered, “I came with a plan in mind but… seems like I need to sort this one out first.” Then he called out, “Phintex Rajas!”
In an instant, a warp formed before a man wearing a mask appeared kneeling right behind the Phoenix Titan.
“You called, sir?” He asked his master politely.
“I want you to bring me Lina Pricemark’s father right here… right now!” Lakshman ordered.
“What?” The others reacted with shock upon hearing his orders.
“As you wish, sir!” The masked man responded before warping out of there without delay.
“Annayya, what are you doing?” Priya asked her brother questioningly. “Why bring that man here?”
“I actually came to speak about something entirely different but seeing that she is facing this trouble, I realised I must deal with this first and only then will I be able to speak to her about what I came here for in the first place,” he explained to his sister while folding his arms with a cool expression as he waited for Lina’s father to arrive.
The twins blinked in surprise before Indira expressed, “I… don’t understand.”
“You will once the man arrives,” her brother told her, and they waited patiently.
It did not take long for the Phintex Raja to warp in again, this time bringing with him a dishevelled form of Lina’s father, Baron Rudius Pricemark. He immediately knelt down and began heaving great lungful of air as if he had sprinted for a very long time without break.
“W-Where am I?!” He demanded the moment he recovered and began glancing around. Then he saw the man that brought him there and began accusing him of, “You! How dare you kidnap me?! Do you have any idea who I am, you insolent dog?!”
“I’m sorry but I fail to see how a Phintex Raja is comparable to a dog,” snapped Lakshman, becoming instantly annoyed at the man’s arrogance. As the man looked up at him with a shocked expression, Lakshman went on asking, “Are your eyes blind, or do you not realise you were brought here by a Phintex Raja?”
“What?!” The man exclaimed, looking back at the man that brought him there and realisation finally dawned on him. Then he looked around him and it was then that he noticed his daughter being there and asked, “Lina! What is the meaning of this ridiculous behaviour? Do you have any idea how busy I am in sorting out our problems and such?”
At that moment, Priya snapped at him with, “Old man! Stop berating your daughter for your problems because of your incapability of managing your family’s issues and so forth.”
“What did you say, young lady?!” The older man rounded on Priya as he rose to his feet. “Don’t talk about stuff that you’re too young to even comprehend. The life of a poor baron such as myself is filled with great difficulties!”
“So, I’ve heard,” replied Priya without care, “but that’s still no reason to drag your family members into it!”
The man was rendered speechless for a moment by her remark before he snorted and said, “I don’t need to listen to stupid young people who don’t know about the world at large.”
“What?!” She exclaimed, looking angry but became distracted when her brother indicated at her to stop with his hand.
“Okay. You won’t listen to ‘stupid young people’ but will you listen to me?” Lakshman asked the man with a hint of annoyance due to how the older man referred to his sister’s behaviour.
“Huh? Who are you?” The man asked, turning and looking at him with a puzzled look on his face.
“What?!” The teacher, Belinha, and her students, and the Phintex Raja exclaimed in alarm.
They had not expected that a person of nobility rank would not be able to recognise their king. Yet, here was a man who clearly looked at Lakshman with an expression that was clearing saying, “Who are you?” Only Lina was looking at him with curiosity although this was because Lakshman had not introduced himself to her yet as to who he was.
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“Sir! Pardon my intrusion, but this man is the king of our kingdom!” Belinha stated, causing both Lina and her father to widen their eyes in alarm and look at Lakshman with shocked faces.
There was a moment of stunned silence before the man began to let out a chuckle as if he found it to be funny.
“What’s so funny?” Priya asked, finding his behaviour to be very rude.
“I’m sorry. It’s just that you suddenly claiming this man to be our king… it’s laughable!” Rudius replied coldly.
“What?!” The young girl exclaimed, looking both shocked and alarmed. “You don’t believe my brother to be the king?!”
“Regardless of your relationship with him, I refuse to believe that this man is our king!” He declared, waving a hand in Lakshman’s direction. “For starters, our king, the Phoenix Titan, never appears in public other than to make grand speeches and give out orders. The rest of the time, he always keeps himself isolated in his chambers and doesn’t meet anyone else other than his subjects. Well, he only has time for his immediate subjects and the commoners after all.”
“What the? What makes you say that?” Priya asked curiously.
“Well, I’ve attempted to meet with him twice but both times he was unavailable,” he said, and they looked surprised. “The reasons given were that he had to go meet with the Dragon Clan and the second time was when he disappeared altogether when the Calamity Titan made his appearance to threaten the world.”
He narrowed his eyes as he finished and looked very sad from the failed attempts in meeting his king. Lakshman looked at the man, taken aback, because he did not expect this at all. The two times the man mentioned were indeed times when he was completely away from his duties as king. At the same time, he did not remember having such an appointment but his Elemental Sense told him that the man was not lying.
“If so, I must apologise for my lack of consideration and my past mistakes,” said a sad looking Lakshman apologetically.
This surprised the man, who turned to him and asked, “Why are you apologising? You’re not the king.” Lakshman sighed and as he was about to speak, the man added, “Even if you are the king, there’s no need for you to apologise. I heard later on that your dear friend was kidnapped by the Dragon Clan and so you had to deal with them and for your disappearance, you had been defeated and nearly killed in your first confrontation with the Calamity Titan, which caused the king to go into hiding to recover from his injuries to return and defeat that evil.”
There was a moment of stunned silence after his proclaimed words before Lakshman recovered and asked in a surprised voice, “How…? How did you know all of this?”
“My eldest daughter’s friend is Sasha Phylon, who’s the wife of the Phoenix Emperor, Zen Phylon. So, when my daughter heard this info from her friend, she reported to me, and I understood the situation.” This surprised Lakshman and his siblings while the man continued to say, “So, naturally I don’t feel bad towards the king considering he actually did a lot of good things while he was still here before his disappearance such as demolishing the slavery and giving those poor people new lives by granting them a small fortune.”
Then he turned to look at Lakshman and said, “So, how can I despise a man that was trying to do good, and I also accepted that he must have some animosity towards the nobles for letting slavery run rampant throughout the Floria Kingdom and the rest of the world.”
“If… If your daughter is really the friend of auntie… I mean, Sasha Phylon, how come you never asked for help with your situation?” Indira asked with intrigue on her face.
“How can I do that, young miss?” He asked her with a troubled expression. “I may be facing problems, but I am still of nobility and so I cannot disgrace myself by seeking help from our relationships. That would become a personal matter whereas my problem doesn’t just end with my family; it also includes the lives of all the workers that tend to the farms. If I face financial problems, I must decrease the numbers of workers drastically but that in turn causes those without wages to struggle, especially during these difficult times as more and more monsters are running rampant and causing problems to our supply chain between the kingdoms.”
“So, is that why you would take the help only from the king?”
“Yes,” he said with a nod of his head. “The king is the authority of the kingdom and the representative of his people. Who am I to bypass his authority and do things without his knowledge? That is akin to treason, which I am not willing to subject myself to like the rest of the nobles surrounding us,” and he narrowed his eyes which were filled with anger.
There was a moment of silence before Lakshman asked, “Is that… why you wanted to have your daughter married off to someone of wealth? So that she can live in comfort and wealth that you might soon lose along with your nobility status?”
The man remained silent for a moment while everyone, including his daughter, watched in awe. Then he broke his silence by saying, “What more could a father want for his daughter? I wanted my first daughter to study hard and take over my position later on as the next family head but… she fell in love with a Viscount’s son and married him without my say in the matter. That left me to take drastic decision to marry my daughters off to wealthy families so that they can at least not face financial struggles. It’s the least I can do for them as their father.”
“Dad,” muttered Lina as she stared at her dad with a sorrowful look on her face.
It seemed that till now, she believed her father was trying to send his daughters off to marry into wealthy families was so that he could reap the benefits. However, as it turned out, he did not want to involve them in the eventual fall of his family as things stood and saw the only way out with the situation where he could not ask help from anyone. His stubbornness to do things his way was something she acquired and made things difficult for him as all he wanted for his daughter’s happiness.
“I’m sorry, dad,” she said to him as she finally broke her silence with a sad look.
“Don’t apologise, Lina,” he told her soothingly with a sad smile. “It’s my fault for letting ourselves get into this tight spot and not explaining my motives to you, so I am solely to be blamed and should be the one to face the consequences.”
As the two of them looked at one another, Priya sighed and said, “Well, it’s still not too late to sort this mess out. You can still get help from the king and take care of those bullying you since it’s clear the other nobles are the ones causing you problems.”
To this, Rudius shook his head and said, “No. Unfortunately, that won’t be easy. The king just returned, but he has immediate problems to deal with such as the rumours circulating about his relationship with the Calamity Titan and the problematic deal that the Mardana Kingdom are making against us. I’m afraid he will be very busy taking care of that matter to deal with mine.”
“Huh?!” Priya exclaimed, looking startled while Indira looked worried.
Lakshman chuckled and asked, “Is that how you think I do things? Just focus on the immediate tasks at hand and set aside the other ones for later?”
This made Rudius let out a sigh and said, “Again with your words and mannerism. First of all, the king wouldn’t be here as he would be contending with the current problems of our kingdom and second of all, he would definitely not come since it makes no sense why he would show up here of all places without an escort or guard at all or a Phintex Raja. So, I warn you to stop pretending to pretend to be the king unless you are eager to land yourself in prison.”
Stunned silence followed his words as everyone there, excluding his daughter, could not believe what he just said. He had just threatened his own king without even knowing it. Priya and Belinha stared at him unblinkingly with stunned expressions on their faces. Even the Phintex Raja appeared to be taken aback as he was staring at Rudius in complete silence.
“My brother is the king! You have to believe it!” Indira protested.
Lakshman, for his part, looked at the shorter man and laughed before saying, “I suppose you make valid points as to why the king wouldn’t be here. Sadly, though, I am here, and I am the king, but I’ll let my appearance speak for itself.”
As the baron looked at him in confusion, Lakshman suddenly began to surge with power while radiating golden-red aura that surrounded him. His powering up caused the wind to blow wildly around them, making all of them to stumble and nearly fall over.
He momentarily closed his eyes before reopening them to reveal that the clear black eyes had changed to that of red crown shapes eyes with wings around the pupil. Then he clenched his fists and grimaced as he went through a transformation, where his hair became coloured golden-red to indicate that he was the Phoenix Titan.
“What the?!” Rudius exclaimed, staring at him in shock at this unexpected revelation for him. “Being surrounded by golden-red aura as well as possessing golden-red hair after the transformation as well as the power… especially the eyes…! It can’t be…!”
“The Phoenix Titan!” Lina whispered, staring at him with widened eyes filled with awe.
“So, now do you believe me that I am the Phoenix Titan and your king?” Lakshman asked the man coolly. “If you still think this is an illusion, I can summon all of my attendants to vouch for me.”
“Ah! No need, sir!” Rudius exclaimed, snapping out of his shocked state and waving his hands in denial. “I believe you! You are the Phoenix Titan and the King of Floria Kingdom, Lakshman Chand!”
“Good. I am glad you finally got it,” said Lakshman with an approving smile.
He powered down and returned to his normal state while the wind returned to breeze softly around them. In the next moment, Rudius fell on his knees and began begging his king for mercy.
“My king! Please have mercy on me! I didn’t know it was you because I had assumed without proper evidence. I didn’t even remember your appearance let alone tell that it was you simply based on your mannerism and that lady declaring your identity.”
“Please get up,” said Lakshman smoothly. “I am neither annoyed or concerned about you being unable to recognise your king. It is partially my fault for not mingling with the nobles that much, but like you said, I am more focused on the welfare of the commoners than rubbing shoulders with nobility just to keep up appearances. So, rise. I will start to feel discomfort if my subject continues to kneel like this when they are not at fault.”
Heeding his words, Rudius rose to his feet and said, “Thank you very much, your majesty.”
Lakshman smiled softly and turned to Lina as he said, “I’ve gotten the answers that I need from your father, but I have yet to receive any from you, Miss Lina.”
“S-Sorry?” Lina asked, clearly taken aback by his sudden remark.
Hearing his words made her father suddenly exclaim, “On behalf of my daughter, I apologise for anything that she might have wronged you. Please have mercy. She’s still young and wouldn’t have meant any harm if she had done any.”
“Dad! I didn’t do anything to him!” Lina retorted at her father, suddenly flaring up. Then she gasped in realisation of her outburst and quickly turned to Lakshman as he said, “I’m sorry, sir. I mean, your majesty. I didn’t mean to be rude.”
Seeing her behaviour mirror her father’s reaction made him think, “Seriously. They are so much alike.” Then he said to them, “Relax. I’m not here to punish anyone. In fact, I’m here to do the exact opposite.” As the two looked confused about his words, he looked towards the young girl and asked, “As I was saying, I’ve received the answers I need from your father, so it’s your turn to give me your answers, Miss Lina.”
She nodded despite wearing a confused look on her face due to not knowing what kind of answers he would be needing from her.
“My first question is the same as the one from before; are you satisfied to follow the decisions your father is making?” He asked, and she widened her eyes in alarm. “Be honest now. I do have ways of telling if you are lying.”
His words made her make a troubled expression on her face as all eyes turned to focus solely on her. Her father watched with apprehension to see what his daughter’s response would be like while clenching his hands tightly from nervousness.
“I…” she began hesitantly before sighing and becoming firmer all at once, “I definitely wouldn’t be satisfied to follow my dad’s decisions.”
Her father was stunned by her words before he slowly exclaimed, “Lina…!”
Lakshman held his hand out to her father in a gesture to make him stop, which he did but still looked troubled as he silently listened to what his daughter had to say.
“From the very beginning, I am a hardworking, determined person that wanted to help my family out in any manner or way and when my family began facing trouble, I felt it was my responsibility to rise up since my elder sister neglected her duties as the first born. However, my parents were forcing their will on me and my younger sister to get married to a wealthy family. I didn’t want my family to suffer nor watch our lives get taken from us, so I began working hard at my studies and finally managed to get this far solely through my effort and determination and I do this to help our family get through these troubled times and fulfil my responsibilities as the second daughter of the Pricemark barony family.”
She turned to her father and said with a sad expression, “It is true that I was unaware of their true intentions till now. I always believed them to be selfish and people that would use the money from our wealthy connections to escape their trouble. Nevertheless,” and she turned back to Lakshman with a determined expression, “I would still choose to work hard to help my family with my own effort instead of selling our lives just to gain an advantage. It’s despicable!”
“That’s great, Lina!” Priya remarked proudly, grinning happily at her friend’s strong determination to succeed.
Lakshman also smiled and said, “Good. I like that answer. Now for my next question; If you had the authority within you to sort out your problems and take revenge on the nobles that bullied you, what would you do?”
That question made everyone there to look astonished and turn quickly to Lina as she appeared to be taken aback. She clearly was not expecting to be questioned about something like that, but she still thought about it for a moment before giving her reply.
“If I did have such an authority… then I would first improve the welfare and wages of my people, then provide a strong backing for not just my family but other families such as ourselves that are going through the same strain. Finally, I would plan to create an environment that will not be touched with greedy and destructive intentions and allow it to benefit everyone at large.”
“You will do all of that… and not take revenge on those that oppressed you?” He asked curiously.
She hesitated for a second before replying firmly, “It is a tempting offer… but I will decline. My reasons being that I’d rather spend my time and energy developing and improving on my future plans than waste them on idiots. After all, that’s precisely what they want; wasting our time, energy and even money so that we fail and look bad. I’m not going to fall for such a cheap trick.”
There was a moment of silence that followed her words as she and Lakshman were locked in eye contact. Then he smiled and nodded his head in approval.
“Good answer,” he told her with a smiling face, causing both her and her father to smile in relief.
“Okay. Are you done with your questions, annayya?” Priya asked her brother curiously.
“Yes. I got what I needed,” he replied to her with a smile.
“I see. So then, would you mind explaining what all of this is about?”
“Ah,” he said with a cool smile. “This is all for my plan.”
She blinked twice and asked, “Plan?”
“Yes,” he replied to her with a nod of his head. Then he turned back to Lina and said, “Miss Lina, I have a proposition to make,” and he paused to see her reaction, which was filled with worry. His smile widened as he said in a cool voice filled with his truest intentions, “How would you like to become the next ruler of Floria Kingdom?”