During the night, after the events of the party unfolded, Henry was in the guest room, staring into the ceiling. His mind was racing.

‘I just tripped the prince, I am done for, not just me, my family is done for! Why did I snap like that?’ Because he was in turmoil he could not hear the knock on the door.

“Al, just go inside, there is no sense in wasting time, our Henry is probably tired and worried about what happened today.” Eleonora urged her husband to skip the formalities and go inside.

“Henry? Are you awake, son?” Quietly the two entered and Alfred called out to Henry, causing him to flinch.

Snapping out of his daze Henry responded with a shaky voice, “Mommy, daddy?”

“Yes, it’s us, how are you?” Eleonora felt this and reassured her son.

“I am sorry for what I did today.” Henry was lost, all his thoughts led to only one outcome befalling his family.

Alfred was surprised by Henry's reaction, “Son, why are you apologizing?”

“I tripped the prince, he bled, I hurt him.” Henry stood up from his bed and looked down.

Alfred was quick to refute his son, “He attacked you, so you did nothing wrong. Always remember this Henry, you represent us and our people. Insulting you, attacking you is something you might forgive, but we will not. So whoever attacks you, make sure to beat them down.”

“But he is royalty.” Henry asked his father with a dumbfounded look on his face.

Now it was Eleonora who was there to fix her son's misunderstanding. “Henry, what would you do if someone attacked one of us? Would you protect us from anyone?”

“Of course!” Henry was for the first time full of energy, just the thought of someone hurting his family was enough to turn him into a ferocious wolf.

Alfred was quick to praise his heir. “That's my boy. We are the same. Your mother and I would feel the same way if that prince hit you. So what you did today might have saved the kingdom.”

“Father?” Henry looked at his father who wore a serious expression on his face.

“You are our treasure, no one from the capital stood by our side when we left that place to have you. If anyone or anything attempts to harm you, we will unleash all of our might upon them, no matter who they are.” His kind and calm mother exuded a strong and vicious aura as she said these lines.

Henry always knew his parents loved him and would fight for him, and now he got another glimpse of the depths of their love.

“Son, rest now, tomorrow is a new day.” Seeing that Henry was spent and needed some rest Alfred decided to end their visit.

As soon as his parents left, Henry fell asleep. He was exhausted from today's events, the one thing that kept him up was blown away by his parents and now his mind and body could sink into slumber.

***

“Henry, thank you for protecting me yesterday.” Mathew gave Henry a big hug and then ran back to his seat.

“I only did what was right, no need to thank me Mathew.” Henry replied as he sat down.

The families ate breakfast together and spent most of the day talking about various happenings from yesterday's party.

This gave Henry a sense of relief as things seemed to have returned to normal and no tension was felt in the air. It helped him put his mind at ease and enjoy the rest of his stay with the Elinstars.

This pleasant vacation continued on for another week. Time flew by and on their last day they had a small party among themselves. The children ate cake to their content while the adults relaxed and drank wine while making small talk.

The next day duke Alfred and his family bid their farewells to the Elinstars and started their long journey home. The parting between the two families was quite difficult for Mathew, who cried without pause and only stopped once Henry promised they would see each other soon.

***

It has been a little over four months since the party and the episode with the prince. Henry was already over the whole incident on the outside, while on the inside he still had some fears.

From time to time he would remember the incident and dark thoughts would come knocking but he did his best to repress them. Today was no different as he once more remembered that fateful night. ‘Still the lack of any news is good news, bad news travels fast. I just hope this holds true in my case.’

“Pay attention Henry, don’t let your mind wander.” Alfred appeared behind his son and knocked him on the head lightly.

“Sorry daddy.” Henry apologized and quickly returned to his sword practice.

Alfred nodded and tousled his son's hair, “Good, after training take Anna and your mother and come to the study.”

“Yes!” Henry did not think too much about this request and returned to his swings.

After he finished his mana control, Henry, his mother and Anna went to Alfred’s office.

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

“Henry, relax, it takes time to master mana, especially physical manifestation. You are still head and shoulders above most children of your age.” Eleonora did her best to reassure her son, but even she knew it was impossible to make him feel better. Henry was stuck at this step and could not break through, no matter how much she told him he was great it would not help.

“Lady Eleonora, why did lord Alfred summon us? Do you have any ideas?” Anna quickly changed the subject.

Eleonora accepted this change of topic as she knew quite well that Henry was not being reassured no matter what she said, “No idea, how about you Henry? Did daddy say anything?”

Henry shook his head, “No, he only said to come to his room, and bring mommy and nanny.”

As they continued the talks they quickly arrived at the door and knocked. Alfred answered and in a moment the three were sitting across from Alfred who sat behind his table.

Alfred smiled and after a few jokes about Henry's daydreams during practice switched to the main topic. “So I asked you to come over as I have received a letter from Nicolas and the king.”

Henry was petrified, he mostly put the incident behind and now it came back to haunt him. The question was how will this letter change the situation.

“Well, don’t make such a worried face. The letter is basically putting the incident behind us, the troublesome part is that for some reason they invited themselves to your birthday celebration. Prince Rufus will attend with Nicolas.” Alfred said with a hint of displeasure on his face.

“It is alright, I will do my best to make the prince feel welcomed in our home.” Henry decided to do his best and grasp this opportunity to clear the feud.

“Good, be a good host, but if he tries anything just call out. We will be nearby at all times.” Eleonora was pleased with Henry's response while also reminding her son about the troubles that might arise during the evening.

The talks shifted towards the upcoming celebration. The plans they had previously made needed to be changed, as the royal family would, once more, make their appearance.

***

The day Henry dreaded finally arrived. This was always difficult for him as he had to greet an endless stream of people, but this time it was worse than the previous years. Not only did he have to greet a royal prince, that particular royal had bad blood with Henry.

As he stood there, watching the closed doors, Henry did his best to stand firm and take the tide head on, starting with Rufus. With a nod from Henry the two knights opened the door and the greeting part of the event started with the names of two familiar people being announced.

Doing his best to appear calm and friendly the young host spoke, “Greetings your highness Rufus, my lord Nicolas. Thank you for making the long trip and taking part in my humble celebration.”

“Thank you for having us. We wish you all the best.” Nicolas wore his usual kind smile, while Rufus who was standing next to him did his best to do the same.

“Lord Henry, I wish you a happy birthday and would like to give you this letter from my father.” Rufus handed the letter to Henry and, together with his uncle, moved into the back of the room.

Henry handed the letter to Anna and continued to greet various people who arrived to participate in his celebration. The formalities were soon done and Henry was sitting with his friend Mathew and prince Rufus, enjoying some tea. The atmosphere was quite heavy, but Rufus did his best to fix it.

“Lord Henry, it is truly a splendid party, I look forward to seeing your people organize one for your next birthday in the capital.”

“Thank you for your kind words, your highness. I am very excited to have my debut before the people of the capital. I do hope you will be there.” Henry truly hoped that Rufus would catch a cold or something and end up not showing, but at the same time felt bad for wanting an illness to befall a child, even if that child was Rufus.

At the next table Nicolas was having a blast talking about his recent inspections in the south of the country.

“The south is quite different from your estates. The lack of monsters is fortunate but the constant raids from the brigands are quite a headache. If only the two of you could spare some men, perhaps that way…” Nicolas wanted to lead the conversation towards his goal for the evening but got shot down quickly.

“Is this an order from my lord minister?” Alfred was playing with his wine, not interested in the plight of his neighbors.

“No, no, this is a suggestion. In a way the brigands could be a bridge whose extermination brings the three estates closer together. That would bring a smile to the face of all the people in our realm.” Nicolas was quick to share his view of the benefits of such an alliance.

“The south has its own soldiers, more than enough if I may add, so what is your true goal here, archduke Nicolas.” Eleonora, who usually had a calm expression on her face now showed a different look. One that made even a shrewd politician like Nicolas wave the white flag of surrender.

“The marquess kept pestering me about you two. He is a man who would like to see his grandchild after all.”

“That man has his son and his son has children, there is no need to allow such a person near my child.” Eleonora's voice was filled with disdain and her expression was that of a person who had to speak about something bothersome.

“Still, he might have changed…” Nicolas tried to continue the talk but was cut off by Alfred, “Do not ruin the mood of the table. My wife has spoken, if she doesn't want our son to meet his grandfather, I will stand by her decision.”

Eleonora was quick to extinguish any hope that Nicolas had left. “That man is a grandfather in name only. If Henry has anything to know of him, then it is to stay clear of him and his bloodline.”

The archduke was disappointed by his failure to secure a foothold for the future so he decided to use his final weapon, “Must I remind you that you are of that line, my lady?”

Eleonora cast a ferocious look towards Nicolas and Benjamin quickly changed the topic to the weather, as it was the only thing he was sure would not cause a fight to break out.

***

Later that night, in Alfred’s study.

“She cannot keep that pointless feud with her own father. He said what he said and, in the eyes of the society, he was doing you both a favor. He only wanted the survival of your house.” Nicolas was doing his best to get Alfred to join him and help fix the broken relationship between Eleonora and her father.

Unfortunately for him Alfred was not willing to play along, “I don't care. That society can talk about me and my family all they want, but they best watch themselves as I am not as forgiving as I was back then. The only woman who can give birth to my son and continue the line of Sigurdsons is Eleonora, that is what I have decided the moment she agreed to marry me. What her father suggested was idiotic, to say the least. Remember Nicolas, what my wife wants I also want.”

“But still, it would be time to mend that relationship. We both know that the situation is not improving and that a war could be just around the corner.” Nicolas was starting to feel a strong headache coming his way.

“War is always behind the next corner, I am loyal to the king and to our country but that does not mean I will allow that old maniac near my family. Eleonora and Henry are the only ones who can allow him into our family, as they are the ones he hurt.” Unlike his friend Alfred was not troubled by the notion of war.

The archduke decided to play on the one weakness his opponents of the day had, their son, “Think about Henry, he is not alone in this world, your brother-in-law has three sons, they are his brothers, why would you deprive him of meeting them. He is growing up surrounded by knights and commoners, it will rub off on his character, at least allow the children to meet.”

“I see no problem in Henry, he is growing into a fine noble, or do you have some objections to my parenting methods?” Alfred was not happy with Nicolas at the moment as he seemed to be bad mouthing both his family and his people.

“Alfred, he taunted and struck a prince, that is not noble at all.” Nicolas massaged his temple as he was starting to feel a headache fast approaching.

“Oh that incident? Let me ask you something, my friend. What would have happened if I was in his place?” Alfred's smile was obvious and to someone who did not know him might seem childlike.

“I thank our good fortune you were not. I beseech you to consider my proposal.” That smile was not something Nicolas had seen in a long time, and for that he was grateful. It was the sign of the little demon having a "fun" plan about how to deal with an enemy.

“No.” Alfred's response was short and ended any hope of Nicolas's mission succeeding any time soon.