Valamar had excused himself from the dinner table as he made his way to the Palace deck which was on the other side of the palace, and so took a good amount of time for him to get to. It oversaw the City square and was high up, usually used by Royals to address the larger public of people with important announcements or on special occasions.

Valamar had always enjoyed the view here, soaking in the beautiful cityscape. A beautiful orange light shone on the palace as the sun was setting to the west. He usually used the deck to relax himself, contemplating his life, or just to stargaze. Though, he also had other hobbies to do here. He walked toward the edge of the deck to the barristers.

From his belt, he pulled out a pair of binoculars which were bronze and had engravings on it. It was a gift from his uncle Valaron and was one of the best of its kind, with a magnification power stronger than the usual. He usually used these to stargaze, though he used it for other activities as well. After skimming through the collection of buildings and the busy streets, he found what he was looking for. The collection of buildings which were the open air baths. Around this time, usually the girls from the brothels nearby would be bathing there.

As expected, a group of beautiful young looking girls came inside the bathhouse. They were laughing and giggling and chattering among themselves, though obviously, Valamar couldn't hear a thing from this distance. And Valamar singled out quite a beauty from the group, with large bosoms.

"God bless whoever made this." Valamar muttered to himself "Oh, debatangku!(My God!) Is it even possible to have them that big?"

"What are you doing, my lord?"

"AAAAHHHH!!!!"

Valamar let out quite the shriek as he was greatly startled by the sudden appearance of the Florentinian Princess behind him. Cassandra only looked at him with a confused expression.

"Oh, Tuhan!(God)" Valamar was clearly still exasperated by the shock as he held his chest firmly with his hand "Oh, Lady Cassandra... it's you..."

"Did I startle you, my lord? Are you alright..." Cassandra showed great concern but Valamar only held his hand out as he regained his composure

"Ah, a little, milady." Valamar said as he calmed down "But, I'm fine. You shouldn't sneak up on people like that."

"Ah, then I apologize, my lord." Cassandra slightly bowed her head "But what were you doing here my lord? You seemed very much invested in it."

"Who me? I was just..." Valamar quickly rushed through excuses in his mind "...looking at the beautiful architecture of the city. It never gets old"

"Oh, I see." Cassandra seemed to have accepted Valamar's excuse readily as she walked to Valamar's side "The city really is beautiful. As expected from one of the oldest cities in Terra."

"Hutaniruma is its native name." Valamar said "It means Ruma's city."

"How different are the names of the cities from what everyone else calls them..."

"Most of the cities were renamed by the Elves during their conquests, and the cities after that were named accordingly."

"Si. The Raemusians were... well, are such cultural elitists. But still though, the city's beauty is unmatched."

Valamar smirked at the girl, "That's an honour coming from the Princess of Florentia, the City of a thousand canals."

"Ah, the beauty there is overstated. Squalor is a major problem in the outskirts. Rumasil is different. It's beauty is grand compared to Florentia's elegance."

"I find it odd how you praise this city higher than your own."

"Well." Cassandra gave Valamar a soft smile "Depending on your choice, this city could very well become mine as well."

Valamar laughed softly. This girl was definitely different from the usual type of nobility he had seen. Valamar then saw as Cassandra was looking at the binoculars in his hand. As he noticed this, he offered for her to try it, to which she did gladly.

"The power of these binoculars is far stronger than any I've previously used." Cassandra said excitedly as she looked around the view "But even with these, I can barely if at all see the edge of the city... Oh, I see the main gates... well the tiger statue on top of it at least."

Cassandra then continued to look around with the binoculars. Valamar couldn't help but feel his heart warm at her excitement.

"The Cathedral is also so very grand! Though, the architecture... it doesn't look like the rest of the architecture in the city."

"Ah, yes. Katedral ni Harajaon. It isn't actually the first church in the city. The Cathedral was built during the reign of the first King of Rumasil."

"St. Vala the Great?"

"Yes. Although he wasn't the first King of the city itself. The City was built during the 5th millennium before the great war, Vala was born one and a half millennia after that."

"Ah, yes. That was something that had always confused me. For thousands of years, your people refer to this land as Almar and the name of the kingdom thus corresponds."

"We still do...?" Valamar said with a raised eyebrow "The title is still the Almarian Kingdom of Rumasil. So..."

"Yes, but why did King Vala just decide to found the Kingdom of Rumasil even though he had effectively unified the lands of Almar?"

"Why do we call the Adventierri Union of City States by just Florentia, even though that's only one city in the Union?"

"Because we are the most powerful and prominent of the old city-states. We..."

Valamar was smiling as he saw Cassandra finding the answer to her own question as she laughed sheepishly. "Well, for the record, in our native tongue, this is the 'Harajaon ni Tanoruma' or the 'Kingdom of Ruma's Land'."

"Hmmm, I guess that makes more sense..." Cassandra fell silent for a while as she kept looking around with the binoculars until Valamar could see that her head had frozen and had focused on a particular area. Her jaw dropped as her face became red. She immediately stopped sightseeing and looked at Valamar with embarrassed eyes. Valamar was understandably confused.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

"Is there something wrong?" He asked with worry

"The open air baths are a clear sight from here. I didn't realise Rumasil's people were so uninhibited."

"Uh, what do you mean by that?" Valamar took the binoculars from Cassandra's hands and quickly looked to the bathing houses. He was clearly surprised at what he saw. "Oh dear me..."

It appeared that the group of girls from the brothels had engaged in... 'group horseplay' within the baths. This was a rare sight. Valamar had never witnessed something like this, may be in the confines of the most erotic of books. Without him noticing, he just kept on staring.

"My lord, I believe that's enough!" Cassandra who was still regaining her composure - though still clearly embarrassed and stuttering - quickly snatched the binoculars from Valamar "S-s-such a s-sight... is... unbecoming of one of your status!"

"Oh! Forgive me, I wasn't thinking straight!" Valamar said as he scratched his head and smiled sheepishly

"Was my lord peeking on such things when you came here before me?" Cassandra asked with prying eyes. She was very inquisitive

"What? No... I wasn't necessarily looking at this scene..." Valamar said. He was telling a technical truth. He didn't expect for such a scene to occur. Although he just bowed his head and apologized anyway. "Well, if I have made you uncomfortable, I deeply apologise. But, I would like to remind you that I technically didn't do anything wrong."

Cassandra only nodded and asked for the binoculars back as she continued to soak in the atmosphere of the other parts of the city. Valamar could see that she was clearly unsettled by those things, but he just laughed. This girl really was as adorable as she seemed. Without him realising it, he kept on staring at the princess. After a while, Cassandra had felt this and looked at him as well. It became a little awkward and the two just laughed.

"Is there something wrong with my face, my lord?" Cassandra asked as she finally regained her composure and her usual regal attitude

"On the contrary, milady. There is absolutely no fault in your appearance. Not your face, your hair, nor your physique. Like a sculpture so perfectly made."

Cassandra blushed again, but managed to retain her composure "My lord flatters me."

"I didn't realise stating facts had become a form of flattery." Valamar said with a joking tone "If that were true, many nasty wars could've been avoided."

"Well, thank you anyways, my lord." Cassandra said with a slight bow

"...you know, how do you feel about a good story about my family?"

"Oh, I would love a good story."

"Alright. I believe you are familiar with the name of King Valadar the Just."

"Ah, yes. If I'm not mistaken, my grandfather had planned for my mother to marry him instead of my father over six decades ago."

"I sometimes forget that your mother's an elf. Yes. My great-great-grandfather, Valadar the Just. This deck is the site where he had his mother hanged."

"Oh yes, I've somewhat heard of this tale, though I can't quite remember the specifics. Why exactly did he execute her, again?"

"Because of the infidelities she had committed towards King Valadar's father, Saint-King Valamar XVII."

"You people have too many Saint-Kings."

"We're just that touched by God." Valamar replied jokingly "Anyways, I assume you know of the Valamen House’s laws of fidelity?"

"But of course. I can't call myself a prospective bride to the Valamen dynasty if I didn't at least know that. Let me see, if I'm not mistaken, the first rule is that If any son of the house of Valamen be found guilty of adultery in any form, be it a mistress, concubine, or even just a whore, regardless the reason, must be stripped of all his titles, inheritance, lands, and wealth and in turn, all that be given to his wife. The second one, if a woman does the same - not counting cases of rape - be sentenced to death. Though I don't get the second rule. If a daughter of the House of Vala were married off to another family, wouldn't they count as being in the house of their husband."

"Yes, it does. This law doesn't apply to the daughters of Vala. Instead, it refers to the wives of the sons of Vala who have been 'adopted into' the family." Valamar explained "But very impressive, Lady Cassandra. Now, during the reign of King Vala I's son, King Vala II, the rules were added to govern the love lives of the unmarried members of the house. As you can see, this is one of the reasons for my country's picky attitude in searching for prospective brides."

"Oh, tell me about it." Cassandra said as if blowing off some steam "I was inspected for the span of a week by the Rumasilian representatives. They bombarded me with non-stop questions for hours and the next day, they tested my physical aptitude, my knowledge of arts and history, and they even had to check my-... I don't even want to say it..." Cassandra's face was flushed red

"I am truly sorry for the trouble I may have caused you." Valamar said with a bow "Well, the Rumasilian court doesn't always do that. I mean, an inspection is mostly optional and depends on the girl's father. It mostly is a way to flaunt to the world how the heir apparent of Rumasil has such a perfect bride."

"It was optional?" Cassandra said with a blank face "...Father..." Cassandra looked a little displeased.

"Well, to get back to my story, yeah. Queen Helena absolutely hated her husband, King Valamar XVII. She saw it as an affront to be married to someone who was an enemy. At first she tried to cope with the court of Rumasil and it's lack of fun, but she just couldn't handle it. She clearly didn't go through the inspection you did.

This, however, was in great contrast to the King who greatly loved his wife and bore so much affection to her."

"That doesn't make sense. Why would you want to betray a husband who loved you so much."

Valamar made an 'I don't know' gesture to her. "Nobody's really sure. The leading theory is that she was just a rotten bitch to the core, though, I'm more of a mind with the theory that despite his great love, King Valamar XVII was known to be quite the workaholic, even by monarch standards, and so had little time to actually please his wife."

"So who did she commit her escapades with?" Cassandra asked "I'm pretty sure that the Rules of Fidelity are widely known throughout the lands of Rumasil, so I hardly believe any nobleman would touch her."

"Well she was rumored to have about twenty lovers, though the confirmed numbers were about a dozen. Mostly younger noblemen and courtiers who just didn't know any better. She even had one confirmed female lover in the form of one of her handmaidens, one that had come with her from Provaria, a childhood friend."

"How did she get away with all that frolicking? Surely news would've been sent to the King."

"Oh, they were. But the King, being the daft bastard he was, refused to believe the reports. Suffice to say, the Queen had usual places in the palace where she would go on her 'activities'. As luck would have it, the queen was a bit of an exhibitionist and would sometimes chance it to do those deeds in places that had a great chance for her to be spotted like the gardens. This in turn caused a young, hormonal, teenage Prince Valadar to bear witness to such a deed. In fact, he witnessed it numerous times. Finally, after some convincing, he finally got his father to come with him in secret to follow the Queen to one of her outings. And the shock it caused gave him a heart-attack! He was bed-ridden for weeks before he finally died. It goes without saying, Prince Valadar did not take too kindly to this and had summarily ordered the execution of his mother as the first decree of his reign..."

"Dio mio, that was... quite the tale." Cassandra said as she then looked to Valamar with those adorable eyes which caused Valamar to feel like he was going to melt "My lord, I promise you. If I become your wife, I will never betray you! That I assure you. So please, my lord, I only ask that you give me the chance to be your bride!"

"Lady Cassandra..." Valamar in turn blushed a bit "I mean no offense, but why are you so keen on this marriage? You barely even know me..."

"Do you believe in love at first sight?"

"Ahahahahaha....hahahaha.... Like in the fairytales?" Valamar laughed at the mere thought of it. This must be some sort of joke. No way would something like that happen. He barely even knew the girl, even if she did feel awfully familiar.

But then he saw Cassandra's face turn a little gloomy as she tried to fake a laugh but failed.

"...wait, you're serious?" Valamar said all of a sudden feeling immensely like a jerk

"Prince Valamar, you really don't remember me, do you?" Cassandra said with a smile though it was clear from her watery eyes that she was on the verge of tears. Valamar really did not know what he did wrong.

"Well, forgive me for the discomfort, my lord... please excuse me." Cassandra had turned to leave in tears. Valamar was confused, but he wasn't going to let it end there. He immediately grabbed Cassandra by her arm and pulled her closer to him.

"Wait! Don't leave." He said looking at her, tears on her face "Let's talk some more..."