Chapter 171 - Long Awaited Encounter

While Julius was having his fun at the balcony of the castle as the crowd watched with suspense and fear, the kings and queen of the great kingdoms along with any other important guests had already been seated in the closed off dinning room as they awaited for the man of the day, that person being Julius who they didn't know had reverted back to his old plan.

"Aren't Henry and Julius taking too long? It's been quite a while since they started their speech. I'm getting too hungry, if I have to wait another minute, all this food will be gone in an instant," said Wilson as he stared at the food with an urge to eat all of it by himself.

"Don't be such an animal, specially at an occasion such as this. Have some manners will you?" Sandra told Wilson off. Luckily for her, Wilson's sister wasn't able to hear her due to everyone else having conversations of their own going on in the other tables.

"Anyway, where's Mary? I see that she has forgotten about her manners as well. She's probably spending all her time with that worthless guard they call Hendrick. It's not a good image for a queen such as herself to hang around mere peasants. Maybe that's why she's yet to find a husband," Sandra added as she tried to insult Mary while she wasn't there.

"You're just jealous because she's better looking than you. I can see that old age hasn't been so great for your body," Astaroth who was the king which wore glasses countered the insults which Sandra was throwing.

"Will you all just calm down? Let's try to be civil here. After all were supposed to be the ones to lead by example," Steward stopped the hostile conversation from going on any longer.

"I guess you're right. Although I'm still confused as to why Mary hasn't come here yet. It's not like her to be late. Specially to events as big as this," said Wilson.

"I already told you, she's probably with that nobody of a guard Hendrick. I mean if she's just going to go for anyone, why not pick one of the captains from the other kingdoms. After all the captains and vice captains of the royal guards for the kingdoms which are run by females also have to be females since they are meant to act as replacements for the queen when she eventually gets married," Sandra added.

"Sandra! Don't speak like that in a place such as this!" Astaroth yelled at Sandra which finally gave up on trying to run Mary's reputation.

…

*A couple hours earlier*

…

"Are you sure you'll be alright Mary? Please just let me accompany you there. I'll get too worried about you if you go there without allowing me to protect you," Hendrick told Mary.

"It's okay. Don't worry about me. I'm plenty strong. And I'll be back soon too, we can talk more when I get back but I seriously have to leave right now. I cannot bring shame to this kingdom's name," said Mary as she prepared to head out towards Henry's kingdom.

"I wish I could take you with me but there are already a couple unpleasant rumours flying around about us. If they were to see us together, they'll just think of worse things to say about us," Mary said as she saw a frown appear on Hendrick's face.

"But you know, if we were to get married, they would be able to say anything about you since you'll become king of this kingdom with me," said Mary as he pulled something from the pocket of her long red sweat pant like pants which looked to be a small box.

"Hendrick… will you marry me?" Mary asked Hendrick as she got on one knee. Seeing this, Hendrick burst into tears as he couldn't believe what was happening right front of his eyes.

"Of course!" Hendrick relief as Mary played the diamond ring around his finger.

"I know that it's a bit out of tradition for me to propose instead of you doing it. I mean if anyone were to see this, they would definitely think of us as weird people so I hope you'll forgive me, I just couldn't wait any longer," Mary apologized.

"I do have to admit that I would have liked to be the one to propose to you instead but I always feared that you would refuse and end what we already have so I must apologize as well. However do not worry about you being the one to propose. I mean after all, everything we do would looked to be weird," Hendrick said with a gentle smile as he said goodbye to this future wife.

"Okay then, I'll marry you as soon as I get back!" Mary promised Hendrick before leaving the room and heading towards the caravan which was waiting for her out the castle so it could take her to the kingdom which would celebrate the birthday of Julius.

"Did something good happen my queen, you seem much happier than before. I mean it is the birthday of prince Julius however you look extra happy today," said the caravan driver as he watched Mary get inside the passenger side of the caravan.

"Yes. In fact something amazing happened. I just can't wait," said Mary with the biggest smile on her face as she imagined her wedding with Hendrick. She would make sure that it was a grander event than even Julius' 18th birthday.

"I see. Don't worry. You won't have to worry about waiting for much longer. Just for you, I'll take you to the kingdom as fast as possible," said the caravan driver as he assumed that Mary was excited for Julius' birthday when in fact the reason which he looked so happy was because of her thoughts about her wedding.

As Mary continued to daydream about the upcoming best day of her life, a single female figure appeared right beside the queen as if she had teleported inside of the caravan when in fact that was exactly what the female figure had done. Without saying a word, the figure just sat beside Mary before finally speaking.

"Hello, sister"