Chapter 9: (7/9)

After several minutes of uncomfortable silence, Sarra asked, “Sir Arthur, are you married?”

“No, I am not.”

“Do you have an arranged marriage?”

“No, I don’t.”

“What do you think about me?”

“I think you are a nice person.”

“I meant my look, am I pretty?”

“Yes, you are.”

“Do you want to marry me?”

“No, I already have a girlfriend. Princess Sarra, do you have any other questions?”

“Girlfriend doesn’t count. I needed a strong husband that could help me take over the throne. If you marry me, you would be King of Nalas Kingdom in the future.”

“Isn’t the throne supposed to be inherited by your brother Prince Taran Stodge?”

“I know for sure he is not my brother. As you could have guessed, Mirabelle Grantham is not my biological mother and Taran is not even my half brother. My father has been trying to have a son but my mother died in labor when she was pregnant with my blood brother. My mother and brother didn’t make it. My father married someone else and that whore gave birth to a boy only seven months after marrying my father. It doesn’t matter how many times I have told him, my father wouldn’t listen to me. If you help me kill Taran, I will marry you. My father won’t have any other option but to let me inherit the throne as the Queen of this nation. You will also become the King as my husband.”

Arthur felt like his head was about to explode. Arthur was here on a mission entrusted to him by the Mages Council. He doesn’t have time to deal with anyone’s family drama. Arthur said, “Princess Sarra, please pardon me but I don’t need to know any of your personal issues with the King. I have no feud with the Prince and won't assassinate him in any way. For Watcher's sake, the Prince is still just a child.”

“No one will suspect you if you kill Taran. I can’t ask anyone else to do this except you. You have a great background in being a genius magic caster who has won a battle tournament. Your father and mother also hold high positions in the military of Bifjorkian Theocracy. You are the perfect candidate to betrothed me.”

“What is wrong with this girl? Did the influence of the throne delude her?” Arthur thought to himself.

Arthur said, “Princess Sarra, I’m not interested in becoming the King of any nation. I am a magic caster and my goal is to advance into God-tier so I can travel to the higher realms and continue my training to be stronger and perhaps even get chosen to be the next Watcher.”

“You won’t have to manage the country. I will manage everything. All you have to do is be my husband and you can continue in your training in magic.”

"Aren't you afraid that I will tell the King and the Queen about your plot of attempting to assassinate the Prince?"

"No one will believe you. Even if they do, nothing will happen to me because I am the Princess."

“Hoh? No wonder why you dared to ask me such a thing on the very first day we met. Princess Sarra, I don’t want to have any more conversations regarding this topic. If you don’t have anything else to talk about, please leave.”

“Sir Arthur, please think about it. You will be saving the Nalas Kingdom from falling into the wrong hand. Taran is not my brother. I can’t let him inherit the throne.”

“Princess Sarra, please leave the room while you still have my respect.”

Sarra angrily stomped out of the room and ran into Kain on the way out. She failed to the ground and screamed in pain. Kain put his hand out to offer to help Sarra get up but she slapped his hand away and said, "Peasant, get your stinky dirty hand away from me. Did you just assault a Princess? Guards!"

Princess Sarra’s personal guards ran toward her and asked, "Princess, are you alright?"

"No, I am not alright! Arrest this peasant. He dared to assault me."

Arthur shook his head seeing how ignorant this Princess is. Kain can easily kill all the guards here if he wanted to.

The guards looked at Kain then turned back toward Sarra and said, "Princess, he is a magic caster."

"So what? Arrest him!"

The guards had no other choice but to obey Sarra's order. They drew out their swords and started to approach Kain. Kain smirked and was about to cast some Conjuration spells but Arthur yelled out loud, "Enough! We are members of the Gray. Even the King won't dare to disrespect us. If you attack us, we will be forced to fight back. The two of us can easily kill all guards in this imperial palace!”’

One simple statement from Arthur had made the guards back down. Kain was a little disappointed because it would be very fun if he could kill everyone in the palace for his own amusement. It had been too long since Kain last tasted fresh human blood. Arthur was assigned by Lord Clerico to be the speaking person of the Gray because of how well he could communicate with the others. Kain on the other hand would have provoked people into fighting with him instead.

“You are lucky to have a friend such as Sir Arthur or you would be arrested tonight!” Princess Sarra told Kain while she was glaring at him.

After Sarra and the guards left, Arthur and Kain walked back into their room and closed the door. Kain asked, “That girl asked you to kill her brother on the first day she met you. Either she is incredibly dumb or truly stupid to think you would have accepted to do something like that.”

“Aren't dumb and stupid the same thing? Have you been listening to us the whole time?”

“Yup, I was just watching out for you.”

“Privacy… Kain, you have to respect people’s privacy.”

“Weakling, it was her fault for speaking out loud.”

“You could have just walked away instead of listening. Anyway, the power of the throne blinded her judgment.”

“What are you going to do? Are you going to help her?”

“You heard what I have told her, of course I won’t do something like that.”

“I can help you kill the Prince while you and that crazy bitch get married.”

“Yeah… right, whatever. I’m going to sleep now. See you tomorrow.”

“Sleep well, Your Majesty.”

“Shut up…”

The next day Kain and Arthur left the palace then headed to the Mages’ Academy of Ganarion on a horse cart.

“Aren’t we going to speak with other members of the Gray in this city first?” Kain asked Arthur.

“From the intel passed on to me by Executioner Bodwyn, the members of Gray in this city are corrupted. Their time of punishment will come soon. It's better if we are not going to associate with them in any way.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Kain, stop joking like that. Please let me forget about what happened last night.”

“Alright alright…”