Rise of the Legendary Emperor

Inside the throne hall, King Harold was sitting on his throne and by the looks of him, he seemed cooled down a bit. There was no one aside from Don, Arrora, and King Harold's family, Queen Bella appeared to be in more pressure than Darlene.

"So tell me King Don of Everlight" Don could feel the sneering when calling him as 'King Don' 

"Where is this Everlight? And why have I never heard of it before?" 

Arrora wanted to jump forward and punch King Harold's face to remove that snicker from his face but seeing Don standing before her without taking any offense she restrained her anger.

"It's a newly found kingdom King Harold that's why you've never heard of it, as for where it is, it's very far away from here"

"And how does a king of a newly found kingdom achieve to subdue Emir and its king?"

"Head of State" 

"What?"

King Harold frowned when he heard Don since he had no idea what a 'Head of state' means

"Warren's position is not king, it's Head of State"

Arrora realized that Don just had this idea and changed Warren's position to avoid the confusion of two kings in Emir but others looked confused including Darlene

Since now Don's tone when talking to King Harold was neither too humble nor too arrogant, however for King Harold, he felt insulted by a puny king of an inferior kingdom that didn't even register with the Empire and ranked.

King Harold was too arrogant for a king of a rank 4 kingdom.

"Whatever, you didn't answer my question? Considering your newly found kingdom you can't have much manpower can you?"

King Harold meant the obvious, the army size and it was true that a newly found kingdom couldn't afford a larger army like the kingdoms registered with the empire.

The benefits they got after registering and ranked by the empire meant little to rank 2 and rank 1 kingdoms, however for rank 3 and rank 4 kingdoms it was a tremendous help, especially for rank 4 kingdoms. The Empire would provide funds or loans to develop their lands and army, since Everlight was not registered with the empire, everyone would assume it was a weak feeble kingdom just like King Harold.

"You don't always need to have the manpower to get something, King Harold"

"Hmph, is that how you get my daughter to fall in love with you?"

"Father!" Princess Darlene grumbled as Don stood there without answering.

Arrora was getting angrier by the second seeing King Harold insulting Don and being rude,

"Your majesty, let the past be past and forgive them " Uncle Steve stepped forward and said in case Don had enough of King Harold and throw the hammer in Princess Darlene's whole plan.

Even though King Harold was an arrogant overbearing man, he realized he could do nothing against Darlene's wishes or to be exact he didn't want to lose the support of Emir if the Agorians decided to declare war against him when they hear about Darlene's new lover.

King Harold sighed and stood up from his throne "So I assume you know the situation with the Agorians?"

"Yes I do"

"I will talk to the Agorian ambassador soon and I hope everything goes peaceful" as he said King Harold looked at everyone in the throne hall and stepped towards the door beside his throne to leave 

"If not, Korrinth has to go to war and when that time comes it needs to be all hands on deck" King Harold said before he leaves the hall.

After seeing King Harold leaves the hall, Princess Darlene sighed in relief as Don turned to look at Princess Darlene

"Bringing Emir into this was not part of the deal, Princess"

"Don't worry Don" for whatever reason Darlene didn't use King before Don's name 

"I don't think the Agorians would declare war against Korrinth and face two kingdoms at once beside even if you have to bring in Emir's army it'll be worth the price"

Princess Darlene didn't wait for Don's response and left the hall leaving Don and Arrora behind

"That bitch, is she changing the deal now?" 

"As I said, surprises" 

Arrora knew Don would not show any emotions on his face but hearing him, she had a feeling that Don was expecting this

"Your majesty, you must be tired after the journey let me show you Korrinth's hospitality"

Uncle Steve said and there was a hint of guilt and embarrassment in his eyes

"Lead the way"

*************************************

At the moment King Harold was sitting on his bed with Queen Bella beside him.

"Harold do you think the Agorians will go to war with us? "

"I don't know Bella, but they won't be happy "

Hearing King Harold's worried tone, Queen Bella placed her hand on his shoulder to comfort him

"I know it's not easy for you Harold, but we must do this for our daughter for her happiness"

"That's what I am worried about Bella" 

Queen Bella didn't understand what did he mean by that

"What do you mean Harold?"

King Harold took a deep breath and recalled Don's face before answering Bella

"Did you see his eyes, Bella?"

"Huh? Whose eyes?"

"Don, Bella.Your Daughter's lover"

Other than Don's eye color which was black, Queen Bella had no idea and seeing Bella's bewildered look on her face King Harold said

"His eyes Bella, they were not the eyes of a man in love"

To Harold's surprise, Queen Bella giggled

"Harold you've being paranoid.No king, no matter how small their kingdom is looked down on by others for no reason"

Something about Don rubbed Harold in a wrong way but no matter how hard he thinks, he could not find any real reason to consider Don as a threat other than a man in love with his daughter

"You are right, it's getting late. Good night" King Harold said and pushed away any doubts about Don in his mind and closed his eyes.

************************************

At this moment Arrora was standing in front of the windows and looking at the beautiful starry night. Normally she would cultivate in nights just like Don and Knight but today the moon and the stars were too beautiful to not appreciate.

The light coming from the moon and millions of stars splashed down their watery white-silver glow onto the distant buildings in the kingdom and the paddy fields, bathing them, illuminating them. And in the distance, the trees were silhouetted against the deep velvety sky.

As she was immersed in the beauty of the night sky, in the distance she saw two figures appearing. One appeared to be a girl as the other person looked like he or she was sitting in a wheelchair but when Arrora looked closely she found the girl was pushing another wheelchair with another person in it.

"Let's see who they are '' seeing the three of them near the castle without being accompanied by the guards, Arrora wanted to check them out to see who they were because they didn't look like servants or soldiers but nobles.

With a deep breath, Arrora jumped down through the windows and landed comfortably on her feet.

"Your royal highness, you should have gone to bed, it's late"

"For god sake Riya, just call me Nick or Nikalas. How many times do I have to tell you?"

The youth in the wheelchair scolded the girl with a smile on his face as the girl shook her head

"You are a prince your royal highness, I can't call you by the name"

The youth in the wheelchair smiled but behind the smile, there was a pain in his eyes

"You are the only one calling me as prince"

"So what is a prince doing in the middle of the night without his guards?"

"Whoa!" the girl almost jumped when she heard the voice from behind her

"You are the girl with that King" the prince said as he turned his wheelchair

"Its King Don, your royal highness" Arrora said with a small curtsy towards the prince

"And you are Adria right?" Riya asked and Arrora realized that Riya's figure vaguely resembled the figure of the one that was watching her and Don previously they were in the empty hall.

"Yes and you were the one watching me and his majesty at the empty hall"

Riya shuddered a bit as Prince Nikalas looked surprised at Riya showing that he had no idea Riya was doing that

Seeing Riya biting her lower lips and standing without being able to answer, Arrora didnt want to torture the poor girl before the prince

"I didn't know her royal highness Darlene have a brother"

"Cousin" Prince Nikalas said

"Oh?"

"Even so it's dangerous for a prince to be here alone without the guards"

Hearing Arrora, Prince didn't say anything as he looked at the woman in the wheelchair beside him with a deep sadness hiding within his eyes.

Now that she noticed, the woman prince looking at seemed to sleep peacefully without noticing anything, the woman looked like she was in her early forties with red hair. 

"She's prince Nikalas's mother, her royal highness Vivian Calderon," Riya said to Arrora.

"Oh then I take my leave in case I wake her highness up"

"Nobody can wake her up" when Arrora turned to leave but she stopped when she heard prince's voice

"Is she alright?"

Riya shook her head while Prince Nikalas clutched Vivian's hand tightly

"Her royal highness is in this unconscious state for years"

"What? what did the healers say?" Arrora asked in shock since the woman before her seemed nothing like she was ill but sleeping peacefully

"They can't find what's happening to her or why she was in this state"

Riya answered but before Arrora could ask anything she saw prince Nikalas drawing something on his mother's forehead as the drawing glowed with blue light before it disappeared

"Runemaster"