RETURN OF THE KING

Everyone here is nuts! – that's the single, overarching conclusion that Jonttar had come to in the few minutes that he had observing those around him. While Alison tried to soothe Aaria against Lucky, the other three were hardly better; the young Duke opened a book right there, on the table, and started reading as though nothing else interested him, the Earl was actually napping right now, and the Grand Duke – someone who, at times, has even more power than the Emperor himself, was drinking and chatting with him like they were the best friends.

"—you look somewhat pale," Eggor said. "Are you okay?"

"—ah, no, yeah, I'm fine," Jonttar stuttered. "It's, uh, just my natural complexion…"

"Oh, 's that so? What's your name anyway?"

"… Jonttar, Grand Duke."

"… who?"

"… you?"

"Oh, right!" Eggor exclaimed, as though having just remembered it. "Right, I remember Hannah telling me she gave me some important t.i.tle. Hur hur, Grand Duke, huh? Doesn't sound all that bad, does it?"

"… n-no…"

"Ha ha ha, relax, relax," the big fist gently slapped his back as the odd Duke shoved a gla.s.s of wine in front of him. "Drink. It's lonely drinking alone."

"… y-yes…" Jonttar took the gla.s.s and slowly began chipping away at it, crying inwardly. He had already realized that none of the Empire's royalty paid much attention to their standing – if they were even aware they had it in the first place. At the end of the day, no matter what Jonttar did, if they didn't change their behavior in public, the public itself won't change their att.i.tude toward them.

"Grandpa!!" a young girl cried out as she shuffled away from her seat and ran into Eggor's lap. "Aunty is bullying me!"

"ah, is that so?" Eggor chuckled bitterly, glancing at the smirking Lucky. "What did she do?"

"She's only a d.u.c.h.ess – you're a Grand Duke, you can punish her, right?!" YOU'RE THE PRINCESS!! THE ONLY PRINCESS OF THE EMPIRE!! Jonttar wanted to scream out but barely held himself.

"—could… could you give her a break, L'? Please?" Eggor sighed helplessly.

"Meh, fine," Lucky shrugged, leaning back into her chair and copying Ivon, deciding to take a nap. "Don't wake me up, no matter what."

"… fine." Alison sighed helplessly herself, glancing apologetically at Aaria who was currently pouting.

"… you're already fourteen, Aaria," Eggor said, stroking the girl's hair gently. "Did you know your mom is thinking of picking someone for you to marry tonight?"

"… bah, as if dad would ever let that happen." Aaria said.

"Why do you think she's doing it while your dad isn't here?"

"—w-wait… you can't be serious?!"

"She thinks it's time." Cae glanced dubiously at his old man, smiling bitterly; he was just as shrewd as the rest of them. n.o.body who will be seated on this table tonight is a nice person, save for perhaps Alison.

"I—I…"

"Do you want your grandpa to talk with her?"

"Could you? Please?!" Aaria's downtrodden expression quickly lit up, her eyes s.h.i.+ning.

"Of course, of course," Eggor nodded, smiling lightly. "So why don't you return to your seat and keep quiet, eh? Let me handle it."

"Yes, grandpa!" He's dangerous!! He's too dangerous!! Jonttar broke out in cold sweat as he watched the old man manipulate a young girl so easily and effortlessly.

"Tsk, she's still just a pup," Eggor sighed, noticing Jonttar's gaze, smiling. "Now, her dad, that b.a.s.t.a.r.d… haii, after him, each kid becomes a vacation, I swear."

"… I… I keep hearing a lot about the Emperor," Jonttar said, taking a sip of the wine. "What's he really like, though?"

"Nuts."

"E-eh?"

"He's nuts," Eggor shrugged. "Greedy, arrogant, self-absorbed, manipulative, ungrateful b.a.s.t.a.r.d. If I were you, I'd keep as far away from him as possible."

"aren't… aren't you his father?"

"Yup. So I know the best."

"…"

Jonttar turned to silence once more, slumping back into his chair – well, someone else's chair. He was praying that, whoever was to sit here, comes quickly, lest he loses all the remaining marbles inside his mind. He'd also realized the simple truth – it's not that none of the people here were inept, or simply didn't know any better… it's just that none of them cared. Chances are, if anyone tried to usurp them, whoever did so wouldn't even know why they were clearing sewers a few days later. In a way, it was a brilliant strategy – n.o.body took them seriously, underestimating them severely.

"Attention!!" the voice echoed out once more, and once more after that, several times in a row, as various t.i.tled began arriving one by one, filling the tables. However, to Jonttar's surprise, n.o.body came to occupy his place, which piqued his curiosity somewhat as he turned toward Eggor.

"E-excuse me, Grand Duke?"

"Hm? Oh, just call me Eggor."

"… E-Eggor, then."

"Hm. What is it?"

"Whose seat is this? The one I'm sitting on?" he asked.

"Oh, that's Hannah's."

"… Hannah's?" Jonttar tilted his head in confusion but for a second before suddenly feeling his soul freeze over. "Y-y-you mean… the E-Empress Hannah?"

"Yup." Eggor nodded nonchalantly. Does n.o.body REALLY give no s.h.i.+t about anything here?!! How come n.o.body even bothered glancing at me with ill intent?! I'm sitting on your Empress' chair guys!! For the love of all that is holy!!

"Attention!" the voice echoed out once more as the chattering audience quieted in an instant. "Her Majesty, Empress Hannah Qa'yi is entering!" as the announcement faded, all those who stood quickly shot down to their knees and lowered their heads. Through the arched gateway, a single figure walked through gracefully, dressed in an ornamental dress of crimson and gold, a bejeweled crown resting beautifully at her head. Even those seated at the table, excluding exactly one figure – Eggor – got up and bowed.

Finally, Jonttar sighed inwardly, feeling eerie pleasure in kneeling down and kissing the floor beneath. A normal reaction. Yup. This is how things ought to be. He could feel the sheer and raw respect coming from everyone; it wasn't merely out of necessity that they had knelt, but exactly that respect. At that moment, he knew that she was untouchable – n.o.body, effectively, couldn't even fathom the Empire without her standing on the top.

"At ease." Her melodic voice echoed soon after as everyone, one by one, slowly started getting up. Jonttar sat back down unconsciously, quickly freezing over and shaking as he saw the figure standing by his side, looking at him with a faint smile. "You like that chair?"

"Ah, n-no, sorry—I'm really sorry—"

"Eh, save your breath," Hannah shrugged. "Looks like this old man finally found a drinking partner. You okay with him?" she asked Eggor.

"Hm, pleasant, if not easily scared, company." Eggor nodded with a grin.

"Alright, don't drink too much," Hannah said, walking past the now-seething Jonttar. She's nuts too! You're all f.u.c.king nuts! "Save your breath, Aaria," she quickly said, sitting on the girl's spot casually. "Your Aunt is taking a nap; even I'm not brave enough to wake her from it."

"… ugh, fine. C-could… could you go and talk with the grandpa?" Aaria said nervously. "I heard him say he had something to talk to you about."

"Behave tonight and I won't marry you off." Hannah said, smiling lightly at the girl.

"…" Aaria's expression darkened slightly as she realized she was just being played with. "Humph, now I just might go and find someone to marry!"

"I won't allow it if you pressure them into agreeing," Hannah said, chuckling lightly. "You have to woo them properly."

"W-woo them?! I'm the Princess! They should be wooing me!"

"Tsk, tsk, tsk, you'll never find someone with that att.i.tude, Aaria," Hannah said, sighing exaggeratedly. "What if he's a shy boy and doesn't have the courage to talk to you?"

"… then… he's unworthy…" Aaria lowered her voice as she sat next to Hannah, in a special chair that, on most occasions, remained eerily empty.

"n.o.body's unworthy of love," Hannah said, her smile turning warm as she patted the girl's head. "Are you saying Cae's unworthy of love?"

"…"

"Truth is," Hannah added. "Neither your dad nor I care much who you marry. We don't even wanna meddle. It's your life; what say do we have in it? We only want you to find someone that will love you at least half as much as we do, and someone you'll love back just the same. So don't worry about it. You're still young."

"… dad told me that he knew he would be with you even before he was thirteen…" Aaria mumbled.

"Ha ha ha, your dad is bulls.h.i.+tting," Hannah cracked lightly, shaking her head. "A helpless romantic, that b.a.s.t.a.r.d is. Don't listen to him too much, alright?"

"… so… you won't marry me off?" Aaria asked, glancing stealthily at her.

"… go on, mingle with your friends," Hannah chuckled. "Everyone's waiting."

"… thank you." Aaria said, pecking Hannah's check quickly before rus.h.i.+ng away in a flurry, causing the latter to break out into a warm smile.

Her eyes veered down and onto the floor where she saw dozens of groups gathered, talking, drinking, laughing. She was, however, quickly forced to interrupt her thoughts as, one by one, people began coming over, greeting her, accidentally mentioning their talented children and whatnot, prompting her to resort to her usual persona.

"Eh? What's with all this fancy s.h.i.+t?" a strange voice caused a hushed murmur to erupt as displeased eyes turned toward the arched gateway where two figures walked through; one of them was a decently-dressed, handsome-looking man curiously looking about, while the other was a dirty-looking, hemp-clothed old man with hands in his pockets. "A ball? Wow, who would have thought we were fancy enough for something like that, eh? Look at this Ram, we walked into an actual, f.u.c.king ball!"

"Hm, it's very beautiful." The handsome man nodded, both seemingly not noticing the daggers pointed at them. "I especially like that mosaic. What's it about?"

"Oh? That?" the beggar-looking man turned toward the wall the handsome one was pointing at, depicting a beautiful-looking, sun-haired woman fighting lonesome against an entire army, a host of hurt people behind her. "That's Ally. Remember that fight I was telling you about, when she swooped in and saved everyone's a.s.s?"

"Oh, yes! Ah, so that's her? Beautiful indeed."

"Ah, sorry mate, she's taken—no, wait, in the first place, what are you doing, eyeing other women? Do you want me to tell Anty?"

"… please don't call her Anty," the handsome man smiled bitterly. "You know it's me who she always punishes…"

"How long are you two going to---" one of the people, tired of the two, angrily walked over and suddenly stumbled and stuttered as he met a pair of abyss-dark eyes.

"Byrone, what's wrong? What did you do, filthy b-b-b-b-"

"Wow, look at that," the beggar suddenly scratched his nose in embarra.s.sment. "I somehow even developed the ability to make people forget how to talk… aah, how embarra.s.sing." Rammraght rolled his eyes and sighed.

"H-h-h-His Majesty, Emperor Lyonel Qa'yi, has entered!!" a single announcement seemed to freeze the entire hall in time as everyone cased moving, their lips quivering as though a.s.sailed by the frigid wind. It took a few moments, and n.o.body was quite certain who did it first, but one after another, people fell to their knees, beating their heads against the floor so much that the entire hall shook.

"All hail the Emperor!!" Lino cringed as he felt a slight pain in his ears, glancing forward where he saw only Hannah and Eggor looking at him with helpless eyes. He replied the gaze in kind and walked over, sighing.

"…" Rammraght observed the surrounding people curiously, as he noticed all of them were shaking like leaves in the wind. "There are all sorts of people here." He noted. "The universe really is vast and full of mysteries…"

"Eh, this is nothing," Lino shrugged. "I'll take you and the rest out tomorrow and show you around." Lino said as he walked up to the elevated set of chairs. "Right, by the way," he leaned toward Hannah with a questioning gaze. "Why are they still kneeling? Did you order them or something?"

"…" Hannah smiled mysteriously, shooting a strange glance at Jonttar who sighed helplessly inside.

"—y-you… you haven't released us, Y-your Majesty…" he said in a meek tone as Lino turned sideways and found the source of the voice.

"Ah, you're that Vampire."

"… y-yes…"

"Good; it looks like you're getting used to this place, eh? What about the rest?"

"… we're all thankful for your grace."

"… at ease, everyone," Hannah said with a sigh, realizing Lino had already forgotten about it. "You're early." She said, turning toward him.

"They were weaker than I expected," he said, sitting down next to her. "Ah, Ram, sit there." He pointed at Aaria's seat. "How's everything around here?"

"It was all merry and chatty until you showed up," she said, smirking. "Now, everyone's too terrified to make a sound."

"…" Jonttar, who was already getting tired of the cold sweat, was once again doused in it. However, his restless heart has also calmed down considerably – if everyone in the audience genuinely respected the Empress, they felt nothing short of reverence, wors.h.i.+p, and soul-stirring terror toward the beggar-looking Emperor. That was the sort of reaction that cannot be gained through a mere conquest, or declaring yourself an Emperor; it was something that went well beyond the corporeal.

"See?" Eggor said suddenly. "What did I tell you? Completely nuts."

"…" Ah, you're all f.u.c.king nuts, old man…