The Crown's Entrapment

At the Kingdom of Cordon.

As expected, the commotion regarding King Darius's sudden decision raged on, especially since he finalized the agreement without even asking the court's opinion of it first.

"This is too unacceptable. It only shows how much he disrespects his subject," one of the court Elders complained. "He did such an important decision without even so much as discussing the matters with us, ignoring the fact that the process of determining and balancing the cost-effectiveness of the said agreement would be beneficial to our kingdom. We must do something…"

Savannah, as the Queen Mother, was left in charge of the court. She let out a long sigh as she let everyone say their piece. As she expected, those who were against his son instantly took this opportunity to voice out their so-called concerns for the kingdom's welfare, highlighting the 'impulsive and reckless' move that the king just made.

She had no qualms in letting them speak. Unlike Darius, who would usually slap any opposition away with his authority and rational explanations to quickly shut them up, Savannah was fine with letting these Elders rant to their heart's content.

She held in the urge to yawn as she watched on, acting as if she was still keenly listening to all of their whims. It would all work out fine in the end anyway. She trusted her son, and she knew very well that Darius had a valid reason for every single decision he might make.

Although, she must admit that there was this unsettling feeling still lingering within her heart the more she thought about her son's situation. It was the fact that Darius had found his mate among humans… It was… simply unexpected…

"We must wait for our king to explain himself. I'm sure he has his reasons," another Elder, going by the name of Handi, tried placating the court.

"Besides, I'm sure some of you have already experienced the Mate Pull before, and I'm sure that you all can relate to our King's sentiments about this matter. Experiencing the Mate Pull and meeting the Almighty's destined mate for you is a blessing. It only shows how our Almighty is giving his blessing to our ruler by granting him this kind of privilege," he sagely explained.

"Not all of our kind has had the luxury to undergo such an experience. This is a good sign, regardless of whether or not his mate is the same kind as us."

The Queen Mother looked on at the one who just spoke up. Elder Handi, who had been a very supportive father figure to Darius ever since he was born, had just presented his case. Savannah could only let out a sigh of relief at the sight.

Ah… She was glad that Darius still had many supporters despite his unorthodox way of ruling. She couldn't help but be proud of him, seeing that he was doing a great job regardless of his ways.

Blinking back her attention to the court, another sigh came out of her lips as she pondered. Elder Handi had a point. Indeed, not all werewolves were blessed to experience the Mate Pull, or at least find even their respective mates.

For instance, she and her deceased husband, the former King Lucian, were not destined mates at all. She was simply lucky to be born into a high-ranking family befitting enough to marry the King who fell in love with her. Their relationship was well accepted in the court with her being the daughter of the Duke and being a full-blooded werewolf on top of that.

However, Darius's mate was a human.

She didn't know what to feel since she herself hadn't experienced having the Mate Pull, but she was aware of how others had described the feeling. From what she heard, it was a feeling so strong that some who had lost their mate also died of grief and pain. However, such cases were on a case-by-case basis, and not every werewolf was like that.

Thinking about all this, these officers of the State before her would definitely accept a human as their Queen.

'Oh, Darius… What are you planning to do?' Savannah thought while her eyes darted towards Clara's direction… Things would've been so much easier if Darius had just chosen Clara as his Queen.

The debate raged on in the Great Hall for a few more minutes before it was soon interrupted by Leon's arrival. He did a courteous bow before the Queen Mother before he spoke.

"Queen Mother, I have a message coming from Our Majesty, King Darius," Leon declared. "He wants me to relay it before the royal court…"

"Relay the message," Savannah gave her signal.

Getting the signal, Leon gulped as he turned around to face the royal court and started, "I, King Darius, can already picture the nonstop debate about my decision in marrying the Princess of Ebodia. My mate… to be specific. Please know that this decision was not made solely for my own desire to have my mate. I will, however, not hide the fact that the main reason that this decision was made was because of the fact that I did want my mate as my own."

Leon paused, stopping himself from laughing at his king's roundabout words. It wasn't known to them, but their king always seemed to have a way to annoy the Council, especially those who were constantly against him.

Ah, how he wished he could send the exact expressions of those specific Elders that were against their king. Gideon would probably be more than happy to make fun of them if he was here.

"Continue…" Queen Mother reminded him.

Hearing his cue, Leon cleared his throat, looking at the other knights and giving them the signal.

At the messenger's behest, two knights rolled open the map, and Leon pointed his finger to Ebodia's location.

"As you can see, the Kingdom of Ebodia is the only path Helion can take to march their way towards our kingdom. That is, of course, apart from using the Miran Ocean as another route," Leon enumerated. "For obvious reasons, the Miran Ocean won't be an advantageous platform to stage an assault if they want to siege the kingdom. I'm sure I don't need to explain further why? If it's not clear, you all can simply ask both our Admiral Osman and our Constable Gilas for further you're still unclear about the details."

The Court remained silent, so Leon continued.

"As I was saying, they want to conquer Ebodia and secure its position simply because it's a good staging ground for them to attack our kingdom. Helion's main target is Cordon and Valcrez, but since Valcrez had the Miran Ocean as its natural borders, it won't be easy to attack it first," Leon carefully pointed out, encircling the aforementioned territories with his finger. "They need all the resources they can get before going on an all-out war with us, and Ebodia will provide it for them once they conquer their lands."

He then posed a question, "So tell me now, my very hardworking peers… What do you think will happen once Helion succeeds in conquering Ebodia? They'd be diverting all of their wizards and mages into black magic by then… Are you confident that our kingdom would win that war?"

The Court, once again, fell silent as Leon posed the hypothetical situation from their king. Seeing as none dared to question their king's message, he continued.

"As much as I hate to say this, I'm sure all of us will agree on one thing, and that is the fact that the answer is simply 'NO.' We are not confident about our victory at this point with how fast the army of Helion is growing every day," Leon sagely nodded. "As such, we need Ebodia just as much as they need us. So please, stop debating about the matter of my marriage and focus on what's important; strengthening our kingdom and unifying our goals in making sure that Cordon will not end up like the other kingdoms in the lands of Helion… We can't simply be another fallen kingdom under their boot."