Novel Full Chapter 677 - 677: Invitation
“However, if you still find me suspicious or just plain creepy, I completely understand and I shall never call Princess Felicity ever again.”
“Lord Black…!” Feliocity’s emotional voice sounded, she ate my words up without a second thought.
“Hmm…” Alexios mused for a good few seconds before he spoke up. “You’ve gotten quite the respectable education, Black, or does it come naturally to you? You’re good with words. I can see why my wife permitted you to continue chatting with our Fel. Anonymity… Perhaps that’s the key to making my little angel’s childhood more colorful.”
Another bout of silence followed until he sighed, “Fine, so long as another adult is near Felicity, she may continue to pick up your calls.”
“Yay! Thank you, Father. Mwah!” The princess lay a tender kiss on the king, making him gasp with shock for a moment. It wasn’t hard to guess that getting a kiss from his daughter was a relic of the past, reminding him of the glorious days before she entered her ‘I’m an adult lady now!’ phase.
I glanced around the room and saw multiple girls of mine grin from ear to ear. The princess was training this ancient legend as if he were her dog. Good behavior deserves rewards, while bad behavior…
“The crown is fitting your head well,” she noted cheerily, observing her creation with a proud tone.
“Yes, it’s very comfortable…”
“You are about as big as Lord Black, so Miss Elf and I used him as a prop to make any adjustments.”
“This Miss Elf again. It all sounds surreal to me.”
“What does Your Majesty mean?” Seraphiel asked.
“Black said you’re not collared. Is that true?”
A sly smile emerged on Seraphiel’s lips.
“I put on a collar when we leave our home and the reason why I was parading myself around as a sex slave back when we met the Princess was because as Black had said, we’ve never been to the Central Region before. We didn’t know the customs present. For all we knew, Black would’ve been ignored as if he were a nobody.
To prevent that from happening, we decided to bolster his image by dressing myself and the other elf, Blue, in skimpy clothes. We would’ve had to pretend to be his slaves anyway as the law dictated, so we thought why not go all out? Our value as youthful and good-looking elven pleasure slaves was dozens of gold coins, not permitting anyone to look down on Black. But yes, in our home, I and Blue walk around collarless.”
“Hmm… I see the value of anonymity, you would’ve never admitted to this otherwise. Although I can only take your words with a grain of salt since I don’t know who you are-“
He was interrupted by the furious stomping of Felicity’s feet against the ground. “Father!”
“… I wasn’t finished, my angel. I was about to say that as a king, I can’t say words of apology, but currently, I’m just a father enjoying tea time with his daughter, so… It fills my heart with great regret knowing the fate of your kind in my lands.”
“I understand, Your Majesty, but it’s not like humans are better off in Elvardia or the beastman lands. The dwarves shove them into their mines armed with pickaxes while many beasts even breed them as if they were cattle. Furthermore, the [Slave Contract] spell makes slavery all too convenient. The existence of slavery feels natural to me. Abolishing it sounds like a herculean task.”
Seraphiel’s words had the king sigh with exhaustion. “Correct… Even as king, I have to strive to maintain balance, and any effort of mine to at least make the lives of slaves better has been met with fierce resistance. I could introduce any law I wanted, but doing so would ruin the balance of the Vraven Kingdom… As for the fate of humans in the lands of the other two nations… Misery brews misery, hatred only leads to more hatred.”
I understood what he was saying. Someone had to take the first step toward peace and general acceptance between the races. But our dearest king was living in his own little world it sounded like. After ending an innumerable amount of lives as an unrelenting murder machine, perhaps his heart became weary, wishing to become a pacifist.
Sadly for him, based on the current political climate, peace was simply not a valid option.
I couldn’t help but wonder what kind of rewards I would be granted should I snitch on Elvardia’s ploy to invade the kingdom in the coming months with the assistance of the Covenant… Considering my good relationship with Felicity, I could likely come clean and admit to being a Consortium member and earn an official pardon. I might even be granted a barony for my services to the crown.
But my eyes have been set on much bigger rewards than a mere barony. Chaos was needed for me to level up at the fastest speed possible, which was my biggest aim as of now. I had to become a man who could contend with the true monsters of the Iskaris Continent, because, sooner or later, I would face them. It felt inevitable. The continent was too small for all of us.
As such, we didn’t inform the king of the impending invasion.
“I would like to see the truth with my own eyes. An elf loving a human with all her being is unheard of. If romance ever happens between a slave and her master, it’s because her brain tricks her into making the most of her miserable situation. I wonder if that’s the case with you as well.”
“Your Majesty…” I spoke up but was interrupted.
“I know, I know… You’re not hiding for no reason.”
He mused inwardly for a bit before speaking up once again, in a very serious tone this time around. “Black, you are an enigma, and enigma breeds curiosity. My daughter holds you in high regard, and I would like to see with my own eyes the man who has earned her trust. My birthday is approaching, and I am dreading the stale event with all my being. Having you and your wives show up could make the horrible experience at least tolerable. I don’t need a response. If you wish to participate, show up at my castle’s gates when the time arrives. The guards will be notified to expect you.”
“F-father!” Felicity’s shocked exclaim sounded next, but her tone quickly transformed to one of sheer excitement. “Lord Black, you must come! Just like Father, I also have a strong distaste for these events, your presence would change everything!”
Heh. I imagined the noble brats kept fawning over her at these gatherings in the past. I didn’t know if a noble could ask a royal princess for a dance according to this nation’s customs, but even if they couldn’t, I could easily guess they were extremely annoying for her to deal with. As she represented the Valorian royal family, she couldn’t just tell the sons and daughters of their allies off, that would be a political disaster.
“I’m grateful for the invitation, Your Majesty. My wives and I will need to think this through.”
“I understand.”