n

n

n

"Believe it

"? Asked Rebecca.

n

"This is the raging news in the capital. Much less believe it, the people here seem to have taken it as fact!

"

nAs Rebecca was saying this, Dante seemed to realise something.

n'Don't tell me this is their best plan?

" Thought Dante.

nDante already knew that the marriage proposal between him and Princess Levina would definitely be met with fierce resistance from the royal courts.

nFrom the start, the biggest hurdle to getting his marriage with the Princess to go through was never Dante and the Princess's comparability, it had always been the hurdle of the Royal courts.

nAnd if Dante's guess was correct, then he seemed to have an idea of the plan of Hendrix and the others.

nit seemed as if their plan was to use the excuse of Dante and Levina being madly in love to try and push this engagement through the courts.

nNow, if most people attempted to pull this off, it would probably never work.

nWhile a silly rumour like this might be able to Gogol the general public, the people who had the right to attend the royal court meetings weren't stupid, they would easily be able to spot this as a lie from the very start. But if a legend like Minister Hendrix was to personally beg the King, then the result would be very different...

nThinking about it this way, then this marriage proposal might actually stand a chance

nBut even if the marriage did go through, it wouldn't change the feelings of the people involved.

nJust because some other people were trying to get the world to believe that Dante and Levina were in love did not mean it was true!

n

"Rebecca, if I'm being honest with you, there's no chance that rumour is true.

nWe're both smart people here. The toxic personality of the princess is known throughout the whole Kingdom and yet you actually believe it was possible for there to be real affection between us?

"

nfaced with Dante's stone cold expression, Rebecca was briefly stunned before hurriedly replying.

n

"Well, of course not!

" Stammered Rebecca

n

"I just had to confirm with you if it's true.

"

nseeing Rebecca's shaky response, Dante just shook his head.

nIt was clear that Rebecca was lying, but Dante wasn't in the mood to argue anymore.

nslowly Rebecca and Dante started walking through the halls of the towards their carriage...

n...

nmeanwhile, as Rebecca and Dante were making the journey to the Hidden Dragon Academy, Lloyd was storming through the royal palace.

nToday was the day of the royal court meetings and Lloyd was in a terrible mood.

nDue to the icy relationship between King Raiden and Princess Levina, despite being the eldest daughter, Levina rarely ever attended The Royal court meetings.

nWith Lloyd's position of the eldest son, He was as already privileged enough to start attending the royal court meetings and familiarising himself with them.

nFor Lloyd, today was meant to be just like any other court meeting he had been to.

nbut just as Lloyd woke up this morning, he was greeted with terrible news.

nhis biggest competitor for the throne and his Rival Dragon Son of War had now become an item!

nHearing this, Lloyd was furious!

nIt was as if his previously smooth road to the throne was now suddenly blocked with countless thorns.

nNo matter what happened today, Lloyd couldn't let the marriage between Dante and Levina go through. If it did, it would just be too much of threat to all his plans!

nAs Lloyd was thinking all this, he started paying less and less attention to his surroundings and ended up walked straight into another person!

nGetting himself together, Lloyd quickly apologised

n

"I'm so sorry for what happened just now. I wasn't paying attention-

"

nbut before Lloyd could finish speaking, the old man looked at him and cut him off

n

"It's alright boy. There's no need to apologise.

"

nbut instead of being grateful or happy, once Lloyd heard who was speaking, his mood turned at least 100 times worse!

n

"Minister Hendrix.

" Said Lloyd hatefully

n

"What boy?

" Asked Minister Hendrix

"Don't tell me you're unhappy to see me.

"

nFor Lloyd, this man was truly the route of all his problems.

nIt was his connections and status as The minister of War that allowed for Levina to stand on equal footing with him and compete with him for the throne.

nIf anything, Lloyd wanted nothing more than to rip out this man's throat, ending his problems once and for all!

nBut Lloyd wasn't stupid. He wasn't fooled by this 'kind old man' image Hendrix was putting on.

nThis very same Kind old man was the same person with mountains of corpses to his name.

nThe amount of lives he had claimed alone were enough to form a line from here to the city gates at least three times over!

nHendrix hadn't gotten his title god of war for nothing. Only through countless bloody battles could Hendrix finally claim the title of the War God of Vaenam.

nSo despite all the hatred Lloyd had for the man, He could only politely greet the Hendrix as he continued

n

"No, not of Course minister Hendrix, it's always my pleasure to meet you.

" Replied Lloyd

n

"tch!

" Remarked Minister Hendrix

n

"Such a fake smile. With all the fake smiling you do, you need to be careful your teeth don't fall out one day.

"

nSeemingly annoyed by Lloyd's fake persona, Hendrix soon turned away and carried on heading towards the courts.

nMeanwhile as he left Lloyd was still standing there sending a burning glare into his back.

nLeaving Lloyd behind him Hendrix slowly made his way up to the last pair of doors before he would ensure the courts.

nWithout even slowing down Hendrix gracefully swung the Doors open and walked inside.

nAs Hendrix entered, he suddenly found everyone staring at him.

nHe was used to the cold looks he was getting from the normal ministers, after all, he was from the Military Faction.

nThe Generals of the Military faction and the Ministers of the faction of civil officials had been old enemies so such strange looks were just a given now.

nThe only thing that surprised Hendrix now was the strange looks he was getting from the military faction he was also a part of.

nAlthough Hendrix didn't consult the military faction before he went ahead with the attempt to join Levina and Dante through marriage, he didn't do so because he thought there would be no need.

nHe simply thought that the military faction would be simply be unbothered by it.

nBut from the looks alone, he could clearly see that some members of the military faction.

nBut even when facing the discontent of both parties, Hendrix merely sneered.

n'Tch! And to think that I've done so much for those idiots,' thought Hendrix as he looked towards the Military faction.

n'I just try and solidify my hold on the faction a bit more and now they're all scared.'

n'Truly a bunch of ungrateful dogs!' Thought Hendrix.

nBut before Hendrix could curse them any more, his thoughts were interrupted by somebody's loud calls.

n

"All rise for the Greeting of the King!

"

nSuddenly a loud cry resounded through the halls as all people present, regardless of their political faction, rose to give a greeting.

nEven Hendrix was no exception and rose to his feet to for the arrival of the king.

nIt didn't take much longer for the man everyone was awaiting for to finally arrive.

nsuddenly, a tall cold-faced man walked in.

nHis hair was the signature sky blue of the Royal family with only his beard being a slightly darker shade.

nbut despite his slightly daunting physical appearance of the man, the thing that definitely stood out the most were the bright golden robe he was wearing.

nhe was wearing a gollden robe that was enscribed with various depictions of lightning and thunder that ran across the whole outfit, depicting a the terrifying power of thunder and lightning that flowed in the royal family.

nAs he walked inside, the King's burning Violet eyes scanned the whole room, assessing everyone inside of it.

nThis man was the current ruler and supreme monarch of the Vaenam Kingdom.

nKing Raiden!

nKing Raiden slowly made his way up a short flight of stairs up onto his throne, which was in a slightly elevated position that allowed him to watch over the court.

n