Prologue: A Meeting in the Kingdom of Lenarute
The castle sat in the capital of Lenarute, a kingdom ruled by dark elves. There, in the royal residence located within the inner citadel, meetings had been held for days on end to discuss how the kingdom should answer a letter that had been personally penned by the emperor of Magnolia himself. Today was no different, and the discussions continued.
An elderly dark elf looked over at the king doubtfully and asked, “Your Majesty, do you intend to accept the missive from the empire without challenge?”
“The empire is fulfilling our agreement as promised,” the king responded from his throne. “They have not failed to honor anything. The missive assured that the empire has no intentions of ratifying the marriage contract during this visit.”
The letter from the empire had addressed the marriage of the princess of Lenarute to a Magnolian noble. Naturally, only the highest-ranking members of the kingdom’s peerage who were aware of the secret agreement between the countries were present at the meeting.
“However, it cannot be a coincidence that a margrave’s son is visiting at this point in time. Not only that, but the boy is the same age as Her Highness. It appears that the empire is all but confirming that he will be marrying our princess. You must be aware of that, King Elias.”
“I am well aware, as I have told you many times already, Norris. What do you propose that I do in this situation? I know for a fact that you are cognizant of our agreement with the empire following the Valst Incident. What doyou believe is possible for us in the current situation?”
The man referred to as Norris was an elderly dark elf with black hair and blue eyes. Judging from his appearance, he was likely quite advanced in age—so much so that his many years were slightly observable despite his being a dark elf.
The other man, King Elias, was a dark elf with black hair and yellow eyes. Though he had a youthful appearance, he had a commanding and dignified presence resembling that of a warrior.
The two men had been scowling at each other while engaged in a heated exchange of opinions. Norris suddenly composed himself in the middle of their deliberations and looked the king in the eye.
“Our agreement indeed states the marriage would be to ‘either a member of the imperial family or a noble of proportionate status.’ However, in such cases, the logical course of action would be to betroth a member of the imperial family to our princess. If that had happened first, and said betrothal had ended in failure, then I would be agreeable to a marriage between Her Highness and ‘a noble of proportionate status.’ In this case, the empire has immediately jumped to presenting the latter as the princess’s prospective partner. I cannot help but feel the empire is disparaging both the kingdom and the princess.”
Upon hearing this, Elias furrowed his
