Dealing with treason

With how late it was, we all rested for the rest of the day. The next day Walter left early in the morning with a guard for his audience with the king. The guard escorted him straight to the king's throne room. When there, the guards in front opened the doors and allowed him inside.

Walking into the throne room, Walter knelt before the king with his head bowed. The king smiled at Walter, "There's no need for formalities between us; feel free to be informal with me."

Walter got to his feet and thanked the king, "Thank you for your consideration, your Majesty, but respectfully, I would prefer to show proper respect to you."

"Very well, I won't force you to do something you're uncomfortable with. Now, let's get to the matter I summoned you for. You may have guessed already, but I called you here about your brother, Peter Hastus."

"May I ask what my brother has done, your Majesty?"

"It saddens me to say this, but he committed high treason."

Walter was shocked by what he heard, with an expression of disbelief at what he'd been told, "Treason? How's that even possible? What crime did he commit?"

"As you know, a member of your family is always the royal advisor, which was your brother's position. The first crime he committed is the negligence of his duty."

"How did he neglect his responsibilities? He was always attentive and paid attention to every little detail."

"He abandoned his position without notice and ran off with an elf." the king couldn't hold back from smiling as he said it.

Walter looked dumbstruck by what the king said, "What...?"

"You heard me correctly. Your brother eloped in the night with an elf girl."

"He abandoned his position to run off with an elf who will probably only live half as long as him...?"

"You're correct, which brings me to his second and most unforgivable crime. He secretly corresponded with this elf girl and even smuggled her inside the walls of Kiddra capital."

The king's expression then became more serious, "Now, to discuss the punishment for his treason. Because of how long the Hastuss have served the royal family, I believe banishment for your brother is more than fair. As for the punishment for the rest of the family, you and your family are to move to the capital, where you shall take your brother's position as the royal advisor."

Walter saw through what the king was planning, 'He clearly doesn't care that my brother ran off with some woman or broke one of our most sacred laws. He's just using this as an excuse to make me take the position of royal advisor since I turned it down in the past.'

"That's a more than fair punishment, your Majesty. As always, I will oblige and inform the Duchess."

"I'm glad to hear it. But before you leave, I also mentioned in my letter that I would like to meet your daughter. So, if possible, I would like to meet her later today."

"I would be happy to introduce you to her, your Majesty. I'll take my leave now."

Walter then exited the throne room and headed back to his room. When he got inside, Crimson and I were waiting for him inside. When Crimson saw him enter, she asked him, "What did the king want to discuss?"

"Your guess was right. He wanted to discuss Peter."

"Why? What happened?"

"The fool apparently ran off in the night with an elf."

"That doesn't sound like Peter."

"I've known him my entire life, so it doesn't surprise me to hear this. He's naturally gifted at politics and management, but he's always hated those things. Knowing him, he would have done anything he could to leave his position. So I guess meeting that girl was the push he needed."

"I hope he's happy with her and doesn't come to regret his decision."

"Knowing my brother, I highly doubt he'll regret it even for a second. He's very decisive like that."

Crimson sighed, "He's your brother, so you know him best."

"I should also mention that the king requested to meet Sash later today. I had no reason to refuse his request, so I agreed."

"Why does he want to see Sash?"

"He didn't say, but there's nothing to worry about."

"Ok, I'll trust you."

Hearing her say that, I couldn't help but think, 'But I don't trust him! Why would some old king want to see me?'

A couple of hours later, Crimson took me for a walk around the castle gardens, and a guard showed up, "Please excuse the interruption, but the king has requested Duke and Sasha Hastus to meet him in the throne room."

Crimson pulled a slightly irked expression before answering, "Yes, I'll head there right away."

The guard didn't leave our side and escorted us directly to the throne room door where Walter was waiting. Seeing us arrive, Walter asked Crimson, "Did you enjoy your walk around the castle?"

"Yes, we were just walking through the gardens before coming here."

As they talked, the guard suddenly butted in, "I'm sorry to interrupt, but his Majesty is waiting for the Duke and the young lady."

Walter stared at him, irritated, "Of course, we'll head in now."

Walter lifted me out of the pushchair, and the guard opened the door for us to enter. Walter walked up to the king and gave him a slight head bow since he couldn't kneel and bow with me in his arms.

I couldn't help but stare at the king. He was the first dragon I had seen who looked over 20. He looked like he was in his 40s, at least. Considering Walter was 371 and looked 20, I could only imagine how old the king was.

When the king saw me in Walter's arms, a light smile appeared on his face, "So this is your famous daughter, then? I've heard many stories and rumours about her, and I even asked the crown princess to be here so we could both see this generation's greatest talent."

When I heard him mention the crown princess, I suddenly noticed her standing to the side. She was a beautiful woman with pure pink hair. Both she and the king had pure pink eyes, which I had never seen before.

"You flatter us with your kind words."

"Think nothing of it, but I would like to know, is it true your daughter had already achieved her full form when she was only three months old?"

"No, your Majesty, she transformed during one of my lessons for my second son when she was only a month old."

"Is that so? Would it be possible for her to show us? If this is true, this would be an event that will be recorded in history."

"Of course, your majesty."

Walter kneeled down and placed me in front of him, "Sash, can you take on your full form for me?"

Seeing how serious Walter looked, I listened to him and nodded, seeing me agree, Walter stood up and took a step back.

Suddenly, I felt incredibly pressured, 'I feel really nervous right now! Why do they have to put me on the spot like this!?'

I try to clear my head and take a deep breath. Once I calmed down, I changed into my dragon form, and when the king saw it, he looked just as shocked as anyone else who had seen it.

Even the crown princess looked noticeably surprised instead of staying stoic in the corner. The king then said, "This is truly impressive! I don't think we'll ever see another child as talented as this for eras to come!"

I couldn't help but feel he was over-exaggerating, 'Is it really that impressive to change forms at a young age?'

Walter gave the king a fake smile, "Thank you, your majesty."

"It's a shame she wasn't born a man. If she were, I would have insisted that she marry the crown princess after her coming-of-age ceremony!"

Hearing him say that only made me sad, 'Like I needed more reasons to hate being reborn a girl...!'

The king suddenly got a mischievous grin, "Speaking of marriage, have you decided on her marriage partner yet?"

"No, your Majesty. I feel she's still too young for me to decide that."

"May I suggest we arrange for her partner to be the 3rd prince? It would help strengthen the bond between our families after the current fiasco."

Walter started to look nervous at his suggestion, "Thank you for your suggestion. However, I feel it's still too soon to decide this."

"What's too soon? They wouldn't marry until after her coming-of-age ceremony, and the 3rd prince will make an excellent marriage partner!"

"You're right, your Majesty, but-"

The king suddenly cut Walter off mid-sentence, "Then I'll take that as you agree to this marriage. I'll have someone send you the documents to sign later."

Witnessing everything that just happened, I was shocked by what just happened and changed back into my human form. Walter picked me up and started to walk out of the room, "Thank you, your Majesty. I'll take my leave now."

When exiting the room, Crimson was still waiting outside, "So what happened?"

Walter's expression was in the same state of shock as mine, "The king has arranged for Sash to marry the 3rd prince after her coming-of-age ceremony."

Crimson couldn't believe her ears when she heard him, "WHAT?! She's only nine months old! How can he arrange her marriage on his own like that?!"

"You know as well as I that this is a prevalent practice. We didn't have to suffer through this ourselves because we were just lucky to find each other. Not to mention it's the king's wishes, so we can't go against what he says."

"But there has to be something we can do?"

"I'm afraid not. The king seemed to be steadfast in his decision. He seemed eager to arrange it."

While they argued about the situation, my head was still reeling from it all, 'I can't believe I'm going to be forced to marry the 3rd prince when I'm older...'