A Father's Duty

I woke up early in my desk and went to the kitchen to prepare some food for myself as a habit by using my ingredients. The chefs in the kitchen thought that I'm new to the place as they tried to stop me.

"I'm assigned by the royal highness to cook for his guest." I said as my excuse as the royal chefs felt confused as they haven't heard any important guest coming and thought that it was a secret guest.

After whipping some toast and eggs quickly for myself, I returned back to my room as I placed the doc.u.ments down and started eating.

Soon, a I heard a knock from the door.

"Come in, its open." I said as Tyr came in.

"Your highness, his majesty called you for break... what the hell? You're already eating?!" This is one of the traits that made Tyr, a good friend. He speaks whatever is on his mind when we are alone and still maintains the respect when in the vicinity of others.

"What? Its just a simple toast and egg. I felt hungry so I thought of making myself some food. Here have some." I said as I motioned for Tyr to have one.

Tyr took one and took a bite. He became dazed as he was transported into a farm being held by farmers dressed as bread toasts before being thrown with a barrage of eggs. He thought it was over but a legion of chickens started attacking him as they pecked him all over the place. He can't help but shout in Eggstacy.

He returned back to reality and stared at me with an incredulous look.

"How did you learn to cook food this good?" He asked.

"If you are always living in the wild, you would be forced to pick up cooking if you want to eat good food in the middle of the forest." I said as he understood.

"Anyway, his majesty is calling you for breakfast." He said.

"Wait, let me cook for breakfast. Tell my parents that I'll quickly whip up some food for them." I said as Tyr stared intensely before shouting.

"You're crazy!" He said as I retorted.

"I know!" I said with a smirk before going to the kitchen as I kicked all the chefs out as per the orders of the king, they wanted to complain but I simply put knocking on their body as they stopped moving. No one dared to make a move after that and they left the kitchen and they brought their fellow chef frozen in knocking, out of the kitchen.

I quickly whipped up some food for breakfast. After 30 minutes, I put up all the foods in the food cart and brought them to the dining room as Father already looked impatient while mother gave me a warm smile and Somnus having a curious gaze.

I opened up one of the covers and gave mother a stack of pancakes with butter and maple sauce at the sides.

I opened the second tray as I laid down the pizza towards my brother and finally, I opened the final tray and gave my father 2 burgers for breakfast.

Mother asked me how to eat the stack of pancake and I showed her the way to eat it as I cut one part of the pancake and put a touch of butter and a dash of maple syrup as I put down the utensils so she could eat it by herself.

"What are these weirdly shaped food, son?" Although the burger resembled a sandwich, he could see that it was bigger than your normal sandwich.

"Your food is called burger and eaten by either using your hand or using a knife to cut it before eating. As for Somnus, his food is named pizza that could be cut into many pieces and can be shared with others. I've already cut it so you just take a piece and eat it." I explained to them.

They were skeptical about it when Hera's delightful reaction confused them.

"Ara, where did you learn to make this food, son? Care to teach your mother?" I stopped for a moment before remembering that I made a mistake.

My mother was obsessed in pursuing the cooking industry. Rumors say she was the best chef that ever lived in Lucis Kingdom. Her disciples are all working for the Royal Family. She kept on walking forward bringing the food of the era forward. So seeing an innovative food in front of her got her excited. Seeing her reaction, I gave up.

"Well, I made it." Although I'm not the inventor of it, in this world, I was the first one to make it.

"As expected of my son, looks like you've gained something from mother after all." She said happily.

Hearing our conversation, the two finally wasted no time as they started eating. They felt like they were in a desert and an oasis is just beside them. They both unconsciously smiled as I smirked seeing their reaction.

After having breakfast, father finally moved on to the serious question.

"Now, can you tell us, son, the purpose of your return?" He said.

"Not here, lets move to the throne room." I said as Father called the head maid to clean up the table as they stood up and went to the Throne room.

After making sure that no one is overhearing our conversation, I took a deep breath before dropping the bomb onto them.

"I came back to take the legacy of the Lucis Kings for myself." I said as King Regis stood up furiously.

"Preposterous! You are not a monarch yet and you want to claim it already?!" Father shouted while Mother looked at me worriedly.

"I apologize, but this is something I need to do." I said as King Regis drew his sword and about to strike me but Somnus held him down.

"Father, calm down! Brother still hasn't finished explaining himself yet!" He said while I stared at them.

"What explaining?! Even if he is the crown prince, I am still the King! The Monarch!" King Regis said but I continued not minding my angry father.

"Your life force, is getting weaker, isn't it, father?" I said and King Regis finally stopped as he stared at me with trembling hands.

"Where did you learn that?!" He asked.

"I have long since read all of the books in the Royal Library. I've read an untitled book with the history of Lucis Kingdom, about the Crystal, and the wall. I have also read about the Legacy of the Lucis Kings." I said as King Regis sighed and gave up.

"Fine. I will announce your coronation right away. I've already promised you the throne after you return anyway." He said.

"It seems you're misunderstanding something father?" I said as they were once again confused. Didn't he just say that he wants the Legacy of the King, then being a monarch is the easiest way to obtain it.

"What do you mean?" King Regis asked.

"One of the reasons I came back is to announce that I am stepping down as the crown prince." I said as they were shocked.

"What are you saying..." King Regis said with disbelief.

"The reason why I wanted the Legacy of the Kings, in the first place, is I wanted to be the bearer of its curse. I know that the Ring of Lucii is s.u.c.k.i.n.g your life force slowly to supply the crystal which then transfers it to the magical barrier of the wall." I said

"Even if you wanted the Legacy of the Kings, if they didn't want you to wield it, you would not be able to use it." King Regis said.

"I don't care if they don't acknowledge me. I only wanted to bear the curse anyway." I said.

With the help of my gourmet cells and eating ingredients compatible with me, my life span would just keep on getting longer. I could even outlive a Dragon in terms of life span.

Knocking Master Jiro in the Toriko series looks like an old man, in fact, he has lived for so many years already, but when he removed all the knocking in his body that was restricting him, he became a f*cking teenager with a tanned skin. I don't have any idea how long he would've lived if his death was by natural cause and not being killed by Acacia.

My point is, as long as my cells keep on evolving, my lifespan would just get longer to the point that even if the jewel is draining my lifespan slowly, it wouldn't affect me at all.

"Just what are you planning, son?" King Regis asked.

"To bear the curse and have Somnus lead it to become a Kingdom I would be proud of." I said as Somnus shook his head.

"I can't, brother. The people don't want me as their king. They are waiting for your return to replace father." He said as I just smiled at him.

"You've been doing everything in the dark, Somnus. Its time for us to switch places. Show them how bright of a light you can be by being their Monarch." I said.

"But-" Somnus tried to reject but I already stopped him.

"Is it because of Helen and your fiancee?" I asked as Somnus got embarrassed.

"If you don't want the arranged marriage that father set up for you, you could always tell me and we'll go and cancel it personally. I've seen Helen and your Fiancee when you were a kid. Just blame father for his poor setting up skills." I said with a laugh.

Helen is the 2nd princess of Minstrel Kingdom and we first met them when they signed a trade agreement with Caelum. The King of Minstrel had 2 princes in line to the throne and 3 princesses.

My predecessor don't have any idea how Somnus and Helen have met but my predecessor once caught them sneaking out and used that to keep teasing Somnus about it.

Somnus world, crashed down when Father engaged him to Helen's little sister, Aria. Although she is beautiful and adorable, it all went south as Aria ages. She became arrogant and spoiled. Her lithe figure transformed into a whale shark in a span of 3 years.

Even I wouldn't marry her because of her arrogant demeanor as she believes that everyone should worship her. I don't even need to gather any information about her when I got to Minstrel with Irene because the locals are always talking about her parading everyday in the town square. I thanked the heavens for not letting me encounter that parade.

"Its not that... brother." Somnus said.

"Oh come on, don't be shy, just ask for Helen's hand, you're going to be the king anyway. Nothing can change my mind from stepping down. Besides another reason why I returned is about cancelling my engagement with the eldest princess of Minstrel." I said making mother almost faint as Father held her in his arm.

"Son! What are you saying?! Look your mother almost fainted from the shock you've given us today. If you still have more then go and drop it now!" King Regis demanded as I chuckled seeing their reaction.

"But why? I set up that marriage because I thought you would make a great pair? Is it not to your liking?" Mother said in a grieving tone.

"Its not that, mother. The eldest princess of Minstrel has a different... preference. She was already clear about her preference since we were kids and she hated being my fiance anyway. Besides, when I was exploring Earth Land, I have met the love of my life. Oh! And you already have a granddaughter, I mean granddaughters." It was the final straw as mother finally fainted as King Regis carried her to her bedroom while shouting my name in anger.

"NOCTIS! WE'LL TALK ABOUT IT AFTER YOU'RE MOTHER REGAINED CONSCIOUSNESS! YOU UNGRATEFUL SON! YOU'RE GONNA BE THE DEATH OF ME!" King Regis said while Somnus and I looked at each other before laughing hard.

"You really love causing trouble don't you think so, brother?" Somnus said as I chuckled.

"Don't worry about me, you should be worrying about what you should do for the Kingdom, future king of Lucis, Somnus Lucis Caelum." I said as I saw Somnus' eyes containing wavering will slowly turned into firm determination.