A Father's Duty

We went to the royal palace and we were barred by the guards from entering as we showed them another set of forged doc.u.ment.

The identity we showed them is that we are envoys of Lucis Kingdom and told them we were to meet the king and we are in a hurry. The guards still stopped us though from entering since they need the King's permission to meet us.

The King of Minstrel, Marley, according to the information that King Regis is a sly man that will wring out all of the benefits that he can and warned us not to be swept by his pace. His shortcoming as a leader though, is that he is an emotional man and he always spoils his daughters especially the eldest princess and the third princess.

It took us 10 minutes before the guards let us through as they got the confirmation from the King.

The guards then led us directly to the King. No waiting rooms, no banquets, but directly meeting with the King.

We arrived at a huge door with little design. The guards then opened the door as we felt the luxurious feeling the throne room emanates, a complete opposite of Lucis' throne room.

We then stepped forward till we got near to the king and kneeled down as a sign of respect. The king doesn't know who we are because Somnus had been working in the dark and rarely shows his face. I, on the other hand won't be recognized since my face has m.a.t.u.r.ed compared to my teenager look. Although many had seen us when we spoke in front of many people, the news of my father's retirement hasn't reached Minstrel yet, so we were safe from being recognized by the people of Minstrel.

"Greetings, visitors from afar. May I ask as to what your business is with my Kingdom?" The King asked.

"We are sent by King Regis Lucis Caelum to declare the dissolution of engagement between the Eldest Prince of Lucis and the Eldest Princess of Minstrel. We are also to cancel the engagement between the Third Princess Aria and the Second Prince of Lucis. Of course we have something to use to compensate you." I said which made the King's face distort in rage.

"Do Regis think, I'm a fool?! Huh?! Is that what it is?!" He said as I replied back calmly.

"The King sent us as envoys because the King can't come personally due to health issues. Besides, the engagement between the first princess and the first prince is just not possible as they both wanted it cancelled. Also King Regis suggests to change the engagement between the third princess and the second prince and change it to 2nd Princess Helen. As for compensation we will offer you two newly invented kitchen equipment and form a trade agreement with two more newly invented kitchen equipment." I said to the King as he calmed down and tried to milk us out of benefits for his Kingdom.

"What can these kitchen equipment do?" He asked as I took a box of Takoyaki and Taiyaki from my bag that came from the inventory.

"These are the things that could be created by our newly invented kitchen equipment." I said as I placed the box down.

The king then motioned his hands to a guard and check the contents of it. What if poison was inside it? Then wouldn't it be assassination?

The guard opened the box as he saw the round takoyaki and taiyaki in the box.

"Envoy, what are these?" The King asked.

"The circle one is Takoyaki and the fish one is a Taiyaki. They're foods, try them." I said but the King fed one to a guard as the guard become elated when he chewed the takoyaki.

The King saw the guard's delighted smile even after waiting for a few seconds to see if there's poison or not.

Seeing nothing happening, he chose one and was surprised of the soft taste of takoyaki and his lips raised up unconsciously as he kept on chewing.

"This is good! Envoy, is this the thing that the takoyaki grill could make? And this one too?" He asked as I nodded.

"I can dissolve the engagement between the eldest son and eldest princess... but I'm afraid I could not grant you Helen's hand." The King said

"Why? Is the compensation not enough?" I asked.

"Well... Helen is-" Before he got to finish his words.

A huge whale shark came rushing into the throne room and I swear I felt tremors whenever she stepped.

"Father! Help me~! Two people bullied me when I went out to the plaza. Please help me find them father and let me punish then." She said with tears in her eyes meanwhile both Somnus and I locked eyes with each other trying not to laugh.

Although father spoiled us sometimes, whenever we would act this clingy we would be reprimanded so hard and would be forced to learn proper etiquette for days.

"Tell me, who are they, I will issue an order to capture them for you." King Marley said to her as Aria finally wiped her tears.

"I don't know who they are father, but one of them had white hair and the other had black and they seem to be from the Island next to us. That disgusting Island full of fisherman." Due to her rushing to the King and telling her problems, she didn't notice us as she always gets what she wants and she can barge in the throne room whenever she wants to.

I felt Somnus released a faint killing intent but managed to control himself at the last moment as he withdrew it back. I was also angry about it but I'm much more calmer at such insults than Somnus.

"I'm afraid it would be hard for us to know where they are, but I will make sure they will receive their due punishment after my meeting with the envoys." He said trying to pacify Aria.

"What envoys? From where?" She asked as she looked at us as she became surprised before a malicious grin creeped up her face.

"Father! There's no need to find those that bullied me, they are right here kneeling in front of you!" She said as King Marley felt surprised as he was stuck in a hard rock. If he captures Lucis' envoys, then Lucis would strike back. Lucis care for their people and would retaliate when their people were mistreated. Also all of their envoys were also trained and skilled fighters that could get in and out of any dangerous situation and catching them without hearing their reason first.

"King Marley, we are in a hurry. We need your answers. As for you third princess, your life was already pardoned once when we met at the Plaza. Your life was pardoned the second time when you insulted our country. Do not test our patience because I will not pardon your life the third time. If you want war, we could give it to you gladly." I said in a cold voice as my gourmet demons revealed their aura to the guest.

Although my gourmet cells aren't upgraded and can't be manifested, or when mastered, could come out physically, I could still use their intimidating presence.

And the people in the room felt the pressure trying to force them to kneel down to me.

"Why so serious, Mr. Envoy. My daughter is just joking, right, Aria?" He said as droplets of sweat started to from at his neck as he give a signal for Aria to stop and I stopped the intimidation.

"Although I could accept your demand with dissolution of the engagement for the eldest princess and the third princess, I wouldn't be able to fulfill your demand of giving you Helen's hand." He said making me curious as to why.

Meanwhile hearing her engagement dissolved, Aria is mad, when she first met Somnus, it was love at first sight for her. Her love escalated to the next level, obsession, when she saw Somnus defeating 3 knights on his own and imagined herself being saved by Somnus when she is in trouble. She loved her to the point that she asked her father to set up an engagement between him and her, especially when she saw, her prince, sneaking out with her 2nd sister Helen.

She wanted Somnus for herself so she acted in front of her father and told him to engage her to Somnus, not to Helen, because usually the prince would be engaged to the princess in birth order, eldest prince to the eldest princess, second prince to the second princess, and so on. But with her trickery and acting, she snatched up Somnus underneath Helen's nose. So hearing her marriage being dissolved, of course, she got mad.

"Father! What is the meaning of this?! Why is my engagement being dissolved?!" She shrieked out as he pointed a finger at me.

"Tell me! Why are they dissolving our engagement?!" She shouted at me.

"Considering your attitude to everyone? I wouldn't wonder why they wanted to break the second prince's engagement with you." I said as I felt a meme popping in my mind. Apply cold water to the burnt area.

"You...! You...!" Aria fainted in anger as she fell down from where she's standing and a Mini-Earthquake could be felt in the throne room as the King ordered the guards to carry Aria back to her room.

King Marley wasn't displeased or felt disrespected. Aria was the one who barged in important talks and she even wanted to imprison the envoys for her enjoyment. If he accepted her demands, in a span of a week, minstrel would be gone from the map and he would be named as foolish king who's kingdom got destroyed because he followed her daughter's demand, and he wouldn't want that.

He admits that he had spoiled Aria so much and she wouldn't turn into a new leaf for a long time. Besides, Lucis' inventions are treasures in his eyes, he wouldn't mind breaking an engagement if he could get his hands on their new inventions.

"I apologize for my embarrassing daughter. She just doesn't know what she's saying, do forgive her for that. So where were we?" He said with a smile as if nothing happened.

"Why won't you be able to give Helen's hand for engagement?" I asked.

"Ah, Yes. May I know first as to why the second prince is insisted on marrying the second princess, Helen?" He asked me.

"Because they loved each other and were writing to each other for the last few years." I said.

"But that's impossible!" He shouted which surprised me.

"May I know why?" I asked as Somnus felt a bad premonition.

"She... she died years ago when her room burst into flames and wasn't able to escape in time." King Marley said as the place where Somnus is kneeling had spidercracks in it.

"YOU'RE LYING, WE ARE WRITING WITH EACH OTHER, HOW COULD SHE DIE?! I EVEN RECEIVED A LETTER LAST WEEK FROM HER. TELL ME WHERE IS SHE!? STOP LYING!" Somnus stood up as I was also surprised at the turn of events and I also realized that our covers were blown.

"Y-y-ou... Are you the second prince?! Somnus?! Then you must be... the crown prince, Noctis?!" He was shocked as he never thought that Lucis' Prince would personally break their engagement considering that Lucis is way stronger than them.

Somnus also realized what he just did as he felt ashamed for losing his emotions. I tapped his shoulders. What happened has happened. Our cover was already blown so its better to settle all of this and go back.