Chapter : 1393

  Lloyd Ferrum sat at his breakfast table, staring at a piece of toast. It was a very nice piece of toast. It was golden brown, perfectly buttered, and it wasn't asking him to marry it. It wasn't demanding political alliances. It wasn't trying to assassinate him. It was just bread. Simple, honest bread.

  "I love you, toast," Lloyd whispered. "You are the only thing in my life that makes sense right now."

  He picked up the toast, ready to take a bite of tranquility.

  BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.

  The ground shook. The crystal chandelier above the table rattled ominously. Lloyd froze, the toast halfway to his mouth.

  "Earthquake?" Lloyd asked the empty room. "Please be an earthquake. Earthquakes are manageable. I can build a shock-absorber for an earthquake."

  He looked out the window. It wasn't an earthquake. It was a parade. And not just any parade. It was a parade that involved very large animals and very loud trumpets.

  Marching up the main driveway of the Ferrum estate was a procession that looked like it had raided a treasury and then bought every bolt of silk in the southern hemisphere. There were guards in gilded armor. There were dancers throwing petals. And in the center, stomping with the weight of geopolitical inevitability, were three massive war elephants.

  "Elephants," Lloyd sighed, dropping his toast. "She wasn't joking. She actually brought elephants."

  Riding atop the lead elephant, under a canopy of purple silk, was a man who looked like he ate iron nails for breakfast and washed them down with vinegar. He had a beard that was sharper than a sword and eyes that could peel paint off a wall.

  This was Lord Hakim. The Iron Vizier of Zakaria. Princess Amina's uncle.

  "Well," Lloyd stood up, dusting crumbs off his lap. "There goes my quiet morning. And my appetite."

  He walked out of the breakfast room and headed towards the main entrance. The household staff was in a panic. Maids were running in circles. Butlers were trying to look dignified while hiding behind pillars. Even Ken Park, the stoic bodyguard, looked mildly concerned by the presence of large gray mammals on the lawn.

  "Ken," Lloyd said, walking up to him. "Assessment."

  "Large mammals," Ken reported. "Heavily armored. The man on top looks... unhappy."

  "That is Lord Hakim," Lloyd said. "He is here to discuss my wedding. Or my execution. Sometimes they are the same thing in Zakaria."

  The front doors swung open. Arch Duke Roy Ferrum stood there. He was wearing his black armor, because Roy Ferrum wore armor to check the mail. He looked at the elephants. He looked at the Vizier. He did not look impressed.

  The lead elephant knelt. Lord Hakim descended. He didn't walk; he marched. He stopped in front of Roy. The two men stared at each other. It was like watching a glacier crash into a volcano.

  "Arch Duke Ferrum," Hakim boomed. His voice was loud enough to rattle the windows. "I bring greetings from the Sultan of Zakaria. And I bring a question."

  "Ask," Roy said calmly.

  "Where is the boy?" Hakim demanded. "Where is the one who conquered the Jahl? Where is the one who stole the Jewel of the South? Where is the betrothed of my niece?"

  Lloyd stepped out from behind his father. He waved awkwardly. "Hi. That's me. I didn't steal her. She followed me home."

  Hakim turned his gaze on Lloyd. Lloyd felt like he was being scanned by a predatory bird.

  "You," Hakim grunted. "You look... scrawny. Can you even lift a sword?"

  "I have people for that," Lloyd said. "I lift heavy concepts. Like logic. And engineering."

  "Hmph," Hakim snorted. "My niece says you are a genius. The Sultan says you are a chaos element. I say you look like you need a haircut."

  "I was going to get one today," Lloyd lied. "But then the elephants arrived."

  Hakim stepped closer. "Listen to me, boy. The Jahl Challenge is sacred. The magical contract is binding. You accepted the prize. You accepted the share of the mine. Therefore, you accepted the bride. Zakaria does not play games. We do not do 'trials'. We do marriage."

  Lloyd felt the sweat trickle down his back. This was it. The political hammer was coming down.

  "We agreed to a three-month period," Lloyd pointed out. "To... get to know each other. To ensure compatibility."

  "Compatibility is for buying shoes!" Hakim shouted. "Marriage is about alliances! It is about power! You have the power. She has the blood. The wedding should happen now. Why wait? Are you cold? Are you a coward?"

  "I am prudent," Lloyd said. "And I am already married. That is a small logistical hurdle."

  Chapter : 1394

  "Bah!" Hakim waved his hand. "A minor detail. Annul it. Divorce her. Keep her as a concubine. In Zakaria, a man of power has many flowers in his garden. Why do you cling to one weed when you have been offered a rose?"

  Behind Lloyd, the temperature dropped. He didn't need to look to know that Rosa was probably listening from a balcony somewhere, freezing the railing.

  "It is not that simple in the North," Arch Duke Roy intervened. His voice was cool steel. "Here, we honor our contracts. All of them. My son has a wife. He has a duty to her. We cannot simply discard our laws because you brought a petting zoo to my lawn."

  Hakim bristled. "You call the Royal War Elephants a petting zoo?"

  "I call them a landscaping problem," Roy said. "My gardener is going to be furious."

  The tension was thick enough to chew. Lloyd stepped between them. He raised his hands.

  "Gentlemen," Lloyd said. "Please. Let's not start a war over gardening. Lord Hakim, you are a guest. We honor guests. Why don't we go inside? Have some tea? Discuss this like civilized people who aren't shouting near large animals?"

  Hakim glared at Roy. Roy glared at Hakim.

  "Fine," Hakim said. "Tea. But strong tea. None of this weak northern water. And then, we talk dates. The Sultan expects a wedding before the next harvest."

  "We will talk," Roy agreed. "But I promise nothing."

  They turned and walked into the house. Lloyd followed, feeling like a prisoner walking to his own trial. He looked back at Ken.

  "Ken," Lloyd whispered. "If they start fighting, save the elephants. They are innocent."

  Ken nodded solemnly. "I like elephants."

  Lloyd sighed and walked into the lion's den. Or rather, the elephant's den. The Envoy had arrived, and he had brought the full weight of an empire with him. Lloyd’s plan to delay the marriage was crumbling. He needed a miracle. Or a very good lawyer.

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  The meeting room was tense. Lord Hakim sat on one side of the long oak table. He looked like he was judging the wood quality and finding it lacking. Arch Duke Roy sat on the other side, looking like a stone wall that had learned to sit down. Lloyd sat in the middle, looking like a man who wished he could turn invisible.

  "The Sultan is generous," Hakim started, slamming a thick stack of papers onto the table. "Here is the dowry list. Gold. Spices. Silk. And, of course, the Lilith Stones. Twenty-five percent of the mine's output. Annually."

  Lloyd’s eyes widened. That was a lot of stones. That was enough to build an army of Aegis suits. It was enough to revolutionize technology. It was the bribe of the century.

  "It is a generous offer," Roy admitted, glancing at the list. "But the political implications are complex. Bethelham and Zakaria have a... complicated history."

  "That is why this marriage is essential!" Hakim slammed his fist on the table. "It unites the North and the South! It creates a superpower that the Eastern Kingdoms and the Devil Race will fear! Do you not want your house to be the strongest in the world, Arch Duke?"

  "I want my house to be stable," Roy said. "Rapid expansion often leads to rapid collapse. And there is the matter of the King. King Liam must approve any alliance of this magnitude."

  "The King is a smart man," Hakim said. "He knows a good deal when he sees one. If you accept, Zakaria will share its intelligence network with you. The Whispers will be your eyes."

  Roy paused. Intelligence. That was the one thing they lacked. The war with the Seventh Circle was a war of shadows. Having access to the Zakarian spy network would be a game-changer.

  "And if we refuse?" Roy asked quietly.

  Hakim leaned forward. His eyes were cold. "Then you insult the Sultan. You insult the Princess. And you insult Zakaria. We do not take insults lightly. The trade routes will close. The iron shipments will stop. And the Whispers... they might start whispering to your enemies instead."

  It was a threat. A polite, diplomatic threat, but a threat nonetheless.

  Lloyd raised his hand. "Can I say something?"

  "Speak, boy," Hakim grunted.

  "I want the stones," Lloyd said honestly. "I really want the stones. And I like the Princess. She is very smart. She beat me at chess. Mentally. But I can't just snap my fingers and make my current marriage disappear. It's a legal process. It takes time. Bureaucracy. Paperwork. You know how it is."

  Chapter : 1395

  "Make it happen," Hakim said. "You have two months. That is when the official engagement ceremony must take place. Until then, I will remain here. To observe. To ensure you are treating the alliance with respect."

  "You are staying here?" Lloyd asked, his voice cracking slightly. "In the house?"

  "Of course," Hakim said. "I need to make sure you don't run away again. I heard you like to take 'scholar's trips'. No more trips. You stay here. You court the Princess. You fix your mess."

  Lloyd slumped in his chair. Two months. He had two months to solve an unsolvable puzzle. He had to keep Hakim happy, keep the King happy, keep Rosa from killing him, and somehow find time to build a giant robot.

  "Meeting adjourned," Roy said, standing up. "We will send a message to King Liam immediately. Lord Hakim, my steward will show you to your quarters. We have a wing prepared for you."

  "Good," Hakim stood up. He looked at Lloyd one last time. "Do not disappoint us, Lion's Cub. The Sultan likes you. But he likes his pride more."

  Hakim marched out of the room. The door closed.

  Roy let out a long breath. He looked at Lloyd. "Well. That went poorly."

  "He brought elephants, father," Lloyd said. "Who brings elephants to a business meeting?"

  "A man who wants to make a point," Roy said. "Lloyd, go to your room. Stay out of sight. I need to go to the palace. I need to speak with the King."

  "What are you going to tell him?" Lloyd asked.

  "I am going to tell him that we are holding a tiger by the tail," Roy said grimly. "And if we let go, it will eat us. We have to navigate this, Lloyd. We have to find a way to keep the alliance without losing our sovereignty. And without starting a civil war in my own living room."

  Lloyd nodded. "Good luck with the King. He finds my suffering amusing."

  "He finds everything amusing," Roy said. "Go. And for the love of the ancestors, do not provoke the Vizier."

  Lloyd left the meeting room. He felt exhausted. His head was pounding.

  He walked down the hallway, heading for his sanctuary—his manufactory. He needed to build something. He needed to weld metal. He needed to control something, because his life was spinning wildly out of control.

  "Two months," Lloyd muttered. "I can do this. I just need to be smart. I need to be charming. I need to be..."

  He turned a corner and nearly ran into Rosa.

  She was standing there, looking like a storm cloud in a dress. She knew. Of course she knew.

  "We need to talk," she said.

  Lloyd closed his eyes. "Can we talk later? I have a headache the size of an elephant."

  "No," Rosa said. "Now."

  Lloyd opened his eyes. He looked at her cold, beautiful, terrifying face. He realized that Lord Hakim and his elephants were the easy part of his day. The hard part was just beginning.

  "Fine," Lloyd said. "Let's talk."

  He followed her, walking like a man marching to the gallows. The Envoy had arrived, but the real war was happening right here, in the hallways of his own home.

  ________________________________________

  Lloyd followed Rosa into his study. It was supposed to be his safe space, a place of maps and diagrams and half-finished inventions. Now, it felt like a cage.

  Rosa closed the door. She didn't slam it. She closed it with a soft, precise click that sounded like a lock snapping shut on a prison cell. She turned to face him. Her face was calm, serene even, but her eyes were shards of gray ice.

  "The Envoy," Rosa said. Her voice was level. "He demands a wedding."

  "He demands a lot of things," Lloyd said, walking over to his desk. He needed something between them. A barrier. A piece of furniture. "He also demanded strong tea. He is a demanding man."

  "Do not deflect, Lloyd," Rosa said. She walked closer. "He wants you to marry the Princess. He wants you to discard me."

  "It's politics, Rosa," Lloyd said, his voice weary. He dropped the humor. He dropped the mask. "You know this. It's an alliance. It's security for the realm. It's not personal."

  "Not personal?" Rosa repeated. A flicker of cold fire ignited in her eyes. "You are my husband. You walked into my home, healed my mother, and then told me to leave. You told me we were done. And now, a foreign lord comes into my house and tells your father to replace me like a broken tool. How is that not personal?"

  Chapter : 1396

  "I asked for a divorce before he got here," Lloyd reminded her coldly. "I told you to leave. You stayed. You forced this situation."

  "I stayed because I am your wife!" Rosa snapped. "I stayed because I will not be thrown away! I have fought for this family. I have bled for you. I carried you down a mountain when you were broken. Does that mean nothing?"

  "It means you paid your debt," Lloyd said, his voice hard. "You betrayed my family in the first life. You were a spy. You helped kill us. Saving me once doesn't erase that. It balances the ledger. We are even. Now go."

  "I will not go," Rosa said. She slammed her hand on the desk. Frost spread from her fingers, cracking the wood. "I don't care about your past lives! I don't care about ghosts! I care about now. I care about the man standing in front of me. The man who saved my mother. The man who showed me that I don't have to be cold."

  "I showed you nothing," Lloyd lied. "I completed a contract. That's all."

  "Liar," Rosa whispered. "I saw you. In the cave. In the garden. You felt it too. You felt the connection."

  Lloyd looked away. He couldn't look at her. Because she was right. He had felt it. And that was why he had to push her away. He couldn't love the woman who murdered his family. He couldn't trust her.

  "It doesn't matter," Lloyd said. "The Zakarian alliance is vital. The King needs it. I need the Lilith Stones. You are in the way, Rosa. You are a political liability."

  "Then make me an asset," Rosa challenged. "I am a Sovereign-Level mage. I am the Ice Queen. I can fight. I can rule. I can be more useful to you than a pampered princess who plays chess."

  "Amina is not just a princess," Lloyd defended. "She is a genius. She understands the new world I am building. You... you are part of the old world."

  "Then teach me!" Rosa shouted. The ice in the room shattered. Snow began to fall from the ceiling. "Teach me this new world! Don't just discard me because I don't know your secrets yet! Give me a chance!"

  Lloyd stared at her. She was begging. The proud, untouchable Rosa Siddik was begging for a chance. It broke his heart. And that made him angry.

  "No," Lloyd said. "I can't. I won't."

  Rosa straightened up. The vulnerability vanished. The ice returned, harder and colder than before.

  "Fine," she said. "Refuse me. Reject me. But know this, Lloyd Ferrum. I am not leaving. I will not sign the papers. I will not step aside. If you want to marry that Princess, you will have to do it over my dead body. Or hers."

  "Are you threatening her?" Lloyd asked dangerously.

  "I am stating a fact," Rosa said. "I am a daughter of the South. We do not surrender what is ours. You are mine, Lloyd. And I will fight the world to keep you."

  She turned and walked to the door. She paused, her hand on the latch.

  "The Envoy can demand whatever he wants," she said softly. "But he is a guest. I am the lady of this house. Let us see who lasts longer."

  She walked out. The room was freezing. Lloyd shivered. He sank into his chair. He had faced demon lords who were less terrifying than his wife.

  "One down," he muttered. "Two to go. I need a drink. Or a teleportation scroll."

  He didn't get a chance to find either. The door opened again.

  Lloyd groaned. "Who is it now? If it's the elephant trainer, tell him the peanuts are in the kitchen."

  It wasn't the elephant trainer. It was Faria Kruts. And she didn't look happy. She looked... intense. Like a volcano that had just decided it was a lovely day to rearrange the geography.

  She stormed in, her red hair flying like a banner of war. She was holding a piece of paper.

  "Explain this," she demanded, slamming the paper onto his desk, right over the frost mark Rosa had left.

  Lloyd looked at it. It was a letter. On heavy, cream-colored stationery. With the seal of Duchess Milody.

  To the Esteemed Marquess Kruts,

  Regarding the union of our children...

  Lloyd closed his eyes. "Oh, mother. Why?"

  "Your mother sent this to my father this morning," Faria said. Her voice wasn't shaking with rage, but with a terrifying kind of excitement. "She officially proposed a betrothal. She said that while your situation with Rosa is 'complex' and the Zakarian issue is 'pending,' the most vital addition to your household is the passion of House Kruts."