“Ugh… this is so uncomfortable…” Ren moaned as her mother dressed her up in a white dress and then began styling her hair into two lovely little buns held together with violet ribbons.

  "We are going to the Prince's birthday party. You can't go willy-nilly, wearing nothing!"

  "Still, this dress is hard to move around in, and I don't like the shoes!" She pouted, moaning, feeling her toes were being squished together.

  "Me neither, but it's an official event. Like it or not, we follow the rules!"

  "Booo, if I become the queen, I'll change the rules..." Ren pouted childishly, forcing herself not to tear down her dress.

  "We'll see that if it comes to it!" Anya ughed, flicking her little forehead. "It will be the first time you two meet, anyway. You need to leave a good impression, young girl!"

  "It's not like we are getting married tomorrow." Ren muttered, rolling her eyes, "I'm just five and a half, and he just turned eight. I bet he doesn't even know about girls."

  "And you know about boys?" She challenged her daughter, watching her purse her lips.

  "I am smarter than he is, for sure!" Ren answered in the end, not wanting to push it too far, settling with a... less outrageous comment.

  "True, and sometimes your Dad and I completely forget that." Anya sighed in answer, patting her head. "Honestly, you speak and act like an adult most of the time. Except when you stir up trouble, left and right!"

  "Hehehe, I'm just that good, that's all! Ow!" nded another flick on her forehead, forcing her to close her mouth.

  "More modesty, less preaching. Now come, it's better to arrive early than be te. This will be the first formal meeting, serving as an opportunity to finalize the engagement. Your father has been seething since Monday; I just hope he can control himself enough not to cause a scene."

  "Hehehe, you would like tha- ow! Moooom!" She flinched after yet another sharp flick.

  "You are getting more and more like your father! Move your legs more, not your mouth, you little twerp, or I'll spank you!"

  “Hauh… o-okay…”

  …….…..

  When the carriage arrived at the pace, the royal guards, in their golden armor, were already there to welcome the guests.

  "You should wear something like this more frequently." Anya smiled as she stepped out of the carriage, holding her husband's hand, who now wore a white officer's uniform adorned with red buttons and a crimson belt. His chest had multiple decorative pins featuring the symbol of his military rank and past achievements.

  "Still hate it." Xendar muttered under his breath, "It sticks to your body after just an hour, like a wetsuit…."

  "I thought the same, Dad!" Ren's voice came as she hopped down from the carriage, looking around curiously.

  "Oh, you two!" Anya sighed, rolling her eyes before they walked up to the pace's stairs, heading into the Assembly Hall, which was now transformed into a ballroom.

  Officials and ministers were already present, standing around with drinks in their hands, discussing current policies and events in the Empire. There were tables all around where the attendants' children sat, forming their little groups and talking and ughing while they waited for the arrival of the Emperor and the guest of honor, the Fourth Prince Leinor.

  When Xendar and his family arrived, the pce quieted down a little, mainly because everyone knew the little girl walking between them was named the Prince's fiancée as soon as she was born. Everyone became a bit excited about whether there would be a compelling show to watch when the Prince arrived or if Anya could manage her husband... If someone brought this up to the face of Xendar, it was like spping the bottom of a sleeping bear. There was finally actual fun to be had. On the other hand, Ren kept looking around curiously, mostly checking the food table, interested in seeing if she could spot something tasty, but to her disappointment, it was primarily fruits. No desserts or big, juicy meat sbs.

  "What kind of birthday party is this… There are no sweets around…" she moaned softly, tiptoeing to see everything on the table, but it was... just as disappointing.

  "Don't compare yours to his, my dear; this is a public event. When we celebrate yours, it's only our family's business; the same is true with the Prince." Xendar patted her head.

  "Still… at least they could have presented some cookies or something!" Ren murmured, no less disappointed.

  "My, my! After half a decade, you are finally willing to show your daughter to the public?" came a ughing voice from their left, and a man in his forties walked towards them in a simir military uniform as Xendar, only his decorations were colored green. His jet-bck hair was neatly combed backward, and his short beard had a few gray lines on the sides, trying to creep in. It was enough of an indication for Ren to tell her this man was way below her father's cultivation level.

  Looking closely, he was a bit shorter than Xendar, and the woman walking next to him looked to be in her early thirties, wearing a bright green dress decorated with light turquoise, swirling symbols. Her bck hair was also tied behind her back, and her brown eyes scanned Anya up and down with a subtle hint of jealousy. Once again... this woman was showing signs of aging... Another weakling.

  "At least I don't need to go get my kid from the city guards every weekend when he's out partying, Frennar." Xendar shot back with a friendly smile.

  "You know how young boys are; their blood boils the hottest when they are at that age," the man named Frennar ughed without taking insult, at least on the surface.

  "True," Xendar continued, "No wonder he is one of the decorated silkpants of the city."

  "Dad, aren't silk pants easy to get dirty?" Ren asked with pretend innocence while Anya held back a chuckle, knowing her daughter knew exactly what she was doing.

  "Oh yes, they are, sweetie. Sadly, they are too sensitive!" his Dad answered with a grin, rubbing her head.

  "I see your parenting is the same as how you handle your troops, Xendar." Frennar sneered, trying to maintain his smile.

  "My vanguards are filled with soldiers who meet the enemy at the front line... and that's why your archers are filled with backdoor lovers."

  "Everyone knows you used some backdoors in the past, farmboy." Frennar snapped, at st, his smile finally dissolving completely, unlike Xendar's.

  The air around them was getting tenser and tenser, but Anya only watched calmly, not interfering with their argument, not even sparing a gnce at Frennar's wife. At the same time, Ren blinked her big eyes, trying to figure out what was happening.

  "Farmboy? Was Dad a commoner? I didn't know about that… Well, I never asked. But now that I think about it, I never met my grandparents. Shouldn't I have some? Even Mom never spoke about hers. Huh… now I'm curious!"

  "Please, just stop, you two. This is the young Prince's night. We shouldn't cause trouble for him." A calming, young male voice arrived behind them, and another officer walked up to them wearing the same uniform but with blue-colored accessories. On the surface, he was only in his twenties, at least, looking from the outside. He was charming and dashing with curly blond hair and aquamarine-colored eyes, and what Ren could sniff out was that he had to be actually young...

  "Ultar." Both of the generals nodded at the same time.

  "Mom, who is it?" Ren whispered.

  "He is Ultar, the leader of the Defence Force. Usually, if an operation occurs in the Empire, your father is responsible for the offense, Frennar for support, and Ultar for defense. In peacetime, he is responsible for policing the military."

  "Looks young. Is he a genius?"

  "You could call him that, but looks are deceiving. Your father has long passed eighty. Even if he never reaches Harmony, he still has the same number of years ahead of him at a minimum. Ultar is only thirty-six."

  "Mm. I understand, Mother." Ren replied, pursing her lips, thinking.

  Still, after Ultar interfered, the other guests lost interest in the brief scuffle between the two generals, and soon, everyone returned to mingling and catching up with the other families. Only Ren's family was sitting alone at a small table quietly while Anya fed grapes to her daughter, now sitting in her p.

  "Are we not popur amongst the others?" Ren finally asked, seeing that nobody really came up to talk to them.

  "Kinda." Xendar nodded, holding a gss of red wine and slowly swirling it. "I came from a lowly background to these snobbish bastards. My parents were farmers in the border region before demons sughtered the vilge," he said in a pin voice to her daughter, with no discernible emotion behind the memory. "That's when I joined up with the military and met Dermitos."

  "Who is that?" Ren asked, her curiosity exploding with full force, as she had never asked her parents about anything like this before.

  "Oh, yeah, you still don't know, ahaha~!" Xendar ughed while stroking his daughter's head. "It's Aerthus's name before he ascended the throne and took up the title of Emperor. Every Emperor uses the first one's name when in public. But back then, he was only an officer, gaining military experience like most princes. We bonded after hard-fought battles and became brothers not by blood but by steel... well, that is the short version."

  "Your father helped his fight for the throne and rose to the rank of general while doing so, and after he ascended. It's a famous tale in the Empire, a citizen climbing the ranks to the highest end. Of course, not all those born into nobility took this well. It's hard to swallow, but they accepted it, more or less." Anya chimed in. "They had to."

  "Dad, you are so cool!" Ren praised him with shining eyes, which prompted Xendar to ugh sheepishly, getting a bit shy, which was as rare as a white raven. "I'm sorry about grandpa and grandma…."

  "Don't worry, sweetie; it happened long ago, and I avenged the vilge. It's all in the past."

  "Mm… Mom, what about you?"

  "Well…" she smiled, looking a bit sad, "I was expelled from my family and from my country for my actions."

  "What?!" Ren gasped, blinking her eyes, not believing what she just heard.

  "I was a 'princess' in one of the countries of the Empire's eastern neighbor and long-time rival, the Kingdom of Ten."

  "The… Kingdom of Ten? Princess?"

  "Beyond the eastern borders," Anya expined, "At the other side of the Shert River are our most powerful neighbors, the Kingdom of Ten. It is an alliance of ten kingdoms, all of which are ruled by a powerful family. Well... Nine, if we want to talk about facts, as by now, one of them has a bigger voice than the rest. Those are of the Naulin lineage, which unified and established the Kingdom of Ten around the same time that the Empire was born. Of course, if you were to ask them, they would say there are ten kingdoms and ten kings, but everyone knows that is not the case. When the Kingdom of Ten was established, it was a time of war, and they were afraid of being annexed by Aerthus I. And that rivalry still lives today..."

  "Soo... How did you end up here?" Ren asked, fascinated by the impromptu history lesson.

  "I was part of the Naulin line from their main branch. I was to be the opening move to bring our two 'empires' together a little more."

  "Wait, then I am a princess?"

  "In our eyes, yes~!" Anya giggled, hugging her and pnting a kiss on her head. "I was sent here as an alliance offering to marry the then Crown Prince Dermitos."

  "Wha… wha… what?!" Ren stuttered as she almost couldn't contain herself from crying out, as this story sparked her fantasy the most. What a scandal!

  "Ahaha, and your mother wasn't happy about it!" Xendar finally interjected, "She was pretty vocal about it, too! When I first met her, I was mesmerized immediately."

  "But, but, what about the Emperor? And the marriage? How did you end up with Mom?" Ren asked again, snapping her head back and forth between her parents.

  "I ask myself the same question a lot of times…." Xendar sighed, smiling at Anya. "I still don't know why she fell in love with me."

  "A woman's heart is unpredictable~!" Anya giggled, looking lovingly at her husband. "It wasn't as complicated as you think. Dermitos likes submissive women. I was anything but that, and he didn't want a wife he couldn't control."

  "Damn… ouch! Mom!" Ren yelped as her ear got pulled at the moment she cursed.

  "This is your fault, XenXen! I told you not to swear in front of her; she's picking up your bad habit!"

  "Moooom, go back to the story!"

  "Khm…" She flinched, letting her daughter's ear go, "Anyway, everyone was thinking about how to annul the marriage, and to be honest, things just snowballed as I got closer to your Dad. Finally, when Dermitos ascended the throne and announced I would be wed to the newly appointed General of the Vanguard, Xendar, it was a pretty intense period."

  "Yeah… I bet!" Ren chortled as she rolled her eyes, making Xendar chuckle the same way.

  "Your mother made a tough choice." Xendar whispered as he held Anya's hand, "She forsook everything to stay with me. She was of direct lineage from the Naulins, and because of me, she was stripped of her name, her records in the family lineage, and she was forbidden ever to set foot into the Kingdom or be put to the sword for treason."

  "It was my choice… and I would do it again, XenXen."

  Xendar didn't speak more, just leaned forward to give a small kiss on Anya's lips while Ren watched with apologetic eyes.

  "Mom, sorry I asked…."

  "Ahahaha, don't be sorry. I have my own family now!" She ughed, rubbing her soft cheeks.

  "Don't worry, Mom, I'll make them come and beg you to return!"

  "Oh, you little! It's not important anymore!" She answered, her face reddening, "What matters is that you have a happy life!" She giggled, and she wanted to speak more, but the trumpets cut her short, signaling the arrival of the Emperor and the fourth Prince.

  Everyone stood up for the arrival of the royal family. The first to come in was the Emperor, wearing a golden robe with a half-smile on his face. Behind him came a young dy in a simirly golden dress with loose, bck hair, golden eyes, and pale, fair skin, while the young Prince walked behind the two.

  The little boy was wearing a white military uniform simir to Xendar's, held on him with a small, golden belt that looked a little out of pce on such a young child, but nobody dared to ugh at him for it. Leinor was the Emperor's fourth son, while the firstborn and second child were twins. They were already decades older than Leinor, being established as part of the ruling family and the military. His third brother also had his Coming of Age ceremony years ago, preparing to leave the city and travel the world. It was no wonder that all his brothers were away from the capital, but even if they were not, it was likely only his eldest brother would have come and congratuted him.

  "He looks a little bit timid." Ren thought as she watched him with a smile, as this was the first time she met with her so-called fiancé.

  She wasn't wrong; it was clear that Leinor wasn't a fan of walking before everyone like some rare animal being paraded around. His shoulder-length, golden hair was combed backward and held in pce with a golden band. When his amber-colored eyes met Ren's, the little Prince was visibly taken aback for a second, but soon, he turned his head, which started to redden, turning into a tomato.

  "Thank you, everyone, for coming and visiting me today!" Aerthus IX said in front of everyone, his voice booming through the air, "My youngest son has aged another year. It will be soon that we will host his Coming of Age Ceremony! It won't take long, and he will start taking responsibility just like his brothers!" The Emperor's words conveyed a clear message to everyone: The fourth Prince was more talented than the third, taking the ceremony multiple years earlier than he did. In fact, he was going to do it earlier than any of his previous sons. "Please, everyone, when that time comes, do look out for him." Aerthus IX smiled, and the nobles and officials replied smilingly one by one, as nobody would dare to say no.

  "Well, before we start the party, why not liven up the pce a little more?" The Emperor ughed, continuing, "There are a lot of younglings here as I see... I heard some are even gifted with great talent like the finance minister's son, who, being only thirteen, already started cultivating."

  His words sparked a round of murmurs, causing the minister's chubby face to bloom into a smile while his son, standing beside him, looked on proudly. Cultivating that young? More than three years earlier than usual? It was indeed the sign of a genius.

  "I'd like to see the next generation of my beautiful country! A friendly little spar and demonstration may be in order. What do you all say?"

  Xendar was furrowing his brows while listening to the Emperor's voice, not knowing if he was doing it deliberately, learning something about Ren, or if this was just a coincidence. Anya was also thinking hard, but that was when they and others heard Ren speaking up loudly and excitedly as she jumped out before anyone could do anything.

  "That sounds fun! I wanna py too!"