It had been three days since Lux helped Nevreal deal with the members of Twilight Rain.
With the greatest threat in their kingdom finally rooted out of the ground, peace finally returned to the Dwarf Kingdom.
The Half-Elf was currently making his way to the Royal Palace because the King had asked to meet him.
But, before he arrived at the throne room, Princess Anastasia ambushed him, once again jumping into his arms.
Lux reflexively spread his arms wide to catch the adorable Dwarf Princess, but Princess Anastasia had other plans in her mind.
She had controlled the force of her jump, and she landed gracefully a step away from the Half-Elf's body.
She then grabbed Lux's right hand and dipped his thumb in a bottle filled with ink.
A moment later, Millie appeared with two scrolls, one in each hand.
At a speed that would put The Flash to shame, Princess Anastasia pressed Lux's thumb against the two scrolls, leaving his thumbprint behind.
Millie then vanished without a trace, leaving Lux tilting his head in confusion.
Everything happened too fast, so he had no idea what just transpired in front of him.
Then, as if nothing had happened, Princess Anastasia lovingly wiped the ink from the Half-Elf's hand with her handkerchief, removing the ink from it.
"Let's go, Sir Lux!" Princess Anastasia held Lux's hand and pulled him in the direction of the throne room. "Father is waiting for us."
Lux didn't resist and allowed the Dwarf Princess to pull him. He still had no idea about what happened just now, but he had a feeling that he would soon find out after meeting with King Uther.
When Lux arrived at the throne room, the guards bowed respectfully before opening the gate.
They had heard that Lux played a vital role in subjugating Twilight Rain, and this earned him the respect of the guards, who were very loyal to their Kingdom.
"Father, I brought Sir Lux," Princess Anastasia announced as soon as she entered the Throne Room, making the King smile at his daughter.
Nevreal was also inside the throne room, standing beside the seated Dwarf King. He gave Lux a brief nod, to which the Half-Elf responded with a nod of his own.
"Lux, before anything else, I would like to thank you for what you did for my kingdom." King Uther rose up from his throne and gave Lux a bow. "Without you, Twilight Rain might have won this war, replacing me as the King of this Kingdom. I am truly grateful for what you did, not only for my people but for my family as well."
Ever since he was crowned King, Uther had never bowed his head to anyone.
But what Lux did was truly exceptional, and he felt that there was no shame in giving the Half-Elf the respect and gratitude that he deserved.
After doing that gesture, he once again sat on his throne and spoke like the King he was.
"For your exceptional contribution to our Kingdom, I hereby declare you Duke Kaizer," King Uther stated. "I will bestow upon you any land that you wish to have. Not only that, the Kingdom will also open its treasury for you, allowing you to pick three treasures of your choice.
"Truth be told, this isn't nearly enough to repay you for what you have done for us. So I made a very hard decision. From this day onwards, I will recognize you as my daughter, Princess Anastasia's, fiance. May you and my daughter live a happy life together. Please, take good care of her, Lux. She means the world to me."
Princess Anastasia blushed as she looked at the handsome Half-Elf, who stood rooted in the spot.
To summarize the situation, it seemed like he was suddenly forced into a shotgun wedding without his consent. Lux didn't react and wondered if King Uther was speaking a foreign but similar-sounding language.
"Your Majesty, thank you for the rewards that you bestowed upon me," Lux replied. "But there is no need for you to marry off your daughter to me. I already have eight lovers, so I'm not sure if it's appropriate to force Princess Anastasia to marry me. I will just take the other rewards, and I thank you for your generosity."
King Uther smiled. "Anastasia, you heard him. He already has eight lovers. Do you still want to be with him?"
"Of course, I do," Princess Anastasia answered in a heartbeat. "Since he already has more than five lovers, adding one more won't make a difference."
"You heard her, William," King Uther looked at the Half-Elf, who had a troubled expression on his face. "My daughter doesn't care even if you have eight lovers. I also give you and her my blessing."
"Um, Sir, my name isn't William," Lux replied. "You got the wrong person. I'm not the Half-Elf with 47 wives."
"My bad," King Uther smiled. "My memory isn't that good."
King Uther chuckled, which made Nevreal, who was standing beside him, smile.
It was the middle-aged dwarf's idea to make Princess Anastasia marry Lux so that their Kingdom would have a very strong person to protect it from any future threats.
If it had been brought up in the past, King Uther would have definitely rejected this proposal without thinking. However, as a father, he already knew that his daughter really liked the Half-Elf ever since the latter had rescued her from the members of Twilight Rain.
Also, he agreed with Nevreal. Lux was a very powerful individual.
Although the Kingdom of Gweliven was quite far from the center of Elysium, the Guildmaster of the Adventurer's Guild in Aeronwen had heard of Lux's accomplishments against the Divine Army of Light. The Palace was also in the Capital City, Aeronwen, so the Guildmaster quickly related the information he got to the King.
At first, King Uther and Nevreal didn't want to believe it. But, since they had known the Guildmaster for a long time, they had no choice but to believe it!
Also, Lux had three Peak Calamity-Ranked Monsters and three Saints as his subordinates.
And that wasn't all.
The Guildmaster of the Adventurer's Guild had mentioned that Lux hadn't shown his full power when he fought against Twilight Rain.
When he told them that the Half-Elf had command over Hundreds of Calamity-Ranked Monsters and had even made the Beast King his subordinate, King Uther's and Nevreal's eyes turned bloodshot.
Knowing this, the two Dwarves decided that no matter what happened, they needed to do their best to make Lux a part of the Royal Family.
The only way to do that was through marriage.
It just so happened that Princess Anastasia was already in love with Lux, so this was a perfect opportunity to tie the knot and make the Half-Elf his son-in-law.
Princess Anatasia walked towards Lux and grabbed his hand. She then looked up at him with a sweet smile on her face, making the Half-Elf feel his heart waver slightly.
However, since he already had many lovers, he decided to be firm and politely reject her advances.
But before he could say these words of rejection towards the princess, Anastasia spoke before he did.
"Sir Lux, where do you want to have our honeymoon?" Princess Anastasia asked. "There is a wonderful city that is surrounded by waterfalls and lakes in our kingdom, I think that is a good place to spend some quality time together."
Lux blinked once then twice as he looked at the Princess who was looking up at him.
"What honeymoon?" Lux asked. "I'm sorry, Princess, but it will be best for you to find another person to marry. You deserve someone better than me."
"But there is no one better than you, Sir Lux," Princess Anastasia replied.
"I'm sure there are." Lux lightly patted Anatasia's head. "The world is a big place. You will eventually find someone who will love you with all of his heart, and you will love him as well with all of your heart."
Princess Anastasia then firmly shook her head. "Perhaps a day ago that is still possible. But, now, it's impossible, Sir Lux."
"Impossible?" Lux arched an eyebrow. "How?"
Princess Anastasia smiled before looking in the direction of Nevreal.
The middle-aged Dwarf nodded and walked toward the Half-Elf holding a scroll in his hand.
Lux looked at the familiar-looking scroll, and a bad feeling arose in his heart.
"Here you go, Lux," Nevreal said as he handed the scroll to the Half-Elf. "Welcome to the family."
The red-headed teenager looked at the middle-aged Dwarf weirdly before opening the scroll that was given to him, which was tied by a golden string and sealed with the mark of the King of the Kingdom of Gweliven.
