In a dark underground room, a group of people sat across the round table while discussing their upcoming plans with a solemn expression.
"Princess Alice had left Nevan early and the King of Nevan forces will move to Zenith through Bright in a few days." A man reported while informing everyone about all the recent events.
The discovery gives everyone a sense of urgency and makes them feel that they need to think about some measures.
"What is Princess Alice standing towards Nevan."
"She seemed to have a favourable impression on the King and also treat him well even though he is an outcast."
"It's quite surprising isn't it?"
"Is it true or is it just a made-up rumour?"
"What if she plans on using him to strengthen her forces as you know not only Prince but the Princess is also eyeing the throne."
"The First Princess is too ambitious, wanting to become Empress, and wished to bring social revolution where the woman leads the man. "
A series of exchanges started to take place as everyone started to add their opinion forgetting about the exact reason they had gathered here first.
"Gentleman, please don't deviate from the topic. You are neglecting the very reason for which we all have gathered here."
Everyone's chatter abruptly came to halt and they turned their heads to see the man who wore a crow mask covering the upper half of his face.
"Sorry Leader!"Everyone lowered their heads and waited for him to speak.
The crow-masked man tapped on the table slowly while looking around everyone silently.
The deadly stillness pressed down on everyone as every noise except the tap, tap sound disappeared.
The atmosphere became quite tense as they saw him thinking deeply.
"We thought of abandoning the plan due to the presence of Princess Alice before because if we got caught the situation would be very perilous for us."
"But the higher-up contacted me and ordered me to press forward with the plan but make sure that Princess Alice is not harmed."
"Huhh!!"
"What!"
Everyone gasped in surprise at hearing his words.
"Leader, it is the same as committing suicide."
"What kind of unreasonable order is this?"
"We are going to be wiped out if we do this."
Loud murmurs started to voice across the place as everyone gave their opinion.
"Silence!" The crow masked man shouted, restoring the peace and calming them down.
"The higher up is not an idiot. He knows the consequences and how to avoid them. By doing this he wanted to pin the blame on Nevan for not being able to protect Princess Alice and try to cut off King Nevan's wings before he spread his wings."
"And if you wanted to know if the higher up has the power to cover you then you should know that he had enough power to shade the entire Kinley. His status is quite extraordinary."The crow masked explained.
"Hmmm," He nodded his head with approval when he saw a man raising his head.
"Leader, we know that we are scapegoats for the higher up and have to follow his order even though we don't know his true identity."
"But can we know the real reason for doing this? I mean, is there a need to mess with the King of Nevan."
"Why do we need to put our foot on his path? He is doing what he needs to do and there doesn't seem to be any greed for more power, authority or even for the Empire's throne."
"Even if we won, we are going to suffer." A man spoke with a dissatisfied expression as he found that entire situation quite absurd.
After all, he couldn't find any justifiable reason to poke Nevan who was their neighbour.
"Good Question." The crow-masked man smiled a little and clasped his fingers while staring at the man.
"Have you ever heard of a lion giving birth to a wolf?"
"No!"
"In this case have you heard of a beast or monster giving birth to another species?"
"Leader, why are you asking me this?"
"Because a lion's cub will always be a lion's cub. Even if it is disabled and mentally ill until the very end it will be a lion."
"Yes, it would be another case if he had mental health issues but now since the lion had grown up into a true predator wouldn't it be better to cut it down before the cub had matured?"
"But.." The man tried to say something but he was stopped by the leader who carried on his explanation.
"I know that King Of Nevan doesn't seem to have a wish to spill blood over the throne externally and maybe internally also but...."
"What if he is forced to fight the battle of succession?What if he is forced to take up the sword to prevent his head from being cut and protect his loved ones."
"So, do you think this beast would just lay low for others to strike?" He spoke with a small sinister smile sending a chill down the spine.
"There have been various cases where kings behead their relatives, their brothers because they don't find it pleasing and if a Prince ascends who doesn't like the King of Nevan and decides to eliminate him."
"But that's only one of the real reasons, isn't it?" A man spoke who wore a demon-shaped mask.
"Right!"
"The real reason is King Of Nevan is carrying five precious trophies whom the world wants to snatch." He spoke with a bitter smile as he remembered their extraordinary appearance.
"Princess Yvonne and Saintess Athena were being suited by men all over the world and now Christina and Catherine whose beauty rivals them also appeared and his maid Riya hides under the veil, is also a heaven-defying beauty."
"Since ancient times, have there been any instances where blood hadn't been split for beauties?"
"Saintess Athena was protected by the Church and Princess Yvonne also had a large backing but Lady Christina and Lady Catherine don't have any strong background."
"If the Emperor didn't bind them to that idiotic King, these flowers would have been already pucked by others. Since the King of Nevan is going to the capital with such beautiful flowers, soon various flower pickers will appear."
"Soon, there is going to be a bloodbath and the one who came out as the winner will have a taste of heaven's fruit."
"So, are we going to attack?"
"Yeah!" The crow-masked man nodded and looked at the demon masked man.
"Demonis take those specimens and crush the Nevan forces and you can harm the King of Nevan but not his wives."
"The higher up wanted him to be a laughing stock throughout the Kinley when he reached Zenith."
"A cat in lion's clothing who can't even protect his girls."
"What a suitable headline for the next issue."
........
Alex sat on the throne while listening to the brief speech given by Bassie.
"This is the messenger list of all those who came to congratulate King Alex."
On the two sides, many chairs were present on which sat leaders of Nevan who were currently having a meeting with King Alex.
These officials and ministers were carefully selected by Alex seeing their diplomatic talent and after doing a background check.
This was an extended meeting of higher levels, in addition to military officials, there was the nobility of Wright and Amidon along with many respected people.
"Kingdom of Kezar King Brad, Lark Kingdom King Haze….." Bassie said about the names of 16 kingdoms in one breath.
"All of them offered some tribute brought by the messenger. Here is the list."
Alex took care of the two lists and rubbed his forehead seeing such a long list.
Originally, Catherine would have gone through the meeting but due to excessive Hellbent training, she wasn't able to lift her fingers still she wanted to oversee things and fought with Alex until he tied her and locked her in the room asking her to get some rest.
"Bassie please take all the things. We shouldn't refuse other kindness. Gifts are meant to be accepted."
"But Your Majesty, our relationship with Kingdom Brook is not good. I think they have bad intentions in sending the gift."Mordek grumbled.
"Leave them, just accept the gift. Why should we spill unnecessary blood when they are not even our enemies?" Alex spoke.
"By the way did you find that asshole Kingdom helping Amidon secretly."
"Yes, it's the Principle of Eden, it's a Tier 2 Kingdom working to gain recognition for Tier 1" Bassie replied.
"I see, by the way, what is the level of their King."
"The King seemed to be in the Legendary realm and is 29 years old," Bassie answered and asked further" Why did you want to know his level?"
"It's just to satisfy my curiosity," Alex muttered as his eyes flashed with killing intent.
Hearing Alex's words everyone present there had a similar thought.
'Your curiosity is the beginning of their misfortune.'
"Your Majesty, since you are visiting Zenith, I think we should also prepare some gifts for the nobles of Zenith."
"It will also make a good impression and improve your relationship with them. Please don't miss this opportunity." The Cultural Minister of Nevan muttered.
"Yes, Your Majesty forging good relations with them will also solidify your position in future and who knows you can also gain your lost honour."
Alex heard all their advice and looked around, raising his hand to shut them down.
"You all seem to have misconceptions. My honour doesn't lie in being accepted as the Emperor's son. I don't care about being a member of the Royal family."
"Do you want me to lick him and beg him to accept me again even if he disowned me?"
"I don't need such pity."
"The main reason I accepted the proposal was that I wanted to meet my other two wives as quickly as possible."
"Instead of focusing on all this, you should invest your time in thinking about the welfare of Nevan and its people."
"We need to work hard to make Nevan a foe to contend with."
