\'hmm...this is getting tricky, if he chooses mother, all\'s ok but if he chooses father, then I would have no choice but to take over this country, pretty bold of me to say such things but it needs to be done, whatever the cost. Can\'t let anybody interrupt in this.\' Atlas thought.

The king looked around the meeting hall, gazing at all of his lords and all of them looking at him for the final decision. Their eyes showing their patience for his answer and their brow full of sweat, the noise of foot ticking on the floor was not a song for his ears but he neither commented nor stopped it. As he was also feeling the same pressure, he knew what his fellow lords were going through.

He recalled his decision and the firmness he showed to the enchanting Ms. Bela but in his mind, he started doubting if he had taken the right decision. As a king, he had to face many decisions like this one which handled the fate of his legacy, his kingdom, his family, the Phoenixia Bloodline.

In the past. There was his wife, beautiful and smart in every way, that he himself admired so much. If she was still present to walk the path with him, to help him walk the lane of a proper king as a Queen by his side. He wouldn\'t have less confidence as of now. The grief touched his heart again but it didn\'t hinder his thoughts but the opposite, it made him even more confident than before, igniting his memory of the time of his kind wife\'s death, recollecting the reason behind her death.

The fierce king returned, leaving his eyes of confusion.

\'It needs to be done, I need his help now more than ever.\' He thought.

He stood up with the fierceness of a king, shoving his mantle out of his way. His firm and Confident eyes everyone to see. The moment his fellow nobles saw the fire on his eyes reignited, their former anxiety also receded away.

"Our kingdom will side with King Henry. The current and true ruler of Xandar. We need not fear my lords, you all know the \'lightning\', his raw power and speed is unhinged, nothing binding him, the ice queen may be powerful but no more than the king himself."

His voice echoed all over the hall, reaching everyone\'s ears, the high nobles, the earls, the viscounts, the Marquise, all of them. The confidence in his words and knowing the strength of king Henry the \'Lightning\' himself, their piece of heart restored back. The former anxiety is nowhere to be seen.

"Your majesty is right, we all need to support knowing what is already in front of us. Their civil war is only coming not already here and the throne is still with King Henry and with his strength and his Nobles at his side, Queen Elizabeth has no opportunity to cease the throne in rebellion." Ousirish said.

"We are all with you, your majesty." Said one of the viscounts.

"Yes your majesty, like my father and his father, we will always follow the lineage of Phoenixia."

All the nobles standing from their sits, following Ousirish\'s example and agreed with both their king Bruce and Lord Ousiris\'s saying.

The only ones sitting, Joseph and Bela gazed at each other and gave a nod. Atlas saw as he was behind her and he knew for sure the nod meant something but he didn\'t want to care for now and looked at the king and the nobles around him.

\'I guess I will have to start my part from here early on huh, only one thing is bothering me, what the hell should I do with Devy, she is a princess of this country, and looking at his father\'s eyes, he is dead set siding with my father later on. The only thing I can do is leave them alone for now I guess.

And have to discuss with Bela before she goes away and after that search for Anny, she must still be on Xandar and looking at the distance she will take, at least five months to reach the location I gave.

So Within that Five months, I need to manage what\'s going here.\'

After discussing more on that matter, they finally came to a final decision to fully support King Henry for the time being.

"As an order from the king which is myself, let the search of Prince Atlas and his maid Anny. Commence!!!" he bellowed.

"""yes your majesty!!!!!"""

All of them bellowed at once, bowing to their king.

"Ms. Bela and Mr. Joseph, I hope you both also help in this endea….."

""Pass…."" Both of them said.

"King Bruce, you already know why I am here in the first place. So I have my own problems to consider." Bela said, standing up from her seat.

"…..I see, it can\'t be helped." He answered. "What about Mr. Joseph?"

"My guild is already busy as of now, and the murder a while ago which you might already know, is still not solved, so it\'s also a pass for me."

"....ok" Bruce begrudgingly answered.

Ousirish wanted to complain to both of them, but he knew his majesty, King Bruce would be annoyed with him again and he didn\'t want to be such annoyance to him like before, he himself also knew why he was not minding their disrespect. It wasn\'t just because of their power, it was also cause of their usefulness, for not letting this country be part of All-Father\'s underworld.

Both the \'ATC\' and the Adventurers Guild within the Fanxia kingdom were always tackling with Valhalla to further slowdown their rule.

\'but it seems, Valhalla is targeting the \'ATC\' now, but why?\' Oushiris thought as he looked at her back walking out the hall.

While looking at her, his eyes went for her shaking bums, which her tight black dress gripped perfectly, showing its round voluptuous figure. As a Marquise himself, he didn\'t want to act on his desires looking at her arse but, his eyes didn\'t listen to him and kept staring.

But after a second or so, his body shivered, feeling a dreadful sensation all of a sudden. His feet started shaking as he felt he was watched by someone high and mighty. It was the same feeling when his majesty gazed at him with anger but with more intensity than ever. His heart started to beat rapidly with fear, his legs were starting to give up as he was going to fall down when a hand from his back held his shoulders.

"You alright there, Ousirish?" said someone from the back, covering him fully with his mana.

Feeling the mana overlapping his body, the intense feeling of terror decreased to an amount. Giving him enough strength to at least stand.

Atlas who was at the end of the door with Bela took his aura back and gave a last look at the king.

\'well, well, he did knew I was here. Have to be more careful…\' he thought and walked out of the hall.

After feeling the near dread feeling vanishing, Ousirish started breathing heavily, his hands and feet still lingering on the feeling.

Looking at his state, he ordered all the other nobles out of the meeting hall and ordered them to spread the maids\' and mainly the prince\'s picture all over the Fanxia Kingdom. The paces of the many nobles were heard for a while with their usual discussions. After a while or so, after the meeting hall was quite enough only small voices of their steps still echoing, Bruce handled Ousirish to a chair nearby.

Bruce knew how prideful he was so he ordered all of his retainers first to finally handle him.

"Are you now okay, Oushiris?"

"y..yes your Majesty, tha…thank you very much…"

"haha, no need to call me your Majesty when we are alone Oush. We have already known each other for years."

"Noo..!!" he bellowed trying to stand up but fell right down with his legs still shivering.

"...hmm…..the assistant seems more capable than I thought."

"w..who are you talking about your majesty."

"hmm….you might not know as you are busy with your merchant area but, weeks ago, Ms. Bela had hired a new Assistant."

"What?!!, her? Hiring an assistant?! Unbelievable!!?"

"So you are telling me, my words are Unbelievable huh Ousisris." He told with a frown.

"No, No, your majesty, I wouldn\'t dare." He said in a panic.

"ha-ha, I\'m just playing Oush, you don\'t have to be that serious but believe it or not she hired an assistant and a male one at that and the one who just half-crippled was the same man."

"what?! it was him? how? Where?" he asked in confusion. From start to finish he had never seen anyone besides Bela and to be honest, most of the time he was indeed gazing at her like all the other nobles but he didn\'t see any hint of the so-called assistant.

"well, I Don\'t blame you, I only knew because of the warning signals my charmed crown gave me, and even with that, I couldn\'t properly feel his presence at all, losing him time in time. I knew where he stood but my mind wouldn\'t accept it at all, I don\'t know what kind of technique he is using but it\'s something else, and adding his aura which at least covered he is at my level already showed enough how powerful he is, so be careful Oush.

You almost had a heart attack there, I warn you as a friend to let her go from your heart. You still don\'t know how dangerous she is and adding his new assistant in her arsenal, you know what\'s coming for you if you did something idiotic."

Remembering the utmost dread he felt minutes ago, he nodded his head as fiercely as possible. Yes, he had eyes for Ms. Bela for a while but the pressure he just experienced a while ago was all he needed to back away, he really didn\'t want to feel that dominated feeling ever again.

"Yes your majesty!!!" with his final words he also walked out the meeting hall, his legs still wobbling and shaking.

\'haa…..I hope all the nobles would also leave her alone, they still don\'t know what kind of woman she is, she is extremely gorgeous which even I fell for looking at my past teenage days but when they see even a tiny bit of what she\'s like from the inside, they would…..can\'t even say it in words. Maybe I shouldn\'t have called her in the first place, but, for revenge, I need her help...ha….sorry my love, for using your friend in such a way.\' he thought, a bit of regret lingering on his heart.

He turned to the large table, sitting alone within the huge room, and transferred some of his mana to his projection ring, and there she appeared.

A beautiful red-haired woman, with her red lashes and crimson eyes. Her small pointy nose and her red lips. She was his only wife and his only queen. The one who was with him from childhood. Taking care of each other as they grew.

Gazing at her, his eyes started to become wet, tears starting to appear but he closed his eyes right after, turning elsewhere and opened his eyes again, the former tears nowhere to be seen, the only thing left was his cold red eyes, which could send chills to whoever he looked at.

"I will destroy you, not now, not then but in the future, I surely will. That I promise." He said with anger and ambition written in his eyes.

*****

Thank you for reading! The next two chapters are free on patr eon (https://www.patr eon.com/Highelder), eight chapters beyond that for three dollars, and many more for five dollars (five-chapter release a week at this tier).

And if you want to ask any questions I\'m in discord: https://discord.gg/QbWyAP3Y8j