As they navigated the grand hallways of the pace, anticipation hung in the air. Finally, they arrived at the living room, where a vibrant gathering awaited the arrival of the King and Queen. Yuliana, Nieren, Eine, Zellin, Ysandra, Saffron, Hajdah, Laika, Nathaniel, Johnathan, Eamon, Thaddeus, Brice, Gawain, Dougs, George, Richard, Rachel, and Nelumbo were all present, each lost in animated conversations, their voices mingling like a lively melody.

  The moment the four entered the room, a hush fell over the crowd. Heads turned, and smiles brightened faces as the guests rose in unison, the warmth of their welcome palpable in the air. The atmosphere was alive with excitement, as the royal presence promised a night filled with stories, ughter, and camaraderie.

  "Ah?... I didn't realize that we were having this much company," Rya said as she looked around the room.

  "Yeah... I wonder what we missed?" Quin questioned as he scanned the room. Earl Nathaniel Valerian and Baron Johnathan Dule weren't strangers to coming to dinners in the Royal Pace from time to time. But Baroness Ysandra Fairchild, Baron Eamon Sterling, and Baron Thaddeus Windermere didn't normally attend royal banquets.

  "We have the entire council here and a couple of the nobles. This is strange..."

  Rya noticed that all the Major Lords were smiling at her as Lord Brice and Lord Gawain approached her and the Crown Prince.

  "Welcome home, Your Highness and Midy... We hope your visit to the Mage's Guild was fruitful," Lord Brice said with a bow along with Gawain.

  "It was, Lord Brice," Quin said with a smile.

  "Thank you," Rya replied with a nod.

  "We are gd to hear it," Lord Brice said with an excited smile as he raised his head.

  'Okay... I'll bite, What is going on here?' Rya thought to herself as she wondered what all the smiles were about.

  "Well, you seem more jovial than normal... Did something happen that we should know about?" Rya asked the Head of the Royal Council.

  "Ah, yes. Today was almost a perfect day. Marquess Duval Wrightwood lost the House of Lords and was voted out by No Confidence, and a majority of the House of Lords are willing to approve your marriage to the Crown Prince. There are just a few hurdles, but that should be cleared up soon." Lord Gawain expined.

  Rya and Quin were both shocked by the news and they both stared at each other and then back at the two council members.

  "How did this happen?" Quin stammered as he was in disbelief.

  'Yeah, how the duck did that happen? I thought Duval was going to be a pain in the ass for a few more months,' Rya thought as she tried not to swear in front of the Royal Council.

  "Well?... Let's just say that the Marquess tried to use today's incident with the foreign Prince as an excuse to try to exile Princess Rya from the Kingdom. And it blew up in his face spectacurly," Lord Brice said with a smile.

  Rya frowned at first, 'That sneaky rat bastard tried using Prince Zane Stoneworthh to expel me from the Kingdom. I wish I was there to see his face when his pns fell apart.'

  "That sneaky little rat... How did it fail?" Rya asked, trying to keep her anger in check.

  "Well. There were two factors that went in our favor. The first one was the foreign Prince hadn't told the Marquess why he was beaten up," Lord Gawain answered.

  Quinus frowned, "He didn't tell them that he was about to assault his half-sister?"

  Lord Brice nodded, "He didn't. So the Marquess believed the Prince when he told everyone that you attacked him, and he was too hasty when gathering his evidence."

  "What was the second factor?" Rya asked.

  "Princess Hilda Stoneworthh is a very honest dy. When we found out that you protected her from Zane, she testified against the Marquess. Duval and his allies were defted that Viscount Octavius Bckwood seconded the vote for No Confidence within the Prime Minister's coalition," Lord Brice informed them.

  'Huh!?... Hilda went against her leading advocate for marrying Quinus?... Maybe she isn't as bad as I first thought...' Rya was taken aback.

  Just as Rya was starting to gain a small amount of respect for Hilda, the doors on the opposite side of the living room opened, and Hilda came walking in with her maid, Dori, by her side. She stopped after taking three steps in when she noticed how many people were in the room.

  Eine looked at Hilda with wonder while Yuliana and Nieren stepped in front of Eine as if you protected her. The other nobles bowed their heads slightly with respect to the foreign princess. Then Hilda saw the warm glow of Quinus' golden eyes. He gave her the kindest smile on his face that she had ever seen, and it made her heart skip a beat, and her nether region felt a sudden heat that she wasn't familiar with. It made her want to squeeze her thighs together. She was blushing as her eyes stayed locked with Quinus' eyes until she noticed Rya and Dalia gring at her. Hilda straightened up her posture and put on a stoic face as she sized up the Dark Elf. Hilda's eyes then wandered down to Rya's belly, which Hilda could tell that it was bigger than it was st week.

  'Yes! My prayers are getting answered! If that evil woman continues to eat as much as she is now, she'll blow up like a balloon, and my Prince will be freed from her charms!... And my handsome fiancé will finally have a woman worthy of his royal blood,' Hilda thought with a satisfied smirk inside her head.

  Rya wasn't dumb, and she noticed how the princess was looking at her belly, which she covered with her hands. 'I take it back! Hilda is just like I thought! This bitch is just as devious and conniving as any noble!... I'll have to keep an eye on her. She thinks that praying to the Divine is what makes me so hungry. Well, I'm sorry to say that I am in complete control of my urges, and I will stop eating so much starting—'

  *GROAN! GRRROWL!!*

  Rya felt her hands vibrating over her belly, and her face flushed red as she could feel the rumbles emanating from her stomach. 'S-Starting tomorrow! Y-Yes! I'll start eating healthier and less tomorrow. And she'll look silly when her pn doesn't work out, and Quin marries me!' Rya thought as she tried to hide her embarrassed expression.

  Hilda's face turned sour when Rya covered her stomach and smirked back at her. She humphed and walked to her usual corner of the room with Dori.

  Rya sighed and looked at Lord Brice, "Was the Marquess really ousted as the Prime Minister... I feel like Duval won't take this lying down."

  Lord Brice and Lord Gawain grimaced as they turned their attention to Rya.

  "His knowledge of the bureaucracy has deyed his official ousting. He has one week to defend his position in the House of Lords. But he has lost the Lords, but I'll keep an ear out if anything else comes up," Lord Brice said with a shrug.

  "We shouldn't be x around him. Duval may have his faults, but getting the support from the Major Nobles was his specialty and his only hope might to workout something with my uncle," Quinus whispered.

  "You don't have to remind us, Your Highness. The old coot still has a few tricks up his sleeve, but Lord Brice is very cunning. We'll make sure that he can't get the support he needs to retain his position," Lord Gawain said.

  Rya brought her fingers to her chin and pondered, 'Hm. I better have some more of my Golems watching his manor. Just in case the Prime Minister tries anything... With him out of the picture, it means I can focus on Aric and then the Alliance... Then marrying Quinus is as good as—hold on?... What did Lord Brice mean by the Major Lords might be willing to approve my marriage with Quin?!'

  Rya looked at Brice while grabbing Quinus' hand, "Lord Brice? You mentioned that the majority of the Lords might approve of our marriage?... I feel that there's a big 'but' coming."

  Lord Brice gnced at Rya and then looked around the room and saw all the eyes were on him. Baroness Ysandra, Baron Zellin, and Earl Nathaniel looked the most excited out of the Major Lords, while the others looked pleased at best. They motioned for Brice to continue.

  "Ahem... Well, Midy... The good news is most of the Lords will approve of you marrying the Crown Prince and will be the next in line to become the Queen of Fiafyr..." Brice said as he hesitated.

  "And the bad news?" Rya asked while squeezing Quinus' hand.

  "There are two lords fine with you being the Crown Prince's only wife, while the rest wish for him to take a mistress or second wife that can produce an heir if it becomes troublesome for your race to give birth," Brice replied.

  Rya closed her eyes in frustration while Hilda stood up from her seat when she heard that they were considering Rya over her.

  "WHAT!?! Have you all been bewitched!?" Hilda shouted.

  "Calm down, Princess Hilda. Viscount Octavius Bckwood and Baron Caldorian Montcir wish for you to become the next Queen, but you might need to accept the fact that Princess Rya will be the Crown Prince's mistress or second wife. She has proven herself to be an ally to the people of Fiafyr and a healer. Pushing her away is unwise, Your Highness," Thaddeus said.

  Hilda's body stiffened, and she looked at Rya, who looked back at her.

  "B-But what has she done to better the lives of everyone when she is going to corrupt our people with her elven ways and make us sves to her dark magic?!... And what makes her so special? What has she done!" Hilda demanded.

  Rya frowned at Hilda and was about to interject. But General Dougs and Lady Saffron spoke before she could.

  "She's found orphans who had mana and mage veins to bolster our kingdom's squires and future knights. Lady Rya found me a boy with a Demi-god-level vein, and I'm going to make him the next greatest Maja Knight in the kingdom. All the surrounding kingdoms will be envious of the great Kingdom of Fiafyr," General Dougs said proudly.

  "She won over the Mage's Guild by finding Mages that were right under our noses. She will bring a renaissance to the magical arts that the rest of the Mage's Guild, and I can't wait for her to begin," Lady Saffron said excitedly.

  "She's helped our nds with the new trade deal with the Earl, and she's helping us improve our infrastructure," Baron Thaddeus added.

  "She's healed my knee," Eamon said.

  "She's brought back the faith in the Church of Bance after connecting with the Goddess and brought us two more Goddesses to worship. Not only that, High Priestess Astra sings her praises that she was able to get in contact with Iyomelka, which hasn't happened in eons," Lord Brice said.

  "She's saved the Crown Prince from dying in the Tomb of the Horde," Sir George said.

  "And she syed the Kings Syer and helped defeat the Bck Rose Mercenaries from taking over the city of Ironside," Zellin added.

  Rya was touched. Everyone in the room came to her defense for the first time in a long time. It's been a long battle to get to this point, and she never thought she would get this far. She thought that all the stories about the Dark Elves were going to take longer to break the stigma against her race.

  'Wow... I-I can't believe it... everyone's defending me... I feel like I'm a real person here. I'm no longer some outcast that no one cared about...' Rya thought as she stood tall and stared down Hilda with a triumphant look on her face.

  "And she has given me another daughter to adopt!" Yuliana jumped in as she moved Eine in front of her, and the 14-year-old half-elf looked like a deer in headlights.

  'Yeah, and I gave Mom another—WAIT!? WHAT!?' Rya's confident demeanor cracked as she did a double-take. She looked at the girl that she met at the orphanage literally a few hours ago. 'Is Mom going to adopt every elf she comes across!?...'

  After a moment, Rya noticed that Eine cleaned up far better than she realized. 'Huh?... She looks like a princess... maybe a little bit pin, but... she looks adorable. And her eyes are beautiful. They're like the forest... and I didn't know her hair was auburn... I can see why that Sid, boy, is smitten with her... Maybe having a younger sister isn't so bad after—GAH!? I'm just like Yuliana and Nieren! And I'm not even blood-reted!'

  Rya sighed at herself at first, but she liked the idea of helping Eine out, and if she was to become her new younger sister on top of that, then so be it.

  Eine noticed all the eyes were on her, and she quickly ran behind Yuliana.

  'Awe! She's shy, too... Hehe! I'm going to have fun teasing her,' Rya thought as the idea of making Eine blush became a game.

  "But... but..." Hilda was speechless. She couldn't believe what was happening. Surely, this was all a trick! There was no way the Crown Prince would fall in love with a lowly Dark Elf, and all these people must be under her spell, too.

  'It must be her beauty that has made them lose their senses! I need to pray harder to save them all from her evil spell! YES! I must do this before dinner starts! It is the only way to save them all!' Hilda thought as she was determined to make her pn a success.

  "I see... I need to do something before dinner. Excuse me," Hilda said, trying her best not to be rude. She didn't want to anger the Prince or the Nobles, as she needed to do an emergency prayer to both of the Divine Threes.

  'That was odd...' Rya thought as she saw the Princess walk off with her maid following her. "Wait a minute! Hilda!? You better not be pnning on praying to the Divine about making me fat!" Rya yelled out to Hilda.

  'She knows!' The foreign Princess panicked and ran out the door with a puzzled Dori hurrying after her.

  "Oh, no, you don't! Come back—huh!?" Rya tried to chase after Hilda, but Quin grabbed her arm and hugged her.

  "Rex, Rya... Let her go. She can't do anything to you anyway," Quin whispered in her ear.

  Rya pushed herself away and pointed up at Quinus with an annoyed look on her face. "Have you ever dealt with deities before? No? Well, I have, Quin! They can leave you alone at one moment and then pull the rug out from underneath you if they want to, just for fun! SO, what if one of the deities listens to Hilda's prayers and they use their Primordial Essence to make me hungry all the time and I get fat? You would still love me if I looked like a fat cow, Quin!?" Rya scolded him, and everyone was surprised by Rya's reaction. Most of them thought it was adorable that she thinks the Gods are that petty.

  Quin couldn't help but ugh. He cupped his hands around Rya's jaw and pulled her in close for a kiss. "Of course, my love. I would love you no matter what, " he said after kissing her.

  Rya's face turned a little pink as Quinus kissed her; she looked into his eyes and saw the love he felt for her.

  "But, what if I do get fat?" Rya asked him, with a bit of worry in her voice.

  Quin smirked and leaned in to whisper in her ear. "Then, there is more cushion for the pushing," he teased.

  "Hey! I heard that!" Rya spped Quin's chest and pulled back from him. She gave him a fake, angry look. "You jerk!" she huffed, trying not to ugh at his teasing.

  "Hah hah... Rya, it's going to take a lot more than a few extra pounds to get rid of me," Quinus smirked and gave her a wink.

  Rya sighed and noticed everyone was looking at her. "Are you all entertained? Huh?" she said, annoyed, and a few people chuckled.

  "Saintess Rya... There isn't a day that goes by that I am not thankful to you," Baron Zellin said as he looked at her.

  'Ugh... They are entertained...' Rya thought.

  Rya sighed, "So if I concede and let Quinus have a second wife. Then you are all on-boarded with me marrying him and being Queen?"

  The Major Nobles looked at each other and nodded before Ysandra chimed in.

  "You have one more hurdle to clear before you get these two on board with the marriage, My Lady," Baroness Ysandra said as she motioned towards Eamon and Thaddeus, who winced as they got singled out.

  "What is the hurdle?" Rya asked as she was wondering what the hold-up was.

  "We need you to win over the Ladies of the Court first. Normally, this wouldn't be a big deal, but our wives are fiercely loyal to the kingdom, and they want to make sure that you can be a queen who will lead the dies of the court and the kingdom in times of trouble and strife as well as throwing parties for the young noble dies that are coming of age," Thaddeus said as he rubbed the back of his neck.

  "I mean, you've had very little trouble getting the Church and the Mage's Guild to support you, and you've made a believer out of us... But if I don't get Julianna's support, then it's going to be tough," Eamon said in an apologetic tone.

  Rya looked at the Earl of Aurora Pins. "You don't have that issue with me, My Lady... But once you achieve this, you are on your way to becoming the Princess of Fiafyr. I can tell you that you have my vote for the marriage," Nathaniel said, smiling warmly at her.

  Rya sighed.

  "So I have to go to this event and win over the Ladies of the Court, and if I let Quin have a mistress. Then I have the full backing of the Major Nobles?" Rya said, trying to figure out what her next move would be.

  "That's correct, My Lady... And we'll try to convince Octavius and Caldorian to let you have five years before the Crown Prince has to take a second wife," Earl Nathaniel said.

  Johnathan Dule jumped in nervously, "But what if Octavius doesn't agree to let the Crown Prince marry her as the first wife?"

  Rya looked over at Baroness Ysandra and smiled, "I don't have to worry about that, Baron Dule. If push comes to shove, Princess Rya might have to let Prince Quinus marry a human Princess sooner than we hoped. But there's a high chance that she'll be able to marry him and become the next Queen. He'll have to concede on that fact."

  Rya smirked. "Oh? Do I get a say on who becomes Quinus' second wife?"

  Quinus looked at Rya and gave her a shrug, "I have no issue with that. If we are forced to bring another woman into the family, I would want it to be someone that Rya trusts and respects. We can't have her feeling jealous and insecure in our marriage."

  Rya thought about this for a moment and looked over at the other Major Nobles and saw some looks of approval.

  "As long as this second woman is a Princess of a Kingdom, I would accept her as the second wife."

  There were smiles from several of the Nobles.

  "So, will you be willing to do the task at hand, Rya?" Eamon asked, looking over at his fiance.

  Rya was silent for a moment, 'They aren't going to let me have Quin to myself... Damnit... This Royal life is not easy as I thought...' She thought before looking into Quin's golden eyes and she couldn't help but smile at him.

  "Very well... I'm not happy about it, but if I can get a say in who Quin takes as a mistress, then I'll tolerate it... For now, at least."

  The Nobles in the room nodded in approval. "We appreciate your understanding, My Lady. We know it isn't an easy thing to do, but you will be a wonderful Queen for the Fiafyr Kingdom, and we hope to serve under you once you win over the Ladies of the Court," Eamon said.

  Rya nodded and looked over at Ysandra, who had a smile on her face. "Don't worry. I'll help you with the Ladies of the Court, My Lady. We will have the majority on our side in no time, especially with the Queen's aid," she said confidently.

  "Ugh... When is Sophia's coming-of-age party again?" Rya groaned.

  Quin chuckled and patted Rya on the back. "It's in two days."

  Rya took a deep breath, accepting the daunting task that y ahead of her. In just two short days, she would have to absorb an overwhelming amount of information about each and every person who would attend the grand coming-of-age party being thrown by the Duchess. The air was thick with anticipation, and she could almost hear the whispers of the Ladies of the Court as they prepared for the event. Rya knew this was not just a gathering; it was a chance to make a sting impression in a world governed by intricate social dynamics and unspoken rules. With the weight of her responsibility pressing down on her, she steeled herself for the challenge, ready to dive into the depths of social knowledge and etiquette that would be crucial for her success at the vish affair.

  'Well... It's not like I haven't crammed for a deliverable for a client before... I just never thought I needed to do it in a fantasy medieval society where nobles and royals are the clientele. Whatever! I just need to think of positive thoughts and buckle down! I can do this!' Rya thought as she was mentally psyching herself up.

  Quin could tell that Rya was stressed out. "Don't worry, Rya. My Mom will help you with the Ladies, and I will do whatever I can do to help you," he reassured her.

  "Thanks, Quin," Rya smiled, appreciating his support.