If anyone were to ask Kaze the reason he chose to study at Czech's First Institute over any other schools in the world, he would have said that he had no idea what other schools there were in the first place.
In the first place, Kaze didn't have the thought to go to Tristania if it wasn't for his grandfather's suggestion to see the world. He probably would have been content living in the countryside he grew up in. As an orphan, he had no dream of his or any aspiration that someone exposed to the world would, other than to live together with his friends and grow up to be someone dependable.
Everything changed when he came to Tristania. From meeting Lunaria to getting exposed with so many things he hadn't seen in the countryside, living in a city was a treat of itself. Besides the two unfortunate events that took place, being the centipede and devil attack, it could be concluded that Kaze had a rather pleasant time making friends and studying. It was also attributed to the fact that this was all set up by his grandfather, a beneficiary and family to Kaze.
Being rejected from the school he studied was equivalent to rejecting his mission for going to Tristania in the first place. Not only was it a very stupid and unfathomable decision by the school, but it also made Kaze an outcast. Having his entire record abolished meant that there would be no supporting documents to help him transfer school or study in a different place. It was essentially saying that he hadn't been to Tristania at all and could be treated as an outsider. The extent to which his personal records were gone was not clarified in the letter, but it was potentially possible that they would even go as far as blacklist him and make him a criminal.
Upon reading the entire outline of the letter, Kaze had to read and reread it three times before the content was finally understood. It wasn't a matter of how the letter was written or the language used: it was out of shock, confusion, panic and anger.
Just when he thought he could trust in Lunaria's decision to return to Tristania, the 'humans' crushed that hope in an instant.
Kaze collapsed onto his knees as they lost the strength to support him, bringing Lunaria down to the floor with him. Even then, Lunaria just buried herself deeper into his chest and weeped, feeling sorry for him. She must have tried her hardest to bargain with her father and mother regarding this issue, whether it be sending a letter of condemnation or requesting this decision to be taken back. As a foreign nation, their intervention was only limited so much, especially when the request was concerning someone not even closely related to them on paper.
"K-Kaze… I'm sorry… I'm sorry…" Lunaria cried, moaning her apology over and over again.
Gradually, his clothes became stained with Lunaria's tears due to how hard she cried. It was the least of the things that fazed him, considering that he now had no records of ever schooling in Czech combined with how he was treated like a terrorist of sort. How in the world was it possible for things to develop so badly all of a sudden? Kaze had no idea, just like how he was now essentially an outcast.
"Lunaria… you don't have to apologise," Kaze found the strength to spoke and addressed his lover. "It wasn't your fault."
"I-It was because I went on a rampage t-that allowed things to d-develop this way…" Lunaria sniffed, shaking her head violently in denial. "I-If only I hadn't gone to Czech…"
"Hey, hey! Don't think that way," Kaze shook her shoulders, bringing her to attention as she shakily looked up at him. "I don't regret a single thing I did, nor do I blame you for my expulsion. If anything, I am grateful that you tried your hardest to fight for me, even when you could just comfortably live your life as usual and dismissed my situation. For that, I am once again convinced that you are my partner, Lunaria. I love you, I truly do."
His words brought more tears to Lunaria's eyes, droplets of water trickling down the side of her cheeks uncontrollably as the corner of her eyes tightened. Bawling out loud without reserve, Lunaria hugged Kaze tightly and muttered the same words over and over again, being 'I love you'.
Eventually, Lunaria calmed down from her sobbing and decided to explain everything that happened to him. Starting from when she got to discussing with her father, a messenger arrived just as they were about to conclude some issues that was faced earlier. The timing could not be any worse for the letter to arrive just when hope was visible. The contents threw a loop into their plans, such that even the Emperor himself reacted violently by scrunching up the letter into a paper ball and throwing it against the wall. Laevia had to personally pass the letter to Lunaria for her to read it as Reginsleif stormed out of the room, barking for a messenger to deliver a response letter to Sir Ethan.
After listening to that part of the story, Kaze made a weak laugh as a part of him was glad about the response Reginsleif had. Even after all that they had gone through, he was still willing to support him out of his own will rather than relying on Lunaria to beg her father for help. However, even as an Emperor, the number of things he could do to help were limited. For one, Aravel was not a 'strong nation' compared to Czech which had vast amounts of land. Reginsleif's influence was weak, especially if the current situation was trying to pressure Czech over the fate of a single student. Heck, even with Ethan's help the whole scenario only looked more bizarre than anything.
It took a bit of reassuring before Kaze was able to bring Lunaria back to minimal confidence level. As she was suffering heavily from the emotional backlash she suffered, he decided that she should get some sleep for the time being, which Lunaria agreed with. Until her eyelids closed and her breathing stabilized, Kaze remained by her side, constantly stroking and patting her head. It was comforting to watch Lunaria fall asleep knowing that her lover was by her side.
With a sigh, Kaze took the letter with him and walked out of the room to leave Lunaria alone. He knew it was necessary to deliver this message to his friends, who had just been hopeful about their situation of wanting him to stay in Aravel.
"What?!" Shoko jumped from her chair as soon as she heard Kaze. "Are you sure?"
"I knew it was too good to be true," Sera shook her head. "Not to say that they would just let you off with being a supposed criminal, but expulsion from school following that must feel horrible."
"Kaze, you really should just stay in Aravel. This event confirms that they don't want you in Tristania," Mitsui crossed her arms with a frown on her face. "Why is it so hard for you to make that decision?"
"I-It's not that I never thought of being in Aravel, okay? It's more so because I can't let Reginsleif and Laevia help any more than they should," Kaze tightened his fists. "This should have been a 'me' problem."
"Well, what do you propose then?" Yuuji asked, sitting in an armchair with his legs crossed. "You can't be in Tristania, you don't think you should be in Aravel, where should you be then? Back at the countryside? Don't be stupid, Kaze. If you choose to return…"
"I never said I wanted to return too. I can't just… leave Lunaria!" Kaze gritted his teeth. "And me staying here would be equivalent to the Emperor breaking their rule of not allowing humans into the nation. Just because Lunaria and I are approved doesn't mean that they would let a human stay here."
"Now you're just making the issue a lot more difficult than it is," Chris grumbled. "You could just-"
"Actually, Kaze is right," Laevia showed up unannounced at the doorway, causing everyone to whip their heads over to her. "We can't just keep him here, as much as we want to do so."
"Laevia-sama," Yuuji stood up from his seat. "Is that really the case?"
"You know the only reason we managed to get your group a stay here for 2 weeks is because we agreed on a lot of conditional terms?" Laevia asked the group, waiting for their response. "For one, we had to keep you here in the palace so we could monitor everyone closely to ensure that there would be no 'destruction of property, theft, or any kinds of malicious acts', as stated in the agreement between the Council members. Another condition would be that your actions have to be limited to the extent of treating everyone here like tourists rather than visiting guests. The line between the two is fine, but not indistinguishable."
"Is this an effect of the Aravel-Czech Agreement?"
"No, that would be regarding how our nations are still cooperating. What I'm referring to is an internal law we have that banned humans from entering the nation under several exceptions. This is something my husband and I can't bypass easily just because we agree that Kaze should date our daughters. It requires the consensus ad idem of other people, including the mentioned Council members, people of certain positions, as well as a general election to decide whether we should make an exception for Kaze to bypass that rule. In other words, allowing a human to become a citizen of Aravel."
"B-But that has never happened before in history?" Irene widened her eyes and stammered. "I'm not sure how accurate I have heard about this, but even in the past when humans were allowed in they were only posing as visiting guests due to the long history of dragonkins in accepting pure-bloods as official citizens of the nations."
"Partially right. The pure-blood thing is a tradition no longer adopted, with the real reasons being more logical and factual," Laevia smiled wryly at Irene. "For Czech, what it means to be an 'official citizen' is either by naturalization, living there for more than 10 years, or having done a great deed to the nation that one would be rewarded with it. Of course, there are exceptions to this rule, but the same can't be said of Aravel. For us dragonkins and people of other races like Sera and Shoko being elves and foxkins, there is a specific procedure that must follow."
"By the way, I am not a citizen of Aravel," Rena waved her hand gently in the air for everyone to see. "I have a special pass to freely enter and leave that enables me the freedom they have, but the reason why I'm not a citizen is due to my position back in Yvel."
"Rena here is a candidate for a High Elf," Sera revealed a fact about her good friend that the others don't know. "Please keep this a secret, for High Elf candidacies are incredibly rare."
"As Rena had said, she has a special pass that allows her to enter Aravelean borders easily," Laevia nodded. "But the same can't be issued to Kaze, who is a human. You could say humans have been 'blacklisted' from entering and living in our nation unless subject to special consideration, like everyone here has right now. Even then, specific conditions are attached."
"… Is this because of the war?" Kaze asked, his voice trembling a little. "That nothing can be changed?"
"Yes," Laevia sighed. "I wouldn't say that nothing can be done to change things, but this isn't a good time to put forward such a law. The citizens of our nation have been equally as frustrated towards Tristania for not caring for a royal from our nation by allowing devils and bandits to slip into the city so easily. This, once again, put fault on the humans being negligent in their care, which does question the authenticity of the human nation in the eyes of the citizens. I'm glad everyone here had such a pleasant experience being in our nation based on conversations and talks during dinner, but it is hard to admit that the tension has never disappeared, only hidden deeper below the surface."
"...."
Everyone fell silent upon listening to Laevia's words. This whole time, it had always been a 'us vs them' mentality between the two nations, or rather, between the humans and dragonkins. This sort of animosity was uncalled for, especially when it was always a third party that managed to drive a wedge between them. Even then, it did not help Kaze's status at all, especially when it was related to trying to get Kaze either to stay in Czech or Aravel.
"Kaze, can we leave?" Laevia asked him kindly. "We need to talk in private regarding all this."
With a nod, Kaze got up and followed the Empress out of the room. She led him back to her private office, where he had been in multiple times now.
Like before, Laevia offered him tea of a different variant before they got down to business.
"First of all, let me apologise to you as the Empress of Aravel," Laevia bowed deeply at Kaze. "We promised to treat you to the best of our abilities for protecting our daughter, and we have failed. Please accept our sincerest apology."
"Don't, Laevia-sama," Kaze immediately stopped Laevia. "It wasn't you or Reginsleif-sama's fault for being unable to do anything for me. In fact, everything that has been done so far was already enough, and I'm appreciative of it. What is more important now is to decide the next step, right?"
"… You're right, we must discuss what you want to choose, or need to choose," Laevia giggled. "How strange. It only felt like it has been recently when you looked so helpless upon entering my office, but now you look so confident and ready. Maybe I have grown old after all."
"I mean, it is something that has been on my mind this whole time, so maybe it's just a process of me growing," Kaze entertained Laevia with a kind laugh in response. "So what was it that was needed of me?"
"Ah, yes. We should get straight into it then," Laevia straightened her back properly and looked straight at him. "Kaze, as of now, we don't really have a solid way of helping you. You can't return to Tristania, nor can you stay in Aravel because of your current status. This essentially makes you an outsider to both nations, though I know Tristania is a city within a nation. But since it's a capital city, it essentially is a nation as it houses the King and Queen."
"Hehe, stating it aloud really leaves a different impression on you compared to thinking about it," Kaze lament with a weak chuckle. "Is there really nothing for me to do?"
"Hmm… not completely," Laevia shook her head. "There is a way that we could make you a citizen and live in Aravel, though the method… is somewhat half-assed compared to the true reason."
"What do you mean by that, Laevia-sama?"
"Your engagement, Kaze. With Lunaria."
"… Y-You mean… make me become a citizen of the nation through an official engagement?"
"As I said, it is a little half-assed if we use your engagement for the sake of letting you stay in Aravel, but it solves a lot of problems. For one, you don't have to worry about your expulsion and potential crimes in Czech anymore since we have the excuse of you being a royal. If they choose to punish the royal of a foreign nation, they might as well be asking for war. Another thing is that you now attain equal status as Lunaria and the rest of my daughters, meaning you are even higher than the special pass issued to Sera and Shoko. It allows you to live here without a reason since the law had not been tailored for humans with royal status at Aravel simply because there has never been, in the history since Aravel's establishment, where a human marries a dragonkin royal."
"So… doesn't that make me the first if that happens?"
"Which it would eventually happen, yes."
"Then isn't that going to be quite the sensation?"
"I agree, which is fine too. After all, you have the approval of the royal family themselves along with the Council."
"W-Wait, the dragonkin Council agreed to our engagement?"
"Ara, I didn't know you wanted to take the hands of a married woman, furthermore an Empress. My husband won't be happy to hear that you know~?"
"N-Not you, Laevia-sama. With all due respect, you are incredibly pretty and a nice person, but the one I love is Lunaria. I meant Lunaria and my engagement."
"Hehe, I was just pulling your tail. Yes, we managed to receive a 100% agreement from our Council members, of whom one of them is Ash's father."
"Ah… I do remember him telling me something about that."
"He played quite the role in convincing his father, Drakov, that you and Lunaria's relationship isn't a mistake. That was the tide we needed to turn our words on the Council, allowing everyone to give you one chance to prove that you are worthy to be a royal and continue our bloodline."
Kaze gulped upon hearing Laevia's explanation. It was, without a doubt, assuming that Kaze would marry Lunaria based on getting engaged with her. Even he understood how significant it was to leave their princess in the hands of a mere human who has no ties or relations at all. It also would 'taint the bloodline's purity', if it was concerned with having a dragonkin mate with a human and give birth to an offspring not fully dragonkin. Biologically, there would be no defect from the baby as a dragonkin's gene is much stronger than a human's, so it was pretty much predetermined that the offspring of a human male and dragonkin female would be a dragonkin. This was also the least of his concerns, for it was being a royal that made Kaze hesitant.
For the Council members, the highest level of dragonkin authority other than the Emperor, to agree on this without any terms or conditions, was definitely a feat though unachievable by far. This set the grounds for a public announcement of their marriage as the public would already be half-convinced if Lunaria's engagement was announced. The only issue now was whether Kaze wanted to proceed with it, meaning to make their engagement a politically fuelled one.
Kaze and Lunaria had both clarified, time and time again, why they were holding back their engagement was because they wanted to take their time being comfortable enough with each other before deciding on tying the knot. This included the engagement, of which could be delayed indefinitely as Lunaria wanted to enjoy her time with Kaze as proper lovers than mates, a title established when dragonkins get married. It was a rather pointless reason compared to the scale things had developed right now, but one that was dearly valued since this was about their future.
The question now was whether Kaze was ready to rush things into an engagement for the sake of settling their problems right now, or risk holding it off and have Kaze leave the nation to return to wherever he came from.
"I… Laevia-sama, I don't know if this is my place to decide," Kaze looked down to avoid meeting Laevia's face. "I feel like Lunaria has more authority in deciding this than me."
"Because you are a commoner?" Laevia raised an eyebrow when she questioned him.
"N-Not really… I just feel that it would be better for the princess to be okay with this than allowing her partner to decide in her stead."
"What if I told you Lunaria decided to leave that decision to you?"
"What? W-When?"
"It was a while back when you two had your first night together. Lunaria told me that when it came to engagement purposes, she wants me to let you be the deciding one."
"Oh… she never told me about this."
"Of course she wouldn't. Think of it as a way of her testing how much faith you have in her. As you have said, Lunaria is okay with you two being lovers or mates as the only thing holding you back is time. It is only a matter of when you become engaged with her, be it for the purpose of true love or situations like the one we are in. I will ask you again: are you ready to get engaged with my daughter?"
"… I… don't know…"
"Think carefully, Kaze. I don't believe you don't want to get engaged with Lunaria because of your lacklustre love for her. From what I have observed over the past 2 weeks, you two are well-suited for each other. There is no animosity between you two that is more than couple problems, and you even managed to charm my other daughters, proving you are a good person. If you ask me, you don't want to get engaged from Lunaria because you are afraid. Afraid of being unable to provide for her, unable to provide her with enough love, afraid that things will change the moment you get engaged."
Each of Laevia's words hit him right on the mark. After all, he was only 17 years of age, and already deciding on marriage with a royalty. No one would blame him if he got cold feet, but this wasn't the time at all. Him and Lunaria's mutual love for each other was clear enough for everyone to see. Lunaria herself even expressed consent that she was willing to get engaged anytime he wanted, for she was willing to wait for him. It was all Kaze's own problem.
Gulping nervously, Kaze glanced back up at Laevia. His palms sweated from thinking about the future regarding him and Lunaria. When pressed for a decision by Laevia, especially with all the pressure building on him and wanting what's best for both worlds, Kaze made a choice.
"Laevia-sama, I…"