***
Castlebourne
Telmarath
The moment of mourning for the death of Prince Quentin and Princess Mary lasted only one day, right when the news of their deaths reached the palace.
King Otto did not drown his sorrows. Right now, inside the palace council, he was bursting out laughing when he heard some jokes from his ministers.
"They don't even have enough whores there, Haha!" laughed King Otto, talking about the land of Tregaron currently controlled by Hartwin.
"Very sad, Your Majesty. I think the sheep would be happy to keep them company for the night," retorted Harold Ivo in the council chamber of the palace.
Shrieks of laughter echoed in the room. Edmund, sitting close to King Otto, was also laughing at their jokes. Among all of them in the room, only Howard had yet to arrive.
"Where is Duke Howard?" asked King Otto.
"He's perhaps on his way here. You have nothing to worry about, Father," stated Edmund.
King Otto agreed. After all, Howard has been very busy lately. Tregaron had fallen out of Castlebourne's control, leaving only two places still in upheaval: White Coast and Highvale.
"I'm looking forward to your wedding with Lady Sera of House Lorelei. They must be looking forward to that," King Otto replied.
"Talking about that, I have something to say, Your Majesty," Edmund interrupted.
"What is it? Tell me."
"I am in love with Lady Melissa Hildemar," Edmund replied, looking at King Otto with great interest.
"Melissa? The first daughter of Duke Howard?" asked King Otto, pointing to the empty seat to his right, which Howard used to occupy.
"I know House Lorelei is a faithful ally of Reingard, but we need to expand our alliance to other Houses, one of which is Hildemar," Edmund replied.
"Lord Arcy is a strict man. He does not like broken promises, Prince Edmund," stated King Otto, still insisting on marrying Edmund to Lady Sera.
"Don't worry. Our promise to them is to marry one of our princes to Lady Sera," interrupted Edmund, looking kindly to the right.
"Who? Do you want to dig up Quentin's grave and marry him to Lady Sera? Haha!" laughed King Otto, followed by his ministers sitting in the same row as Prince Edmund.
The council chamber door opened, revealing the figure of Howard, who came with nothing but words to answer King Otto's question, "With your second prince, Your Majesty."
"Alexander?" asked Otto.
Howard, who came to the place, nodded. Alexander could be a potential marriage partner for Lady Sera.
From the beginning, House Lorelei did not want Edmund or Alexander but wanted to try to expand its influence by joining the royal family, House Reingard.
Especially after Howard sent a message to Lord Arcy about their agreement, where Hildemar would send an army of 30,000 to the White Coast and win the land for Lorelei.
Until now, there hasn't been a single response from House Lorelei about Howard's offer.
Duke Howard left a note in the letter he sent. If they agreed to the proposal, they would need to meet with House Hildemar's leader, Lord Jaston.
However, if he refuses, then they need to do nothing and leave the first lady of Athalaris' matters to Edmund.
With such an option, Lorelei had no choice but to accept Howard's demand.
"Prince Edmund is right, Your Majesty. Prince Alexander is the perfect option for Lady Sera," Howard revealed, standing right beside his chair.
"Did you plan all this, Duke Howard?" asked King Otto.
Howard turned his eyes forward, looking at Edmund as if asking him to do something, a confession to his father.
"It was my idea. We met a few times, and I think the love started to grow over time," revealed Edmund.
"What Prince Edmund said is true, especially about expanding your alliance. Unfortunately, Prince Quentin died when we could have proposed marriage to Lady Mona of House Southtown," pointed out Archmage Dieter.
"For now, he should strengthen his throne position by establishing good relations with various major Houses," Dieter continued.
"Then what do you think, Harold?" asked King Otto, turning to the war minister Harold Ivo.
Harold was silent, looking at three different people: King Otto, Duke Howard, and Prince Edmund. Harold nodded, fully agreeing with Prince Edmund's proposal.
"Hildemar has a large number of soldiers among the great Houses. With Reingard and Hildemar getting close, it will greatly benefit the political stability and security in Athalaris," Harold replied.
"It seems all the ministers agree with you, Prince," declared King Otto.
Prince Edmund lowered his head slowly, his eyes looking back at King Otto. Although everyone was on the same page, it was King Otto, the ruler of Athalaris, who had the final say in this matter.
"Very well. You will marry Lady Melissa of House Hildemar. As for Alexander, where is he now?" asked King Otto.
"Don't worry, Your Majesty. I have assigned several men to ask him to return home," replied Duke Howard, already sitting in his chair.
"Is that so? Fine. I leave it entirely to you," stated King Otto.
The meeting of the palace council began. They met to discuss many matters, such as the response to Tregaron, the resolution of the problems in Highvale and White Coast, and the wedding of Prince Edmund and Lady Melissa next month.
The prince continued to listen to King Otto's explanation, as did Howard. However, Howard was not fully concerned with King Otto's words.
The man had another hand behind his back to make sure what King Otto wanted went well, even if the way to make it happen was not in accordance with King Otto's wishes.
Precisely two hours into their discussion, the meeting came to an end when King Otto excused himself to leave.
As Howard was about to leave the palace council chamber, the man's footsteps halted as Harold Ivo stopped in his tracks right before Howard.
"Duke Howard," Harold greeted.
"What is it, Minister Harold?" asked Howard.
"I have something to discuss with you. It has to do with the raw materials for making armor and swords," replied Harold.
"What about it?" asked Howard.
"With all the civil wars occurring, the production of raw materials has been limited. I have asked House Ironland to double their production, but they have limits," replied Harold.
Howard nodded a few times, agreeing to the issue. The city folk didn't know it, but the difference was apparent after seeing the armory in Castlebourne.
The swords were rusting, as well as the armor. The longer the civil war went on, the higher the need for raw materials.
"It's a shame Helferich is out of our hands," Howard said.
"At least send an envoy to Lanercoast to invite them to conduct trade negotiations," Harold replied.
"That must be with the approval of His Majesty. Do you know how His Majesty responds when speaking about Helferich?" asked Howard.
"It's an insult to His Majesty," revealed Harold.
"I will try my best to stop this bloody civil war and restore stability in the kingdom," replied Howard.
Harold was silent, then cleared his throat in agreement because the man thought Howard had a plan to resolve the civil war conflict.
After his conversation with Harold, Howard waltzed away from the palace council room to return to his study.
Howard's study door opened, and to his surprise, he found two people in all-black suits sitting on the couch.
Howard was coldly silent, closing the door while glancing at the two people. They were special forces directly under Duke Howard's orders, called the Phantom Council.
"If you people came here, it means you have failed," Howard stated.
"We didn't find them," spoke one of the two mysterious black-robed men.
"Expand the search area, if you must, to the far reaches of Northcrest. I want you to find Quentin and Mary immediately!" Howard ordered, his voice low but firm and strong.
The two men in black robes nodded, stood up from their seated position on the couch, and walked over to Howard's study window. They jumped out and disappeared in the dark.
"Bloody Quentin! Where the hell are you?!"