---Victor POV, Royal Palace, Several Weeks Later---
Meeting with Angelica, Clarice, and Olivia's parents over the following weeks, I informed them of my desire to marry their daughters. Walking into the meetings expecting to receive a bit of resistance from their fathers, all three of them gave me their blessing the moment I finished speaking. Happy to wed their daughters to a fiercely loyal man like me, they understood that I would properly cherish them and ensure they wanted for nothing. Making the engagements public a few days afterward, things at school became quite hectic as female students began throwing themselves at me.
Leaving the matter to Clarice and Deirdre's subordinates, I preoccupied myself with things at the palace. Having literally torn Malcolm's house down to ensure nothing was missed, the full extent of his deeds had brought things to a standstill for the palace. Discovering that many of their deceased colleagues and close friends had been orchestrated by Malcolm, they regretted allowing him to die so quickly. Giving the nobles time to work through old wounds this incident reopened, I focused on planning our counter response. Once the men were ready, we sat down to discuss what came next.
"Gentlemen, recent events have shown me that we have been too lax on dealing with the Principality of Fanoss. While I refuse to begin slaughtering their populace, like they did in my grandfather's time, we cannot let their heinous actions go unpunished.", King Roland said, pounding his fist onto his massive oak table.
Turning his attention to me, Roland gave me the floor. Using the Force to pull over the box of miniature figurines, I began setting them out based on where the principality's forces were currently stationed.
"Alright, as of an hour ago this is how the principality currently has their forces laid out. As you may notice, their forces along our border are pitiful at best. Due to repeated attacks on my naval forces from the local nobles, they have little to no naval power left. Given the danger I pose to them, they ran to the capital for additional aid and managed to secure seven hundred vessels from their Royal Fleet.", I explained, "Even though they hold a numerical advantage, their nobility is still wary of my vessels. To lessen the risk of failure, the spies we killed a few weeks ago were sent here to have Marquess Frampton request we lessen security along the border. If he been successful, they intended to use the opening to launch an invasion into our country. Their first target would be the cruise ships full of students that will be in the vicinity next week."
"Wait, you are saying our children are the first targets?!", Earl Roseblade remarked, slamming his fist into the table, "I should have guessed those bastards would use underhanded tactics against us. They know they stand no chance in a head on fight!"
"Victor, do you believe we should cancel the trip as a precaution?", Duke Redgrave asked.
"On the contrary, I want to use the trip to lure their forces into a trap. My naval ships are equipped with cloaking technology that can render them invisible or make them look like a completely different vessel. I want to use that capability to draw them in and eliminate the Strike Group in one go.", I stated, with a devious smile, "We will proceed as planned with the trips, and make it appear like Malcolm was successful in lessening border security. The day before the cruise ships are supposed to be near the border, they will have unexpected engine failures which will keep them in port. Several of my vessels, including Yamato, will take their places disguised as cruise ships. The rest of my fleet will be invisible and on standby waiting for the principality to make its move. While their fleet moves in, mine will encircle them and block off all escape routes. Once there is nowhere to run, I will obliterate all of them in short order."
Happy that their children would be far from the battle, they liked the sound of using the principality's dirty trick against them. Visibly unsatisfied with this though, King Roland inquired if that was the only thing I had planned. Wanting the repercussions to be more severe for the principality, he felt that this was not sufficient to compensate us for the damage they caused.
"Would bringing you the head of the Black Knight, and their First Princess sweeten the pot for you?", I asked, with a smirk, "The two of them will be onboard the flagship leading the charge."
"Now that…that is more like it.", King Roland said, with a firm nod, "Why not say that in first place?"
"Because I want to know just how far all of you want to take this. Are you satisfied with just this, or do you want to bring the former ducal territory back under the kingdom's control?", I remarked, "A few months ago, when I said the King and Queen need only give the word and the principality would be gone, I meant every word of it. If you give the order, it will be carried out without hesitation."
"Victor, do you really believe you possess the strength to do that? The kingdom tried several times in the past and each time were unsuccessful in doing so.", Queen Mylene stated, with a worried look, "Even though they will be down seven hundred ships, between the remaining vessels in their royal fleet and the other noble fleets they still have around ten thousand warships. We cannot afford to risk losing you in such a dangerous campaign."
Looking at his wife, Roland studied her expression for a moment. Seemingly coming to an epiphany, he looked back at me with a content smile.
"Queen Mylene, I can assure you I am not taking this matter lightly. When I say I can capture the entirety of the rouge ducal territory in forty-eight to seventy-two hours, I stand by my words. I have spent many hours reviewing their military's composition, the layout of their defenses, and the design of their vessels, all the data supports my assertion that I can reclaim it all in that timeframe.", I reassured her and everyone here, "The only wildcard in this plan is the response we will receive from the Holy Kingdom and the Alzer Republic's Feivel Household. Recent events had me investigating their connections closer, and I discovered the three groups are closely allied."
"So the entire Alzer Republic is not involved?", Prime Minister Atlee inquired.
"Correct, I would strongly recommend we inform the other ruling households of their betrayal. If nothing is done soon, they will be far too weak to resist an invasion from the Holy Kingdom.", I warned them, "The Feivel Household has been looting Lost Items from their nation's coffers and sending them to the principality to bolster their military power. The Holy Kingdom is supporting them both to rid itself of its two most prominent neighbors, they are effectively using them to fight a proxy war."
"I understand, the Holy Kingdom has always had a disdain for both nations since its founding. It makes sense they would sponsor the corrupted members of our nations to weaken us. If everyone agrees, I believe in addition to the campaign to reclaim the rouge ducal territory we should partner with the Alzer Empire and crush the Holy Kingdom.", King Roland remarked, looking at the nobles at the table.
Agreeing that it was the best option, I tossed them documents on their defense and military layout as well as troop composition. Taking a moment to review the information, the Minister of Defense looked at me in shock.
"How did you get this information? I have been trying for years now to gather this intelligence.", he inquired.
"I have my ways.", I chuckled, turning to the King, "Can I assume this means you want the rouge territory reclaimed?"
"Correct, I want this farce brought to end.", he acknowledged, "Also, should you complete this task I will make you the new Duke of that territory and give you Mylene."
Startling everyone in the room, all of us looked at him believing we had misheard what he said. Repeating himself again, we looked at each other in confusion as it did not make sense at all.
"Everyone one of you in this room is a close friend so there is no need to fake your surprise. All of you know I have never truly cared for her; our marriage was for political purposes only. The two of us have been unhappy sense we wed and have continued out of a sense of duty to our respective countries. I believe now the time is right to remove the façade and proceed on our own paths.", King Rolan stated, looking over at Mylene, "You have been steadily falling for him over the past two years. I have seen the way you look at him and the happiness he brings you. Every time we have a fight, you seek comfort with him, and he has been honorable enough not to take advantage of it even though he easily could have. Follow what your heart tells you Mylene…I surely will once you are gone."
Watching her face contort into a scowl, all of us felt a bit awkward now. Knowing he would make his true love his Queen, none of us were sure if it was appropriate to be happy or sad about this occasion.
"I worked tirelessly for years to make you look at me as a woman, but nothing I did was ever enough. Both of us were forced into this marriage against our wills, difference is I tried to make it work and you refused too.", Mylene said, tears welling up in her eyes, "You offer me up now as prize to Victor, but what of my feelings? What did I do to deserve being thrown aside like garbage?!"
Overwhelmed by her emotions, Mylene fled the room sobbing loudly. Letting out an exhausted sigh, Roland looked at me with an apologetic look.
"Go chase after her, you are the only one that can calm her down nowadays. I know I am coming across as cruel and heartless, but it is the only way she will leave.", he explained, "I have honestly wanted to divorce her since I ascended to the throne. The reason I did not do so is because she would be left penniless and without a home. Since it is clear she loves you, now is the time to break these chains that bind us and allow one another to move forward separately. She deserves to be just as happy as I do."
While grateful I could take Mylene, I felt his delivery to her was far too harsh. Utterly breaking her heart and making her feel like a prize must have been utterly humiliating to her. Excusing myself, I ran after her to console her.
"Roland, you are an asshole.", Duke Redgrave stated.
"I know that, but Mylene's sense of duty was too strong to just walk away from me. It needed to be done so we both can move on.", Roland said, looking out the window, "Victor can give her everything I was unable to bring myself too. Though it may take some time, she will return to the radiant woman I first met all those years ago."