"I am sorry, Your Majesty," Zaos said.

"You are sorry, I guess that is good," Dalyor nodded. "Why are you sorry again?"

"I have no idea, Your Majesty," Zaos said. "Well, I did something wrong, I will accept any punishment, I am not familiar with the laws of the kingdom yet, but I suppose that is not an excuse."

"… It is not like you committed a crime and that you are going to be punished, Zaos," Dalyor said after a long sigh. "Still, who could have thought, but it seems you have some talent for diplomacy. Regardless, I am disappointed with you, Zaos. For one very simple reason: you completely ignored my daughter for the past three years."

"I did?" Zaos frowned. "How so?"

"You didn't write her any letters," Dalyor said. "Drannor wrote her a letter every week and I heard that wrote letters to your mother every single day."

  That conversation took a weird turn pretty soon. Still, Zaos made a mental note to beat the crap out of Drannor after seeing him again. That idiot doesn't know how to keep his mouth shut.

"It is not like you had the duty to do that, but my daughter always considered you her friend," Dalyor said. "That was why whenever she received a letter from Drannor, she would get happy and then mad. Happy for the letter, and mad because you didn't send any. I am not complaining right now as your king, but as the father of someone who considered you a dear friend. She was here just a few minutes ago, but she left when she discovered that you were coming."

"It is understandable, Your Majesty," Zaos said. "Once again, I apologize for it. I just didn't want to bore the princess with my pesky problems and dull daily routine in the north."

"Again, I must commend your diplomatic skills…" Dalyor frowned. "Still, bored daily routine? It has been decades since the North had to face thousands of enemies at the same time. Even if you didn't want to talk about anything personal with my daughter, you could have written to her saying that you were alive and well."

  Zaos was having a hard time holding back a sigh… why was he being lectured by the king over some simple letters? He sure was spoiling his daughter, but that wasn't something new.

"Yes… I guess I could," Zaos said while moving his eyes away to the king and still having a hard time holding back his sigh. "I will apologize to her once the opportunity arises."

"Once the opportunity arises? Not today?" Dalyor said. 

"Yes, I think I should let her calm down a little," Zaos forced a smile.

"It seems you are the only one who treats her like a child she is in these parts," Dalyor said and then slimed. "Well, it is your choice. Just remember, Zaos. She is going to be the ruler of this country one day and I am trying really hard to educate her and make her less… stubborn. Like I am doing my best, you shouldn't make the future ruler hate you."

"I will keep that in mind," Zaos said.

"Well then," Dalyor said and then returned to his usual good mood. "I heard that you wanted to ask something from me."

"Yes, Your Majesty," Zaos nodded. "I wanted to have permission to do some research on the magic academy."

"I also heard that you made some discoveries regarding magic in the last years, are you planning to share those?" Dalyor said. "Truth to be told, I don't think many are fit to fight with magic and swords at the same time."

"No, I was planning to do some research regarding healing magic," Zaos replied.

"I see… well, I will give you the permit, but you will have to abide by the rules of the academy," Dalyor said.

"I definitely will, Your Majesty," Zaos said.

In just a couple minutes, the king wrote a document that would be what Zaos would use the enter the academy whenever he wants, and, in the meantime, he noticed that the queen was looking at him with some severe eyes. Now that he thought about it, Zaos recalled that he never talked with her, and considering her eyes, he will never have the chance since she pretty much disliked him. Probably because Zaos treated her daughter like all other kids, and Zaos didn't have time for them. That kind of behavior was odd considering that that voice told him that he had to protect someone and that someone was probably her, but right now, Zaos couldn't care less about it.

After receiving the document, Zaos thanked the king and then left. He didn't like the atmosphere in the castle, so leaving as soon as possible was a relief. Regardless, Zaos still had two hours before lunch, and since he just returned, he didn't want to let his mother have meals by herself anytime soon.

"Two hours isn't enough to do any research, but I guess I should check the building before anything," Zaos said to himself. At the same time, he moved toward the Southern side of the capital. "Most likely, I won't have the chance to take any books out of there, but I can at least learn who were the best mages of healing magic."

  While Zaos was crossing the garden of the castle, he suddenly turned around because he felt a piercing gaze coming from behind. However, he didn't find anyone. When he looked above, he saw some windows in the castle, and while all of them were closed, it didn't mean someone couldn't see from there.

"It was probably Ameria… well, whatever," Zaos said. 

That probably wasn't the best attitude to have, considering that he was going to apologize later. While he was treating her like a kid, Ameria wasn't an ordinary one, so she will realize if Zaos apologized just because her father asked him to do it. Zaos had left the northern base just one week ago, but he was already missing it… he didn't have to think about that kind of thing while he was there.