The dinner was about to start. Rufus was waiting at the dining hall with Haley sitting next to him with the seat on the other side reserved for the queen. The table was formed into a horseshoe shape with the other side filled with the nobles and tribal leaders and on the other was reserved to the nobles of the nation of Sparv.

The queen entered the room with her entourage. She was wearing a different dress than what she had on when she arrived. The queen stood in front of Rufus and smiled.

"Good evening, king Rufus."

"Good evening, was your earlier dress dirty?"

"Uhmmmm…...no."

"Oh. Did it get a tear?"

"No"

"Was it uncomfortable?"

"…...No."

"So why did you change your dress?"

"...…"

The nobles of the Fairfax kingdom again tried to hold their laughter. The count was holding his head with his hand thinking the diplomatic dinner was going to be a disaster.

~ ~

The dinner was in full swing. The tribal leader had a very different way of enjoying a dinner than what the humans had. It involved loud music and hard drinking with a lot of barbeque on the table.

All the nobles from both kingdoms looked at the grey skin frolicking and getting completely plastered. The queen also looked at the tribal leaders and tried to see if any of the nobles felt irritated to see if the two races were on good terms.

"How did you make the grey skin follow you?" the queen asked Rufus.

"Nothing much. They are not much different from us. They also have the same problems as all our people have. They starve, fight against the climate and suffer. Was not hard to see if we work together we can create something greater," Rufus said.

The queen started to laugh.

"You really are hilarious," the queen laughed.

Both Haley and Rufus looked confused.

"You seem like you don't understand. People need to know their place. If they believe they have a chance of getting stronger and for something better, they will then start asking for it, and when the government can not comply or give what they want they will pick up torches and pitchforks. Look at yourself. Unless you carry yourself a true ruler of the people, they will oust you and put another one on the throne. Maybe you will see yourself soon in the place of the old king. Dead in the hands of a usurper," the queen said menacingly and threatened Rufus.

Both Haley and Rufus just stared at the queen. Count Hunyadi rushed in between before anything was about to happen.

"So, I believe you haven't tried any of the roasted pork? Would the good queen want some?" count Hunyadi said trying to change the subject.

"I really should. It is this one, yes?"

~ ~

Later during the evening, the Queen and Rufus had decided to move to the throne room, with all the nobles and tribal leaders.

"So let us get straight to the point. I believe we were invited here because you need something from us? A guarantee or something," the Queen asked.

All of the nobles heard what the queen said. It seemed that the time for polite converse was over.

"We would like to make sure that the peace between our countries would last. Peace between our two countries would mean prosperity to us both wouldn't it?" Hunyadi came and said.

"I am sorry, but I am talking to the king…..Not you!" the queen said and released a strong divine aura and threatened the count.

The count and the whole room went quiet. The queen looked around at all her nobles who just smiled and looked confident.

"We all know that the southern regions of your kingdom are rightfully ours. They were promised to our nation's founder Satava during the time of the founding kings and in our case, a queen. She was fooled by king Franz Jacob who tried to make her into an obedient wife. She was promised the lands of the south but when the queen refused, Franz Jacob revoked the lands and took them for his own, forcing her to move her people toward the west onto the coast of the Cerea ocean. Those lands are ours where I still hold a claim as an ancestor of Satava," The queen explained still releasing immense divine pressure.

She then looked at the count.

"I believe you are the lord of Wallach. This is a perfect situation. I want you to swear fealty to me and only me and only then will war be avoided."

"That is absurd!" the count protested.

"It is not absurd. We have always held claims on the regions of Craiov and Wallach. They belong to us and since the opportunity has come we will either take them by force or you will peacefully give them to us. I will even give you a military alliance as a deal. We will help you fend off the nation of Brahm seeing as we now also will be bordering them when you give these regions to us," the queen said and looked around.

"So you say our only option is war or submission to you?" Haley asked.

Haley got up and looked at the queen.

"I wouldn't call it submission, but only facing the reality. You possibly can not believe you would win in a war against us."

"What if we don't want to submit? What if we rather fight you?" Haley said and started to release her own divine aura.

The aura of Haley matched even the queen. The whole room got startled by the show of force by Haley.

"If you do not want to submit it will be war then," the queen said trying to match Haley's aura.

Rufus ran in between Haley and the queen.

"Please, there is no need to fight now," Rufus yelled.

The queen smiled smugly.

"Listen to your brother and heel. He knows what is best for you all. Otherwise, I would march my armies and destroy you all," the queen said thinking Rufus was a complete pushover.

Rufus walked toward the queen. He placed his hand on the queen's shoulder and let out his own divine pressure.

The queen got cold sweat immediately. The divine aura of Rufus was so destructive and powerful it looked like it enveloped the queen's aura. She knew that Rufus could kill her instantly right now if he wanted to just by the aura Rufus was releasing.

"But I still hope you understand, that our kingdom won't take well on threats," Rufus said looking at the queen with fierce eyes.

The grey skins rose up and stared at the nation of Sparv's nobles. The nobles of the kingdom of Fairfax also let out their aura and that this was a time for a show of force. The queen and her nobles realized that they were at a disadvantage.

The queen fell on her butt and stared at Rufus. Her nobles came to help her up, but she was unable to look away from Rufus.

"You should leave now," Rufus said looking down on the queen and placing his hand on her head.

The queen bit her teeth together. She knew she was being outclassed and felt like her life was in danger.

"This is not over. Do not think this is over," the queen said while getting up.

"No. It is over. This dinner is OVER!" Rufus yelled.

All of the nobles of the Farifax kingdom started to laugh hysterically while the queen felt embarrassed. Rufus looked around not knowing what he did. Even Hunyadi couldn't hold his laughter and started to laugh hysterically.

The queen felt embarrassed and humiliated and left the room. One noble rushed to beside her.

"Wake up all the soldiers and prepare the carriages. We are leaving now!" the queen said to her noble.

~ ~

"A toast to our great King!" a noble proclaimed in the throne room to all attending.

All the nobles toasted with the grey skin joining in on it. They all knew the meeting with the queen had been a complete failure, but they didn't care. They were all united.