Varlian took a deep breath, getting his emotions under control. Even with all his experience and training in regard to self-control, he still took some time to do so. Steeling his heart and putting on an emotionless expression, he slowly pushed open the large door in front of him, entering the bedroom.

Inside, the large space was decorated with an assortment of luxurious furniture and silk curtains. Opposite to the door, the bedroom gave way to a wide balcony with a view of the great city of Inrillon below. As expected of a room in the royal palace, it lacked nothing. Most notable were the various bookshelves that rose all the way to the ceiling, filled to the brim with books about various themes.

Varlian’s eyes analyzed the environment automatically, assessing all the information he needed to know in case a battle broke out. It wasn’t done intentionally. It was simply a habit built over the years of war. His gaze turned to the small figure approaching him from the center of the bedroom. It was a small, female Drakkhan. Her small stature and short limbs made it clear that she was nothing but a young girl.

“Greetings, dear father.”

As she got within five meters of him, the girl bowed elegantly. With a nod, Varlian entered the room and closed the door behind him. With steady steps, he walked in the direction of the girl, standing in front of her as she raised her body. The prince said nothing until their eyes met, finding traces of respect and admiration, but also hesitation. Varlian sighed within his heart.

“…I trust that you have done as I told you?”

The girl calmly nodded.

“Yes, father. But…”

Varlian’s eyes grew stern, making the young Drakkhan hurriedly look towards the ground. She fidgeted in place before finally speaking after a period of hesitation.

“…The Karil House’s second son approached me during the ball. Even though I did as you asked and politely refused his company, going back to Rur’s side, he was relentless. I… I lost my patience and rather harshly rejected him. He was unable to do anything as Rur was by my side, but swore that he would definitely have me one day, saying that I would not be able to refuse him again if I wanted our families to keep a cooperative relationship. He then left with his older brother, but –”

“He did what?”

Varlian’s interrupted her calmly, but hidden deep within his eyes was a burning fury. His vision grew red as his heart threatened to burst with anger. Thankfully, as she was looking towards the ground, his daughter failed to notice. Even so, his voice was louder than usual.

“Huh? He said he would have me in the future if –”

“The Karil House’s second son said he would have you regardless of your will and threatened to end our families’ amicable relationship if you refused him once more?”

“Yes. Before he left, he also said that if I told you what happened he would tell everyone in the Academy that I had been found in bed with several other noblemen. But father, I did no such thing! I swear! I –”

The girl’s words died in her throat as Varlian felt something inside him snap. His Aura burst forth, dominating the space within the room and drowning out his daughter’s words. He hurriedly restrained himself, taking several deep breaths. As he barely calmed down, he realized his daughter was looking at him with anxiety and wariness, but there was no fear that he would hurt her. It was natural. Varlian had never once hurt her or laid his hands on her in any way. After hesitating for a few seconds, the Drakkhan girl quickly spoke.

“Father, please don’t hurt him! If you do something, he will know that I told you and spread his lies! I beg of you, don’t do anything! I have only told you because you’ve always said that I should tell you if something like this ever happened!”

Very slowly, Varlian crouched, his eyes reaching the same level as his daughter’s anxious ones. He felt the fury within him burn even hotter.

“…Don’t worry. I will deal with it. I promise you, nobody will know of his lies. I won’t hurt the boy. I will just make sure he understands that he shouldn’t do such things.”

After giving it some thought, the girl nodded with a conflicted expression. She then bowed once more.

“I’m sorry, dear father. I lost my composure for a moment. I failed to address you with the proper respect and deference you are due. Please, forgive me.”

Varlian frowned. He knew it was the work of that damned etiquette teacher of hers. For a moment, he considered firing the teacher, even though she taught his daughter what she needed to know in order to deal with those filthy nobles. The reason was simple. He didn’t like the feeling of distance that such treatment created between him and his daughter. However, he also didn’t know how to express such a thing out loud.

“You are forgiven. Was that all that happened at the ball?”

His daughter nodded.

“Yes. Everything else was taken care of by Rur and happened as expected.”

Both of them went silent for a few moments. His daughter seemed to be calmly waiting for his next words, while Varlian desperately searched for a topic to talk about. Distracted by his anger, he was struggling to connect with the girl even more than usual. He opened his mouth, making a decision.

“…How did you feel?”

“Pardon?”

“How did you feel at the ball? How did you feel when the boy said all of those things to you?”

The girl blinked in surprise. The prince noticed her hesitation.

“Do not concern yourself with anything else. Forget whatever your etiquette teacher told you. Answer my question.”

Following Varlian’s stern words, he heard his daughter’s low and restrained voice, as if she wasn’t sure that she should be speaking.

“…I did not like the ball at all. It was boring and filled with people of the worst kind, who do not care about anything other than their own benefit. They refuse to acknowledge your achievements, saying that you are a fool for not killing the humans! It made me and Rur incredibly angry. She said that if it weren’t for your kindness in the past and if she weren’t my caretaker, she would have surely killed all of those nobles right then and there!”

As if a dam had been broken, the words came flowing out unceasingly. The girl had an expression filled with pure indignation and righteous anger, as if she couldn’t believe there were people who would dare disrespect her father. Varlian couldn’t help but let a small grin make its way into his face, which did not escape his daughter’s attentive eyes. Even more determined than before, she continued to speak.

“And, and… When that boy said those things to me, I was furious! I couldn’t contain my anger! I screamed at him even though I knew it was wrong. Rur told me that I was right for feeling that way, but… I didn’t even care about that! I just wanted to yell at him!”

Varlian smiled, making the girl immediately freeze as if she couldn’t believe what she was seeing. Her eyes widened even further when he gently put his hand on her head and caressed her face. Failing to control his wildly galloping heart, Varlian struggled to put as much tenderness as he could into his voice.

“That’s it. I’m glad you’ve told me that.”

Under the girl’s trembling gaze, he sat down on the ground. Then, still with a smile on his face, he spoke.

“Tell me everything. What happened then? And before that? I want to know how you felt.”

The young Drakkhan’s jaw dropped before her expression turned into the most beautiful smile Varlian had ever seen.

“Okay!”

For the first time, she displayed the demeanor of a young girl as she hurriedly sat down on the ground as well and told him stories, gesturing all over the place. It was the first time that Varlian had seen his daughter express so many emotions in front of him. To his own surprise, it made him incredibly happy.

Neither of them seemed to notice as time passed by. They talked for almost two hours as he listened to her stories with a smile on his face.

“And then the teacher revealed I had gotten the highest grades in the entire Academy! The faces of everyone else were so funny! I felt like my heart was about to burst! I… I wanted to make you proud!”

With shining eyes and an elated voice, the girl finished telling her story. Her last sentence made Varlian unable to control his feelings. He took her into his embrace tenderly as she hugged him back with a giggle. After hugging for a while, Varlian stood up, looking down with a kind expression.

“I have to go now. Thank you for telling me all of those things, Irilith.”

Irilith’s smile visibly dimmed, but she nodded in understanding. Unable to contain herself, she asked him a question.

“Why did you suddenly decide to spend some time with me, dad?”

Of course, the way she was now referring to him didn’t go unnoticed. Varlian’s heart was filled with warmth before he smiled bitterly. His relationship with his daughter had always been rather distant, but now he felt that he no longer had the luxury of letting it stay that way. He loved his daughter and had wholeheartedly decided to show her that love before he died. No, more accurately, before he was killed.

“Because I’m not sure what’s going to happen from now on. One of the humans is becoming very powerful very quickly. There’s no way to tell what he will do. I might have to stay away for a long time from now on to plan how to deal with him and the war in general.”

“Oh…”

The girl’s head hung sadly before she shook her little fists in rage.

“Why is this bad man so dangerous? You don’t know what he’s going to do? What kind of evil person would cause you problems when you have even offered them an alliance?!”

Varlian’s smile grew even more bitter.

“From his perspective, I’m the bad guy. Don’t think too badly of him. Just like I’m doing everything I can to protect our Empire, he’s doing everything he can think of to protect humanity. We’re simply on opposite sides.”

“Even so! He’s taking you away from me!”

With a pout, Irilith crossed her arms. If it was before their conversation, she would have never displayed such behavior in front of the prince. Varlian felt that their relationship had grown several times closer in a short time and mentally kicked himself. He was forced to wonder why he hadn’t done this earlier. What had kept him so emotionally distant from his daughter? Was it her mother’s death?

His eyes turned sadder.

“Don’t worry. I’m not going anywhere. I’m going to solve all of this and come back. We can talk as much as you want then.”

“Ok! It’s a promise!”

With wide smiles, the father and daughter duo hugged tightly for a long time before letting go. Irilith hummed to herself as Varlian left the room. Outside, he reveled in that feeling of warmth and comfort before his eyes slowly turned colder. His dormant rage awakened in full force. Throughout their entire conversation, he hadn’t forgotten about what had happened at the ball. He immediately pulled a Communicator out of his Inventory, calling a certain person. She picked up in less than five seconds.

“May the Empire’s Sun forever shine upon you, Your Highness. This is a good time. There is something I’d like to tell you, if I may.”

“If it’s about what happened at the ball, don’t bother. I’ve just spoken with Irilith. I’m planning to solve this problem right now.”

“Please give me your orders, Your Highness.”

Varlian’s eyes were icy cold, as was his voice.

“I want you to pay a visit to the Karil House’s patriarch. Make it very clear that unless he gets his sons under control, I will personally erase their bloodline from the Empire, down to their last descendant. I will raze their homes to the ground, desecrate their corpses and erase them from our history. I do not care about our relationship nor do I care about what the other nobles will think. Tell them what I have said, word for word. Have I made myself clear, Rur?”

Even though he couldn’t see her, Varlian was sure that Rur was smiling on the other side.

“Of course, Your Highness. I will set out immediately.”

“Very good. Place an embargo on their House. Every noble that trades with them will be subject to a fine of 50% of their annual profit, by royal decree, effective immediately. Make sure the Headmaster of the Academy also knows to expel the first and second sons of the Karil House.”

Rur was silent for a few seconds.

“…Are you sure, Your Highness? It might be presumptuous of me to say this, but I don’t think something like this would have happened under ordinary conditions. It’s clear that the Karil House’s sons acted under specific instructions in order to provoke you. Reacting so harshly would be the same as willingly walking into their trap.”

Of course, Varlian knew that. Before the Convergence or even just before the war started, no coalition of nobles would be foolish enough to dare threaten a royal prince’s family and act against him. However, the situation had changed. By making an alliance with humanity instead of exterminating them, even though it was clear that humanity was more akin to a servant species than an ally, Varlian’s political position had been rapidly declining. His supporters were abandoning him, while the other princes and princesses took the opportunity to pressure him, for reasons unknown to him. Were they trying to simply eliminate him from the competition for the throne? Or was there something else at play? He had been under pressure even before summoning humanity, after all. Focusing his thoughts, the prince answered the caretaker who had been with his family for many years.

“I know. Nevertheless, I will not allow anyone to threaten my daughter and walk away. It does not matter if they’re willing to use this scenario against me. They likely plan to say that I’m too harsh and that my political power needs to be taken away. I do not care about their schemes. I will show them the consequences of touching my family, no matter what it costs me.”

“…I understand, my lord. If that is truly how you feel then I will follow you to the ends of this world. Truthfully, I was hoping you would say that. I’ve been itching to pay those bastards back ever since the ball.”

Varlian smiled lightly. None of his servants other than Rur would dare to talk to him in such a manner. Naturally, it was only because both of them could be considered close friends.

“Thank you, Rur.”

Cutting off the connection, Varlian walked to his quarters while lost in his thoughts.

As for the reason why he had taken the time to talk to his daughter about seemingly random things today… It was naturally because of a single man. A man who was growing so fast as to become uncontrollable. A man who hated Varlian to his bone marrow. And, Varlian felt surer every passing day, a man whose spear would eventually reach his throat. As such, he felt the desire to enjoy the time he had with his daughter while he still could. He had provoked a death god, after all. That did not mean, however, that he wouldn’t struggle.

“You’re not the only one with things you wish to protect, Liam Allister.”

Varlian’s steps were unshakable as he said his thoughts out loud.