"Greetings, Your Majesty," Asher bowed and kneeled as he approached the throne where the King was sitting.

"Raise your head, my child" The king ordered and Asher followed. When Asher looked up, he flinched when he saw the King's expression.

"Tell me, what happened." Asher hesitated for a moment. He gulped as he felt the slightly suffocating atmosphere in front of his father.

He knew the king was not happy.

He knew how things would go when the king would get mad.

"I have closed the borders of the kingdom without his majesty's notice," The Crown Prince said and the king nodded his head.

"That's correct. I know you're the next person to the throne but I am still the king and I rule this kingdom. All the things you should do should be asked through me first!" He said in a loud voice and Asher felt little at the king's gaze.

"I understand, father." The king sighed as he watched his son.

"Why did you close the borders?"

Asher froze immediately after hearing the King's question.

That was the part he was trying to avoid. He knew he had been too rash with his decisions to close the borders but he was simply avoiding any further issues with the young master leaving him.

"Answer me, my child," The king commanded and Asher gulped.

"T-The young master is missing, your majesty..." and immediately after the Crown Prince said that the surroundings started to shake. The floor of the palace trembled and the servants panicked with the sudden tremor on the ground.

Crack!

Cracks started to form on the floor and it crept up to the giant pillars that are supporting the palace roofs.

"Pier... is missing?" The king asked in a voice that made Asher have chills. However, he still continued to kneel at the steps before the throne.

"Yes," Asher spoke in a resolved manner and the king's eyebrows furrowed further at the answer.

The servants started to get more and more scared at the continuous shaking of the ground.

"Why? What did you do, Asher?" The king asked as he stared at his son who was kneeling before him.

"I-" He tried to answer but the king interrupted him.

"I better hear the utmost truth or you know the consequences, Asher," He warned, and sweat dripped down the Crown Prince's forehead.

It was the power of a king, an indescribable force that makes people around them bow and tremble.

"I asked the young master to stay by my side, your highness," the tremors in the ground continued and Asher felt his head spinning a little bit at the constant shaking.

"Elaborate," the king used his authoritative voice and Asher bowed further.

"I... I asked the young master to become my concubine-" Without foreword from the King, Asher's body flew a few meters away from the throne after getting hit by an invisible force.

Thud!

He hit one of the pillars that had cracks in it.

Asher groaned as he tried to stand up. His entire body shook and his mouth started to have a bitter taste in it.

"A CONCUBINE? YOU DARE REQUEST THE SUCCESSOR OF OUR SWORN HOUSEHOLD TO BECOME A CONCUBINE?!" The king raged and the ground shook more violently.

The entire throne room trembled and the servants scurried away from being near to the king.

However, Asher did not even get to fully stand up when he was forced to kneel again with an invisible force. He dropped on all fours and he coughed a little bit of blood at the sudden pressure.

"I HAVE NEVER TAUGHT YOU THESE THINGS, ASHER!" The king said. His eyes were filled with rage and his voice contained so much anger that Asher's knees gave in to the immeasurable pressure he was feeling.

The king was not in favor of having many spouses. He wanted to establish a kingdom where there is only a single bond between married couples.

And now he's hearing what he hated from the mouth of his own son.

Worse, he was requesting the successor of their sworn household to be the concubine.

"THIS... ARE YOU INSULTING OUR SWORN HOUSEHOLD, ASHER?" The king asked as he got up from the throne and started walking down the steps.

Each of his walks made the ground around him tremble and cracks started to further develop in the pillars of the palace walls.

The king rarely gets angry, but when he does, it endangers everyone around him.

It was now one of those times where his rage suddenly skyrocketed after hearing what his son did.

"F-Father, no! I would n-never insult our sword household!" Asher responded as he gritted his teeth. His knees were feeling like jelly and it was hard for him to keep himself up at the force.

"WHY? WHY DID YOU ASK HIM TO BE A CONCUBINE? SUCH A DISGUSTING WORD, ASHER!" The king seethed in anger again at the word. He truly hated having a harem.

"Because... Because I wanted him to stay by my side, father!" Asher screamed while he was kneeling. The King's eyes widened at the words of his son.

"Pier... I realized I needed him, father... I-I don't want Pier to get far from me..." Asher said as he weakly tried to keep himself up. He coughed up a little bit more blood but he wiped it away quickly.

"I don't want him... I don't want Pier to go, father... It... It was wrong of me to have treated Pier that way before," Asher spoke as his eyes welled with tears.

However, the king only stared at his son who was continuously pressed down by the power he had just released.

"I... I realized I needed him badly, father. He taught me... he taught me how to be compassionate with my people... he taught me how I should be more rational..." He said and a single drop of his tears went to the cracked floor of the throne room.

"He taught me many things... I-I wanted to learn more from Pier, father! I will correct my mistakes before and even kneel in front of Pier just to get him back!" Asher said as he broke down while he was coughing blood and kneeling on the ground.

The force that was pressuring the Crown Prince to kneel started to subside.

Asher slowly got up as he was starting to resist the pressure.

"You're still young. However, you are not a kid anymore. You just became old enough to marry and the first thing you do is ask the young master to become your concubine," The king spoke in a disappointed tone at his son.

He did not care whether Asher was bleeding. He did not care whether his son cried.

He had seen the two scenarios before.

What the Crown Prince now was an inexcusable mistake.

Asher needs to learn more.

"Pier had already announced his departure from pursuing you but now you're the one who kept pushing yourself to him, Asher?" The king asked as he started to walk back at the throne made out of precious gold.

"I thought you were better than that," He spoke as he gripped the hand rest of the throne and it formed cracks when it came with the king's power.

"I taught you to think about your actions more," He spoke as he sat down on the golden throne.

"Now what will you do, Asher? This will all reflect on your image. I am willing to keep what you did just to avoid the eyes of the people," He stated and Asher stood still. He did not move. He did not want to anger his father more.

"However, you will face the greatest repercussions from the House of Masters, Asher." The Crown Prince trembled at the mention of the House of Masters.

"Ronnovian does not have any clue what is happening right now, Asher, but the headmaster will know. He will know. What will you do?" Asher thought about it.

He was too careless.

He had once again allowed his emotions to take over his actions and he did not think about what will happen.

All he had in mind was keeping Pier by his side.

Now that all has been done, what would happen to Asher?

What would happen if one of his greatest supporters in becoming next to the throne would possibly disappear?

He may have no competitors right now but there was another person who had the power to inherit the throne aside from him.

And the House of Masters was keeping that person at bay from taking the throne from him.

He bowed. He was ashamed.

"I..." He tried to speak but no words came out.

Was this all Asher was going to be?

"You have caused a great issue that might affect your position on the throne!" The king said in an exasperated manner.

"Was this your solution in keeping Pier by your side?" The king asked as he rubbed his eyes and his temples.

"The kingdom shall be in chaos once the House of Masters hears about this!" He said and worry crept up in Asher's spine.

"I... I will talk to the headmaster myself, father," Asher said in a shaking voice and the king raised his eyebrows at the statements his son had just spoken.

Ronnovian was a mysterious person. No one knew him well except for some details.

Ronnovian Belmiunde, the current Headmaster of the House of Masters.

A title and status that is comparable to royalty. If he were to become a full-time royalty, he would not lose to an emperor of an empire.

And the last prodigy to have ever walked on the Eastern Continent.

He was a force so great that many kingdoms and empires have offered citizenship to the House of Masters to transfer in their territory and offer the Belmiunde Household the power in becoming the leading household.

But they stayed in the Taron Kingdom for generations. The House of Masters was one of the reasons why the Taron Kingdom was considered an upper-class kingdom and was simply a step away from reaching the qualifications for an empire.

Tales of Ronnovian's achievements were constantly talked about and most were even published in books of magic.

But no one knew what and how Ronnovian truly acted.

Asher shivered in fear of what he had just proposed to his father.

Talking with Ronnovian was close to impossible because the said headmaster only attends little to no gatherings at all.

Sigh

The King sighed as he looked at his son. Even though he, Ronnovian, and Duke Callisto had been childhood friends like their children, it was hard to approach Ronnovian as they grew older.

He was getting and getting further away from them.

He was constantly trying to get close with the young master in hopes that Asher would not deal with the same difficulty when they grow up with Pier.

Even though he truly liked the small bundle of joy, he also was wanting to get Asher and Pier's relationship to develop more and avoid the same predicament he and Callisto did with Ronnovian.

Now was the time he was fearing the most.

Pier Belmiunde had started to act on his own.

'Just like his father did back in the days.'

The King had been noticing some changes with the young master since he had heard of the infamous noble rejection made by his son.

'He was starting to produce the aura Ronnovian did.' He recalled when he met with the young master. He knew he had to hurry and fix his son and Pier's relationship.

But what was more unexpected was that the young master had declared his departure from pursuing a relationship with Asher.

"I will personally request the Headmaster to talk with you," He said and Asher nodded his head. He could not ignore his son but he also could not stay complacent when Asher was acting like this.

'He needed to grow and realize his own mistakes' He sighed.

"I will reopen the borders of the kingdom once more. Just hope that the young master will return, Asher or your position on the throne will no longer exist."

Asher's heart stopped beating for a split second at what his father just said.

"P-Pardon?" He said in a quivering voice. King Henry looked at his carbon copy of a son.

"You have greatly disrespected the successor of the House of Masters which led to the young master's escape from the Capital and possibly the kingdom." Asher gulped as he looked up at his father who was looking down on him.

"If the young master does not return any time soon, it meant that the House of Masters had also lost its successor," The king spoke as he raised his hand and pointed it at Asher.

"And do you know what that means when the determined successor from the House of Masters goes missing for a long time, Asher?" He asked and a red light started to form at the king's hand.

"Retribution shall fall upon the kingdom," The King spoke and Asher trembled in fear as the red light shot at him.

He screamed - no, he tried to but no voice came out.

The Crown Prince fell to the ground completely as he lost his consciousness.

"Take the prince back up his chambers and do not let him out until I say so" He ordered and the knights who were stationed just right behind the throne immediately moved.

They all feared the king's display of his powers earlier but they stood still. That's what made them qualified in becoming the King's knights.

They carried the unconscious body of the Crown Prince back to his room.

"Captain" He called and the Knight's Captain who stood behind him stepped forward.

"Look for the young master in every corner of the kingdom whatever may be the cost. Ask for assistance on the allied kingdoms too," He ordered and the Captain did not waste a second and went to follow the King's task.

He was hoping the day of Pier's return will be sooner.

'Retribution' Henry recalled as he sat on his throne.

He remembered the day when Ronnovian's older brother went missing and the previous Headmaster had rampaged and killed more than a few thousand soldiers who were sent to stop him.