After a long moment, Agnia finally calmed down, somewhat. She was still sulking, but even then, she could not stop a small smile from escaping her lips. She turned her head to the side and crossed her arms beneath her chest, giving Max the cold shoulder while pretending that his promise had not filled her heart with warmth. Max glanced at her stubborn expression but simply decided to ignore it for now.
"So, my dear, did the elves agree to serve us?" Rosalia asked, trying to break the ice before Agnia’s sulking filled the entire room.
"They came to me with thousands of requests and offers, and none of them satisfied me. Well..."
Max looked toward the ceiling for a moment, remembering the marriage proposal the seven women had made.
"You look like a pervert right now, you know that? I can tell exactly what you are thinking." Rosalia reached over and pinched his side.
"Ow! Be careful with those long nails..." he complained.
In truth, it had not hurt him at all. Rosalia simply did not possess enough physical strength to injure his current body with something as harmless as a pinch.
"I made them all kneel. There was no way I would give up land I had already conquered. That would make everything we sacrificed to take it a waste."
Max wrapped one arm around Rosalia and pulled her closer against his side, while his other hand reached for Agnia, drawing her sulking figure into his embrace as well. She resisted for only a moment before allowing herself to lean against him, although she kept her arms crossed and continued looking away.
"Right now, we control most of the region, and the elves will live under our rule as equals," Max continued after settling both women against him. "Still, until we learn to live in harmony with one another, they will not have the authority to govern their lands alone. Perhaps it is imperialism, but for now, they will have to suck it up and do as I say. I am not very good at ruling through words anyway."
"But you are amazing at something else," Rosalia teased, her fingers sliding toward the front of his pants as she bit her lower lip. Her silver eyes had become glassy while she looked at him, leaving no mystery as to what she meant.
"I cannot use my dick to conquer the world, now can I?" Max roared with laughter, clearly pleased by Rosalia’s comment.
The three of them remained close as Max explained how the entire conversation with the elves had gone, including their ridiculous demands, the marriage proposal, and how Ilyndessa had lost her arm after refusing to understand that the negotiations were already over.
"Heh, serves them right." Agnia scoffed. "You were too merciful. You should have taken a head or two instead."
She spoke without the slightest sympathy for the elves, proudly looking at her future husband as if his brutal handling of the situation had only made her admire him more.
"Not yet. I need them alive to help me gain the support of the elves. If I always rule with my fists, they will eventually revolt against me, and then the only way to stop their rebellion will be to kill them." Max released a tired sigh, the earlier amusement slowly fading from his face. "We are already lacking manpower, and there is still the Imperial Court Empire and its emperor to deal with. All because of that bastard Aurelius..."
Max gritted his teeth, his fists clenching as the memory of Light’s lifeless body flashed through his mind. He could still remember carrying the boy, burying him with his own hands, and knowing that someone he had treated like a younger brother would never open his eyes again.
There was also the warning Clotilde and Senulith had given him about the enormous number of troops preparing to march against his kingdom, all seeking vengeance for an arrogant prince whose actions had brought about his own death.
Rosalia and Agnia exchanged worried looks before moving closer to calm him. Both of them knew how deeply Light’s death had affected him, especially Rosalia, who had witnessed the bond between them from the beginning.
"That reminds me," Max said after taking a moment to breathe and force the anger back down. "I need to bring Clotilde here. It is no longer safe for her in Frankindia, and I would rather have her protected here with the two of you."
"I agree," Rosalia said without hesitation, surprising both Max and Agnia, who knew just how possessive she could be when it came to him. "I want the three of us to give birth around the same time so our children can grow up and play together. And if I remember correctly, my fa..."
Her voice caught before she could finish the word.
"Henry used to tell me about the Imperial Court and how that empire could hold the key to the return of the Ice Dragons. He never explained what he meant, but I always assumed he knew someone there."
The warmth immediately vanished from Max’s face.
His expression dropped, and his skin turned as pale as a sheet as the pieces came together inside his mind. If Henry still possessed allies within the Imperial Court, then he could already know about Clotilde, her child, and where Max had left her.
Max shot to his feet, his body already shifting into its dragon hybrid form as scales spread across his skin and his wings began unfolding behind him.
"Please run the kingdom for me for a while. I need to bring her back now. If what you said is true, then this is bad. This is really bad..."
The last words left his mouth like a quiet mutter meant only for himself.
He had wanted to keep the truth about Rosalia’s father hidden from her. He could not bring himself to tell her that Henry had become a necromancer and surrendered his body to forbidden magic, nor that the man she still remembered as her father had already tried to destroy Max and everything he had built.
If Henry had always known someone within the Imperial Court Empire, then the coming invasion might not be driven by revenge alone. Using the empire against Max while reaching Clotilde before he could protect her would be far too perfect an opportunity for Henry to ignore.
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