34 Chapter 34: Political marriage (1)
"In three days, your engagement to Her Highness Lilian will be made official"
The royal family wasted no time and wanted to close this deal as soon as possible.
"Yes dear mother"
Arthur accepted this as something he couldn't help himself and I honestly didn't hate this, he just cared a bit about Lilian's personality, but no one is perfect and he didn't want someone perfect either.
As someone with a grown man's mentality and his bad luck with women, I don't expect anything.
Love sucks, expecting to find this feeling in nobility is a mistake.
He couldn't find love in his first life, he didn't expect to find his in this one, he was more interested in increasing his powers and eliminating that shitty condition from his body.
Therefore getting engaged and marrying Lilian in the future did not affect Arthur in the least.
"Mother, is there any way around this? Why does Big Brother have to compromise?"
Cristie, unlike Arthur, was very concerned, she did not want her Big Brother removed and begged for the cancellation of this engagement.
However, political marriages are an obligation of the nobility and there was nothing she could do.
It is the law of the land and the destiny of men who were born into the nobility.
After all, even Margareth shrugged.
Men are rare, and thanks to these political marriages, much of the continent's peace, descent, and economic flow remained stable.
"No, there isn't Cristie"
"Mother!"
"Stop it, Cristie! Stop acting selfishly!"
"... !!"
Being scolded harshly, Cristie's eyes moistened, her tail dropped and her shoulders shook.
"Don't worry Cristie, our Mother doesn't have it easy either"
Hugging his sister, Arthur's tails curled around Cristie, as a form of comfort.
"Hick .... Big Brother ... Hick"
With tears falling from her beautiful eyes, Cristie hugged him tightly, as if she were the one in engagement.
"Big Brother ... Hick ... Cristie will marry Big Brother ... Hick ... I promise, I will marry Big Brother! I won't let Big Brother go!"
"..."
At Cristie's tears and pleas, Arthur responded with a smile and a pat on the head.
(If possible, I would like you not to wear this commitment in your childhood ...)
Seeing the twins hugging, Elizabeth sighed.
It is the first time that she experiences something like this, having to prepare for the engagement of her son is not easy, she also understood that this was something necessary if wanted the next generation to be born.
It's just that she didn't expect making this decision to be so difficult to accept that Elizabeth bit her lip in frustration, but Arthur as a man this is inevitable.
Arthur sooner or later must leave offspring, for the future of this country, for the world.
The only one who was unfazed in this situation was Margareth.
She closed her eyes and thought deeply ...
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"What does this mean Elizabeth? Why is her Highness Lilian betrothed to your son?"
With several veins swelling on her forehead, Phenelope asked.
This morning she found out about this blatant news, she had been ordered by the Queen to participate as a witness in Lilian's engagement, Phenelope never thought that the Royal Family would break the rules and lay their claws on Arthur.
There were still 12 years left for an official commitment to be made with Arthur.
Phenelope hoped to take home an engagement promise and 12 years later she would bring her marriage dowry, as well as celebrate Norma's engagement to Arthur.
And years later this young couple would marry, give birth to their grandchildren and Phenelope could retire without worries, unfortunately, all this was frustrated by the premature engagement of the Royal Family.
In the nobility, the mother had the right to choose two wives for her son, no more.
This by the laws of her country, the mother could no longer force her son to marry more than twice, the rest depended on the man.
But because of this, the political marriage was very crucial, this was a formality to prevent the richest and most powerful girls from entering the competition.
With only two chances, the mother often used one of those marriages to marry her son off to her sister or her family, to avoid letting go of her family's valuable treasure.
This happens very often, as her children refuse to marry and the mother has no choice but to use this option to force them to stay in the family.
It could not be avoided, they are very rare cases where the man marries his sisters or cousins of his own free will.
This is why Phenelope was sure that one of these marriage passes, Elizabeth would use for Cristie.
Leaving only one free, Phenelope was fighting for that marriage to pass.
And she was sure this pass was reserved for her family.
But if Elizabeth uses it for the royal family, then all her efforts will be lost, and also the harmonious cooperation that both families had would be damaged, thus causing the export of goods and military force to be less.
The decisions of those who direct a territory have very great impacts on its citizens.
"They are orders of the Crown"
"Are you crazy Elizabeth ?! Turn them down!"
"I can't, the Queen has used an old pact"
Bringing a hand to her forehead, a weary sigh came out of Elizabeth's mouth, after all, as Phenelope had said.
Elizabeth tried to reject the Royal Family, no matter that even if it is the Royal family, the Van Panthohimes is a superfamily, they had many excuses and reasons to avoid this commitment.
And if that didn't work, Elizabeth still had Margareth, with her alive and well, the Royal family wouldn't dare to use her overwhelming power to force them and they would think twice if they made use of the political means.
However, Damaris had foreseen this long before and made use of an ancient covenant that his Family signed three thousand years ago.
With this pact between both families, the Van Panthohime had their hands tied and could only obey, since this pact was signed by the last male spirit fox, the one who was once called the strongest man in the world.
Not obeying him would only bring disgrace to his name and the name of the Van Panthohime Family.
The weight that the signature of that person had is very influential even three thousand years later since due to that person the Van Panthohime rose in power and surpassed the other super Families in rank, becoming Dukes.
This pact was something that they had to respect, Margareth could not disobey it either, it was about her ancestor and someone who was once much stronger than her.
"..."
After explaining this to Phenelope, Elizabeth's shoulders dropped and her tails lost a bit of their strength.
Phenelope had an empty gaze and looked like a zombie, the flame of her dress went out a little, she now understood the circumstances of her good 'sister' Elizabeth.
It's not that she doesn't want to reject the Royal family, they just can't.
The weight of a pact of thousands of years, is too terrifying, although she did not know what was written in that pact, if things are serious the Royal Family could use this pact to exchange some artifacts of the highest rank ...
A World-level Artifact ...
"What about the other pass? From what I see the twins get along very well, Cristie will not use that pass in the future."
Still not giving up, Phenelope appealed to Cristie's opportunity.
"Wouldn't be so sure ..."
However Elizabeth shook her head, maybe Arthur and Cristie get along, but Arthur's smile is very misleading and Elizabeth did not know what her son was thinking, nor could assure that in the future Arthur and Cristie would marry by will own.
She must be prepared and use this opportunity wisely in the future ...
"Okay, I'll see you in two days ..."
With her flames out, Phenelope reluctantly left Elizabeth's office, not before finishing her words.
"I'll take Norma, we Seymur won't give up so easily, you Van Panthohime may be helpless now, however, we can fight ..."
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The three days passed in the blink of an eye and the day of their engagement arrived, currently, Arthur was sitting in front of a mirror, while his personal maids attended to him.
Alice brushed all three of his tails, while Adeline braided his hair into a tail.
Was wearing a ceremonial outfit, very similar to a kimono, the 'Heart of Ice' pendant adorned his neck and a blue ribbon with many bells ran down the hem of his outfit.
This day was very important, one that determined his future ...
"Are you nervous, Master Arthur?"
Arthur was so calm, which Adeline mistakenly thought of as Arthur trying to cover up his fears.
This was very natural, after all, men were afraid of political commitment and many even cried, it was normal to think that Arthur was nervous.
"..."
Arthur didn't answer and just smiled, he had nothing to say about this engagement and he didn't expect anything either.
He alone wanted to finish quickly, look for his older sister Norma and ask him for Bukeli sweets.
These delicious sweets were an exclusive product of the Spirit Phoenix Territory, the number of sweets exported each year was limited, which made these rare sweets very expensive.
Fortunately for Arthur, these days together, Norma was more than willing to pamper him and give him sweets, being a younger brother has its advantages
"Mister Arthur ..."
However his smile was misunderstood by Adeline, for Arthur's smile was covering his sadness that a tear ran down his cheek.
As a babysitter and mother, Adeline loved Arthur and Cristie as if they were her own children, she loved them since they were babies and raised them, seeing her dear Arthur being compromised against her will broke her heart.
Even Alice cried, however, they did not stop his work and continued to attend to him, they were commoners without political power to interfere in the decisions of the nobility until the time came.
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"Mother"
"Come with me darling, you must be calm and not be afraid, do you understand?"
"Understood..."
"You too Cristie, you must not embarrass your older brother and act without thinking"
"Yes, Mother"
Seeing her two sons attend her words, Elizabeth took them by the hands and walked towards the ceremonial room.
The Van Panthohime Mansion was so large that even had her own ceremonial room to hold a wedding.
Once inside, everyone was waiting for them ...
Damaris was with her three children, while Phenelope was with Norma and Margareth was with Emma, which, unlike Phenelope, she did not bring her daughters with her.
She also did not dare to tell them about Arthur's engagement, she was afraid that Ludi and Hatsumi would commit a childish madness and causing this sacred ceremony to be ruined ...
(Silly fox ...)
Carter covered his face with his fan and narrowed his eyes as his dragon tail swayed from side to side.
Sometimes being too outstanding was not a good thing, after all, because of this Damaris did not want to wait any longer and make Lilian's engagement official.
Arthur is too outstanding and at this rate, not only the nobles of his country may fight for him, but it is also likely that the other nations will get involved, just as they did three thousand years ago.
(Thanks Silly Fox, enjoy life with my annoying older sister)
Carter was also grateful, with the appearance of Arthur, he no longer had to marry Lilian.
Also, the visits and appeals of other nobles were minimal since almost all the nobles were interested in Arthur that this allowed Carter to live more comfortably and without being constantly disturbed with visits to the lake or some other nonsense.
At this rate, his future is calm and he may have to marry Charlotte and some other noblemen, but surely his life will not be full of problems like Arthur's life.
In addition, the personality of his younger sister is more reasonable than the violent Lilian and as he is older, Charlotte often listened to her whims and treated him very well.
That unlike Lilian she always ignored him or used him as a punching bag.
Therefore Carter was more than willing to trade Lilian for Charlotte.
(....)
However somewhat annoying Carter, Arthur was too calm, even in this environment, Arthur did not show fear he behaved like a refined child without a hint of discontent, fear, or some other negative emotion.
At this sight, Damaris was very satisfied, she even thought of rewarding and praising Elizabeth for Arthur's good manners.
It was rare to see a child so brave and control her emotions as well as Arthur.
Getting Damaris's approval so easily is something Carter didn't want to see, if he continues, that flirty fox will become more loved by his family than he is.
But all was not lost, Carter bet on Lilian, if she is the fiancée then Arthur's life will be hell.
The restrictions on Lilian will disappear and he will be able to visit Arthur frequently, leaving the Royal palace in calm, by then Carter will be the one with the highest authority apart from Damaris.
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Author Note: the second chapter of the week, Don't forget to leave your review if you like the story ...
