Temporary King
Meanwhile, when Princess Francesca entered the palace and continued to enter the room of her father and mother, she found her mother crying.
“Mom, what happened?” The princess asked in surprise.
Queen Alice wiped the tears from her eyes and smiled at her daughter. “There was just a little bit of dirt that got into my eye, so it brought tears to my eyes because it was so hard to get it out.”
Princess Francesca frowned. “Is the dirt removed? Do you need help removing it? I’ll do it for you.”
The princess was about to walk closer when Queen Alice stopped her.
“Don’t stop, I got rid of it, and maybe it was bad so my eyes started to tear.”
The princess nodded. “Good then. I will ask Mother if we can still go to Stalwart Castle,” the princess said with a smile.
Queen Alice couldn’t speak immediately and didn’t seem to want to open her mouth to answer her daughter.
“Mother?” The princess bent down a little more to see Queen Alice’s face.
Queen Alice faced her and smiled a little. “Yes, princess, so change your clothes because, after this, we’re leaving.”
Princess Francesca smiled big and hugged her mother, which surprised the queen. “Then I’m going to my room.” The princess let go of the hug and finally left the room, leaving Queen Alice with doubt in her eyes.
Meanwhile, in the palace of Stalwart Castle, there was a loud sound that woke up Adira. She was suddenly woken up by a very loud sound coming from outside the palace.
She got up and stood up, still slightly dizzy. She walked to the balcony of the room and peered in. She frowned when she saw that there were many cars and even horses, even though she didn’t completely leave the room, she could still see the amount because almost the entire yard of the palace had cars and horses.
“What’s with all the cars and horses here?” she wondered to herself.
A few soldiers were standing next to the horse, and Adira knew that it was not the soldier of Stalwart Castle because its outfit was different, even though it was thin steel.
While Adira was still wondering, looking outside her room. The owner of the cars is inside the palace, and there is another meeting to take place.
Prince Dylan sat quietly on his father’s throne as he watched the kings of other palaces standing in front of him.
“This is the day we will name who will temporarily sit and hold your palace, Prince Dylan,” said a nobleman.
Prince Dylan didn’t answer and just kept staring at the people in front of him.
A general from another palace walked right in front of Prince Dylan while holding a paper-like cloth rolled up on two pieces of wood.
It removed the strap and began to read the contents. “The king of Stalwart Castle had a serious illness, and until now it has not been cured or known what its true illness is. Now that the various palaces have an agreement regarding a problem like this, someone needs to take over the throne of a king, but Prince Dylan, the son of King Stephen, cannot temporarily hold his father because he is not ready to-” The general stopped and looked at Prince Dylan, who kept his face serious. “The one who will temporarily sit as the king of Stalwart Castle is King Cyrus, the king of Valiant Castle.”
Prince Dylan quickly looked at the general as he bowed and left his presence.
Meanwhile, Queen Alice’s car was about to enter the gate of Stalwart Castle, but their driver noticed a lot of cars and horses inside, so he decided to stop first.
“Dear queen, I don’t think we can go inside now.”
Queen Alice frowned. “Why did you say you can’t go inside?”
The driver pressed a button, so the window glass went down right in front of Queen Alice. She looked outside to find out why their driver was saying that.
“What meeting is going on inside, and why do there seem to be a lot of visitors?” Queen Alice said weakly.
“Mother, can’t we get out of the car yet?”
Queen Alice sighed as she looked inside the gates of Stalwart Castle. “I don’t think this is the right time to talk to Prince Dylan about your marriage.”
The princess was confused and tried to pee out of the car. “Is it because of the palace visitor?”
Queen Alice nodded. “That’s right, my child. We can’t go in, and the visitor of their palace might have important things to talk about right now, so I decided to talk to Prince Dylan some other day.”
“But, mother-” Queen Alice gave the princess a meaningful look. Queen Alice’s eyes looked at her like that for the first time since she found her, and that’s why she didn’t speak again.
“Let’s go,” Queen Alice said to the driver. While the car was leaving, she was only looking at the palace gate of Stalwart Castle, but she frowned when she noticed someone at the top of the palace, in a room, because Adira was still there and peeked at the cars below.
Inside the palace, the king of Valiant Castle was surprised by the nobles’ decision that he would temporarily sit on King Stephen’s throne.
“I cannot accept that I have been chosen as the temporary seat of King Stephen’s throne,” King Cyrus suddenly said.
Some of their companions inside were surprised.
“For what reason and why can’t you accept it?”
King Cyrus looked sadly at Prince Dylan, who was just stunned. “I don’t want to sit on his throne because he is the only one who has the right to it.”
“That’s right.”
Everyone turned when Prince Dylan spoke while looking at King Cyrus. “Only my father has the right to sit on his throne, and I am the second human who can sit on my father’s throne.”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about, prince. We don’t allow you to answer or speak on this matter because we won’t allow you, and you are not the person who will temporarily take over as the king of Stalwart Castle.” Prince Dylan smirked, which is why the other nobles now had angry looks on their faces.
“Are you showing us your true behavior, prince!” a firm and emphatic voice asked of a king.
He looked serious and stared at the king, who spoke. “I have a right because I am the son of the king you are trying to kick from his palace.”
The king closed his eyes. “We are not taking away your father’s rights; instead, we are helping him.”
“Help? To meet and choose a replacement for his throne because he is sick and you didn’t give me a chance to prove myself, so I will temporarily take over the management of our palace.”
“You can’t do it yet, Prince Dylan, so don’t be tough,” said another nobleman.
Meanwhile, King Cyrus was silent and did not want to get involved in the matter of the nobility regarding the temporary replacement of King Stephen.
“Then, I’m sorry, King Cyrus, but I didn’t choose you to rule our palace,” he said.
“What are you saying, prince? We will appoint whoever we want!”
He leaned back in his seat and clasped his hands together while resting his elbow on the handle of the throne. “If you don’t give me the right to choose, I will declare war.”
Suddenly the nobles laughed, except King Cyrus. “War? You’re giving us too much fun, Prince Dylan,” said one of the noblemen with a smile.ConTEent bel0ngs to Nôv(e)lD/rama(.)Org .
“I’m serious.”
The smiles on the lips of the nobles disappeared. “And who do you want to temporarily sit on your father’s throne?”
It took twenty seconds before the name of the person he wanted coming out of his mouth. “Prince Damon.” Everyone was shocked, even Prince Damon’s father, King Cyrus. “He’s just a prince like me, so he can take over for a while, but if it’s King Cyrus, he might also neglect his palace, so I chose his son.”
“You know you can’t because he’s the prince of Valiant Castle.”
He smiled but suddenly disappeared. “You would think that too, that I am the prince of Stalwart Castle and the heir of my father,” he said, seeming annoyed.
Everyone else’s fists were clenched, and Prince Dylan could see it.
“Let’s turn the situation around, you decide if you agree to what I want, but if not, I will declare a war even with the help of other palaces that could lead to my death.” He stood up and looked straight ahead. “But this is all I can say. Don’t forget what my father did to your palaces, so yours is still standing until now. You have more soldiers; we have the side of the ordinary people outside, and you know that you will not win if they are your enemies. Your source of food, clothing, or even becoming a servant of your palace will fall by chance.”