Ch. 571..580

Chapter 571 - Determination

Gavriel could not answer Evie's question because the King and Queen had come back with Zanya in tow. When Gav explained that Evie could not reveal any of the things that she had seen in her vision, everyone was shocked.

Evie had tried to tell it to them too. She even went to the extent of sending Gav out of the room for a while before trying to say something in the case where he was the reason why Evie could not say anything about her vision. However, no matter what she tried, all her attempts failed.

They could only conclude that the vision was meant to be known by Evie alone and no one else. Gavriel discussed the matter with the king on behalf of Evie and told him about Evie's wish. That she would like to gather all the strongest of the dark faes in the Under Lands.

The king looked at Evie with an intriguing glint in his eyes. It seemed as though he could understand where she was heading towards with this request.

"This must have something to do with her vision, father. So even though she can't explain to us in detail about the reason why, we need to do as she wishes. I believe if we go along with her plans like this, we'll eventually understand her message." Gavriel explained and the king immediately agreed, having guessed as much along the same lines of thought as his son had.

"Alright, I can do that. However, my dear daughter," the king looked at Evie again. "We can't be summoning them all here into the castle. Most of them are out there at the frontlines right now, carrying out the duties that had been assigned to them."

"That is not a problem. I will be going there instead, Father." Evie's quick response made Gavriel looked at her sideways. But he did not say anything to object to her statement. "It's alright… I… I think nothing will be happening any time soon. At least, not for now."

Everyone looked at each other while Gavriel just fixed his gaze on Evie.

King Belial's gaze then fell to his son and Gavriel, sensing his father's gaze, turned and nodded at him in agreement. The lack of hesitation in Gavriel's eyes made the king give in and told them that he would go to the front line first. He told them that he will be sending a go signal once he had made sure that everything is safe.

Without wasting a moment longer, Evie already began preparing herself. She knew that from now on, every second counted.

After a while, everyone was gathered on the veranda, looking down and waiting for the king's signal. Evie, Queen Beatrice, and Zanya were all dressed in their battle garments. Evie was draped with her protective white cloak.

The vampires were also with them now, including a few light faes that had joined them earlier.

Gavriel who was right next to Evie decided to switch over with Gavrael. Though he knew that approaching the Abyss was dangerous, for some reason, Gavriel could not feel the usual worry he always felt as soon as Evie had mentioned about her going near to the Abyss.

The feeling was somewhat strange, but when Evie reassured them that nothing will happen any time soon, he just strongly believed her and let go of his doubts and fears. Gavriel thought that it was maybe because of the look that he had seen reflected within Evie's eyes when she was stating her requests and when she said that seemingly simple opinion of hers. Something changed in Evie in that very short period of time. Her eyes had become incredibly focused now, as if there was only one thing that she was aiming for right now. That firm and determined glow that blazed in her amber orbs was the one that had convinced him without her further giving him any more verbal guarantees.

The intense determination she was exuding even right now as she was already preparing for a something great, was nearly overwhelming. Gavriel knew that the king and everyone had felt the same powerful determination it as well. It had swept through them as though strong wave had literally crashed over them. Most of all, Gav could feel that Evie had seen something unimaginable… the way that she had cried after waking from the vision, the agony and pain that he saw literally pouring out of her eyes when she woke up… she would not be crying, trembling and be in that much pain, if what she saw was the past like they had assumed. There must have been something else that she had seen in that vision. Something earth shattering.

When she had held onto him like she was afraid to let go of him even for a moment… as though she had just lost everything that was of meaning to her, and then the sheer determination and intensity her eyes exuded in the next moment as if she was now ready to fight against the world no matter what happens, Gavriel had swiftly concluded that she must have seen something that was to happen in the future. Her reactions had all pointed to that. And he also deduced all these things she wanted to do right now, would probably be her way of changing something or trying to stop whatever she had seen from happening.

He was not surprised at all because he knew about Evie's precognitive dreams, and he also knew that all her dreams would come true – only sooner or later. Though this might be different, Gavriel was confident that his conclusion was right. He could not deny that he was a bit uneasy for her, but for now, he was calmed by her words… that nothing would happen yet. He trusted that she would not try to hide or cover something when it concerns things so important in their future.

And by her saying that was a great news, at least they would be able to relax for a little for now. And thus, he decided to switch with Gavrael again. He would be more useful to Evie now since they were headed for the abyss.

And Gav wanted to analyse all his thoughts about what had been happening more. Especially on the matter of Evie's questions. He immediately thought that she was trying to tell him that this war would probably go on for years. If that was really the meaning behind her questions, then that would be something big. A long and drawn-out war… that was the worst kind of all wars.. Especially if it was against their current enemy.

 

Chapter 572 - Visitors

After speaking with Gavrael for a while about Evie's situation, Gavriel told him to switch places with him. And just as his eyes turned blue, the king's signal came.

Evie quickly grabbed onto Gav's arm when the queen told Gavrael to use his magic to bring them all to the camp near the abyss.

With Gavrael's level of power, he could teleport many people over, all at once. He could reach his destination in one attempt as well, no matter how far the distance needed to travel.

So within just a few seconds after all the individuals in the veranda disappeared into smoke, they all materialized by the abyss.

The military camp was so large, it literally surrounded the entire abyss. Warriors were everywhere, some were practicing on speed casting their magic and others were practicing on combat moves.

The place was busy and Evie and the vampires and light faes could not help but be impressed at the strength of this army. Every warrior here felt incredibly strong and capable.

Evie was not surprised as she had heard from queen Beatrice that the dark faes had been fighting against monsters for countless of years now. Their endless battles against the monsters must have made them this powerful.

If Evie did not see that vision, she would probably have doubted that this kind of army would even be able to lose against the likes of mindless monsters. But she knew better now. This army was not enough and… not strong enough compared to the warriors who fought with 'her' in that future. No… it did not even come close to being enough. The dark faes she saw in her vision were definitely many times stronger than those that she was seeing now. And Evie was not even comparing them to the dark faes who rode the dragons. Those riders were far stronger, and they were the ones that she was intending to look for now. This was the first order of the day.

"Your Majesty, Your Highness…" a man approached them, and Evie's eyes immediately widened as soon as she looked at his face and could not help but feel excited. This man… he was one of the dragon riders!

"Please follow me," he added and then led the way towards the King.

"Is he one of the dark faes you are looking for?" Gavrael whispered to Evie and Evie nodded. He had seen how she had started to fidget and got all eager after that soldier appeared.

"What's his name?" Evie whispered back.

"His name is Cadmus, my father's second-in-command. He's one of my trainers when I was young… along with Alvion." Gavrael said and Evie nodded. She was fully focused and interested in the information that she is hearing for the first time from Gav.

As they passed by a group of warriors fighting a monster, Evie halted in her steps.

"Did they catch that monster from the Abyss? I thought that there were no monsters that are coming out for a while now?" Evie questioned.

"You're right, this monster is from the forest. One of the monsters who had lived outside of the Abyss for some time now."

"I see…" Evie focused her gaze on the beautiful warrior dark fae fighting it while many warriors were surrounding them.

Some warriors started murmuring.

"Her finding is definitely useful and commendable. However, a one hit kill will only work if the monster opens its mouth. Meaning, that trick would work if and only if the monster opens its mouth."

"Right. That's a big flaw. Since it's very hard to force the monster's mouth to open."

"By the way, I wonder why the king summoned all the lords over here. Look, we're all here now. Even the generals are not exempted."

"Don't tell me the king called everyone over for this?!"

"Definitely, not, right? This is indeed impressive… but I don't this is enough of a reason to gather the lords here."

"Look! Aren't those… vampires and whoah… light faes! They really do exist. Look at them!"

"F**k they're too beautiful that it's blinding!"

"They don't feel that strong though."

"You're right."

"Why are they here too? Can they even kill a monster?"

"Whoa… Is that their queen?"

"Can't see her face, but she's the only one covered. So most probably."

"Really? If that their queen, then doesn't she feel a bit too weak? Like we could feel His Highness' dark magic all the way from here even if he's far away. Same thing for the His Majesty and the other Lords. But we literally feel nothing unusual even if the light fae Queen is so near to us."

"Well, maybe, Light faes aren't very strong? Just like the vampires."

As the common warriors murmured to each other about the visitors that were walking among them, Gavrael suddenly blazed and was about to pull his arm away from Evie but Evie stopped him.

"Let me go for a while Evie, I'll just teach those damn idiots a lesson they would not be forgetting anytime soon!" Gavrael was gritting his teeth as if what he heard was something unacceptable.

"Stop it, Gav. You can't blame them for thinking that way. They haven't seen our abilities yet so they're only speculating based on what they currently observe. That's common."

"Still, no one's allowed to call you weak and continue living a good life, Evie." He hissed and Evie chuckled, causing Gavrael to blink at her. Even the elite vampires secretly smiled at his words. Their king was truly a wife pleaser.

"Calm down, Gav. Alright, let me handle this myself. I'll show them something interesting. Samuel." Evie called and Samuel approached her immediately.

Evie whispered something to him, and Samuel looked at her with wide eyes for a moment, but he eventually nodded.

The next moment, while the female warrior was on the ground, Samuel suddenly landed before the monster. Like a blur, he leapt and kicked at the monster's throat. A crack was heard, and something seemed to have broken when Samuel did that. And the monster's mouth just fell opened the moment he had kicked at its throat.

Then in a blink of an eye, the monster collapsed to the ground. Samuel was already pulling his sword from its mouth. Those who were not paying much attention did not catch his fast movements and were stunned, seeing a vampire suddenly pulling a weapon out of a dead monster's mouth.

Everyone gaped. They were astounded at what they were seeing!

"What! Just like that?! So simple?!!"

"Could it be that a monster's mouth opens when it's throat is kicked?"

"The f**k! He killed it without even using any magic at all."

"He did it in one move! That was siiiick!!"

"How did the vampire know about how to kill a monster?!"

As Samuel nonchalantly left the area, the woman called out.

"Wait a moment. The way to make the monster open its mouth by force is to kick its throat?" she asked respectfully, and Samuel nodded simply.

"Yes, one must break that bone in their throat to force their mouth to drop open." Samuel replied without expression.

"H-how did you find out –"

"Our queen told us." Samuel cut her off and was about to leave when another voice called him out. This time, it was Lord Cairus. Samuel had already met him at the camp near the portal.

"Samuel. I didn't know you vampires have knowledge about killing these monsters who are supposed to only exist in the Under Lands. That's very impressive. Could it be that you vampires also know how to kill the bigger monsters? The one you killed was the lowest level. How about this one?"

Another monster was brought into the ring. A much bigger and more dangerous one.

Samuel was silent. He noticed that this monster was completely different from that monster he had just killed. Its neck was thicker and covered with bulky scales. A sharp kick or a weapon would not be sufficient to even harm it!

"It seems that he does not have any ideas. Maybe they can only deal with the lowest type of monsters." The common warriors murmured amongst themselves.

All of a sudden, a bright light zipped past them and hit the bigger monster's eyes and as soon as the monster roared, it fell back to the ground. A sword was already planted in its throat.

The dark faes were all even more speechless as this time, they watched Zanya walked casually towards the monster and pulled the sword out.

 

Chapter 573 - Lords

Murmurs echoed again within the ranks of the soldiers as the dark faes could hardly believe what their eyes were seeing.

"Lady Zanya," Cairus approached her, "correct me if I'm wrong but this means that one way to force this type of monster to open its mouth is to blind it with light?"

"That's right Lord Cairus. This type of monster's weakness is in its eyes. A blinding light will pierce their eyes so painfully that it would make them roar." Replied Zanya and the Lord nodded, looking beyond impressed at her methods.

"This information…" he looked at the Queen who was wrapped in the white cloak behind the warriors.

"Correct. Our queen is the one who taught us about this as well." Zanya said before the lord could even continue what he wanted to say. Then she bowed at him slightly before leaving the ring.

The dark faes even voluntarily cleared out the path for her. If they were too impressed with her beauty, then they were now dumbstruck at the ability and knowledge she had shown.

It was just too unbelievable to them. The fact that the light faes and vampires knew much more about their own enemies, more than themselves was just too astonishing. For countless of years that they had been fighting against these monsters, they had never found out about all of these weak points that could be used against them. That each monster actually had a fatal weakness did not even cross some of their minds.

And yet, these visitors from the surface knew about these weak points? Just how knowledgeable were they? The warriors could no longer say anything more. Their faces were burning with shame at all the ridicule that had been thrown at these strangers earlier. They had seen the raw strength of that vampire and the speed and magic of that light fae. They were in no way weak. Not at all. How much stronger would their queen be if she had such knowledge at her disposal?

Respect now filled their eyes as they watched the visitors follow after Cadmus calmly as though all that had not happened earlier.

Evie looked at Gavrael and squeezed his hand as she smiled at him. Gavrael quietly sighed, pretty impressed as well at the way she had dealt with this. She was truly showing her capability as the Queen of the light faes. And he did not know why, but from here on, he had a feeling that Evie was going to continue impressing him.

By the time they had reached the King's tent. Evie felt the overwhelming power lingering around. It was not the same heaviness the abyss was causing. This was somewhat different. And she knew this was because of the number of gathered powerful individuals sitting inside this one single tent.

Anyone would be intimated by the sheer dark magic saturating the whole area, but Evie did not feel anything. It was strange but despite feeling the strength of this kind of power, she did not feel even a tinge of pressure. That was a normal reaction but since she had woken up from that vision, nothing could seem to scare Evie anymore.

Even the sight of the massive abyss did not make her feel any of the previous fear the moment she saw it for the first time a while ago. She realized that it was probably because this abyss right now was nothing compared to the abyss she had seen in the future. And the power that these dark faes inside this tent wield was also not something new to her anymore. She had felt more overwhelming power compared to this. And that was definitely the reason why she was not even fazed one bit any longer.

After their arrival was announced, Queen Beatrice, Gavrael, Evie, Zanya and Samuel entered.

A group of men gathered around a long table respectfully rose to their feet and greeted their queen and prince.

Cadmus then led everyone to their respective seats before everyone was seated again. Queen Beatrice sat on the King's right while Gavrael sat on his left with Evie right next to him.

"I have the honour of introducing the Queen of the light faes, Queen Evielyn." The king announced with pride and Evie stood to greet everyone. She lifted her hood back and elegantly let it drop to her shoulders before she lifted her gaze to look at each and every one of the powerful men who were seated around the table. She wore a smile as she swept her gaze across each of them.

These were the mighty and respected lords of the Under Lands. She looked at Azrael, Kione and Cairus first, then to the others. She recognized one… two…

Evie could barely keep her smile at the realization that out of these ten lords who in attendance, she had only seen and recognised two of them who were in her vision. That meant that the rest them had died earlier on before the section of the vision that was shown to her. Her heart gave a squeeze and ached as she came to this conclusion.

She tried to keep her cool as the king continued speaking.

Evie also instantly felt that half of these Lords was not as welcoming of her at all. Even though it was the king who had introduced her, it seemed as though they were barely holding their contempt back. They were only forcing themselves to behave politely because of the presence and request of their king that they were to be summoned here. Evie could not help but think that Queen Beatrice must have worked really hard when she had initially gotten together with King Belial to make these men accept and give her their respect genuinely and without being forced.

However, this did not bother Evie at all.. She had never expected that the dark faes would accept her warmly in an instant just because their king had introduced her. What bothered her more was the fact that that the man she was specifically looking for was not present here with them! It was such a shock that he was not one of the lords! Where is he then?

 

Chapter 574 - Long Gone

Time passed and the atmosphere inside the tent slowly became better when Evie started telling them about her knowledge on the monsters, and their weaknesses and how to defeat them most effectively.

Evie immediately realized that these Lords were not pleased with the reason why the King had summoned them was all to introduce her, the light fae queen. She could see distrust and displeasure clearly shining in their eyes.

And thus, Evie started to get their attention by first starting on this topic that she knew would gain their interest right off the bat. Lord Cairus had also told them what he had seen outside just before they entered, as he was the last Lord to enter the tent. What Cairus had recounted surprised them greatly, even Azrael and Kione were shocked at Evie's knowledge about the monsters. How on earth did the light fae queen knew so much about the monsters that were in their realm?!

"Pardon me if this is inappropriate to ask Queen Evielyn," the Lord of Emeria, Lord Asnar, spoke. His deep and gravelly voice echoed inside the tent. He was one of the two lords Evie had remembered seeing in her vision. His power, Evie noticed was already the strongest among all of the lords who were present. She could sense the air around him and that look in his eyes. Yet, in her vision, this man was even more powerful than he was now. "How come you have such detailed knowledge and understanding about the monsters that only exists in the Under Lands?" he was really curious but at the same time a little suspicious on the matter.

His question made the atmosphere suddenly still and went extremely silent. As Evie met the man's gaze, she realized that he was the most displeased among all of the lords. The way he looked at her was quite extreme that Gavrael began to prickle and glare hostilely at him. His doubt for Evie was just too obvious and was almost not held back at all.

Evie held onto Gavrael's hand right below the table and calmly replied to the lord. "Are you trying to tell me, Lord Asnar, that just because I am from the surface, that it's impossible for me to know about the matters of the Under Lands?"

Kione smiled at Evie's reply while the other men were surprised at the Light Fae Queen's calmness and steady demeanour. Her queenly bearing was clearly seen and was perfectly balanced by her graceful reply to Lord Asnar, not slighting him a bit with her words.

The lord's face became darker at Evie's response, seemingly displeased that she had managed to keep her cool. He had thought his visible displeasure at her would cause her to be riled up and perhaps retort in a discourteous manner. That way, he would have just cause to ridicule her.

"I know you are having doubts despite the fact that some of the information I revealed had just only been proven a little while ago."

"We are not having doubts about the truthfulness of your information, Queen Evielyn," Asnar sneered slightly, lifting his chin up defiantly. "But I do have a strong doubt about how you even found such a very important information we ourselves couldn't even find for so many years of fighting against these monsters."

"You couldn't have found out about this information because the dark faes had never tried hard enough to look for the easiest way to kill the monsters. Sometimes, familiarity does not automatically equate an unsurpassed understanding of an issue." Evie met his gaze, not even a hint of intimidation nor pressure was seen in those amber eyes. In fact, her eyes seemed to have become more intimidating.

"Are you trying to insult the dark faes, Queen –"

"No, Lord Asnar." Evie cut him off, causing everyone to look at Evie with shock. Even the other lords dare not talk to Asnar like this. Only the king was able to cut this lord halfway through his sentence when he was speaking. What was with this queen? Why was she not intimidated at all?

"I am saying that the dark faes had never bothered to find the monsters' weakness." Evie continued, calmer but more confident than ever. "Why? Because you can kill the monsters without much difficulty due to your magic and abilities. You never had found it necessary to find their weakness since you guys always win over them for the countless years you've been battling them. That's what I meant when I said you didn't try hard enough."

The lord and everyone else who were listening fell silent. They knew that was true. In the past years, killing monsters was treated like a method of training for them. And she was right, they did not find that it was necessary to find their weakness at all. Because to them, they could win against the monsters without knowing any of that. So it did not quite matter. It only changed lately when the monsters had started to overwhelm them by their sheer numbers. Now it was necessary for them to find a more efficient way to kill the monsters as fast and as easy as possible to keep up with their numbers. Also, they needed to retain their stamina as along as possible.

"You are correct," Lord Asnar said, his expression a bit better now. "But still, you didn't answer my question, Queen Evielyn. I am curious how did you manage to find out all this information. Or is there a reason why you can't tell us?" he could not resist jabbing at her whenever he can.

Evie stared at him. While she was in the palace and getting ready to come to the camp, Evie had been thinking a lot, trying her best to analyse her vision. She realized that if she wanted to change the future, the first thing she must do was to find a way to unite all the races in Lirea.

The huge gap of time from now to that war was too much. It was just too long. And she could not help but think that maybe, the unification of the races had happened too late in the vision's timeline and that was why the darkness had managed to swallow almost the entirety of Lirea. Perhaps, if she could unite the races much earlier, that would bring about a really big change.

However, she knew doing that to achieve that would be very difficult. Trust and loyalty would be the hardest thing to earn especially after all the history of prejudices and wars between these races.

In her vision, she had seen the utter trust and loyalty in the eyes of the warriors as they looked at 'her'. Their loyalty was so strong as she watched them willing to give up their lives to protect 'her'. Even this grumpy and haughty lord before her right now… Evie had watched him sacrifice his life to protect 'her'.

However, Evie was not planning to gain their trust just so they could one day protect her. No, that was not her aim. She wanted them to trust her as soon as possible because she believes that it was the first step to make unification happen.

Sweeping her eyes over all of these lords, Evie spoke, "Because I am able to see glimpses of the future through my dreams."

Everyone had their eyes widened except for the ones who already knew.

Evie had found out that she could not say what had exactly happened in the vision that she saw. However, she could talk about the other smaller or more general details. She also could not say that she had seen what happened in the future. So she used the other fact that she could see the glimpses of the future in her dreams.

"Y-you're saying you found the information by seeing into the future?" one of the other lords blurted out. This question, Evie could not answer directly, but she made sure that her silence would tell them that her answer was yes.

"That's… just shocking… this is like… like the long lost keeper of the ice dragons, isn't it?" the other lord exclaimed as well. "We also have a clan long time ago who can see the future through their dreams is it not?"

"Yes, we do. But that clan was long gone. One of the mad kings in the past had massacred the clan purely out of jealousy that they were the master of the ice dragons."

A lord let out a deep and hopeless sigh. "If only there was at least one of them who had survived."

"That's impossible. They're long gone."

As the lords were a bit depressed discussing on this topic that the most powerful clan next to the royals were annihilated long time ago, Evie spoke up.

"What if… what if I tell you that there's still one who managed to survive?"

 

Chapter 575 - Downfall

Even King Belial was shocked at what Evie had said.

All the lords' eyes were stretched wide in disbelief. How could that be? Was that even remotely possible? That clan was long gone! And not just in the last few years… they had not been heard of for generations!

"My dear daughter-in-law, Queen Evielyn," the king finally spoke, "this information about this survivor… did you also find this out from your vision?"

Evie could not respond again due to the restriction, so she stared back at the king in meaningful silence. Her amber eyes were gleaming so strongly as she looked intently at him. Evie knew King Belial was as perceptive as Gavriel. She had a strong feeling that he would understand what she was trying to say.

The king nodded as though he had already received an answer from her.

"This is… very shocking…" King Belial uttered in disbelief.

"Pardon me, Your Majesty," Cadmus stood, "but do you really believe this? How do we even prove that she can really see the future? It's true that she gave us such valuable information about killing the monsters but that in itself is still not enough. She could have gained that information from something or somewhere else."

"Queen Evielyn belongs to the clan of the fire dragon keepers as well, Cadmus." King Belial answered with calmness, revealing another shocking fact of Evie. "If you want proof, she can very easily summon her dragons right now if she wanted to. The fact that she's a master of the dragons should be enough for you to believe that she really can see the future. In fact, I have summoned everyone here because I want you all to know about that the vision which she had seen regarding this war we are preparing for."

"She… has a vision about this war?" the lords looked at each other, not knowing whether to believe it or not.

"Yes," Evie answered the lords' question instead. Her eyes remained extremely firm.

"Then tell us. What did you see Queen Evielyn?" the animosity in Cadmus' eyes were dramatically subsiding now. He knew that he needed to look at the bigger picture and for the good of the whole. He could not continue being stubborn just due to his own personal biases.

There was a quiet and heavy silence before Evie's voice broke it. "The dark faes will lose the war against the monsters." Her voice was solemn and carried a weighty sorrow to it.

Everyone could not speak for a while, and the lords even stood from their seats. Their eyes were shocked at first then their expressions slowly darkened as they frowned at her.

"That's… preposterous." One of them said. "There is no way –"

"I saw the monsters reaching all the way to the surface and caused destruction there as well." Evie cut the lord off with an unfazed tone. Her gaze became a little fierce as she met his gaze head on, without fear or doubt. "The fact that the monsters managed to reach the surface is enough proof that the dark faes lost the war."

The lords shook their heads in denial. They were still unable to accept that they would lose so miserably against these monsters to the point of being suppressed until even the surface was affected.

"Queen Evielyn," King Belial pulled her attention this time, "do you have an idea on what could be the reason behind our possible loss against the monsters?"

"I believe that the dark faes had underestimated the power within the Abyss of Darkness." Evie answered without reservation. "I saw the destruction with my own two eyes. The monsters were just too many… no, 'too many' is even an understatement. Their sheer numbers were just unprecedented… endless, in fact. So I believe the dark faes didn't see that coming. The dark faes thought that they could kill each and every monster that came out of the abyss. They had no idea that the monsters were just an endless stream and that the fighting will never stop until…" Evie swallowed as her voice was unable to come out again.

She quickly regained her composure. "The dark faes are such a great force, obviously the most powerful force in the entire Lirea right now. But even the greatest and most powerful would fall if they're caught unprepared. I believe that the dark faes' fall is due to their miscalculations on the real numbers and sheer power of their enemies."

Another long bout of silence reigned. Everyone wanted to not believe but every time they meet the light fae queen's eyes, for some reason, they could only hold back their tongue. Why? What was with those amber eyes of hers? It was like there was something in her that was forcing them to believe in everything she says.

"So you're saying, Queen Evielyn, that as long as we don't underestimate our enemy, we'll win the war?" Lord Kione was the one who spoke this time.

Evie stared back at Kione. What she was revealing to them were the things she had seen in her dream. She had been replaying the scenes she saw and realized that that the monsters had just left the Under Lands. She recognized that they had reached the human realm first. She saw how the monsters had rampaged in a city in the Eastern empire. She was able to recognize the place because that was the city where Vera had lived in. It was the closest human city from the Middle land. Evie also realized that the monsters had yet to reach Crescia as well in that dream.

And her biggest dilemma was the fact that everything that she had seen in her dreams so far always come true. She had already tried to stop her dreams from happening, but time and time again, no matter what she did, there was nothing she could do to stop it. That was why she had a thought that perhaps, they could only be able to change anything after the scene in her dreams had happened. But that would mean they would not be able to save the Under Lands. However, she could not just say that directly to them, right? And what if she was wrong?

"I believe, that's still not enough, Lord Kione." Evie replied and everyone's face turned darker and more sour again.

"And why? You just said the reason of our downfall is because we underestimated our enemy." One of the lords said in an annoyed tone. "Your words are contradict –"

"Did I ever promised that you would win if you don't underestimate them?" Evie cut him off, causing the lord's jaw to work. "I am not done with what I'm trying to tell everyone yet, so please listen." She put a force in her gaze as she looked at that lord wearing the most lavish clothing inside the tent. "The reason why I believe not underestimating them was never enough, because our problem is not just the monsters alone. It's the Abyss itself…" Evie then met the king's gaze.

What she was about to say was something she had not told the king in her letter before, nor had she told the queen as well. Because before her vision, she had not quite understood the wall of darkness that she had seen in her dream. But now she knew that darkness was actually the abyss expanding and swallowing everything.

"I saw the abyss expanding and reaching out to as far as the surface."

 

 

Chapter 576 - One Thing

The king rose from his seat. Even Beatrice and Gavrael looked at Evie with disbelieving eyes.

"W-what? My dear daughter…" King Belial, who had been calm and unfazed the entire time faltered a little. "You didn't mention about this to us before, Queen Evielyn."

Evie looked at him apologetically. "It's because that time, I still wasn't certain that the wall of darkness I saw in my dream was actually the abyss itself," she answered. "This very same miasma had crawled out onto the surface too and its darkness had covered the entire sky…"

An extremely heavy silence lingered inside the tent. The lords could see how their King's expression had changed. And they all knew what it meant when their King wears that particular expression. It could only mean that things had become extremely severe. How long since had they seen their king become this serious? It had been years… so many years… they had nearly forgotten how scary he could get when his calm was being disrupted.

None of the lords questioned Evie anymore. It was like they were all suddenly extremely cautious now and Evie knew it was all because of the King, as his aura had become dangerously suffocating.

But as soon as Queen Beatrice stepped forward and gently took a hold of his hand, the king let out a deep breath and slowly sat down on his chair. Though the expression on his face was no different from earlier, the suffocating pressure had been lifted and everyone could breathe again.

"Queen Evielyn," the king's expression finally managed to calm down again after a few more moments of silence. "I want you to continue and tell us everything that you wanted to say." He swept a powerful gaze to all the lords, as if that one gaze was enough to warn everyone never to interrupt Evie again. Enough was enough. And they all knew better than to go against their king's warning gaze.

Not wasting a moment longer, Evie lifted her face and looked at everyone with a gaze that was fiercer and more determined than ever.

"I came here not to just to warn the dark faes about what's waiting for you all in the future or to share my knowledge about the monsters. I… we… we all came here to work together with you. Because this is no longer just a war of the dark faes. This war is our war too. Why? Because if the dark faes can't stop the monsters, that only means one thing… that the other races do not stand a chance to stop them as well. If the dark faes lose, the monsters will then come for us… this is why…" Evie faced the king this time and held his gaze, "this is why, we… dark faes, light faes, vampires, including the humans must unite as one. I strongly believe that this is the only way for us to win against the monsters! No, this is the only way for us to stop the disaster that is sure to come."

Something inexplicable blazed in Evie's eyes as she said those last three lines. The strange power in her voice caused them to feel an unfathomable feeling that had actually made their heart shiver a little. All of them, even the King and Gavrael felt it. All of them could not help but wonder what was with that strange sensation.

In fact, King Belial, Queen Beatrice and even Gavrael was shocked to their core at the Evie that was before them right now. It was like she had changed overnight. Since she had woken up this morning crying so piteously, the look in her eyes had changed since then. Even the air around her felt so different. There was something just so peculiar about her now. It was almost like something had been awakened in her and now she was no longer the same Queen Evielyn they had known from yesterday.

The change was just too much and too drastic that it was so unsettling and just unbelievable at the same time. Even the words that were coming from her lips… it almost felt as though her words was the supreme law that they could not even refute.

"Unification of all races… huh?" The King said with a contemplative look in his eyes, one hand rubbing his chin as he thought over it. "That is indeed something unheard of. All of these four races had been known enemies since the beginning of time. And I'm certain you're aware of that, Queen Evielyn… Are you not?"

"Yes, I am aware of it, King Belial."

"Therefore, you would also know that this idea will not be an easy feat to achieve, right?"

"Yes, I am aware of that too. But I do believe that though challenging, it is not an impossible task. Because all of us… no matter what the race we belong to, have this one thing in common. And I believe that this one thing is enough of a reason for us to unite as one."

"One thing…?" the king echoed.

"We all love our homeland. And because of that love, we are even willing to give our lives to defend our lands from our enemies, is it not?"

The king nodded, his eyes gleaming and looking very impressed at Evie's answer. "Yes. You are right. That is indeed the one thing we all have in common. We will do anything… everything even, just for the sake of our homeland."

Evie flashed a small smile because she could see now that everyone understood her point.

"The Under Land is not the only land that is in danger right now. Like I said before, if the dark faes fall… all the other races will be bound to fall as well. And once that happens… the darkness…" Evie swallowed, "might… might swallow the entire land of Lirea and at that time, the darkness will reign supreme." She had to mention the idea as a possibility and make it seem as though this was just her opinion and thankfully, it worked.

"This is why I came to propose this unification. The dark faes are the strongest of the races. But your numbers are nowhere near enough on your own. We, the light faes will offer the knowledge needed, and the vampires can offer their unrivalled raw and explosive strength and stamina. While the humans… though they may be regarded as the weakest of the races, but it cannot be denied that their numbers alone are a force to be reckoned with. If we all come together to fight alongside each other, I believe that we can change the… future."

 

Chapter 577 - Decision

No one among the Lords could even say a thing right now. It was strange how this foreign Queen actually made their instincts just react like this before they could even accept everything she had said. They should not be that affected just like that but here they were, feeling this peculiar but all too familiar emotion. This emotion was something their King alone would manage to bring out from within them before a war. So how could this slip of a woman make them feel the same way just by… Just who is this woman?

They all knew that she is the queen of the light faes. They also now knew that she is the keeper of the fire dragons as well. But she still should not be all that great. They still believed that King Belial was far stronger than her even if she had dragons at her disposal. But there was just something inexplicable about her. It was as if she was someone greater… it was even so unsettling how she was able to speak to them, the feared Lords of the Dark Faes and even to their Great King in such a fearless way. And the most unsettling thing was the fact that they were unable to refute her, almost as if she was someone far greater than what they were seeing. Just what is going on? This was definitely abnormal!

"Queen Evielyn," the king finally broke the tense silence within the tent. "Your proposal is something that is truly unique and fresh. Even I, have never thought of looking at things this way before. But do be rest assured that we will consider this seriously. Just give us some time to go over this proposal as I need to hear out my men's thoughts about this first."

Evie gracefully smiled at the King. Of course, Evie was not so na?ve to think that she would be able to get everyone's cooperation with just one single talk. She knew that even if King Belial was on her side, the king could not just decide on the matter on his own. He needs his subjects, most specifically all these Lords, to cooperate and work hand in hand with him.

"I fully understand, King Belial," Evie replied and then she and the light faes stood and left the tent, knowing that this matter was something serious that the dark faes needed to deal with.

Outside the tent, Evie and Zanya were facing the Abyss that was not very far from the camp, while the light faes and vampires stood behind them.

"My Queen," Zanya spoke, "do you think that all the Lords would come to an agreement with your proposal?"

"I don't know, Zanya. But I truly hope they will be able to make a decision now. As soon as possible, in fact." Evie answered. In all honesty, Evie was a bit worried that they will not be able to come to a decision today. She was not ignorant about the matters of politics. There were times when final decisions would need to take quite a long while of going back and forth between the many parties involved. She understood that. However, this was not the time for them to delay anything, even the so-called big decisions.

Evie wanted the dark faes to come to a decision now. Because she wanted to start the preparations now. She only managed to find three dragon riders out of the dozens of the men that she had seen in her vision. Evie thought that maybe, many of those riders were probably common warriors right now who were still undiscovered. Now that she thought about it, she realized that almost half of them had looked younger. Perhaps, those were the warriors who grew the fastest during the long and drawn-out war. And since most of the stronger dark faes had already fallen, the newer and younger ones were forced to grow stronger, or they were probably hidden gems that were still undiscovered right now.

This thought made Evie want to not waste any more time. Because she wanted to find those hidden gems and train everyone now while time was still on their side. If everyone could grow and become stronger earlier, then that would definitely bring such a big difference to the war, it will certainly change something!

Evie had also just realised now that those dragon riders must have taken quite a long time to learn how to ride the dragons. Even for her, who was a dragon keeper had a hard time making her dragons listen to her, how much more for these non-dragon keepers? It would certainly take time for them to be able to do that, and that was why she was even more antsy now.

If she wanted to change the future, she must get everyone make a move as early as possible. If done on a voluntary basis would be even better. Now. But how? How could she convince the dark faes to make a decision now?

As Evie was thinking hard, her eyes caught the figure of a boy sitting alone at the corner. Evie instantly recognized that golden coloured cloth that was wrapped over his forehead.

Suddenly, Evie moved closer to him, causing Zanya and the vampires to follow after her.

Evie halted as she looked down at him. When he looked up and blinked at Evie, she smiled. This was the warrior who rode on Vermillion in her vision. She remembered how strong he was in her vision. To think that he was only a young boy right now.

Her gaze fell to the large wound on his shoulder that he was healing. It was a wound from a sword. Evie instantly realized he must have been wounded by his fellow warrior.

"Hello, I am Queen Evielyn of the light faes. If you don't mind, may I know what is your name?" Evie asked and the young man scrambled to rise, not knowing what to say.

"Caz… Caztiel."

"That's such a nice name. Are you interested in the dragons, Caztiel?"

His eyes widened at her question. Evie literally saw the sparkles in his eyes when he heard the word 'dragons'.

His head nodded like a rattle and Evie smiled at him.

"If I called one of my dragons over now, would you want to ride on it?"

Caztiel's eyes widened even more and sparkled, as though throwing stars out of his own eager orbs. Ride?! On them dragons?! Hell, YEAH!!

"Y-yes! Definitely Queen!" he really could not contain his excitement.

"That's the spirit." Evie straightened and shut her eyes as she called for a dragon.

When Zanya saw this, her eyes widened. W-wait… what is she… don't tell me… was she going to summon a dragon now? And in here!

Zanya was right. When Evie saw that boy, she thought of a way to convince the dark faes. She must show them her prowess. That was the fastest way to push them along in making up their minds quickly. She knew the words alone would never be enough. Therefore, she was going to do this.

"Vermillion… Fir… Crimson…" Evie called three of her dragons and thankfully she felt them respond to her.. "Come forth, my dragons."

 

 

Chapter 578 - Dragons

Inside the tent, the tension was a bit heavy.

"My king, I don't think it's wise for us to carelessly make a decision about this in an instant. I believe we need more time to think over this matter. This is not something that should be decided in a rush." One of the lords said when Gavrael piped in.

"More time you say, Lord Argus… but what if we don't have much time left? I don't understand why you're still being cautious at this point. Queen Evielyn came all the way here to save our assess. She had already given us a lot of information and you still doubt her motives?"

"Your Highness," the Lord looked offended as he faced Gavrael. "You are being biased because she's your wife. But to us, she's still just a foreign queen. It's a given for us to doubt outsiders. And I only asked for more time, I didn't shun her proposal."

Gavrael smirked. His blue eyes blazing as he looked at the Lord.

"Foreign queen? Outsider?" Gavrael uttered and all of a sudden, a blade made of dark magic had appeared and was pointed at the lord's throat. Everyone was shocked at Gavrael's show of power. How did he create a weapon out of dark magic that fast? Most of the lords did not even realize what had happened until the blade was already pointed right at Lord Argus' throat. "You know that she's my wife and you still refer to her as an outsider? How dare you call someone who is a part of the royal family as an outsider." Gav spoke quietly but there was a very clear threat ringing out from his voice.

"Gavrael." It was Queen Beatrice who had called out to stop Gavrael from behaving rashly. Knowing her son's temper, she quickly moved over to him and held his hand and whispered at him. "Son… Evie did her best to gain their trust… don't do anything to rush and ruin it."

Somehow, Beatrice's words calmed him down and he dissolved the weapon, causing the lord to breath out a sigh in relief.

"Queen Evielyn is also carrying another royal…" Gavrael said suddenly, "my child… so I don't ever want to hear anyone calling her an outsider anymore."

There was an ominous threat in Gavrael's voice as he said that, and the Lord could only fall silent. None of the lords could deny what Gavrael had said was the truth.

At that moment, the king stood. His expression was calm, but everyone could feel that the king was also reaching his limit.

"I want everyone to think carefully and give me an answer right now. Anyone who rejects Queen Evielyn's proposal can now leave the tent and go return to your post." The king declared, causing the tension to become even heavier.

The Lords glanced at each other. When Lord Argus, followed by three other Lords, stood and was about to leave, they heard a shriek. That sound…

In the blink of an eye, the tent was completely emptied.

Everyone materialized outside, the Lords already more than prepared for battle, only to see dragons flying and circling above them.

The King shook as he held in his laughter. "Goodness," he whispered to his wife, "our daughter-in-law really is one of a kind. I had yet to say anything yet and she had already shown her power out here. This group of lords would not be able to do anything. She would run circles around them!"

"She is. I told you, she will be able to deal with this." Beatrice replied as she smirked at the looks on all the lord's faces, most specially Lord Argus'.

The dark faes could hardly believe their eyes. They had never ever seen real life dragon – much less a fire-breathing dragon in their lifetimes! Did the light fae queen just summon three dragons all at once? They could not believe fire dragons were massive!

As the dragons spiralled down and landed right before the light fae queen, the dark faes including the Lords could only watch on in awe. They were mesmerized at the magnificence of these noble creatures. Their hearts were bursting to the brim with admiration, fear and reverence.

And when they watched as the queen touched their snouts gently, and when the dragons docilely fell to their knees as soon as the queen kissed their snout, they all gaped in disbelief.

Evie walked over to the King, her steps confident and firm.

"Pardon me for the surprise, King Belial. A young man there told me he wanted to see and ride on dragons. So I granted his request." Evie said with a graceful shrug of her shoulders and the dark fae lords almost fell to the ground in speechlessness. She summoned her dragons over just because of that? And she had summoned three!

"You called over three at once," The king raised a brow in question.

"Because I think some of the other dark faes would like to try riding on one too." Evie responded when Azrael piped in.

"Y-y… Queen Evielyn… you're going to let us ride on your dragons?!" Azrael's eyes sparked exactly the same as that boy.

"Why not?" Evie smiled. "If a war broke out, I can't ride them all so I thought it would be a good idea to find people who are capable of riding them. It won't be easy though. The dragons couldn't be ridden by just anyone. But it would always be great to just try out and see, Lord Azrael. Maybe, if you are lucky, one of my dragons will like you."

Azrael nearly jumped with excitement at the queen's words while the other Lords remained speechless. It was obvious all of them wanted to try getting onto a dragon too.

"How about you try too? Lord Cadmus?" Evie faced Lord Cadmus, causing him to look shocked for a while.

And thus, just like that, three dark faes were all up above them, trying to ride the dragons. The dark faes wings were all spread out, as none of them could even ride them at all. But the dark faes, even the young man named Caztiel, was determined as hell and it was actually funny to see how hard they were trying.

 

Chapter 579 - Mutual Respect

And just as Evie suspected, she could not say out Vera's name at all when she tried so hard to answer Kione.

Everyone was looking at her with so much interest now. It was totally unlike the first time when she had mentioned about this matter inside the tent, where the Lords did not even bother to ask because it was obvious because of their doubt, they had already decided that it was just another false news, was that strong.

But after seeing her summoning her dragons, the look in their eyes were completely different now. Evie could see how hope was brimming and shining forth from their eyes now. Just by seeing her dragons, they suddenly had hope that an ice dragon keeper still truly exists.

Evie faced Kione. "You guys will meet her soon," she smiled with confidence.

"Her…"

"Yes." That was the most she was allowed to reveal. Since she could not speak Vera's name, she could disclose her gender at the very least.

"So it's a secret for now." Kione rubbed the back of his neck and leaned slightly closer to Evie. "Queen Evielyn, maybe you could give us some more clues about the …"

Kione trailed off the instant he felt a familiar pressure that sent shivers down his spine. Damn… this devil sprout. He truly is such a wife protector.

He shifted his gaze to look at the prince who was seated next to Evie and as soon he saw those venomous blue eyes spitting flames at him, Kione could only step back and surrender. He was actually quite surprised to see that Gavrael was back to being the devil sprout they all knew and remembered again. What had happened? He was so different back then when he was in Yryzia!

"Easy there, Your Highness. I was just asking. No harm done, right?" Kione whispered to Gavrael, amused that this prince was still the same as he was back then. This prince used to stare at him like this since he accidentally saw him in the past, playing with four women at one time. He had been staring at him like he was the Lord of scum. Now Kione could actually see a 'get near my woman an inch closer and you are so f**king dead' warning flashing in those dangerous eyes trained on him right now. Goodness! The devil sprout really is back! Could it be that because of the colour of his eyes was back to its usual, and thus now his attitude is also back?!

Just as Kione was about to open his mouth to speak again, one of the dragons that Evie had summoned spiralled down and everyone put on a protection magic above them except for the visitors and the royal family. Many of the dark faes who were late in casting a protection barrier over themselves even ducked when there was actually no need to, because the dragons were not flying low enough to touch anyone.

"Damn… did you see that? They didn't even bat an eyelid!" the dark faes murmured.

"Yeah!!!" Lord Azrael's shout echoed so loudly suddenly in that tense atmosphere, breaking it involuntarily. "I can't control him at all, but this is amazing!!!" he crowed out in extreme delight.

And they watched as the lord that was hanging onto the dragon's spike as the dragon tried to shake him off.

"That looks like so much fun!" the dark faes muttered amongst themselves, obviously envious at the three dark faes who had the good fortune to be flying with the dragons above them. "I want to try to ride and fly on a dragon too… damn it. I'm dying with jealousy here!!"

Evie was smiling inwardly as she saw the look in the lords' eyes. They too, wanted to try riding and flying with her dragons! They could never hide that intense longing sparking in their eyes!

However, one glance and Evie could tell that it would not be easy to make the dragons listen to them. Two of them were already among the riders she saw in the future and yet, the dragons were also trying their best to shake them off. If she was not there controlling the dragons very closely, Evie was certain that the dragons would have found the chance to do something damaging and irreversible to those three dark faes already. Because as of now, Evie could clearly feel the dragons' hatred for their riders right now.

And when Evie saw that Lord Cadmus was furtively trying to use dark magic to control Fir, Evie's eyes widened as she did not expect him to be that sneaky in broad daylight. She remembered that freaking half dark fae, Galleous, and she immediately stepped forward and called back her dragons promptly.

The dragons listened to her call and instantly swerved back towards her. They eagerly rushed back to their master and landed before her, surprising everyone – even the three dark faes who were riding them had been caught by surprise.

Everyone was looked at Evie with questions brimming in their eyes. What had just happened? Was not everything going on well? It was not even that long yet that the three of them were up in the air with the dragons.

Evie approached Fir and gently touched the dragon's snout. The dragon glowed and then dark smoke evaporated from his body. Everyone's eyes widened at the sight.

Lord Cadmus looked shocked as he met Evie's stern and firm gaze.

"I can communicate with all my dragons," Evie said out suddenly. She was talking to Lord Cadmus but her voice was forceful and projected all around them, obviously making sure that everyone could hear her loud and clear. "I can also feel if there were to be something wrong with them or there are some disturbances getting to them. Lord Cadmus… I didn't give you any permission to use dark magic on my dragons to control them. I only asked you to try riding it."

"Pardon my insolence, Queen Evielyn. I assumed you wanted us to try and control them. So, I thought that using dark magic would be the easiest to control them –" Lord Cadmus quickly flowed with the situation and threw out an excuse to explain his behaviour. He knew that he had crossed the line but he was unwilling to apologise to this light fae queen straight up.

"No. That is the wrong way of doing it. You don't get to control them by force. You teach them to listen to you, to cooperate with you. That is if they are willing to accept you in the first place. These dragons aren't heartless nor mindless monsters…" Evie's voice was firm and stronger now, not minding that her displeasure was showing. "They are very intelligent beings, and they also have emotions like us. A true dragon rider doesn't force their dragon to obey them, they gain their dragon's trust, and their dragons will willingly obey. There is a mutual respect between both dragon rider and mount."

Silence reigned in the area until Lord Cadmus jumped down from the dragon and faced Evie.

 

 

Chapter 580 - All It Takes

"I understand where you're coming from, Queen Evielyn." The lord looked like he did not agree with what Evie had said. However, the man had so much respect in his eyes now compared to the way he had looked at Evie back then when they first entered into the tent. "But the dragon's rejection is too strong. It's true forcing anything is not always the best idea, but I honestly don't think that it is possible for us, non-dragon keepers, to get the dragons to obey us without using any force. That is only possible for you because you're a dragon keeper yourself. These dragons will never obey us willingly."

A small smile curved on Evie's lips.

"Never say never, Lord Cadmus. If one can't make a dragon obey him without using force, that only means one thing…" Evie touched the dragon and caressed it before she lifted her gaze back to look meaningfully at the Lord. "It only means that the person is never meant to be a dragon rider in the first place."

The Lord's eyes circled wide, and his jaws worked. Evie inwardly smiled again at his expression. He looked as though he would never accept the fact that he was not meant to be a dragon rider.

"If you're strong, it's easy to force your control over a dragon. But that is cheating and what's the point if you had to resort to that? No, doing that is simply idiotic. Do you know why?" Evie looked at the others and when everyone did not speak, she continued. "During a war, you will get exhausted – that is the undeniable truth. And your power will also eventually weaken, sooner or later because controlling a dragon requires an immense amount of magic – more so if you are doing it by force. Sooner or later, you will be put in a position where you could only let go of the dragon. Once that happen, when you no longer have enough power left in you, the dragon will leave you and that is it for you. Do you get what I mean, Lord Cadmus?"

The lord could not even speak now. On his face was an unsightly expression. "Everyone thinks that dragons are just tools to be used during war. But they are not. They are great comrades when working together. If they care for you, they will never leave you behind when you're in your weakest state and when you're in the greatest time of need. They will save you… and fight with you… fight for you… all these great things are what you'd get if a dragon becomes your friend and partner, not your tool or slave."

After another long while of silence, Lord Cadmus bowed his head low at Evie, surprising everyone. They would not have thought that this proud and arrogant lord would be willing to bow his head before a foreign queen before others. "Forgive me, Queen Evielyn for what I did. I was conceited and ridiculous to even think of using dark magic in the first place on your dragon and more so without your permission. You are right, a true dragon rider would never force a dragon to obey him. Please…" the lord lifted his face and Evie saw determination shining in his eyes, replacing the arrogant and rebellious look from earlier. "Please give me a second chance. I will do my best to become a true dragon rider."

The dark faes gasped when they heard Lord Cadmus admitting to that. Who would have thought they would see Lord Cadmus bowing to a woman? This was the most egotistical and stubborn lord among all the other lords that they knew! Did he want to be a dragon rider that much?!

"Wait a moment there, Lord Cadmus." The King's voice echoed from the side, his brows were raised as he looked at Lord Cadmus. "Whoever had given you the permission that you can now start your journey to become a dragon rider? As long as the decision is not made and we've yet to accept Queen Evielyn's proposal, there is no point for you to say anything on that matter." King Belial shrewdly brought this matter up as the lords were still in contention earlier about Evie's proposal.

Lord Cadmus' head flew towards Evie.

"The King is correct. I will only let the dark faes ride my dragons if… if you agree to my proposal. That is a given, is it not? Don't tell me you expect to make use of my resources without agreeing to the proposal of the owner of it all?" Evie flippantly commented as a small smirk curved at the sides of her lips.

"Well… then there is really no other reason for us to delay on deciding on this matter…" the lord stated as he looked towards his fellow lords.

"I agree!!!" Azrael immediately piped in, taking advantage of the current situation. They would be crazy not to agree to such a wonderful alliance with the light faes and the dragons added in. Kione followed suit and another three lords nodded their assent as well. The other lords were suddenly under pressure as all eyes around them were now trained on them, waiting for their verdict.

"Oh, come on Lord Argus. Don't you want to experience riding a dragon at least for once in your lifetime?" Cadmus began to persuade his comrades, putting an obvious pressure on them. "If you keep on being stubborn, I will stop my people from selling the Morganish wine to you." Lord Cadmus shamelessly threatened Lord Argus.

"I don't care about your wine." Lord Argus said through clenched teeth, clearly showing that he did care despite the words thrown out.

"Fine. Since you don't care about that, I'm cancelling the engagement between you and my sis –"

"D-don't you dare, you –" before Lord Cadmus could finish, Lord Argus shouted out, stopping him from completing his words.

"Then just say 'yes'. Stop playing hard to get." Lord Cadmus prodded blatantly.

"For goodness' sake. I can't believe a dragon is all it takes to make you bend!" Lord Argus was exasperated at how he was continuously pressured by Lord Cadmus.

"Well, the only difference between us is that… mine's a dragon. For you, it is my sister. Though I still think a dragon is far more worth I –"

"Ugh! Enough! Fine! Fine! It's not like the king will ever let me off so easily if I dare to keep on disagreeing." Lord Argus roared out agitatedly.

"Good call. I thought you still didn't get that." Lord Cadmus laughed out happily, not bothered at all that he had literally threatened his future brother-in-law.

"I'm not a fool."

And thus, just like that, the final decision is finally made, causing the king to laugh out lightly in disbelief. He did not think that these bunch of hard-headed lords could be persuaded without using extreme measures at all.

…

Meanwhile, in the small house in the middle of Monsters' Forest…