6.

The Royal Guard lead us to the dining room and we saw the Emperor dining by himself at the long table.

"Ah, Duke Blackwood, please. Sit." The Emperor said amicably as he motioned for us to sit with him. Its as if the Emperor sitting on the throne and the one sitting on dining table was a different person.

We sat down and a bunch of servants placed plates and cutlery in front of us.

"Enjoy the food." The Emperor said as we started eating. Its a part of noble traditions to not speak about business in front of food so we just enjoyed the food provided for us.

After eating and cleaning up the dishes, the Emperor suddenly laughed as he looked at me and Wilhelm.

"You did a good job, brat. Looks like Wilhelm taught you really well." He said while I chuckled lightly and Wilhelm coughed.

'I didn't teach him anything about that.' Wilhelm thought as he was still surprised and astonished on how I handled the noble smoothly but it didn't show on his face.

"Thank you for your compliments." I said and the Emperor just waved it off.

"You did a good job but now you've become enemies with the Nipheleka family." He said as he became serious.

"There's no such thing as eternal enemies in their eyes, only interests." I brushed it off this time and caught him off guard. He then looked at Wilhelm, his eyes asking:

'Did you teach him about this?'

Wilhelm just made a bitter smile in return and the Emperor's eyes widened in realization.

'This brat's even better than I thought.' He thought to himself.

"Anyway, the reason I want to see you is to see if you've grown well." The emperor, no, Gilltian Rougepalace said emotionally.

I just smiled in response.

"I've been well, Uncle Gilltian." I replied as Gilltian chuckled.

"I'm sorry for the loss of your parents." Gilltian sighed sadly before continuing.

"The news of the attack was so sudden that I didn't have time to come to your aid." Gilltian said and for the first time since returning back in time, my facial expression crumbled.

I can't help but feel the sadness oozing out of Gilltian's body. I forced my emotions in check as I stared at him.

"Your father is my best friend. We go way back since our time in the academy. Your father and I even fought for a girl, your mother, she was a refreshing sight at the academy. Well, its useless for us to talk about our love life. We fought against western coalition invaders side by side as the Empire's army repelled them from our borders." Gilltian said as he reminisced their time at the war. He then came back to reality and stared at me.

"You really look like your parents. You've inherited your mother's face and hair while you inherited your father's eyes." Gilltian said to me but I kept silent. He then looked at Wilhelm and smiled.

"How're you doing, my mentor?" Gilltian's words shocked the hell out of me.

"I'm doing fine, your majesty." Gilltian sighed, hearing Wilhelm's words.

"Still the same old, old man, huh? Always a professional when doing things." Gilltian said.

"Just doing my job earnestly, your majesty." Wilhelm replied sincerely.

"Uncle Gilltian, actually... I was considering about something, thankfully you called for us privately or it would take us quite a while to request an audience with you privately." I interjected and the person became a dignified ruler once more as if the change was nothing.

"Speak." The Emperor replied.

"I want to propose something... more like a bet." I said looking at him in the eye.

'Interesting.' Gilltian got curious about what I am planning and glancing at Wilhelm who shook his head, he knew that it was my idea.

"Hoh? Are you saying that you're making a bet with me?" The Emperor looked at the boy staring at him at the eye with no fear at all.

'His eyes are even smiling, as if he is confident that he will win.' He thought as he looked at the only son of his friend.

"Yes. I am making a bet with you, your highness." I said to him with a smile.

"Speak your terms." The Emperor said as he leaned on the back of his chair.

"I'm willing to bet 2 Iron mines, and a gold mine, for a chance to prove that I'm worthy to hold the title of the Duke." My words made Wilhelm stood up from his seat with wide eyes.

"If you win?" The Emperor stared at him seriously.

"Just a favor." I said making the Emperor narrow his eyes.

'What is this brat, planning?' Gilltian thought as he tried to read my intentions.

"If you lose?" He asked.

"Of course you get the iron mines and the gold mine." I said making the emperor think for a second.

"If you lost, you will lose your qualifications as the duke and your territory will be taken back. I can just take it from you. Why should I take this bet?" Gilltian asked and all he saw was me making a hearty grin.

"Yes, you'll take back my territory, but who said that it will all go to you? The nobles will surely pressure you to give up the hold of the resources. Your rule is shaky at the moment. A noble just interrupted our talk earlier and you didn't rebuke them or anything. That means you're wary of the moves that those dukes will make if you messed up. BUT... if I gave it to you beforehand, they will not be able to do anything about it since its a bet we made with each other. You can even justify it with any reason you can think of and they'll have no say in it." I said, my grin became even wider.

Gilltian thought for a minute as he weigh the pros and cons of the bet.

"Alright. I'll accept your bet. Although you really didn't have to do it this way." Gilltian said making me confused.

Seeing the confusion in his face, Gilltian looked at Wilhelm.

"He didn't know?" He asked Wilhelm who shook his head.

"What about the thing I don't know?!" I asked but Gilltian just made an amusing smile before smirking.

"Who knows? Anyway, I still have some time to catch up with my mentor, you can go roam around the castle while we're having a chat." He said as he waved his hand and stood up while Wilhelm followed him.

"Hey, Wilhelm, what is that thing I don't know about?" I asked Wilhelm who's following the Emperor.

"I don't know either." He said making Gilltian's smirk turn into a wide grin.

'It was obviously a lie and they didn't want to tell me. What is it?!' I racked my brains as I tried to come up with an answer but I couldn't think of anything. I was about to ask another question but when I looked up, Wilhelm and Gilltian were already gone.

'Ugh! This is so frustrating!' I said as I stood up and aimlessly wandered around the Royal Palace trying to think of the thing that they didn't tell me about.

'I haven't encountered this kind of secret in the past run... so what is it?' I was deep in my thoughts when I heard the sound of a sword swinging.

I raised my head and saw that I was at a garden. Now that I snapped out of my thoughts, I could hear the swinging of the sword clearly. Curious about it, I started following the sound of the swing and saw a girl, the same as my age, swinging a sword the size of her. I didn't recognize her immediately but instinctively, I called out her name.

"Adjest Roguepalace." I murmured. In the past run, this girl is so cold like an iceberg and that lady always wants to challenge me to a fight which is the opposite of her usual attitude, of course I won that battle, every time. I'm the bane of all mages. The party even started teasing us about it but I just shook it off while Adjest was just silent.

"Who goes there?!" Although it was just a murmur, she heard it and became startled when she saw me.

"Uh, hello?" I said and immediately realized my mistake. I treated her like a party member and forgot that she's the eldest daughter of the Emperor.

"Aegis Blackwood, Duke of the Blackwood dukedom." I said and formally bowed to her.

"Why are you here?" Adjest asked coldly.

"You're father told me to roam around and coincidentally heard the sound of a sword swinging so I came to look over." I explained and she still didn't understand. Her father usually never lets any guest roam around the palace at their own discretion.

Seeing her silence, I was about to walk away when 'coincidentally' Gilltian and Wilhelm walked in together.

"Ah, there you are. I thought I would have to send my servants to find you." Gilltian said to me while Adjest looked curiously.

"I'm just wandering own my own and accidentally heard someone practicing a sword." I said and Gilltian had a mysterious smile on him.

"Aegis, this is my daughter, Adjest. Your fiancée." Gilltian said and my mind exploded from the bomb that Gilltian dropped.