A Royal Birthday Party - PART IV

* Lucius POV *

After all that elf mess, Isadora left following my order, and Mother signaled for the chairperson to call for the next guest. All that was left were the major nobles, they were the mayors of the sixth cities, including the capital city of Solaria, which is the territory of our royal house of Solaris.

The chairperson went on to call for the first noble.

"May sir Elysia Astralheart come up to heed his majesty's call".

Following his call, a woman came to present herself in front of us, she had flowing silver hair that complemented her sapphire blue eyes. She wore rose-like robes of deep indigo color adorned with intricate patterns that looked just like a night sky full of stars. This woman was dangerous, I could feel it, I met a lot of women in my past life, heck even my grandma was the Russian mafia boss, and this woman here, she gave those same vibes as her, the ones that indicate that should she be cornered by someone or something, she might as well sacrifice everything, including herself, to make the ones responsible pay a hefty price.

While I was already getting conflicting feelings about this woman, she started communicating amiably with Father, and in front of Mother no less.

"Good day to you Lord Soren, I see fatherhood took a toll on you" she said in an amiable manner.

"Thanks, Elysia, I see no man has conquered your heart yet" Father replied, and for a second, I thought he was playing along on purpose, but boy he made the wrong move.

"My heart is already conquered, it's just that it's not yet claimed" She replied.

It seems this girl is tired of living, Mother didn't waste another minute, she did that same scary thing she did with the gnome from before, I already think that this is some kind of killing intent, but with energy backing it.

"It seems you believe that my husband is up for taking, am I that insignificant in front of you?" She slowly said.

"Sorry if I annoyed you but I actually didn't notice your presence your majesty" Oh she did it, and involuntarily, it was me who answered her, and by laughing no less. I laughed so hard that Mother seemed more annoyed by my laugh than by the audacity of this little bitch.

"Forgive my insolence," I said, and it seemed that it surprised the noblewoman. "I just thought that miss.." and I looked at her expecting her to answer me, but it took her some time to understand it. "Elysia Astralheart, your highness" she responded.

"Yeah, whatever, let's just call you Harley Quinn, that goes better, so Miss Quinn doesn't only have the audacity to flirt with a married man who happens to be the king, she also does it in front of his wife the queen, and her parents the king and the queen of the angels." I paused for a second to look at the said Elysia, who was showing signs of both anger and fear, it seemed that she was already foreseeing her future. "So pray tell me Mother" I purposefully asked her "What should we do with this traitor" It seemed Mother was already enjoying this skit, but not Father.

"A public execution in front of the nobles should be good, I heard you had a half-brother, one that doesn't like you that much, perfect to take over the family, don't you think so, dear" Father seemed intrigued about her fate, and Mother noticed it.

"Elysia is a childhood friend of mine, that's why she talked like that, please forgive her mistake" He replied.

And I guess Mother was expecting that answer, she replied almost instantly. "Then as you wish, my love, we shall cut her hands, that's the least she has to pay for her crime" Note to my future self, do not fall in love with an angel.

Mother's sentence seemed to horrify the noble, she fell on her hands and started begging. "An armless celestial enchantress is a useless one, please reconsider." She said.

"Well, then I'll just take one hand", I guess I overplayed it, Mother insisted on taking a part of her.

"Mother, I think I have another solution" I finally interjected. "She fears losing her hands, and we certainly can't take her legs, then let's make her more useful to our kingdom, how about we make her a slave, my slave since you might as well kill her than have her be yours, and father's already questionable" My last sentence made her glare at Father, who, for his part, glared at me. "I'll give her strict orders, and we can rest sure that she will be more productive to our Kingdom." In fact, that wasn't my initial plan, but since my mafia days, and after my parents' death, I used this method of 'holding the dogs by the chain' to develop my mafia's strength. But in fantasy novels, I always read about slave contracts, and they were the perfect alternative for that solution.

"I'll trust your decision" She replied "But we'll have a long talk after this, young man". The noblewoman looked worse than when Mother said that she'd execute her.

As per her order, a maid brought a slave contract, and I chose the slave sign to be put in her tummy, "Just where her underwear should be, no one will dare to look there" I said matter of factly. After she signed the contract, I gave her the order to go do her usual work, just with a higher intensity, and put some more focus on upgrading her strength and the one of her territory.

All this while, my grandparents were silent, they didn't talk, at least not verbally, and when the noble left, she left behind some weird gift. Astral amulet of star binding she called it, I'll have her explain its use later, Mother didn't seem to like her presence and I was already NOT looking forward to that talking, no reason to make it even worse.

After that, came the mayor of the city of Arcanum, a pretty chill dude, he gave me the perfect gift a ruler should need, a book to teach him the art of ruling, "Arcane Chronicles", quite what I need when considering the magic part of this world.

Next came an old man, but not a boring one, I asked him to become my magic instructor since he could already tell me a lot about mana and how, when activated, it would earn me another stream of energy that instead of making air become blook through one big cell, the heart, every little cell in my body has a part of it to make a tiny bit of the air I breathe into mana, and that he, a circle 7 magician as he call himself, already acquired a mana heart, enabling him to have even more access to mana thanks to his years of practice, all explained in minutes. Happy to hear my demand, he gave me a gift that he said, would be perfect for that, a "Crystalheart Pendant", This pendant, and I quote, adorned with a luminescent crystal, serves as a conduit to his magical guidance. When worn, it provides insights into enchantments, magical lore, and the intricate art of crystal manipulation. Additionally, it can serve as a protective amulet, attuned to his magical aura, and it carries a subtle charm that aligns the prince's energies with his city, Crystalhold 's enchanting essence.

But the last one we met at the birthday party, and the cause of the end of the party too. It all happened so fast, Mother gestured for the chairperson to call for the next noble, and so he did.

"May sir Gareth Duskwood come up to heed his majesty's call".

A tall man with a lean and agile build came into view, he had dark hair and stormy gray eyes, and looking at them, I could already tell that this man was a seasoned assassin, and the moment he bent his knee naturally, I was relieved he was a loyal one too.

"Gareth Duskwood for your service your majesty." He said.

"Stand, my friend" Replied my father. Suddenly, the man looked at me and said. "Greetings, young lord, I would like to give you a gift that is precious to me, would you accept my gift?" He asked, and the moment he did, I knew that this man was already well-informed on everything that happened since the beginning of this birthday party, otherwise, how would he expect a year-old baby to answer such a question?

I hesitantly accepted, and then he said "This is my "Shadow's Cloak", It saved me through many hardships, and I hope it will do the same for Your Majesty" As I touched the cloak, a notification appeared.

[ You have acquired the special item <Shadow's Cloak>

Would you like to wear it or store it? ]

I chose to store it, and it disappeared into thin air, followed by another notification

[ You have opened <Inventory> for the first time ]

[ <Inventory> will be available in the status window ]

The notifications made me unaware that my surroundings were in jeopardy, so when I raised my eyes to look around, all I heard was that they thought that I acquired the "Life Stream Interface", gotta inquire about that later, but now, I had to pay my respects to the man, he just gave me that much.

I stood up and slowly walked to him, and then I extended my hand forward, expecting him to shake it with his own, but I forgot that this wasn't Earth, the man took my hand and kissed it, and just had to trigger another notification.

[ 'Gareth Duskwood' has made a gesture of loyalty towards you

Would you like to reward him in order to make him your servant?

Due to your physical traits as a half-angel, you can help 'Gareth Duskwood break through to the next rank. Do you accept ]

[Yes] [No]

I clicked on [Yes], and then a light shone around me, and the man started floating in the air, he only stopped when he reached midair.

Just as I was wondering what was happening, I looked around to see that my parents and grandparents were unable to reach me, whereas the maids were glued to the ground, I tried to calm down and turned to the center of everything, the man in question who was high up in the air a minute ago was coming down again, and just as he touched the ground, I felt an excruciating amount of pain in my face and a series of notification started showing up, but before I could do anything, I fell down and blacked out.

A.N: 1799 words, I know I said a lot of things about Lucius' mental capabilities as a baby in body but a man in spirit, but I changed my mind, I didn't know how to deal with it, so I'll make it a surprise.

Sorry for the short chapter, I know it's 300~500 words short, but hey, I'll make an extra long chapter tomorrow.