36 Deal with the Lord (4)

"A dream your dreamt was a satan game- uh is this the same dream that the duke and young master Demien were worried about?"

"Yes?" Elizabeth couldn't believe her own ears.

Callisto briefly smiled into his cup again before it washed away by sipping the tea, while putting down the cup once again, a pleasant face replacing the stretched lips. Elizabeth was a bit confused and unsure about the sudden change of mood.

"You do believe your dream?" Callisto repeated the question in a roundabout manner. Leaning against the sofa.

Her brow twitched and an unpleasant feeling stirring inside her. She was a bit ticked to receive the ridicule remark by the king. "I apologize once again, Your Majesty, rather than believing my dream, I am firmly convinced with it. I know the future."

Callisto blinked, taken aback. He rested his chin on his palm at the arm sofa. Her face was so resolute. There's no playing nor testing his feelings. She meant every single word she'd spoken. She looks like she was ready to take responsibility for every action she took too.

"You really mean it?"

"Yes, Your Majesty." Her smile wavered. Remembering the dread dream, the goosebumps crawling under her skin. She didn't want to experience such feelings again. It was too much for even the veteran Olivia. She was so hopeless, weak, and useless. The future that she knew was so bleak.

Callisto hated that anguish expression. He hated to see his favorite daughter have such a solemn face. He loved when Elizebeth laughed sporadically, worry-free. She was after all only a mere child who should receive nothing but love.

"Convince me." He tried to intimidate her.

The turn of events was he didn't expect that he would regret his action. She looked at him as he was some sort of crazy man though it quickly dissipated as it appeared on the clear face.

"Your Majesty's existence is proof."

Callisto was taken aback once again. He cleared his throat and gazed at her meaningfully. "How do you know about my parenta-" He gulped down his saliva, her eyes were so big, so clear, unwavering. "You really mean it? You really dream of the future where everyone dies?"

"Yes." She said firmly.

"What happened to me?"

"You were still alive…"

"But?" He took a look at her and he knew there're additional words after that.

"Everyone aside you will die. Including the prince."

"Blasphemy! The prince, he is strong."

She retreated as quick as the wind. She let him come into his term. Calming analyzing the situation unfolded like a grownup. She heard the king crunching the bones between his teeth so she lowered her gaze to not capture the distasteful sight.

They stayed unengaged for a couple of minutes. Elizebeth didn't mutter anything as Callisto recollecting himself again.

"What- what do you know? What happened to the rest of your family members inside your dream?" His voice echoed again.

"Dead." Said her, low.

"The duke, the duchess? All your brothers?"

"I didn't know what happened to brother Indulf but everyone is dead. Especially brother Kyle." She tweaked her skin. The dread feeling inside her was unsettling. The pale face of Kyle still played inside her brain sometimes. Haunting her nights.

Callisto saw it, she only did such when she was agitated. He leaped towards Elizebeth and separated her fingers away from each other before he put Elizebeth on his lap and hugged her. "Don't do that Elizebeth. You are hurting yourself."

"Okay," but she leaned her body sideway at the strong arm of the king.

At times like this, Callisto was his trusted gossip buddy. He was the only person she dared to impose her worry on without being rejected blindly. Her father might trust her but she didn't want to put a burden on him. Learning about his death through his daughter was not a good idea at all.

"What can you do to change the future?" He decided to accept her words, for now, patting her warm head on his inner arm.

The reaction she'd shown to him told him that it wasn't a mere nightmare. She wholeheartedly believed it and he couldn't rule out the dream as well. This world full of magic, the dream might be their future as well. The question was, why must the innocent Elizebeth have to be the chosen one while we have the whole strongman squats around her?

"I think I can be of great assistance to us, but I have a feeling that I might reveal some… unsavory facts." She paused for a second before continuing to talk. "Facts about a certain man that we would rather not have to learn about."

"If by unsavory you are referring to the possibilities of this being one of my neighbors allied then I am already aware," he agreed to her. "I saw a couple of old acquaintances stabbing my back. The question isn't about the possibilities anymore, it's about the solution to this problem."

Elizebeth almost rejoiced. The king knew what she was referring to and started to take her very seriously. She has convinced the king with her little detail.

"I have a solution, in fact, several of them. I'm sure you will find faults with all of it, though." She played with her fingers. Tried to appear unharmed yet at the same time, she was ready to take the hit of the question. She looked up at the king yet adjusting her head to have a clear view of him. "Do you wish to hear the details or would you rather not? It's pretty unsavory too."

"... So long as the problem is corrected I care not for the solution," Callisto said after a moment of thought. He didn't know what she was up to but she was a smart girl. He would place his unwavering trust in her. "I trusted them to be loyal, to understand respect and order but it would seem that my trust was ill-placed. Clearly I put too much trust in them, they were only good as a business partner and not trusted friends."

"I know." She agreed and purring like a cat at the touch on top of her head.

"What's your actual plan?" He hummed happily, Elizebeth's cute smile ease his heart.

She didn't immediately answer him. She stared in place for a moment, going over her plan in her head to make sure that she knew exactly how to drive the situation in her direction. "I would like to change the future of the kingdom."

"By?"

"Be friends with the magical realm and as a matter of fact, I already met one."

Met one? So she's making friends inside the magic forest. "You are a peculiar child. What's so good about being their friends?"

Once again with a peculiar word. "A lot of things. I am sure this kingdom will benefit the most. Furthermore, Your Majesty is part of the magical realm as well."

Callisto shut his eyes scanning Elizebeth. He weighed everything, didn't dare to reject the idea. Elizebeth was indeed a smart girl. She wasn't talking in fairy tales but with a realization. It's like she knocked him with a hammer as they proceed with the issue.

"Do you believe this is for the kingdom's benefit?"

"I do believe so, Your Majesty. You've heard my reasoning. The brilliant mind of the Shariz ruler must already connect all the possibilities and the oddity of my words." She flattered him with her cute face.

He hummed, deep thinking. Indeed, Elizabeth was a reasonable person after all but it didn't mean it would be that easy.

"There's come the day when your son will need my support, Your Majesty. I advise you to teach him the importance of the kingdom and let him discover his own strength." Attacked her so suddenly.

"He- he is not lacking in anything…" Callisto almost stuttered, he stopped talking to meet the round green mean eyes. She did nothing to threaten his position as the ruler but she did shatter his belief in his son.

"Fascinating." That's the only thing she said before sipping her tea classically yet Callisto felt intimidated.

"You can correct him at his side as his sole supporter. There's nothing good but a wife by their husband's side."

"Yup, nope." She breathed low.

"I beg your pardon?" Callisto asked as he stared into her vicinity.

"I don't have any slightest intention to be his significant others, Your Majesty." She proceeded as nothing happened as she put down the cup on the table, smiling cutely to the king to conceal the ridicule remarks before.

'Indeed, Elizebeth was a worthy opponent.' Callisto put his arm on the armrest, another hand supporting the weight of her body.

"I'm not anyone worthy opponent, Your Majesty." She said as if she could read his mind.

"Elizebeth," intoned Callisto, realizing hit him when Elizebeth so hellbent to deny his son so much. "My child is not a bad person. He has the highest position in the society, the region is in his palm." He smirked proudly.

'If I could grind that snout in the face then I'd have no wish…' slowly her blood pressure rises.

"I'm too old for him." She shrugged haughtily.

His lips curled up. It sounded provocation to his ears. "How old are you actually?"

The sudden question of Callisto put the biggest smile on Elizebeth's lips. Making her forget her seething anger, instantly. "If I said I was a 26-year-old college student, would you believe me?"

"College student? What on Shariz kingdom wicked words was that?" He amused again.

"There's something like that, Your Majesty. It's a riddle for your brilliant mind. You will not mind exercising your brain for a little with a harmless mind puzzle, would you?"

Callisto barked with laughter once again. She was a brilliant kid and funny as well. Perfect for his son. And nope. He would never stop. The possibilities were there. He should give a little nudge for the lady to surrender.