A Forced Alliance

Leopold learned about what happened after his squire woke him from his sleep. At first his squire's report was strange to him. His drowsy mind failed to connect the words, 'Princess Lucia' 'Attack' and 'Skall Wismar'. But then he realized that the situation was an emergency and that he needed to beat a Wismarine Prince tonight.

Leopold summoned Skall in the throne room. Behind both of them were their guards clad in full armor.

Leopold did not speak. He just examined Skall Wismar's face for half an hour.

"Scum" he finally voiced. Skall lifted his head and looked at him. "Scum!" Leopold shouted as loud as he could. He started to throw things to the scum in front of him. Cups, glasses, quills and various things hit Skall.

Skall's guards defended him from the flying objects. "Your Majesty I can explain!" Skall shouted from behind his guards.

Leopold stopped, not because he listened, but because he ran out of things to throw except his own crown.

"You don't have to explain bastard!" Leopold leaned forward and supported his weight by pressing his hands on the armchair of his throne. "Do you have any idea what you've done?!"

Skall gestured for his guards to move behind him. The guards obeyed and Leopold could now see the bastardy face of the Wismarine Prince.

"I know what I did King Leopold. I know the consequences of my actions. But we don't have a choice. This will be better for both of us"

Leopold's heart almost stopped after hearing Skall. "Better you say" he made a bitter smile. "The other nations will condemn us. My Kingdom will face political backlash, economic and diplomatic sanctions, and possibly a war with the Vanadians!"

Leopold lowered his head and rubbed his forehead. "And you know the worst part? The people, my people" he paused and pointed at himself "will think that I tried to kill the sweetheart of their hero. Now, explain to me which part of that makes our situation better."

Skall's responded to Leopold with a long silence. After a while he revealed "Lucia Vanadis was the one who interrupted our plans Your Majesty. She was also the one who informed the garrison of Knightsend."

Leopold was surprised by Skall's revelation. He never thought that Lucia Vanadis would be capable of doing that. For him, Lucia Vanadis is not a threat. She was just a foreign Princess in a foreign land.

"And you are sure about that?"

"We have evidence Your Majesty."

"Still, that is not a reason for you to kill her, you idiot! If she's really as capable as you say, then I have made the wrong decision by choosing you. I should have kept my alliance with Vanadis."

"Perhaps but now you have no choice but to continue your alliance with us" Skall said.

Leopold felt his face redden with anger "Bastard" he stood up and approached Skall.

After seeing Leopold's abrupt reaction, Skall's guards unsheathed their swords. In response, Leopold's guards also drew their weapons and rushed to the King.

"Throw down your weapons!" Skall ordered to his guards "He won't kill me"

Meanwhile, Leopold was unfazed by the tension. He hurried towards Skall and grabbed the idiot by the collar.

"I have no choice but to continue the alliance with you? I could kill you right now!" Leopold shouted to his face.

The Wismarine guards grunted after hearing Leopold's threat. Skall turned his face towards his guards.

"He wont!" Skall shouted. "Lower your weapons already. He won't kill me. Don't add fuel to the tension you idiots!"

The Wismarine guards lowered their weapons while Leopold's guards surrounded them.

"Are you sure about that oh great and wise Skall Wismar?" Leopold then spitted to his face.

Skall wiped Leopold's saliva. "I am Your Majesty. Because you need me"

"I need you? But you caused all of this!"

"Yes, I did. I messed up. But we need to look into the future. Forcing you into an alliance is not the main reason why we tried to kill Lucia. Like what I said, Lucia's death would benefit us. Well maybe not benefit, but it will save us from imminent destruction"

Leopold was curious what the fool was talking about. "Explain" he demanded.

"The union of Lucia and Prince Timothy is terrifying. Both of them are capable. Once they work together, their enemies will fall like flies. Your Majesty, do I need to remind you that we tried to kill Prince Timothy about a month ago? Both of us are already their enemies. We must kill both or at least one of them. Unfortunately I failed. I should have sought your help."

Leopold wanted to scratch his head but he was still holding the idiot by the collar. He never thought that Prince Skall Wismar of the great and powerful Kingdom of Wismar was this foolish.

"Idiot. Trash-headed idiot! That's the reason why you tried to kill Lucia Vanadis? Fool! You don't know my son" Leopold was surprised that he called Timothy as his son that easily. Nevertheless he continued. "He is not a violent person. He is not vengeful either. He will not seek revenge for what happened a month ago as long as we don't scheme against him again. My relationship with him will forever be shattered, but he will not seek revenge against me. But what you did crossed his bottom line. That line is not easy to reach but I suggest for you not to reach it. He's not violent, but once you crossed his bottom line he would hunt you down without remorse. You're afraid that they will seek revenge? Now they surely will!"

Leopold slammed his head on Skall's. The impact cut the idiot's eyebrows and blood started to flow from his head. Skall's guards tried to move but Leopold's guards held them down.

Skall put pressure on the wound to stop the bleeding. Aside from that, he did not react violently to the cut.

"I see. But that doesn't change our situation Your Majesty. What's done is done. We can't change the fact that we tried to kill Lucia Vanadis and you will be implicated for it. We need to work together. If what you said about Prince Timothy is true, then we also need to kill him. I suggest we declare alliance immediately and kill both of them."

What the idiot said was the truth. What's done is done. He can't prevent the political turmoil, the sanctions or the possible war with Vanadis. But he can limit the damage by announcing his alliance with Wismar.

Leopold fixed his clothes and adjusted his crown. "I will never be your friend Skall Wismar and I will remember what you did until my last breath. I will always see you as garbage. But Castonia shall become Wismar's ally. We will work together"

Skall was still covering his wound, but the bleeding was severe. Blood trickled from his eyebrow. "I understand" he nodded "I will send my men to chase Lucia. You should too."

Leopold put his hands behind him and looked at Skall "May our alliance last Skall Wismar. And may we save ourselves from the wrath of my son."

*********************************************

After his memorable encounter with Skall, Leopold sent for Braun. He then told him what happened.

"What did you say?!" Braun raised his voice.

"I know that you are upset Braun, but you are still talking to you King" Leopold reminded him.

Disbelief was written on Braun's face. "Pardon my rudeness Your Majesty, but this means the diplomatic ties we worked for all these years are now gone."

"Maybe not all of them. Some Kingdoms will probably maintain trade relations with us but no one will agree with an alliance for a long time. That's why I accepted Wismar's alliance. We are reliant on them for now"

"And what did you do to the bastard Prince!?" Braun's voice was trembling.

"I did not kill him. I want to, but I can't. Let's just say that he will live with a huge scar on his forehead." Leopold explained. "But let's not talk about that for now. We still need to limit the damage caused by Skall's foolishness. I think Timothy will come and rescue Lucia. I read the so-called evidence that Lucia was the one who disrupted our plans. It is a letter from Timothy and it's apparent that my son cared for the Princess. He will come and save her. Kill Timothy but capture Lucia alive so we can use her as hostage to prevent Vanadis from declaring war."

It took a while for Braun to snap back to his senses. "Will the people be alright with that, Your Majesty? They will hate us for killing the hero of Castonia"

"They will and I'm also afraid of the people's wrath. But I feel that by letting Timothy live, we're creating a bigger monster. We must nip the bud before it grows."

"I understand. I will do as you say Your Majesty. You know I will do everything for Castonia." Braun said.

Leopold nodded and took the crown from his head. The thing was made of pure gold and was heavy. "Also make Timothy's death as quick and painless as possible." Leopold said.

"So you still care for you son" there was a hint of ridicule in Braun's voice. Leopold didn't mind his disrespectful behavior.

"He deserves that much. He's still a good lad."

"Okay" Braun nodded "But I can't promise that I will be nice to our new allies."