Politely Decline It!

"Well..." Malleus frowned, "When grandmother asks me this, I don't think we cannot afford to care for the servants in the castle. If we cannot pay the servants their wages, there are still a number of artifacts within the castle that do not have much use. Those could be sold or auctioned for the finance required to pay for the wages of the servants. Then, we just need to look into the reason for this problem and brainstorm the best methods to ensure the Draconia family does not fall into debt but raise earnings. Aside from that, it would be strange for the queen to not have enough money to pay the servants since the queen is you, grandmother."

Hearing this, the side of her lips twitched as she muttered, "That last line. Who taught you that, child?"

"That's..." Malleus hesitated wondering if he had done something wrong again.

However, his silence did not fool the queen who sighed, "So, the caretaker again... Very well. He's protected the royal family for a very long time. We shall spare him this time."

Malleus breathed a small sigh of relief under his breath before his grandmother wore a small smirk which made him realize in disbelief that he was fooled! She had never planned to punish his caretaker to begin with! Malleus pouted seemingly annoyed at being fooled by his grandmother once again before she opened her mouth, "So... I trust that, one day, you will find this cup that you are destined to find and, when that day comes, you must not let your grip go, Malleus."

It was a talk from so long ago that he could hardly remember the look on her face when she acted as warmly and fondly as that during such a busy schedule. He did his best to recall it once in a while, but he could not remember the face she made when she said that. However, he knew she was thinking very fondly of him with great expectations of his future. He just wished he could've remembered what his younger self foolishly did not try to recall. This was but one of many memories he could not hold on to as he grew older.

Femme Fatale.

Was it a glass of wine or was it a glass of poison in disguise?

Malleus turned to Peony and pondered if the reason he is meeting with the princess of the Fairy kingdom was due to a possible fact that his grandmother had offered him this cup or was it to test him?

"If I take it, would it be a cup of wine or a cup of poison?" Malleus pondered in confusion.

To start, Princess Peony is a biological human and a cultivator. Her heritage and lineage prior to her adoption are shrouded in mystery making her difficult to consider as a potential queen. Then, there was the fact that the princess is the adopted child of a royal family, not a biological child of the couple. Aside from the majority of their people being of opposing race, she was far less interested in making ties, even through romance. He recalled Silver and Sebek once mentioned, when they learned that Peony was tied to the fairies in some "unknown way", that she made the king promise her no marriage until she was made crown princess. However, when leaving out that her family did not care about her lineage to be made crown princess, there are already two major problems with this request! One is that, to be crowned crown princess, she must have close ties with the royal family to the point that they often do not allow marriages till the end of their lives. Second, the princess herself chose not to openly make any big plans to change the kingdom for the kingdom's benefit at all since she continues to progress through the shadows!

Knowing this, his grandmother would have thought twice before handing him this cup. He shook his head. He was getting ahead of himself once again. Everything he thought of to this point were all speculation. There was no concrete proof yet. However, perhaps, it would be best to be cautious first. Since he had agreed not to share this with his retainers, he is forced to deal with this matter alone. Marriages...

Why must they be so difficult to handle? Didn't he already turned down all of those suicidal proposals his grandmother redirected to him after she had turned down five from five separate lunatics?! It still astounds him how those five fools thought they can tame a dragon with such tenacious and outrageous behaviors! He even needed Lilia's help to dispose of one of the proposals that contained a crazy curse! Of course that was many years ago when he started getting proposals. Who would give a five hundred year old child a marriage proposals from an adult fae? Then there was the ancestors of the Ebonvile family. Those humans did not forget to take advantage of this opportunity to try and put a leash on him. If his grandmother had not been there, he would have already incinerated those fools a long time ago!

Even now, it was still unbelievable that Ren is a child from their house…

Peony yawned as she looked to him, "So? What did the teachers said today? Surely, the whole plot should be starting already. Idia was caught yesterday, after all. Then there was Ortho. Hm..."

As Peony pondered the next possible people to take out and counting her fingers as she did so, Malleus shook his head as he watched, "At this rate, you may as well capture everyone all together..."

"Oh! That doesn't sound all that bad either! Capture all the students and see how long it would take for them to escape! Huh, I feel like Riddle would've liked an escape room challenge like this." She said with a bright smile, "That's a wonderful idea, Malleus!"

"That was not my intention." Malleus frowned, "Nor was it my idea."

"Really?" Peony hummed curiously, "But, I wasn't the one who mentioned about capturing them all..."

"What does that have to do with your plot to capture them?" He frowned, "Once again, you are taking the words as your own convenience!"

"I can't help it, if you didn't specify the meaning behind your words." Peony pouted childishly, "And for a second there I thought you were on to something good for the first time."

"What is that supposed to mean?!" Malleus scowled angrily only to have his thunder dispersed with a snap of her fingers. He cursed internally as he realized how difficult it was just getting along with this princess! If this was the cup his grandma had offered to him, he would do everything he could to politely decline it!

How could such a small and human woman become a vile and cruel being?! Where was the compassion and selflessness of a future ruler? If she wanted to make other believe she wants to be crown princess, she should at least act like it!

"There is something called ignorance and something called tyranny. Only those smart enough can actually tell the difference between the two." She stuck out her tongue at him, "Besides, I'm still a teenager. There's no way in hell I'm getting married while I'm still fifteen! Looks like you are still just a kid like the rest of us!"

"Are you not a child as well?" Malleus pouted in frustration.

"Did I say I was not?" Peony folded her arms and huffed, "The queen has keen senses, but it seems her grandchild still got a few more years to develop that."

"Could you not bully me?" Malleus scowled angrily.

"I'm not even bullying you. By the way, you're only almost 500 to 600 years old, correct? So I'm technically not wrong." Peony sighed, "Why did the queen give me this task again? How exactly am I bullying you?"

"You've been doing it for a while now by bringing my age into account constantly. It's become a thorn to my side for a while now." Malleus responded honestly.

"You want me to stop that?" Peony huffed, "Perhaps, it may happen."

"I'm no longer a child."

Hearing this brought a light laughter to her face as she laughed wholeheartedly, "Perhaps, the day you can stop accidentally losing your control on your magic, then I would stop bringing your age into account."

With that said, she stuck out her tongue at him and smiled, "Until then, someone gotta keep an eye on your tantrums!"

"Using the magic I gave you!" Malleus clarified with an annoyed huff.

"Huh? But I ran out of most of that back in the caves." Peony turned to him in confusion as she stretched out her hand, "Here. Feel it."

Seeing her outstretched hand, Malleus took it after some hesitation and suddenly felt an overwhelmingly powerful mana from her hand. It was warm and fiery at one point, then it became cold and calm the next. It was as though the mana had taken on a character of its own and was a living breathing being just as the books had described it. Peony smiled as she spoke up, "This is my original mana. Mana that I produce after taking in the disorganized mana around me. Cultivators are capable of manipulating and taking in mana in place of food and water. The earth itself is alive as you know. It is always giving off mana. Cultivators take that mana into their abdomen and sort out the elements from there. However, not all cultivators are capable of randomly taking in mana nor can they be taught to use mana at a young age as it would cause mana problems with the mind and control of their mana along the way."

As she said this, Malleus's eyes widen in surprise. If utilizing mana before they are physically ready to can lead to lose of control over their mana, could it have been the same for him even though he is a dragon dark fae?