I turned my attention towards the blonde haired girl standing nearby. After she had finished her conversation with Taina, she turned around to face me directly.
"It's you," she said with a warm, welcoming smile spreading across her face.
I nodded in acknowledgment.
"You can call me Claude," I said in a calm and measured tone.
She smiled brightly and walked up closer to me, closing the distance between us.
"So Claude, are you a prince?" She asked with genuine curiosity in her voice.
I nodded affirmatively. Seeing my reply and confirmation, she smiled even more widely.
"Then how about a dance?" She asked with confidence.
This woman. She was quite brazen and forward. No woman had ever been so daring and bold in front of me before in my entire life. I gave a small smile and nodded in agreement.
"Why not," I said and gently grabbed her hand, kissing it lightly and gracefully before leading her out onto the dance floor.
As we danced together across the ballroom, I could clearly see the excitement and joy radiating on her face.
A few days later
Sitting across the table from Charlotte, I can say for sure and with complete certainty that this woman is truly different from anyone I've met. Though she comes from wealth and is rich and spoilt by her upbringing, she is far kinder and more compassionate than most people in her position.
And her dream? It seems so stupid and naive. To marry a prince. What a foolish and childish dream to hold onto. But…
"Claude, how about we go to the festival tonight?" She suggested enthusiastically.
I nodded in agreement. I didn't see any particular reason or point not to go since I wasn't especially busy or occupied with other matters. She stood up from her seat.
"I'll go get ready and prepare myself, make sure to pick me up at the proper time," she said cheerfully and walked off towards the exit.
As I sat there and watched her return to her home in the distance, I smiled to myself with amusement. This woman was truly interesting and captivating in ways I hadn't experienced before.
I teleported back to Novus and appeared in the treasury. I took out the artifact and threw it into the pile of gold and treasures. Then I teleported back to New Orleans.
Erik's POV
I flew around the seas, soaring over the waves and scanning the horizon. I've been searching for Clyde in the waters for quite a while now, covering vast distances across the ocean.
Though I could have just notified him directly from the mind connection we shared, I wanted to scout the surrounding area as well and get a better sense of the location.
Eventually I came to the island where he was situated. I flew down and descended towards the shore, then started looking around the various areas of the island.
Finding him, I discovered he was laying flat on his stomach as several men were carefully tattooing him with intricate designs. He saw me approaching and waved enthusiastically from his current position.
"What's up dad," he said in a casual greeting.
The other people who were present saw this interaction but didn't do anything or seem concerned since Clyde clearly knew me well.
"What's this about?" I asked him with curiosity.
"Oh, I need to get a tribal tattoo in order to marry Moana," he explained to me.
Moana?
"Who's Moana?" I asked with interest:
He then pointed to a girl standing nearby. It was that same girl from my previous encounters and interactions.
"I also need to learn their traditional tribal dance, so I won't be home for quite a while," he said to me, explaining his situation.
I nodded in understanding. As of now nothing particularly urgent was going on or requiring his attention, so he was free to do as he pleased with his time.
"But what about Ariel?" I asked with some concern.
"Oh, she's getting ready and making preparations for our wedding," he said matter-of-factly.
I blinked a few times in surprise at this revelation.
"I'm marrying both of them at the same time," he said, clarifying the situation.
I nodded in pride and approval. This guy is truly worthy of being my son and carrying on the family name. In fact he had done something remarkable that I had never managed to accomplish myself.
"I'm proud of you," I said with a genuine smile spreading across my face.
He smiled back warmly at me.
"Thanks dad," he said with genuine appreciation and gratitude in his voice.
"I'll prepare the wedding gifts and make all the necessary arrangements," I said with determination and then returned to the castle to begin my preparations.
I then sent a message to everyone in the family, informing them all of Clyde's upcoming wedding and the joyous occasion that was soon to take place. Walking through the halls of the castle, I noticed something quite weird and out of the ordinary that caught my attention.
I felt an unusual and unfamiliar energy emanating from somewhere within the castle. Was it Rune creating something again with his magical abilities? I walked toward the source of the energy and stopped directly in front of the treasury doors.
I opened the heavy doors and saw Rune inside, actively casting magic and manipulating the treasures. He noticed my presence and turned around to face me with a casual expression.
"What are you doing in here?" I asked with growing suspicion.
"I'm just trying to get as much money as possible for my next date and the expensive plans I have," he said casually as the gold and treasure kept disappearing rapidly into his storage ring at an alarming rate.
My mouth twitched involuntarily at the audacity of what I was witnessing.
"You brat, why are you clearing out the entire treasury like this?" I asked with clear anger rising in my voice.
He looked around the room carefully, surveying the remaining treasures, then turned back to me with a raised brow and a questioning expression on his face.
"It seems to still be full and well-stocked," he said with a shrug, as if his actions were perfectly reasonable.
I grit my teeth in frustration and annoyance at his response.
"If you keep taking more from the treasury, I'm gonna smack you upside the head," I said with growing anger and irritation.
He stopped his action immediately and paused for a moment to consider the situation. He then turned around and began to leave the treasury without another word. Seeing this attempted escape, I immediately stopped him in his tracks. I quickly grabbed all of his storage rings from his fingers and left him with only one ring.
"That's more than enough for any date you could possibly have planned," I said calmly but firmly and threw the confiscated rings into the pile of gold and treasures where they belonged.
He remained quiet and didn't protest or argue back.
"But unexpected situations might occur during the date that require additional funds—"
"Unexpected situations my ass. If you don't get out of here right now, I'll make you regret it. Get the fuck out!!" I shouted at him with all my frustration.
He walked out of the treasury without further argument. I sighed deeply and heavily as he closed the door behind him and left me alone. I swear one of these days I'm gonna lose my mind completely dealing with these children.
As I stepped out of the treasury and made my way down the corridor, I couldn't help but notice that darkness was beginning to settle over the castle grounds, the last rays of sunlight fading away through the windows. I paused for a moment, trying to remember what had actually prompted me to enter the treasury in the first place. What was even the original reason for going in there anyway?
As I made my way slowly toward my personal quarters, feeling the weight of exhaustion settling into my bones, I let out a long, tired yawn. The truth was, I hadn't experienced a genuinely good night of restful sleep in what felt like an incredibly long time. The demands and responsibilities seemed endless. After finally reaching the entrance to my bedroom and pushing open the door, I immediately noticed that someone was already there, waiting inside my private chambers.
"Te Fiti," I said in a calm and measured tone, though I was somewhat surprised by her unexpected presence.
She nodded her head slowly in acknowledgment of my greeting.
"What are you doing here in my quarters at this hour?" I asked her with genuine curiosity and a touch of confusion.
"I think you already know the answer to that question," she said in a voice that was both confident and direct as the vines and leaves that had been covering and adorning her body suddenly disappeared, leaving her completely exposed before me. "Breed me now," she demanded with unwavering determination and intensity.
I quickly put up a hand in a gesture meant to stop her advance and give me a moment to think.
"It's perhaps a little bit early for that kind of thing," I said, trying to maintain my composure and buy some time.
She raised a questioning brow at my words and turned her head to look outside through the window at the darkening sky.
"From what I can observe, it looks like exactly the right time to me," she said in a matter-of-fact tone, as if the timing was perfectly obvious and self-evident.
"That's not exactly what I meant by my statement," I said, realizing she had misunderstood my intention completely.
She tilted her head to the side in a gesture of confusion and curiosity.
"Then what exactly do you mean by that?" She asked, genuinely wanting to understand my reasoning.
"You'll have to wait until we are properly married before we can proceed with something like this," I answered firmly, trying to establish a clear boundary.
"How long will that take?" She asked with a note of impatience creeping into her voice.
"Perhaps a few months at the very least," I replied, hoping that would be acceptable to her.
She frowned deeply, her expression showing clear displeasure and disappointment at my answer.
"No, that is far too long to wait. You must breed me now, right at this very moment," she said, this time speaking with considerably more aggression and insistence in her tone.
I could clearly see the stone embedded in her chest beginning to glow with an ominous red light for a brief moment. Shit, I thought to myself with growing concern, this must be some kind of side effect resulting from me absorbing and taking part of her core essence into myself.
"Then how about we compromise and you wait just a few more days instead?" I tried desperately to calm her down and find a middle ground.
She seemed to become even more enraged at my continued resistance and attempts at negotiation.
"I am the goddess of life and creation itself! Is my divine beauty not captivating and enchanting enough for you? Is my body not physically appealing and desirable enough to you!?" She shouted in mounting anger and frustration, her voice echoing through the chamber.
With each passionate word she spoke, the redness from the stone in her chest began to spread outward across her skin like a creeping infection. Seeing the situation deteriorating rapidly, I walked closer to her, hoping proximity might help.
"Please, you need to calm down right now. You're not thinking straight or rationally," I kept trying earnestly to calm her and bring her back to her senses.
"No!!!?" She shouted with unbridled fury and rage. "Breed me now," she said again, but this time her voice was quiet and low, filled with barely contained fury that was somehow even more threatening than her shouting.
I gulped nervously at the intensity of the situation, then let out a resigned sigh as I realized I had run out of options.
"Fine, I agree to your demand," I said, finally giving in to her insistent pressure.
Her visible anger seemed to have calmed down slightly upon hearing my acceptance, and I noticed that the oppressive temperature in the room seemed to have decreased and returned to a more normal level. However, I could still clearly see from her expression and body language that she was still quite angry and agitated beneath the surface.