Corrupted soul

Princess Emilia's decision

Once Princess Emilia and her attendant Rose arrived at the castle entrance, the maids guarding the door bowed reverently before stepping to the side as the two-sided door slowly opened.

Once the doors are completely opened what greeted their eyes was the beautifully decorations of the castle interior.

The high ceiling of the castle hung various ornaments and the portraits of various paintings could be seen on the castle walls, beautiful and extravagant looking furnishers were placed everywhere. Many maids and butlers could be seen moving around here and there.

"Please come this way." a beautiful woman wearing maid uniform said as she made her way upstairs.

Princess Emilia was admiring the scenery of the castle when she heard the firm yet beautiful voice of the maid and slowly followed after her.

They made their way up the long spiral staircase for roughly 20 minutes until they finally made it upstairs. They naturally followed after her in silence while glancing around the long and spacious hallway of the castle.

The only sound that could be heard was the sound of the princess's high heels shoes echoing off the castle walls, after going up a few more stairs and walking for roughly ten more minutes they finally arrived at their destination. They stopped at a long wooden door measuring roughly 10 cm in length and a width of 5 meter.

"His majesty is in here, please go on ahead." the maid said in a soft voice before knocking twice, it was only when she heard the voice, "Come in." that she opened the door. A soft creaking sounded as the door was slowly opened revealing the figures who were already waiting inside.

On either side of the room there stood many knights dressed in plate armor with long swords sheathed at their waist.

A long red carpet stretched across the floor as a man who seem to be in his late forties could be seen comfortably sitting down on a throne that looked rather extravagant.

The man despite being in his forties his long salubrious red hair reaches a little below his brow, his body did not at all look like the body a man his age would have.

His robust muscles were bulged together and compressed perfectly, his bearded face was handsome and looked like he was still somewhere in his late thirties.

His expression was filled with serenity, like an old undisturbed lake that had been calm and stable for countless years undisturbed no matter the weather or circumstance.

Standing on his right was a young man dressed in a royal robe, the first prince of Barat.

His flaming red hair was short, but neatly trimmed as a charming smile adorn his handsome face, he seems to be in his late teens approaching his twenties. On the left side was the first princess of Barat.

She had long flowing red hair that cascaded down to her slim delicate waist; a red flower clip could be seen on the left side of her hair.

Her beautiful black one-piece dress clung tightly around her delicate slender body allowing anyone to easily see her curvaceous figure.

She seemed to be in her mid-teens her eyes were filled with a sense of pride and arrogance that was impossible to hide.

Princess Emilia bowed her head deeply to the king once she had reached a good enough distance to converse, Rose stood silently behind her and lowered her head causing her short black hair to flutter by her movement.

"Your majesty! I... first princess Emilia Alilia... am most honored to be in your great presence." Emilia said as she slowly raised her lowered head observing the people before her.

"Oh, first princess of the kingdom of Alilia... you have grown up splendidly, that king who treats his daughters as though they are more precious than diamonds did a good job raising you." the king said, slightly amused.

"Fufufufu! Thank you for the kind words, my father has been really busy dealing with the increasing number of monsters lurking in the forest so, unfortunately. I don't get too much time with him these days." Princess Emilia responded, sighing somewhat sadly.

"Oh? I have heard that the monster attacks have been frequently increasing. I do apologize that you had to come all the way here despite the precarious situation the forest is in." the king said somewhat sadly. Seeing that princess Emilia shook her head calmly as she said.

"Please don't let such a thing trouble you, I was accompanied by a very powerful mage from my kingdom, lady Rose."

The king looked at the woman standing a short distance away behind princess Emilia, indeed she was very strong, the king narrowed his eyes slightly and seen the powerful aura faintly coming from her body it was evident that she was a capable woman.

'Hahaha! That man there is no way in hell he would ever allow his own daughter to wonder into a forest without someone capable, it seems she is able to suppress her own aura, at least I'm confident that she's not showing her aura at its full glory.' the king secretly thought.

The kingdom of Alilia was without a doubt a very powerful country with many outstanding people living there, while they weren't as strong as the kingdom of Malibu located south.

The Kingdom of Alilia wasn't one to take likely, as not only were there powerful mages there but, their magic sword users were also said to be in double digits.

Princess Emilia looked at the first prince for the first time and as soon as she saw him her emerald eyes flashed faintly.

"Besides... I was eager to meet my future husband." she said, at the same time her lips curved slightly. Standing in the distance the eyes of the first prince quickly grew heated as he stared at every inch of her gorgeous body.

Feeling his heated eyes on her that didn't at all hide his lust the princess's body shuddered slightly. But she did her best to somehow maintain her dignified smile as she let him stare at her face.

"Ah, the marriage between you and my first son will strengthen the relationship between our respective country. With the kingdom of Paullus we need to do everything we can in order to prepare for an attack from them at any time." the king said calmly.

"While there is still an alliance between our own country, we have come to an agreement to form an engagement to our own country so that the connections between us is unbreakable so, let us make it official. As the king of this nation allow me to ask you first princess of the kingdom of Alilia... will you marry my son first prince of the kingdom of Barat?" the king straightened himself as he asked.

For a moment the first princess stood frozen as though time had stop. Honestly, she thought she was ready for this, as royalty political marriage was common practice but.... for a moment her heart wavered slightly, she looked back over her shoulder and met eyes with Rose who was looking at her somewhat worriedly before she once again turned her head back to the king who patiently waited for her answer.

Princess Emilia sighed internally as she tried to come up with an answer, in the end she wanted to fall in love normally and marry the man she personally chose as her husband but, now that dream she once had was slowly fading away faster than smoke being blown in the middle of heavy wind but, did she have any other options? In the end she needed to think of the sake of her own country.

The alliance between the kingdom of Barat was absolutely necessary to her own country, she couldn't be selfish and risk putting her own country into danger.

And so, when she came to that realization her emerald eyes shone with a flash of determination as she spoke.

"Yes, I have made my decision.... let's go on with the engagement." her shaky voice was slightly low but it was also filled with resolved. Hearing that the lips of the first prince was upturned into a smirk.