Can I have Your Daughter?

Chapter 13

The throne room was deadly quiet. A pin dropping would have sounded like a booming cannon. The tension was palpable and it wouldn't have even taken a knife to be able to cut through it. When Bartra cleared his throat, with a bewildered look on his face, it was unusually loud.

"Are you telling me that the Seven Deadly Sins are declaring war on this kingdom? After being cleared of trying to overthrow the kingdom? Are you certain this is the path you want to take?" The king said each sentence slowly to iterate the severity of the situation. Like slowing it down would make Meliodas wake up and take it back.

Meliodas scratched the tip of his nose looking all too nonchalant, ignoring the warning in the king's voice, "I never said anything about the sins. As far as the kingdom's concerned, I'm the only one you have to worry about."

He heard a few gasps behind him, and it confirmed to him that they understood what he was saying – or at least he hoped they understood.

He knew what he was doing... sort of. Mostly, he was giving the sins an out. A chance to run as far away from this, and his, madness as they possibly could. King's voice echoed in his head from before he told them about his plans to propose, "After all this time, after everything we've been through already; why would you do this to us?!" He had no right to ask them to do this with him. He had no right to ask them to become fugitives again, because of his need to be with Elizabeth. He had no right to make the Seven Deadly Sins turn on the kingdom they were loyal to though he knew most of them were more loyal to him than they would ever be the kingdom.

"C-Captain..." Diane's voice was soft, reflecting all of their thoughts.

Ban didn't take long to make up his mind. He sauntered up to stand slouched next to Meliodas, catching a curious look from the blonde. Ban merely shrugged, "You know you can't do shit without me." He mused, offering it as his answer. Meliodas grinned, silently thanking him.

"Yeah. If you want trouble, you'll have to deal with the Giant Diane too!" Diane came to stand behind Meliodas and Ban, smiling confidently.

"Diane!" King whined behind her, "Are you sure you want to get involved?" He floated next to her anyways. He would follow her even if she wasn't sure. She turned to him with raised brow, "Our friend Elizabeth is in trouble, and we have to help the captain get her back!" Her resolution was enough for him, as he sighed, "Then I'm in too."

"I am intrigued. I too will be joining the captain's cause. Seeing the relations between him and the princess could prove to be educational." Gowther put up a peace sign as he answered.

Merlin simply shrugged, "Well, your highness, it seems the Seven Deadly Sins are all in on this declaration and believe me, you wouldn't want word to get to Escanor." She grinned mischievously, molten gold eyes playful, taking her place on the other side of Meliodas.

Meliodas glanced around at all of the faces of his comrades and his smile deepened. He knew he could count on them. No matter what. "So Bartra, what's it going to be?"

King Bartra searched each of their faces. This was the guild of the most powerful knights in Lyoness. It wouldn't be a stretch to say in all of Britannia – or even the world. "And if I tell you where to find them? What will you do?"

"Get Elizabeth back and protect the kingdom, like we always have."

"It's that simple is it? You will abandon this nonsense about waging war?" The king seemed less than convinced. Years of dealing with invading forces had made him skeptical. His true age began to show as his wary gaze held them.

"Yeah, why not?" Meliodas shrugged it off. He had nothing against the kingdom. Even after being turned into a scapegoat for the Holy Knight revolt, he still held no grudge against any of them. Right now, the only thing that mattered to him was getting to Elizabeth as quick as possible. If threatening the king made that possible, he would deal with the consequences of that later.