I"d say this must be the dinner with the most pressure I"ve ever had.
I didn"t actually hold a banquet. It was just a small family dinner with the three of us, except that it wasn"t sat up as a dinner for a family of three, but rather two moms and one son.
My two moms didn"t get into a physical fight when they met as I expected them to. I thought the two of them would fight without a word upon meeting, but the two of them didn"t argue or fight. They, instead, acted as though they didn"t know each other… Well, not quite. Basically, they acted as though they couldn"t see each other.
Vyvyan and Elizabeth didn"t look at each other. They focused their eyes on me. My original plan with the banquet was to smooth out their relations.h.i.+p, but instead, it became extremely harmonious and quiet for some odd reason. They looked at me with a kind gaze and never looked at each other. Though the atmosphere felt very cosy, it actually scared the living daylights out of me.
"Umm… moms…"
I felt that I couldn"t let this continue. If this continued, they"d never speak to each other even by the time they were dead. Heck, they might start fighting as soon as I turned my head away.
"You only have one mom."
"You only have one mom."
The two of them looked at me and spoke out at the same time.
"All right… Your Majesty, Your Highness."
Hopeless, I changed the way I referred to them. I watched the two of them as I raised my cup of wine up, "No matter what happened in the past, my purpose in calling you both here this time is to smooth out your relations.h.i.+p. The both of you are my very important m-… erm… seniors. Therefore, I don"t want for me to become the reason that you two don"t speak to each other again."
The two of them glared at each other with eyes br.i.m.m.i.n.g with murderous intent, but they didn"t say a word. I looked at them. I smiled helplessly as I reached my hand out to grab their hands and said, "Regardless of how you two hate each other, don"t be so obvious about it in front of your son. Raise your cups. Can we give each other a toast?"
The two of them exchanged glares. They both ridiculed each other with their eyes that were filled with hatred. It was as though asking them to give each other a toast was worse than asking them to pick up their blades and duke it out. After exchanging glares, Elizabeth then picked up her cup of wine and after a sigh, coldly said, "Since you have requested that of me, I must naturally fulfil your request as your mom. Though we both know that it"s impossible for us to resolve our opposing stances, I don"t want to do anything rude in front of my child."
Elizabeth lifted her cup of wine up and looked at Vyvyan with a gaze that sent her a challenge. It was, basically, a provocation which read, "Do you have the courage to pick up your cup?"
Vyvyan looked at her with a cold look. She then raised her cup, as well, "I don"t want to make my son upset, either. My son is a very gentle child. He will be sad if somebody sheds blood here. I don"t want to fight with you today, so let"s drink this cup, and we can then discuss the future at a later date."
"All right. Cheers."
The two of them clink their cups against each other hard causing the red wine inside to rise up. A fair bit of their wine spilt into the cup of the other. I noticed that both of them had vicious curses in their eyes. In that moment, I recalled what Freya told me at the start of this. She warned, "If a large volume of their wine spills into the cup of the other when they clink their cups, you must s.n.a.t.c.h their cups away from them. Her Highness and Her Majesty do not want to see something happen to you. If they have prepared for war already, we cannot rule out the possibility that they would try to poison each other. If something happens to one of them, the war this time will be more terrifying than the last."
Hence, I immediately pressed down on both of their hands. Before they could react, I quickly s.n.a.t.c.hed their cups from them. They jolted. I quickly brought the two cups up to my mouth before saying anything.
"Son!!"
"Son!!"
The two of them yelled out at the same time and acted together. The wine in my left hand froze while the cup on my right hand got shattered with a knife. Red wine and gla.s.s fragments rained down onto the ground.
My two moms looked at me with a frightened and shocked gaze. After seeing that I didn"t drink any, they let out sighs of relief. They then immediately pounded the table and got up. They shouted at each other, "You actually poisoned the drink?!"
"I don"t think either of you have the right to be angry."
The two of them understood that, so they didn"t continue after shouting. I silently placed the cup of wine down then let out a heavy sigh, "Ladies, may I know what caused you two to become this way? From what I know, even if your relations.h.i.+p was worse, it"s not so bad that you"d want to kill each other."
"It"s obvious that it"s because of this woman! Son, have you not realised it yet?! Whenever you"re with her, you get hurt. She has failed to protect you time and time again. But that"s not all. She"s even willing to ignore your safety for the sake of those around her. I already wanted to kill her when she was shouting at me while I controlled that nutcase!"
Vyvyan coldly glared at Elizabeth. She clenched her teeth tightly, and then exclaimed, "Also, this woman wants to stop me from taking you back. You should be the Elven King in the first place. You have no reason to stay here to keep getting hurt. Humans have no loyalty or honour to speak of. They only know money and power!"
"What do you know?! That was my mistake and I have already acknowledged my mistake to my son. He"s already forgiven me. What right do you have to point fingers? He"s my son to begin with, so he should succeed my throne. He should be by my side. If that"s how you want to play, my son should"ve been healthy. Why did he end up with berserk mana?!"
"I had to do that! I had to do that if I wanted my son to survive!"
"The same goes for me!"
Elizabeth and Vyvyan furiously glared at each other. Elizabeth then mocked her, "You"re but just a subst.i.tute."
Vyvyan didn"t take a single step back. She coldly shot back, "What about you, then? You gave birth, and then ran off as those women from the red-light district do."
"I must take my son back."
"Did I give you my permission, yet?!"
"Go die, then. I don"t need to consider the opinion of the dead now, do I?"
"Oh, really? Make sure your words and actions match."
The two of them glared at each other angrily. With their anger clas.h.i.+ng, Vyvyan and Elizabeth no longer wanted to bother with me. Elizabeth had drawn her sword. The two of them truly wanted to kill the other. They had no intention of showing each other any mercy.
"Umm… moms…"
"Son, don"t speak for now. It"ll be over soon."
"You"re right. You soon won"t be able to speak anymore."
I silently placed the plate in my hand down, and then they both suddenly turned their heads to look in my direction. They looked at me with horrified expressions.
"If I don"t exist, does that mean you two won"t have to fight this way anymore?"
I staggered a few steps. My vision turned blurry. I felt a burning sensation throughout my entire body. This is the same feeling as when Mera stabbed me. It felt as if my mana was burning my entire body.
"Son!! Son!"
"Son!! Son!"
The last sight that I saw was their horrified eye,s and then the foggy ceiling. I pa.s.sed out after that.
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