A cough from the crowed actually popped their little bubble, Akihiro looked back at all of them, his friends were all smirking at him, teasing him with their eyes. Despite their ages, despite having children of their own, this childish side of theirs never changed. Akihiro could only shake his head, he is very much sure, that cough came from Yukimira.
Some officials that is present was actually not against Haruka back then but due to the pressure of an heir thay had no choice but to push her away as well. Which they regretted not long after, seeing how the eyes of their king lost it"s warm light replaced only by an eyes that doesn"t reflect anything. And today seeing how he looks at her, the way he smiles, the way his eyes became brighter, they could no longer bring themselves to actually push her away.
"Your highness, you do know how grievous this decision of yours is. Are you trying to repeat what had happened 20 years ago by bringing her back?" Osamu commented seriously.
"We do want you to be happy, but currently the kingdom needs an heir," Ichika added.
"Do you want her to be pushed away once again, your highness?" Daiki said as well.
"Even we don"t want you to experience that again, your highness," even Anna who rarely spoke up said.
"We have discussed this already back then," n.o.buhisa chimed in.
"You do know we never wanted to pressure you, we are also happy that queen Haruka is actually alive but your highness, how about our people? How about our kingdom?" Takako said, he had a pained expression.
And the other generals also commented, only two other who didn"t, Jin and Kunihiko.
"I"ve already been pregnant once, that doesn"t mean I won"t be again, just because I couldn"t a few years after my miscarriage, doesn"t mean I will no longer be," Haruka was still the one who answered.
That"s right even back then when it comes to her, she never wanted to be the damsel in distress that"s always being saved by the prince. She wanted to stand beside him not behind him.
"We aren"t even sure if you are our former queen, how dare you b.u.t.t in while we speak to our king?" one official berated.
"b.u.t.ting in? This conversion involves me, how am I b.u.t.ting in when you are blatantly talking about an heir when it is a few of you who had caused the loss of the first heir?" Haruka replied sharply.
"How dare you accuse us?!?" with her words she earned another round of complaints and retaliations.
"Accuse? Are you sure I"m plainly accussing you? When I am the evidence of what you have done to me? When I am the evidence of that stupid rule of yours?" Haruka answered back to all the complaints.
"I wonder what stupid rule are you referring to?" Jin finally spoke, he had been in deep thought all this time, when that man looked at him and spoke through his eyes.
"You really don"t know? When all of you are high ranking ones in here?" Haruka replied raising an eyebrow.
Everything dawned on all of them, THAT silent rule. Some of them felt nervousness upon hearing her words.
" Oh my? You really don"t know? Isn"t that the rule of how royals from different kingdoms couldn"t bore a child? Isn"t that why no one have married from outside their own kingdom?" Haruka dropped the bomb crossing her arms.
Evryone was silent, while some smirked.
"Then are you saying that you are a royal?" one official asked.
"Do allow me to introduce myself. I am princess Haruka of Archic Kingdom, sister of the current king," Haruka said.
"This is bad," on one side, Raven said in a low voice only their group could hear.
Yukimura"s group suddenly realized something as well.
Akihiro and Haruka both stiffened upon realizing that they made a mistake, but still they didn"t show it. Haruka held his hand on her waist tighter, while Akihiro held her waist tighter.
"They can use this against us," Theo quietly said as well. Their group glanced at each other nervously.
"Well we do apologize for not realizing that you are a princess from a different kingdom, princess," another one replied. Their once terrified feeling disappeared and was once again full of confidence.
"And what of it?" Haruka still replied smugly.
"We really can"t push through with this after all, your highness. She will never be able to bear a child," Jin was the one who replied.
"Didn"t she bore once?" Akihiro asked looking straight in Jin"s eyes, conveying a message.
"But she lost him," Takako answered as well.
"Isn"t that also the evidence of the silent rule, your highness?" another chimed in.
"The silent rule indicates that they will never have a child. Isn"t that the reason why she had lost your first child?" another said.
Some are laughing inside, they are winning once again.
"I must apologize your highness. But I think that Jin"s daughter, Manami is still the best candidate for the position of being the queen," Takako said solemnly.
"I say Takako, you seemed so adamant on me taking Manami as my wife?" Akihiro instead replied.
"I only want what"s best for you and for the kingdom, your highness. Manami is the daughter of the 1st general of our kingdom. She have all the qualities that anyone could ask for in their queen," Takako replied respectfully. He glanced at the woman who"s trying to hide herself in the crowd. Then he looked at Jin, before he raised a finger, causing Jin to frantically search for something to say.
Takako"s comment gained another wave of approval from the crowd.
Haruka looked up at Akihiro, he looked at her rea.s.suringly, before looking back at them, and once again was about to answer when the door opened and the wind from the outside blew in. Some even thought that it seems that it is very cold compared to the one from outside.
"I say, you seemed very good at acting, not only you though but a whole lot of you," a cold voice accompanied the wind.
All of them looked back and some of them even thought they saw the death G.o.d himself when Eureka walked in with her clothes dried from blood they didn"t know where it even came from.
"Oh I must apologize for my appearance, I just need to terminate some insects before coming here."