Child with Lucia
The sky-blue cloak Queen Sisi bestowed me with was hung up in my room. The two strongest individuals on the entire continent, namely Angelina and Veirya, were with me. Anna was also a superb combatant. If the former Elven Queen was threatened, Ciara would also fight for me. Therefore, I was safer in the North than in the imperial palace. You think anyone scared me? Today, I my confidence was challenged.
Veirya had put away her ring and brought her sword out again. Ciara was also on full alert. She had her sword in hand and was ready to fight in the blink of an eye. Angelina, on the other hand, leaned on the rails of the staircase and took joy in our predicament. I gulped and robotically curled my fingers. I had never been so nervous before, not even when I was in the elven lands.
The elven envoy was here, in my safe zone, on Lucia's orders… What should Lucia be considered? My ex-wife or my ex-girlfriend? We did get engaged but didn't go through with the marriage. Knowing Lucia, it dangerous for her to send an envoy to me now of all times as the war between elves and humans had yet to conclude. The elves had an excuse to attack the town at the border…
In contrast, the elf didn't seem to notice that the atmosphere in the property was tense. Sitting in front of me, he casually took out two documents from his bag. It was an official sheet of paper stamped with Lucia's personal golden stamp.
"Because you did not reply to Queen Lucilia's previous letters, she sent me here to personally deliver the letter to you and demanded that I wait here for you to write back so that I can take a letter back for her," the elf elucidated, stern and displeased with me. "I do not know your reasons for not replying to her letters, but I shall not pry. Whatever the case may be, you are our Queen Lucilia's husband. Your arms look fine. Are you illiterate? I think there is no point in a man such as yourself living for another second if that is the case."
"Elves sure are foul mouthed…" I thought.
The elves felt a sense of superiority for some reason that eluded me, and they were foul mouthed, which was fine, but the thing was, I probably couldn't slap their mouth without being punctured afterward…
Accompanying a sigh, I inquired, "Uh, I wasn't at home during that period. I was at humanity's imperial capital and, therefore, didn't receive Lucilia's letters. What, did she have something important to say?"
"Spouses do not need to have important business to write to be allowed to write to each other. Replying to her letters would cheer her up. While she does not force you to stay by her side, that is not a reason for you to forget her. We can live for centuries and can remember centuries' worth of things. We are not the type to go back on our word as you humans do," he ribbed. "This is also a letter from Queen Lucilia. I hope you read it carefully. This is about you and Her Majesty's child."
"Child?!" Everyone present yelled the same word in the simultaneously.
The elf irritably rubbed his ears and complained, "Can you humans not be as graceful as us elves and not belt meaningless things in people's ears? Only wild boars in the forest would scream the way you do. Put simply, our Queens follow a tradition of adopting the orphaned child of our most valiant soldier. As you will not return to the forest, Queen Lucilia has adopted a child… We elves do not want a half-human, half-elf, obviously… So, from the perspective of our laws, the child is also your child, and you are his father."
"By what logic?! I didn't know a thing about this! I can't randomly be an elf's father!"
That didn't make any sense. Was I supposed to just raise another man's kid? Also, the child didn't have anything to do with Veirya. He was an adopted child just as Leah was. I didn't do anything, yet started adopting kids? I didn't sign up for an orphanage director job!
"Are you suggesting that you can choose your father when you are born, or are you saying that you can choose the child you like to be your child when you become a father? When has becoming a parent become sudden?" asked the elf, with a raised eyebrow.
I raised a finger but had to lower it in the end…
"Also, Queen Lucilia asked for your input but never received a reply. As such, we had to proceed as per her wish. We sent letters; it was your issue for not reading the letters. You cannot blame us. Your only choice is acknowledge the child as yours. As he is your son, you must fulfil the duty of a father. When you see your son later, you need to treat him the same way you would treat your biological son. Right now, I need you to give me one of your personal cloaks to wrap your child in. It is our tradition to do so."
"This one I have?"
I didn't want to give him the cloak I was currently wearing for it was the first one Veirya gave me. It was the cheapest, plainest cloak in humanity's lands that could be purchased anywhere. Nevertheless, it was one Veirya gave me and personally wore on for me. There was no way I wanted to hand it to anyone.
I was thinking, "If the child was my biological child, fine. What does your valiant soldier's child have to do with me, though…? Plus, your valiant soldier died fighting humans, yet you want me, a human, to give my cloak?"
"Yes. It is what you should do as a father. Now, please write a letter, and I shall take it back to Queen Lucilia. Please take off your cloak afterwards."
I heaved a hopeless breath: "Won't another cloak do? It would still be a cloak I wore anyhow. It doesn't matter which cloak it is, does it? He's just a child, so you don't need to be that picky, do you?"
"Are you insulting and scorning our elven tradition now?! He is your child! You may be trash, but do you need to treat your sign so negligently? How are you any different to an animal? Your blood is colder than an animals."
The elf got to his feet and fumed, "You are Queen Lucilia's husband, yet you scorn our elven tradition? There is no way we can accept that. The war between elves and humans has not yet concluded. We can still attack you. How long do you think you can laze around here for? We respected your feelings and took them into consideration for the reason that you are Queen Lucilia's husband. Do you think we would have come to steal your cloak from you, otherwise?"
"Hey, Elf, don't you think you're too stuck up?" threatened Angelina, chewing on something while leaning on the rails. "You're not in your forest at the moment. This is our house. You're looking down on us a little too much with the way you're talking to the man of the house and even threatening him."
"Does this have anything to do with you humans?"
That was just the nature of the elves. All of them were confident and proud of themselves for some odd reason. They never knew fear.
Snickering, Angelina suggested, "Lucilia won't even know if we kill this elf, so how about it?"
"No. Lucilia will just send another elf. Furthermore, if they grow suspicious, they'll have a reason to launch an attack."
If I could kill him without facing any repercussions, I would definitely have killed him already…I didn't put up with his insults and threats because I had a nice temperament but solely because I couldn't help it. If I killed him, nonetheless, I wouldn't be able to deal with what came after. What could I do if the elves attacked us? Additionally, it would serve as justification for them to retaliate.
"I know that this has nothing to do with you; however, you need to teach your slaves here some manners," admonished the elf, while calmly extending a hand to me at the same time. "So then, please hand over your current cloak and a letter. Seeing as neither of us likes each other, let us wrap this up as soon as possible.
I couldn't do anything about the proud and stubborn elf. Hence, I handed him my cloak then told Ross to bring me paper and pen. The letter was considerably tiring to write. Generally, I could finish writing a letter in minutes. On this occasion, I needed mull on every word and sentence to ensure that I spoke as a friend and not a husband. I didn't want to give Lucilia the impression that she had hope, which would lead to her coming over and starting trouble… To add, how was I going to explain my missing cloak to Veirya?
True, the mightiest individuals were at my place. That was precisely why it wasn't easy, even for me, to put out the fire once my backyard was on fire.