"So…both of them like you?"
"Yes."
"And you don't want either of them?"
"Well, not right now. I mean, I have too many things I'm doing right now. Besides, my parents said-"
"Your parents?!"
"Ya, what's wrong with that?"
Taking a deep breath to calm himself, Elanev spoke with a measured tone.
"Your Highness, permission to treat you like my little brother instead of your Royal self?"
Hearing the slight tone of mockery in Elanev's voice, Daneel was honestly puzzled.
Still, he just said, "Yes, go on," but immediately regretted it afterward.
"If you weren't the King, my fist would have kissed your face by now!"
The sharp remark of Elanev's surprised Daneel, almost making him miss a step on the way to the jail of the Palace.
This entire thing had started because of his decision to ask his big brother for advice regarding the matter of Sister Xuan and Eloise.
The latter was heartbroken, and the former wasn't making sense. Hence, realizing that he was completely out of his depth, Daneel had chosen the wise option of seeking advice.
Yet, the question of where to do so had plagued him. The ones he was close to were the commanders, Faxul, Elanev and Kellor. The commanders were out of the question, as they were thorough military maniacs who all didn't have any life outside their jobs.
Faxul, of course, had the same experience as him, or probably even lesser because he hadn't grown up on Earth in a society where hookups and breakups were common.
As for Kellor, he was actually the worst option of the bunch. Known to get awkward in casual conversations with both men and woman, the Grand Court Mage was said to be in love with only one thing in the world: his woodcutting axe. This explained why he was single even though his age was approaching 40.
Finally, the best option was Elanev. When Daneel had been in the Fists of Justice Training Hall, he had heard rumors that his big brother had been quite the playboy. The incident of stealing ladies' undergarments that he had unwittingly confessed to on Daneel's first day there had actually been only one of the pranks he pulled to impress those he was seeing.
In fact, it had even been famous across the Training Hall that he had had his bottom kicked straight into the air by Viuda, with whom he had been in a relationship with for quite a long time.
In the Continent of Angaria, norms of relationships in societies varied between Kingdoms and Races.
For instance, Elves seldom married, instead choosing to drift from partner to partner until they found someone they wanted to spend their life with. Even when they did, few chose to tie the knot and make it official, as Elves generally believed that it was enough if the two parties in the relationship were sure about what they were doing. In fact, the institution of marriage itself had soaked in from other societies, and some quirky Elves chose it anyway for some reason.
As for regular humans in Axelor, Lanthanor, and the Black Raven Kingdom, the norm was to get married in the presence of a government official. Other than a few conservative areas, for the most part, it was totally fine to enter multiple relationships before finding someone to settle down with.
"Two beautiful, perfect women want to be with you! In fact, why aren't you considering both? As King, you can have a harem to give birth to many heirs!"
As these words of Elanev's rang across the corridor, Daneel flushed after a long time.
A harem.
This option was something he was aware of, but he had rejected it instantly.
Indeed, there were no rules banning polygamy on Angaria like on Earth. Many rich individuals and those in power chose to have such relationships in order to have more sons and daughters.
Yet, for some reason that Daneel couldn't voice, he was really against having a harem.
The flush was because he had never expected his big brother to bring up this topic at all, and that too in such a public place.
Immediately setting up a soundproof barrier around them, Daneel said, "I'm against them, Elanev. I have no intention of setting up a harem."
"Why? If I had the chance, I would jump at it!"
Hearing the envy in Elanev's voice, Daneel realized that he really had chosen the wrong person to ask.
If Daneel was being completely honest with himself, then he would say that the reason he didn't want a harem was his upbringing.
During his time in the orphanage back on Earth, the kind old day had used to read them many stories about a Prince Charming coming down from heaven to save the damsel in distress. Although Daneel never got why the damsel needed to be in distress in the first place, one thing that had imprinted itself in his mind was the concept of waiting for someone to come and save you.
Here on Angaria, Daneel had been witness to the pure love between his parents, which led to him to want to have something like it.
Besides, just like his father had said, if he chose someone to be with him, he wanted to be able to given them everything and never let them feel that they weren't getting attention. After all, relationship, just like power, was all about responsibility,.
In the case of a harem, this was almost impossible.
Daneel didn't even know if he was right in this regard, but the crucial part was that he did not want to find out.
As for the matter of heirs, he had decided that he would figure it out later.
"Bottom line, choose one, or all the bachelors in Lanthanor will start pelting stones at you. I mean, have you seen the two women? What did the one in the corridor want with you anyway?"
Elanev was referring to the one he had found Daneel with when he had walked into him in the corridor outside the meeting room where he had met with Helena and Dalia.
"Oh, nothing. Just a query she had about something."
Deciding to keep Molan's words to himself, Daneel felt glad for once on seeing the door to the Palace Prison appear. Although this walk hadn't been very long, it had definitely felt so.
Seeing the King, the doors were immediately opened, leading to stairs which went down more than 10 stories.
Finally, the duo reached a place which only had one entrance and one exit.
All around was just bare earth, and even teleportation was blocked here. In other words, it was an inescapable hellhole.
Daneel was doing a routine inspection of the ones here, and Elanev had asked to tag along. First, they came across a man who seemed to be meditating.
"This the one that almost killed you in the Palace?", Elanev asked, making the man inside the cell look up with eyes that looked hollow.
"I know you took the flame, King. You have talent. The Church will treasure you! Just give in like I did!"
Indeed, it was the Tenebrous Knight from the Church whom Daneel had captured before.
They hadn't been able to get a word out of him due to the oaths he had sworn, but Daneel had chosen to keep him here after sealing his power.
Next were rows and rows of cells which all had soundproofing barriers placed in front of them.
The steel cells reminded Daneel of the prisons on Earth, with the only difference being that the cell was made interlocked triangle shaped objects which were actually all trinkets.
Such a feat was impossible in today's world, but it had apparently a piece of cake for those before.
These cells had more than a hundred soldiers who all spit at Daneel without caring that he was the King.
Seeing this, Elanev was about to ask, but Daneel raised a hand and said, "Yes, they are the hostages from Axelor. They haven't responded to out communication, so these people are just enjoying free food now. They might have some use in the future."
As Daneel and Elanev continued their rounds underground, without their knowledge, a meeting had just started far, far away.
It was in a hut in the side of a mountain, and there were 3 individuals sitting side by side around a wooden table.
After a period of calm, a man walked into the hut and said something that made all those inside sit straight.
"The representative from the Big 4 is almost here. When he arrives, we will officially begin the meeting to decide the course of action against the formation of a potential Empire by the alliance between the Black Raven Kingdom and the Kingdom of Lanthanor."