The time seemed to go by so very slowly. I used the time to study but even though I tried, I couldn't. I had too much on my mind. Finally, Porcia had come to tell me it was time for dinner. It was time. By now, my mother would have been informed of what was going on so chances were that they were both planning to tell me.

"I'll be there in a minute." I said.

"You better hurry. The king was the one who sent me to get you. It sounds like it's important." she looked worried.

I didn't argue with her. I followed her out of the door and to the dining hall. I started to think that Porcia might have known something too. She seemed nervous and wasn't acting like her usual confident and calm self. Maybe she heard the conversation too? Did my father tell her already?

We made our way into the dining hall and my father's eyes darted toward me. They watched my every move and followed me until I sat down. I felt uncomfortable and decided to point my gaze toward Arion who was near the kitchen door. He brought out a stew and some sides to go with it. As he was walking back, he turned his head to me and shook his head. I assumed he meant that I should keep my attention to the table and my parents.

"Koda? There is something that your mother and I have to talk to you about." my father said.

He folded his hands and rested his chin on them. My mother sat up straighter than before and neither of them had even touched their plates.

"Yes? What is it?" I asked.

"You remember the king of Shinso, King Hajime?" he asked.

I nodded.

"He has requested a favor.... from you." he seemed unsure of what he wanted to say this time.

I knew this conversation would only get harder for him to keep going. I would only be hearing it a second time.

"Father, I already know. I overheard your conversation. Hajime wants me to marry his eldest daughter."

I was expecting to get yelled at and punished for eavesdropping but I never did.

"Ah, I see. Then I assume you understand your options?" he asked.

"Yes. I know my options but... What does Hajime want? Why would he want us to benefit from this?"

"I thought about that too. It doesn't seem like him does it? I have a feeling that he's planning something." my mother spoke before father had a chance to answer.

"I agree." he said.

I knew what the risks were already but I knew I needed to tell them my ideas.

"If I don't marry his daughter soon, chances are he will probably try to start a war between our two countries until I am finally forced to say yes. Just like the man had said, Hajime is just asking right now but he will demand it sooner or later. There is also another problem that I was thinking about which relates to our conversation earlier. We all know Hajime is greedy. He would not want us to benefit from this more than he would. If his daughter is as greedy as he is, there is a chance that even if I married her willingly and avoided a war, after the marriage was official, they could easily have me killled and Shinso would rule over both countries."

"You have a point. There has to be something we can do though." my father said.

My father got up and started pacing which made my mother nervous but he ignored her. I got up too but only stood next to my chair.

"At the moment, there is something we could do. We can figure out our next move later but for now, we can just stall Hajime long enough to come up with a way to avoid this situation completely." I said.

My father stopped and turned to me.

"What do you have in mind?" he asked.

"If I were to marry Hajime's daughter, I would need to meet her at some point right?"

"Right."

"What if we were to invite her into our country? I would need to get to know her. If we request this from Hajime, he will most likely assume that I have already said yes and will agree to it. She would stay at the palace. I would keep her busy for as long as it might take which will also keep Hajime busy too."

"Ok, but what did you want us to do while this is taking place?" father sounded desperate.

"There is no way to avoid a war but I am not going to allow Hajime to take over Ishikawa! The only way to have a chance is to use our army and ready our defenses before Hajime catches on to what we are doing. That way we could possibly win before Hajime even gets to attack and if he does, we'll be ready." I said, confidently.

"That could possibly work. We must report this to the royal court and discuss this with them. Although I believe your plan may be our best option, they might have some options as well. Maybe we could even avoid battle but I think it would be best to leave this matter alone until tomorrow."

I nodded and father walked out of the room. Then, my mother came up to me. We sat in silence. She looked like she was going to say something but instead we both just stared at each other. I was going to ask her what she wanted but before I could, she hugged me. I stood there, surprised. It wasn't that I was uncomfortable being hugged by my mother or that it was a rare occurrance. She seemed afraid for some reason and I had no idea why.

"M-Mother..." I said quietly.

I heard the door from the kitchen open but then it had immediatly been shut. It was probably Arion trying to bring us desert. I turned my eyes toward the door but there wasn't anyone in the room. It sounded like my mother was very faintly crying. I hugged her back. I didn't completely understand why she was crying but I somehow knew that she was worried. We stood like that for about a minute until she finally let go. Her eyes were pink and she had tears running down her cheeks. She wiped them away and then looked back at me.

"Koda, no matter what happens, please, be safe. You're really starting to show the traits of a true king. Your father and I are very proud of you." she said.

She hugged me one last time and then walked out of the room. I sat back down at the table. It almost seemed like she was saying goodbye but I knew that wasn't the case. Is she really that worried about me? This thought ran through my mind all night. I couldn't sleep. I had even talked to Arion to ask his opinion about the situation. Luckily, I had a week off from school so I didn't have to worry about sleeping in. Instead, I was just worrying about what my mother had said. She was my mother so of course she would worry about me but... It's not like I'm going to war or anything. At least, I hoped not.