Besides seeming happier, A Ke behaved very naturally about the approaching wedding. Perhaps, to her, the love between man and woman was only a small part of life; wandering through the ocean of magical knowledge was what it meant to embrace a vast future.
Or perhaps.
She simply did not yet understand what love between man and woman was.
Liszt, meanwhile, was suppressing his excitement, trying to appear as calm as A Ke while looking forward to the deepest kind of exchange with her after the wedding. Perhaps from the very first moment he saw A Ke, this thought had already taken root in his mind. He had simply possessed enough patience to wait.
Swish, swish, swish.
With a new-style signing pen, he signed his name across the documents in sweeping strokes, then affixed the latest magical anti-counterfeiting seal. Liszt gestured for his secretary to send the documents to the Foreign Cabinet.
Leaning back in his chair, he turned to face the study window.
From here, he could see the entire Flame Royal City. The Triumphal Arch at the center of the royal city was especially conspicuous, and atop it stood his enormous statue. Unlike other kings, his authority was reflected everywhere throughout the Flame Kingdom. Rather than a system of knighthood, it was more accurately a system that was half feudal and half centralized.
His authority did not merely cover his directly governed territories; it extended equally into the lands of the fief-holding nobles. He held absolute jurisdiction over taxation, law, and education.
"The kingdom's war machine has already begun operating at high speed. The assembly and training of the knight orders are in full swing. Bard has also basically completed his investigation of the natural nodes in the Eagle Kingdom... Once A Ke and I hold our wedding,