Dawn- An age of Darkness

"I refuse!" 

After the whole mob thing, we went back inside the castle and now Lianne was trying to convince me to sign up for the job. 

We were in some sort of large room where sofas were kept in odd angles. Maybe they used it as a meeting room? It wasn\'t all that much of a meeting with just me, Lianne, Jori, and Susan though. It was more like them dumping all the responsibility on me.

Lianne sat opposite of me. "Think this through. Wouldn\'t it be nice to travel to countries and get treated well? You won\'t have to end up in a farce like this. Since you\'ll have Alfeim\'s blessing, no country would be able to harm you either."

"Are you kidding me? Do you seriously think you can fool me with that? And how come you declared something like that without my consent? And what\'s the stuff about you being my betrothed?" I didn\'t shout. There were guards standing outside the room. I had no intention of letting them know anything they didn\'t need to know. "Besides, won\'t this end up causing more trouble? What about the war?" What if, humans didn\'t like this outcome?

Lianne sighed. "Apparently, there wasn\'t a better way to solve this. The reason we didn\'t have an elf running this country was because the people didn\'t really like that. So if I had taken over without any valid reasons, things wouldn\'t have worked out. As for why I chose you as my husband…. Well, that\'s a valid point you have there."

"Are you trying to piss me off? If so, it\'s working." My teeth clattered. My heartbeat rose and the smell of my sweat constantly reminded me that I needed to take a shower. 

How the hell did the duke not notice all this smell? And how the hell did I not notice!?

"By the way how long do you plan on staying like that? Perhaps you really like that dress?" Jori said. Couldn\'t he have tried to change the subject a little more subtly? He breathed heavily. "I might seriously lose control if I stare too long."

I felt a vein pop up. I tried to smile. "Yes, I really like this dress. Do you mind if I worshiped it?" 

His eyes opened wide and he shut up. Susan stood by a corner and just watched, giggling silently. 

I closed my eyes, calmed myself, and opened them again, glaring straight at Lianne. "Why? I don\'t want any sugar coating. Give it to me straight."

She took a breath and gathered her thoughts. "There was no other way. The people really respected the former duke. His son, the current duke, took over only two months ago. He has a rather peculiar reputation. Even so, if the people realized that someone who attempted to assassinate the emperor tried to take the duke hostage, things would have turned out pretty bad. Even that bracelet wouldn\'t have been able to save you. I must say, declaring you as my fiancé was forced but even so, you are not bound to me, as we\'re not married. I have tried to deceive the people by saying you\'re my fiancé. \'Surely the person who tried to assassinate the emperor wouldn\'t end up as the groom, right?\' I wanted the people to think that." She paused. "And there are instances when these arrangements could be broken with the consent of both parties. So you\'re not bound. Feel free to marry other people, if you should fall in love with them." The last part of her sentence had a rather harsh tone. Was I imagining it?

"I\'m pretty sure, I won\'t think of marrying anyone, at least not in this world. After all, I have no plans to stay here. I want to go back home as soon as possible." I had thought about it before but not to any great extent. My family back at home wasn\'t a place I wanted to go back to. But even so, I didn\'t really want to stay in this world either. 

And though I liked a certain elf, I couldn\'t settle down either. After all, I\'d used up almost half of my given time. And as things stood, I didn\'t have the strength to win against the emperor alone. His speed and ferocity were still ingrained in my brain. He was strong, he was stronger than the dragon I fought, and more importantly, he actually used his head. 

He wasn\'t someone I could just taunt and hope to survive. So, I didn\'t want to settle down and cause needless suffering for my partner. Even I wasn\'t that selfish. 

"I-I see. Even so, please play along with me. It won\'t take long to get everything in order. Till then please pretend. After that, we can break off the engagement." Lianne looked away. Maybe she didn\'t like the whole engagement thing either.

"Well, that\'s one of the things. But what about the other? How long do I have to play the duke? And was it really okay to declare me your husband? I don\'t mean to be rude, but I\'m a human and you\'re an elf. And more importantly, what\'s this deal about being the Archduke of Alfeime!?"

And as far as I knew, people didn\'t necessarily like these two races to be united, especially the elves. And a man getting one of the biggest positions in the Elven Empire? Needless to say, a lot of brows would have been raised. 

"Play the duke," Susan giggled. 

I grinned to contain my anger. It was not working.                   

"Well, you won\'t have to stay here. I guess you can just continue your journey like always. It just, from time to time, you\'d have to cope with messenger birds and stuff like that. As for the race issue, it won\'t become one. There were instances where half-elves were looked down upon but times have changed. And I believe my brother can change the elves. It will take time but things will surely change." Lianne breathed another sigh. "Although I must admit, I might have gotten a bit carried away with the Archduke thing. I\'ll have to talk to my brother regarding that. Though since he already respects you, I don\'t think it\'ll become a problem."

Is that so? 

She didn\'t look all that convinced. So I wasn\'t convinced either. 

"Okay so, how about we hold a banquet in celebration and invite the general people? That way you\'d be able to get familiar with the nobility here and the people at the same time." Jori tried to laugh to hide the awkwardness. The guy was trying his best to change the mood, but sadly, nothing was working. 

I tried to laugh as well. At that, the whole room was filled with laughter. All of us laughed. But this laughter was nothing but a farce. I was tired.

I got up. "I don\'t see any problem in that. But I\'d like to leave as soon as possible." As much as I hated these things, I still needed to maintain at least some responsibilities. I couldn\'t just pretend to be the duke. If I was going to do something, I had to do it properly. Even if it was only for a few days.

"Very well. We will leave in three days. In the meantime, I\'ll teach you royal etiquette and how to bow properly." Lianne stood up as well.

I guess she didn\'t like my hem tilting bows.

The way she\'d said it made me wonder. "WE?"

"Yes. We."

"I thought you said you\'d take care of everything here." 

Honestly, at this point, I didn\'t even know what the hell was going on. 

"I will but after I see you to the borders." She flashed a bewildering smile.

I didn\'t know what to say. Just how infatuated was she with the border? Actually, now I was kind of curious at what mysteries the border might have held.

"I will be coming back here though afterward." Lianne flashed another smile. 

"What happened to searching the world for-"

"Well, I haven\'t given up on that just yet. I still have some time before turning into one of them…. So maybe, settling down for a hundred years or so doesn\'t sound that bad…."She still had her signature smile. 

I didn\'t want to press on that. I had no reason to know more about that. 

"One of them?" Susan asked.

"We shouldn\'t ask things that might cause fractures in our bonds." Every once in a while Jori said something wise. I wished he\'d just shut up. But for just this once, he was right.

"And why three days? I mean-"

"Tomorrow we will have to do something about that monster. The next day there would be a banquet. And I haven\'t finished grinding the basics into you yet." A devilish grin appeared on her face. I gulped on instinct. She returned to normal and continued. "You should get some rest. Tomorrow will be your-"

"Yeah, I get it. You\'ll transfer the title officially. But are the people going to buy it? After all, I\'m a criminal." I was just being sarcastic. 

"Honestly, they\'ll believe anything that gives them hope. And right now, you are their hope. They\'ll be all over you."

"I\'d rather not have that." I sighed again. Things would only get harder and harder. How much did lady luck hate me anyway? Oh, wait, the goddess of luck was probably dead too.  "What\'ll happen to the duke?"

"He\'ll get executed."

"Can\'t we just put him into a cell and lock him away?" Susan asked. I guess she didn\'t know how people treated crime in this world, yet.

Jori giggled. "People might end up causing another fuss. So it would be better to stop the sparks before a fire." He sure was acting rather funny today.

"Whatever. It\'s no longer my concern. Show me to a room." But this did give me an idea. If I could succeed, I\'d be able to kill two birds with one stone. I had no idea if it was going to work or not, and it was pretty evil. But at this point, why the hell not?

"Ask the guard outside."

"Go\'night," Susan yelled.

"Night. And both of you, thanks for your help. Although you two might have created more problems for me than solve any."

They just grinned and didn\'t say anything. It was awkward so I didn\'t say anything either. I was the only one to get out.