" Father…. You look…. drunk? " Anna said, as she coughed and tried to hide her embarrassment.
" Of Course I'm drunk, we have won my dear, we have won the war that meant everything!
Not only me, every soldier in the elven army is drunk!
Infact, why are you not drunk?
Drink with me! " The elf king said as he invited his daughter to have a cup of wine with him.
Anna who understood that this was the perfect opportunity to put her point forward immediately declined the drink as she said " It's not a joyous day for me, father, I'm actually very sad "
The elf king immediately sat up straight as he slammed his own wine cup and said " Who made my lovely daughter sad on this beautiful day? Was it that slimy dwarf friend of yours? If so tell me, I'll butcher him myself "
Anna held back her laughter and pursed her lips, internally as a joke she wanted to say ' yes ' , just to see Sebastian suffer a little but she ultimately decided against it.
" No…. It's actually King Regus who made me sad " Anna said as listening to the name of Regus Aurelius, the Elf King immediately sobered up a bit.
" What happened? " he asked with seriousness, as Anna narrated the tale of how Max was wrongfully detained, despite everything he had done for the light faction.
The tale itself was an interesting narrative and anyone could see that Regus was being excessive and wrong, but matters of universal politics were not decided by right or wrong, it were decided on benefits and political clout and the Elf King knew better than to jump headfirst into a political confrontation against Regus without having some skin in the game.
" I will help the boy if you ask me to Anna, but if I do that, you need to be frank with me….. " The elf king said as he nervously fiddled with his wine cup.
" I'm always frank with you, father " Anna assured as the elf king nodded at her words and dropped the bomb.
" Do you wish to marry Max Rajput? Are you helping the boy because you like him?" The elf king asked as Anna felt her heart clutch in her chest at the question.
Time and time again, this was the exact question that had hounded her dreams.
She liked Max, there was no doubt in her heart that she did, but did Max like her?
It was always the question of would Max fight for her love and would it affect her friendship with Asiva, knowing how close she was to Max, that prevented her from making any big moves.
But now she was in a hall that had every important elf god and general present and everyone in here was waiting in pin-drop silence for her reply.
If she said ' Yes ', her father would expect her to marry Max sooner or later.
If she said ' No ' , her father might decide to not help Max since it brought him no tangible benefits to rile up Regus Aurelius over nothing.
Caught in a dilemma, Anna's face flushed red as a tomato. She looked like her brain had just short-circuited as her heart wanted to scream ' Yes ' but her mind was still hooked up on the problems that would arise with her answer.
After a lot of inner contemplation, Anna decided that she did not want to hide her intentions towards Max anymore and even if it led to problems she wanted to much rather deal with the arising issues than spending her life hiding her true feelings.
" Yes, I like him " Anna said in a meek voice as immediately the entire elven hall rejoiced and toasted their drinks.
" HAHAHAHA " the elf king laughed like a madman and proceeded to drink from his glass, only to toss it aside and drink the whole bottle.
" The Rajput brothers. Stealing the hearts of both my angels…. " The elf king said as he seemed extremely happy about this decision of Anna.
By now, Max Rajput was a household name, and with Rudra being back, his credentials had just skyrocketed.
There was not a single more eligible bachelor in the entire universe, and the elf king wasn't going to object to her daughter liking such a man.
This demeanour of his was in stark contrast to when he believed Rudra to be dead and Ruby to be widowed as back then he was certain that he had made a mistake by marrying his daughter to an ambitious man.
But his performance in the war changed everything.
The pride that the elf king felt towards his son in law for being the strongest in the universe was enough to wash away all old wounds.
With Anna's declaration of love, the elf king's support for Max was guaranteed, but the aftermath of this admission was yet to unfold.
***********
( Mira's POV )
The moment Mira had gotten Max's instruction letter, she had wanted to ignore it completely and ask her mother to schedule a raid on Ixtal, to burn the prison he was in down and save him through brute force.
It was only because Max seemed to be willingly in prison that Mira reluctantly kept her calm, as it seemed important to Max that his release happen the political way so that he could continue to live in peace inside the vampire society.
But, the moment the victory message came, Mira instantly rushed towards her mother's den as she wanted to immediately complete her role in his release.
Her mother at the time was still busy with political work and deciding the fate of the thousands of dragon's from the white, red and yellow dragon clans who were the defectors that had been defeated.
But despite her being busy, Mira decided to borrow her for a while as she stole her from the black dragon council meeting completely brazenly.
Rhea seemed to be a little disappointed in Mira for being so impatient, but it did not matter to Mira as she simply stated her demand.
" Mother, King Regus has imprisoned Max. In the upcoming meeting, I need you to put pressure on him to release Max.
Promise me you will- " Mira demanded as she met her mother's fiery gaze.
Rhea who seemed exasperated that her daughter pulled her away for an issue that was two days away, wanted to reprimand her, but looking into her eyes she knew that this probably meant the world to Mira as she reigned in her criticism.
" Of Course dear, the boy calls me Aunt Rhea, what sort of an elder would I be, if I did not cover for him? " Rhea said as she assured Mira that she would rally support for Max, before rejoining her more important meeting at hand.
Mira breathed a sigh of relief when her mother agreed as she was fully prepared to blackmail her if it was needed.
Max meant the world to her.
He was the one who saved her twice and was the one she could count on blindly in this tumultuous universe.
Her father always told her that there would be no-one who could keep up with her talents in the entire universe, but somehow Max had managed to keep up with her and even get ahead of her.
Mira was convinced that he was the only one who could keep up with her uptil the pinnacle of reaching the monarch realm
It was for this reason that Mira understood that just like her mother could only respect and love Dragoon, she would only ever be able to respect and love Max.
For him, she was ready to do anything.