"Young, handsome, noble, and with those big brown eyes that sparkled like stars when he talked about his dream of building a Kingdom for everyone. Lochra and I took interest in him but sadly, he was already taken." Menadion shook her head in disappointment. "Sadly." Tyris echoed, her voice oozing mockery and sarcasm. "Win some, lose some." Menadion shrugged, completely missing the Guardian's point. "Mo-enadion!" The dreamy way Ripha talked about the First King sounded like a betrayal to Solus. No matter if her father wasn't even born back then, Solus found it an insult to Threin's memory. "What?" Menadion replied in confusion. "Go back to the story and please skip useless details." Solus' voice was calm, but the fire in her eyes told Menadion that she was in trouble for some reason. "As I was saying, Valeron had come to us to get his hands on some decent equipment for his most trusted generals." Menadion said. "While he waited, he went on and on about what he would have done when the war was over and how everyone would have been better for it. "With her usual bluntness, Lochra mocked Valeron, claiming he was delusional and that he would never win. Valeron took offense and dared Lochra to put her money where her mouth was. "She of course accepted and the bet was sealed. If Valeron won, Lochra would build the Royal Palace out of her own pocket. If Lochra won, Valeron would give her all the war funds he had left and serve as her apprentice for a hundred years. "You know the rest. What you may not know is that after the situation stabilized, Valeron built the six great academies, and that time he actually paid us. Also, by teaching Lochra's legacy and giving her the title of Magus, she earned more than she spent on the castle just with her book, The Basics of Magic." "You know, I've never understood why Valeron chose this city as the capital." Elina asked. "It doesn't hold a central position, it has no strategical relevance, and it has no abundance of food or magical resources." "Good question." Menadion looked at Sylpha who in turn looked at Tyris. "Because this is where everything started." The Guardian replied. "Valeron was born here over a thousand years ago. His house stood right at the foot of this hill, surrounded by his family's fields. "On this hill, I watched a young Valeron getting almost beaten to death by bandits to defend an old merchant he didn't even know. The old man managed to get away with his money and merchandise but never bothered to send help to his savior so I did. "Here I healed Valeron's wounds, turned down his marriage proposal, taught him about Awakening, turned down the second marriage proposal, and then taught him the basics of Spirit and elemental magic. "There were many other marriage proposals in between but it would be too long to enumerate them all. Long story short, I expected Valeron to become your average Awakened. Happy, self-centered, and obscenely rich. "Instead, he never craved more power than he needed to keep his village safe. He accepted the role of village chief only because the other candidates were corrupt and he never took more money than he considered fair for his work. "Valeron never struck first. He simply annexed the territories of those he defeated, and only because he was appalled by the living conditions of their people. You can't imagine how surprised I was when small kings and petty lords attacked Valeron's fiefdom and lost. "They felt threatened by his growing power or enticed by his alleged riches and invited disaster into their homes. Valeron was an incredible mage and warrior, but that wasn't the secret of his strength. "Nor was the fact that he always took the weapons of his fallen enemies and used them to reinforce his army. His secret was his voice. When he talked, he made you feel as strong as he was, see within your reach goals that you had always considered impossible. "When Valeron led his men into battle, a bunch of farmers, artisans, and merchants would turn into a frenzied horde of demons who fought harder than any slave or mercenary could. "Once real soldiers and knights joined him after hearing about his reputation, victory wasn't just possible, it was inevitable. The rest is history. He conquered as far as my turf extends, proposed to me for the fifty-second time, and I accepted. "Then, he came back home and erected our home in the place where we first met." Every woman in the room awwwed, sighing like a furnace. Kamila included. "I'm right here, you know?" Lith's grunt snapped her out of her reverie. When she turned to look at her husband, there was a disappointed look in his eyes and the coldness in his voice could have frozen the entire Royal Palace many times over. "I'm sorry! I swear, I'm nothing like her!" Kamila pointed at Menadion, throwing the Ruler of the Flames under the bus in the hope it would help. "Hey! As I've already said, this happened hundreds of years before Threin was even born!" Ripha said but Kamila ignored her and continued. "I'm not infatuated with Valeron the First. I just find his story and gestures incredibly romantic." "I see." Lith nodded, making her inwardly sigh in relief. "So our story and everything I've done are not. Duly noted." "That's not what I meant." She gulped hard, following Lith's gaze moving from her to Tyris and back before shaking his head. 'I could have told her that I would have done the same if she was like Tyris but that would be petty and pointlessly cruel.' He thought. 'I want her to make up for her rudeness, not destroy my marriage.' 'Thank the gods he didn't say something like: "Valeron did it because Tyris is worth it, you are not." I doubt I would have ever recovered from the blow.' Kamila thought. 'Yet that's what I have just done by comparing him with Valeron. Gods, why am I so stupid?' 'Thank the gods I'm single.' Solus thought, noticing the panic on the faces of her companions. "Dear, please, don't tell your father about this story." Elina grabbed his hand. "If he hears about it from you, it'd kill him. I know I've been stupid and I have to tell him myself." "Don't worry, Mom. I know you didn't have bad intentions. There's no point in ruining your vacation. This can wait until we go back home." Lith replied with a warm smile that dispelled the cold of his previous attitude. "Why only Mom? What about me?" Rena asked. "Mom is a pure soul." Lith snorted. "As for you, I'm telling Senton as soon as we return to the hotel. I'm sure he'll love to hear how the mother of his children fawns over another man." In the ensuing chaos, Elina giggled softly while the Queen thanked the gods for the absence of surveillance mirrors inside Valeron's exhibit. 'If I tell Meron, he might never forgive me but if I don't, I'll feel guilty every time he does or says something nice for me. No matter what I do, I'm screwed.' She thought.