Angel Monarch

Everyone stared between the Queen and the Princess in confusion.

Even Henry seemed surprised by her mother's request, since she hadn't mentioned anything about marriage during their conversation.

Vicky's reaction, on the other hand, surprised Elizabeth as well. She seemed quite eager to start the marriage preparations immediately, even though only a minute passed since Elizabeth made the proposition.

She kept on blabbering to Cass about her ideas for the wedding, not caring that her Aunt still tried to process everything.

"Wait! Wait, Princess Victoria! Don't you have anything against marrying so young? Don't you want time to consider the offer? Why did you accept without hesitation?"

Elizabeth desperately tried gaining more information about why Vicky seemed so eager. The girl had no hesitation when it came to accepting the forced marriage.

Her words brought confusion to Vicky. She stared down at Elizabeth like she was dumb.

"I mean, I love Henry, so why wouldn't I want to marry him? We already spend every day together, and even sleep together! Marriage would just mean I can officially be bound to him for life! Isn't that every girl's dream, to be bound to their loved one?"

Multiple groans echoed from the four bystanders as they shook their heads.

Vicky might've been amazing in many ways, yet her pure mentality was still child-like. Poor girl didn't even notice that her words could be easily misunderstood!

Slowly, Elizabeth's eyes widened as she mumbled to herself in shock. With a sudden move, she jumped to her feet and stepped towards Henry, who froze like a deer in headlights.

"What did she mean by sleeping together?! You're fifteen and she's only thirteen, for goodness' sake! I and Valerie taught you better, then to be with someone so young! That's disgusting, and simply wrong!"

Henry's mouth trembled as he tried forcing words through his throat, but his shock and fear felt overwhelming under her mother's righteous fury!

Elizabeth took a deep breath after screaming at her son. She then tried using calmer, more well-mannered words to get her point across.

"I understand… In your young age, I had urges too, but I never even considered someone younger or older than me!… I'm sure Victoria would accept if instead of using her, you found a classmate of your same age to… Uh… Who you can release your urges with!"

Her mother's words brought a headache to Henry and a heavy blush on his face. He tried looking away, but to the side, he only saw his friends giggling at Elizabeth's words.

She looked around with confusion, not understanding why they laughed.

Again, Henry tried opening his mouth, but the embarrassment was too overwhelming for words to form.

Vicky simply felt lost. She didn't understand neither Elizabeth's words, nor her friends' amusement. Her eyes kept bouncing between them, yet no revelation came to her young mind.

"What's wrong? Why are you all laughing?" Asked Vicky, when she had enough of feeling confused.

Sadly, her words only amused the four friends more.

While their laughter increased, Elizabeth turned around, staring into Vicky's white, annoyed eyes. A new realization dawned on the Queen, as she saw how lost Vicky was…

The young girl didn't understand what she was talking about!

"Victoria… Do you know what sex is?"

The white-haired girl just shook her head, still bewildered.

Elizabeth breathed a sigh of relief, but thinking the girl could be lying, she pried further!

"Then why did you say you slept with my son?"

By this point, Vicky felt that her state of confusion would stay with her for life, but she answered Elizabeth's question, anyway.

"Because I sleep with him, of course! We sleep together every night, in the same bed! He even cooks me breakfasts in the morning!"

Vicky smiled widely, with love basically oozing from her eyes.

Elizabeth just stared at her, finally understanding what Vicky was talking about… She meant they literally slept in the same bed… It wasn't a euphemism for sex!

It felt like years' worth of stress had been lifted off of her shoulder. With one hand, she swiped the sweat off her forehead, and with the other, she smacked her son's head.

"You stupid child! Why didn't you explain everything before I made a fool of myself!"

Henry rubbed the back of his hand while grinning up at her embarrassed mother.

"It's your fault. You shouldn't have expanded on the deal without discussing the new clause with me!… Anyway, when will we marry Vicky?"

The young girl's beautiful smile brightened the room as she looked up at her boyfriend.

"We can do whenever you want, but I think it's distasteful, since we just entered into a war with another continent… Let's wait a couple of weeks at least!"

Elizabeth looked between the two children, her expression fuming, her hands trembling with anger and shame.

"NO!" She shouted, bringing everyone's attention back to her.

The Queen took a moment to compose herself, while taking deep breaths.

"I changed my mind about my request!… I'll still give up on London's leadership, but you two can't get married until both of you turn 18! And you can't be 'intimate' until then!… I'm too young to be a grandma yet…"

She whispered the last part to herself, but her words still reached everyone's ears, causing the small room to burst into joyous laughter.

Eventually, the laughter died down, and they conversed regarding London's new state.

They had no intentions of announcing the change in leadership, but they also knew keeping such a gigantic change hidden was simply impossible.

To keep up the rouse, Elizabeth will stay acting like a Queen. While the Angelic Order's recruitment and the spreading of the religion will begin in full force.

The military will also start its integration. Luckily, the new commanders and generals hadn't made any significant progress yet, so more troops shouldn't cause a huge issue.

Even more surprising was Antal's reaction. He stayed silent throughout the conversation, but showed a clear interest in the deal's details.

When they finished talking through everything, and were about the leave, the handsome Stellar finally spoke after hours of silence.

"You know I've been thinking… I finally have some amount of understanding about why I was failing so much as a leader… The conversation with the Princess also enlightened me, but now that I listened to you discuss the future, I finally grasped it!"

Antal stared down at his perfect hands, with no bruises or calluses. A hand of someone who never worked too hard, of someone who killed a lot for freedom, yet never grasped its true meaning… Until now!

His eyes moved away from his hands and landed on Vicky's. She held a gentle smile, hiding her deep confusion.

"My view on freedom, on life, was too narrow. I never really engaged in conversation about these topics, so I never received different points of view… This was a huge mistake, as now I began to realize!"

A sad smile grew on his face while he maintained eye contact.

"I never had any real friends who could correct these mistakes. Before I knew it, dozens of yes-men surrounded me, agreeing to whatever I said, just to get ahead in life, or keep their miserable, high position in society…"

Elizabeth sighed with understanding and compassion. This was a similar situation she found herself in after Henry left.

People flocked to her in disguise. They offered a helping hand, yet tried bleeding her dry from everything, like positions, money, status, power.

Luckily, she figured out soon enough, and managed to keep them away, which raised another, even sadder problem… She found herself alone, with no friends or family to support her…

It already wasn't easy to be a Queen, but doing it alone felt worse than anything. Her loneliness became overwhelming, but her stubborn side refused to try contacting Henry.

This push and pull of her mind nearly made her go insane. She was already near the edge when Otto contacted her and provided an opportunity to make amends with her son.

Otto might be a two-faced, abusive piece of shit, but in a strange way, he saved Elizabeth from insanity!

She felt something similar was happening with Antal.

The Stellar leader of Buda-Pest never had any friends or companions. He always worked alone, since nobody ever seemed fit for his narrow view of the world.

He led the city-state since the Apocalypse, so if Elizabeth felt so lonely after two, just how bad Antal must feel?

The pain in his eyes told everything Elizabeth needed to know about his state of mind… The man seemed desperate, but deep down below the depression, hopeful light glinted in his light purple eyes.

It seemed Vicky noticed the same glimmer. She sat a bit farther away, so her hand moved through a portal and exited near Antal's. Her small hand gently touched his.

A shiver went through his body, as if nobody in a long time made such a genuine and kind gesture towards him.

"What do you mean, you never had real friends? Then what am I, Antal? A mere acquaintance? I believed we had a great conversation and considered you a friend! Did you not think of me in such a way?"

Vicky's firm, yet tender, voice calmed Antal down, and her words brought a wide smile to his face. He even blushed a bit, which on such a handsome face could've attracted even the straightest man!

Eventually, Antal's eyes turned away from Vicky's hand. As a lone tear went down his handsome cheeks, the man stared into her white eyes with a serious expression.

"You are my friend, and as a friend I hope you can help me… I've led Buda-Pest for thirty years! I never even experienced life outside of being a leader… Help me achieve this dream by taking care of my city!"