The Kingmaker System
Chapter 328 - 327. Hidden Pawn (1)

Chapter 328: 327. Hidden Pawn (1)

After two days, Alarice visited Ryujin and the first thing that shocked him was.

"You have a successor?!"

Kai stood beside me clutching at my cloak as his mana charged up the air feeling friction from Alarice’s Aura that spiked up.

"I would suggest you to keep your aura down, Your Grace. You’re scaring the child." I said calmly as I placed my arm and my Dragon’s Presence protectively around Kai.

Alarice relaxed a bit as he saw Kai’s expression and I brushed my hand over Kai’s head to make him relax.

We were currently sitting in the parlor with tea and refreshments and I wanted to introduce Kai to him.

"And what’s that?" Alarice asked as he saw the small blob of black sitting on my shoulder.

"This is Nox, my pet owl." I said brushing my fingers over its feathery small head.

"You... seem to have a lot of new people around." He said and then looked at Asher who was behind us.

"Yes,"

"Why didn’t you announce that you had a successor?" Alarice asked.

"Do you think that would have stopped the marriage proposals?" I asked as I picked up my tea cup.

Alarice sighed, "You will have to introduce him to the world soon though. You are a Marquis now so..."

Alarice’s eyes flitted to Kai as he paused and I understood what he meant. The King and the Queen were already wary of me and my growing power so they would do all they could to put reins on me and what could be the best way apart from marriage?

But still, if I announced to the world that I did have a successor then it would only make matters worse. First of all, Kai would be a potential target for those who want their daughters to be married to me and second, it would create a lot of trouble for my business and personal life.

"I understand what you mean, Your Grace. So, please don’t worry about that." I said and Alarice nodded before his eyes went to Kai.

"How old are you, young man?" He asked.

"Five years old." Kai said, his voice sounded softer and more timid but he didn’t stutter. That was a good sign.

"You’re quite young, huh." Alarice spoke before he looked at me.

"I didn’t know you had a son though,"

I looked at him pausing for a moment as I processed his words. He was thinking that Kai was my biological son, that’s what everyone thought who didn’t know I was Reina. So, did that mean...

"You think Kai is my biological son?" I asked to confirm.

"He looks exactly like you and his mana is also like yours so, isn’t he your son?" Alarice said and I smiled.

Lady Dahlia kept her word and didn’t even tell about me to her husband.

"Sadly enough, Kai is not my biological son. He’s my nephew." I said, "My sister passed away a couple of months ago and since he has no other living relative so, I adopted him as my own."

"Have you put his name on the family register?" Alarice asked.

I hadn’t. I was taking my time, to keep Kai hidden from the claws of the evil people here. He had already seen enough people who wanted to take advantage of him, I wanted him to breathe freely before I could allow some of that to make its existence known.

"Not yet,"

"What are you waiting for?" Alarice asked.

I looked at Kai who was looking in between both of us and I sighed.

"Asher, take Kai to his room." I said.

Asher moved and escorted Kai out. I watched them leave before the door closed behind them and a bit more till I couldn’t hear their footsteps.

"Kai... is a special child... he’s gone through very tough times because of a lot of greedy people. I don’t want the same to happen here right away."

I wanted Kai to be healed from his traumas first, I wasn’t going to make that child into an insensitive doll who would swallow his pain. I wanted him to make peace with his past, whatever happened to him was unfortunate but his present and future were not going to be like that. His present may be in my hands, but his future would be in his own and he needed to grow strong enough for that.

"But, you can’t keep him hidden for a long time." Alarice said and I nodded.

"I know, I’m only waiting till the war is over, then I’ll officially announce him as my successor."

"And till that time?"

"He will stay here,"

"Won’t the other nobles know of him?"

"How?"

Alarice sighed, "Being a Marquis and having land in Esmertia has made you into a target, Lord Ocean. You must know that."

"I do, but Kai is safe here."

Alarice sighed again as if not understanding my point and I leaned ahead, "As long as I’m alive none of my people would have to suffer, Your Grace."

I could feel my Dragon’s Presence sizzling as I added, "Humans are far too inferior to pose any threat to me or my people."

I felt a shiver run through Alarice before I leaned back retracting my Dragon’s Presence and stood up with a smile.

"Now, let’s go for the tour, shall we?"

I spent the whole day, showing Alarice Oasis and the Foundation’s school and hospital. He was impressed to see the people interacting so freely with me and also was a little taken aback by Doc who again like with Lady Dahlia didn’t bow to him.

"Your people are as eccentric as you are." He commented as we stepped into the forest that would lead us to Eldarf manor.

"I’ll take that as a compliment but that isn’t all that you’ve seen, Your Grace." I said and he looked at me.

Lyall had been with us all the while that we had our tour and as expected he knew we had a tail. But I had asked him to not do anything about it so, he was calm enough.

We entered the barrier and Alarice flinched.

"It’s a protective barrier for the people who live here, Your Grace. Don’t be worried." I said and he looked at me.

I had told Lady Dahlia and Sir Adler that Eldarf is a secret place which only could be accessed if I personally give someone permission and nobody was allowed to disclose its existence to anyone. Everyone had sworn to keep it a secret and if someone dared to cross the line then I wouldn’t discriminate in giving them hell.

Alarice just like Lady Dahlia was shocked to see the Elves and Dwarves. The kids were happy to yet again have a strong person and they were especially happy because he was Dahlia’s husband.

"Your Big Sister Dahlia’s husband!"

"Wow, you’re strong!"

"Your Aura is stronger than her!"

They were fawning around him and I sat back watching as he dealt with that.

Then, as if it was a ritual for whoever visited Eldarf Grand Duke Alarice had a spar with the kids.

He was hesitant at first considering that they were kids but they showed him that they weren’t to be taken lightly.

And just like Lady Dahlia, Alarice was also greatly impressed with their skills.

"They’re stronger than our average Seraph Knights." He summarised when they were done and I proudly stood in front of him with the kids discussing about their spar and strategies.

"Where did you even find them?" He asked looking at them with a gaze filled with admiration and awe.

"They’re from Izkar." I said making him whip his head and look at me.

"What?"

"Yes, Frosthail, Izkar." I said and he looked back at the kids and then at me.

"They were the slaves in that place, I bought them all and brought them here. In proper atmosphere and good training they’ve turned this strong." I said gesturing towards the kids who seemed quite happy.

Alarice watched them for a long time before he sighed with a small smile.

"I guess we never know what potential a person would have,"

"That’s true."

"It’s not true for you though, you must have had some idea that they would be so strong." He said and I smiled.

"Sort of." I said and he smiled shaking his head.

"It’s no wonder that my wife talks a lot about you. You are the kind of person to make a home in someone’s mind."

Alarice stayed the night in Ryujin while I and Lyall returned to Oasis for some pending work.

Lyall and I split up when we reached the town we had received a report that some people were trying to infiltrate the town using fake documents. They were given access as it rang a bell straight in Rose’s place. These people weren’t ordinary people.

They had an agenda. A person from my town was that agenda.

I went straight to the location that I got from Rose and was glad to see that I wasn’t quite late. The tail that we had were just there to confirm that I wouldn’t be involved in their work.

Too bad for them, I knew every thing that happened in my place.

I leapt from the roof and sliced off the head of one of the men while the girl who was being targeted let out a shocked yelp.

The others who noticed whipped immediately and saw me.

"Crap! It’s the Baron!"

"Retreat!"

I smirked as I stood straighter and asked, "You think you can run away?"

I gestured above us, the assassins from my guilds were all over the place looking down at the sitting ducks.

"Fools like you and your master think they can get away with messing with me. Don’t worry, I’ll make sure to teach you all a good lesson."