บท 38: The Important Question

A single mirror was placed in front of a platinum-haired young man, while a group of politicians and military generals surrounded the mirror with curiosity-filled eyes. Luken wore a poker-face and tolerated his subordinates getting a little too familiar with Rowan, but his sullen eyes revealed a slight disdain for their close actions towards his friend.

"Wow! So you know the answer to everything?" A voice vibrated throughout the meeting room, enticing the annoyance of many who disliked his loud tone, though they were all somewhat noisy when arguing.

"Well no. I can only give the best answer possible to many questions, but it is a stretch to say I know everything. My knowledge is quite limited to whatever was in the library of Olinthus."

Many of the people within the room, particularly the ones from the military, were amazed. From what the man in the mirror had said, and from the clarification of Luken, Rowan had been detained in the castle for a decade, before being encased in the mirror. In both human and mirror form, he was forced to answer any questions the nobles had for him. They could not imagine not being able to freely go outside and run rampant. More pity was accumulated when they had also learned his only pastime in his human form was to read books and answer questions, but even then, he was pressured into learning as much as possible to become an efficient tool for Olinthus.

As for the single year when he was in the mirror? Rowan was not quite comfortable or willing to describe his time in an empty room and being completely stripped of his freedom. Fortunately, before anyone untactful enough to inquire of it was quick enough to shut their lips as Luken glared them down.

Not that it helped much in lowering their enthusiasm for Rowan.

In fact, it fueled their curiosity towards Rowan even more.

Why was their king so protective of Rowan?

Is Rowan close to their king?

Other than knowledge, does the king value anything else from Rowan?

The questions were inevitably related to the nature of their king's and Rowan's relationship. Everyone noticed how much King Luken valued the man in the mirror. From their current interactions to the previous times they noticed that Rowan (in the mirror form and usually put in a pocket) was never apart from Luken.

With their strong intentions to ask of their relationship, everyone circled around Rowan even more, causing Rowan to feel a bit crowded and nervous at their fervent energy.

"So, what do you think of King Luken?" Mara, being the only woman amongst the militaristic men, was also the only one being brave enough to ask the first question that delved into the private life of their leader.

"Luken is a decisive leader and is a powerful magic-user." All the subordinates nodded in agreement, they all had that impression too. Though, their false composures were nearly broken when they heard Rowan's follow up sentence, "Despite that, he is caring towards others and quite nice to converse with."

Caring? Maybe. They had seen Luken correcting Leni and training him up to be a good successor to the throne these past few years. Other than that, their king was quite a strict and merciless man when it comes to disciplining his subordinates. In other words, he was harsh and cold towards them.

Nice to converse with? No. Absolutely not. He never normally speaks with them. His words are treated more precious than gold. Even if he spoke long sentences, it came in the form of orders and declarations, rather than for a regular conversation over tea. None of them had ever held a friendly chat with their ice-cold king.

Even his childhood friend, Gale, was treated indifferently most of the time. They could still hear the echoes of Gale's sad wails from the mountains of paperwork that they dumped on him as Luken chillingly told him to finish the work by the deadline.

They all refused to make eye contact with Gale who was sitting next to Luken and still using a pen to finish off any paperwork during the meeting.

Luken, on the other hand, was not entangled as much as his subordinates. Instead, he was filled with a sense of pride and joy from Rowan's words. He felt his stomach flutter from the positive light that Rowan saw him in.

This (extremely large) inkling of happiness was quickly swept away when he heard the next question.

"Are you two just friends?" A rude and abrupt question, but it attracted the attention of everyone in the room. All the subordinates within were curious. Were they just friends or were they more? Gale is the king's closest confidant and friend, yet was not as highly valued as someone Luken met for less than a year!

Would they welcome a male queen?

Luken scanned the room with sharp eyes when the strange question was asked, only to be surprised that it was Leni who asked it.

The black-haired teenager was single-handedly chosen by him to become the next king of Nelumbo, just by the mere reasons that the boy was also a rare light element mage and had the qualities of being a good king: patient, smart, analytical and decisive.

Why would he be curious about the friendship between Rowan and himself? Also what was with the 'just' before the word 'friends'? What more could they be?

The roots of his ears turned slightly red when he realized the not-so underlying meaning behind Leni's words. Although shy, Luken perked his ears up to listen to Rowan's answer. Not sure what he was hoping for, he waited with a pounding heart.