Four years passed by and Arthur had turned from a weak child into the highest prospect of King. His muscles were toned to the point that it was impossible to find a single piece of fat on him and he carried himself with an extreme amount of pride. Despite this he was still very humble and cared for his people. By this point the people adored him and so did the neighbors. Although he had only done a little to lessen the tension between the two sides he had still made their lives a little easier.

Sadly, they weren't his only issue. The Anglo Saxons were becoming an even more prevalent threat. Despite them being very conservative in their attacks thus far they were growing and the Britons defenses were not capable of dealing with a full scale attack if made. Arthur had tasked a small group of knights to find candidates for the round table. A group to replace his father's group, the Grail knights as General's of his armies. He had already found a few candidates. Some of which were neighbors and capable of great feats that humans couldn't even fathom.

“Arthur!” Merlin yelled as he approached the training field.

“What is it, Merlin?” Arthur responded as he began wiping the sweat from himself with a rag.

“The Welsh have agreed to help us fight off the Saxons.” merlin stated.

“And?”

“Before they come to any agreement they require that you marry the princess as a sign of unity.” Merlin said solemnly.

“Merlin, you know how I feel about any form of marriage. Would one of the knights suffice? Many of them are nobles and have a place among my Court. I could make the Welsh’s hero a knight of the round table as well.” Arthur said.

“I already considered that but they will not take no or any form of replacement for an answer unless you want them to fight alongside the Saxons.” Merlin said with a sympathetic stare.

“Damn it all. Let’s discuss this inside.” Arthur said furiously as he marched to the castle.

Inside Arthur walked to a large circular room with a large wooden round table with at least fifty chairs sitting around it. Long purple drapes hung against the walls and a bowl of oil that constantly burned sat in the middle of the table to illuminate the room. Arthur sat in one of the chairs and placed his hand against his chin. Merlin as well sat down and reclined back a bit.

“Speak your mind. You know we are equals so please tell me what your unbridled thoughts are.” Arthu said.

“I do not think you are the wisest King by any account but you are the most caring. You’ll do what is best for your subjects even if it means causing yourself harm or unhappiness. That said, I understand you and Morgana have feelings that you want to accept and marrying someone else will make you miserable. It would also make me unhappy to watch you marry someone you don’t love just to protect your people. However, we cannot defeat the Saxons as we are now. We need the Welsh army's aid and we cannot receive it without that marriage.” Merlin said sternly.

“So as always I must do what is best for the people and forego my own desires. I will marry the Welsh princess but I have to say that if I could have stayed in that forest and never have become King then I would.” Arthur said angrily.

“Do you resent me for it?”

“No, you were only doing as my father asked and I can’t hold you responsible for respecting his wishes. Please go and tell the Welsh ambassador that I will discuss the proposal with him personally tomorrow.” Arthur said before standing up and pinching the bridge of his nose in contempt.

“As you wish.” Merlin said as he stood up and walked out of the room. As he did Morgana walked up to him.

“Have you seen Arthur? I can’t seem to find him anywhere.” she asked.

“He’s in there but now is probably not the best time. Being King is starting to break him.” Merlin whispered to her before walking off to carry out his duty.

“Arthur, what happened? Merlin seems worried about you all of the sudden.” She asked empathetically.

“I… I have to accept a wedding proposal. I’m so sorry.” He sighed heavily. Tears welled up in his eyes as he looked at her.

“W-what? Why?” she asked with a worried expression.

“We risk the downfall of all of the Briton Kingdoms from the Saxons and we needed support. The Welsh have agreed to help us fight on the condition that I marry their princess. I have no other choice.” Arthur said.

She stared at him as he began to cry. She too wanted to cry but was still in shock from what she just heard that instead she just hugged him and rubbed against his shoulder. She couldn’t grasp what she was hearing so she just let him sob continuously. Eventually he fell asleep and since she finally had made some sense of the situation she left him to sleep in the chair while she went to find Rhea.