Diaz exited his room at a slow pace. He directed himself toward the main Hall of the citadel in order to meet with his father and fulfill his duties as requested.

He was dressed in a colorful green and yellow tunic with blue trousers underneath, all held by a bronze belt with the symbol of the royal family. A good enough figure for a member of the royal family, but modestly so.

On his way to his destination, together with some escorts like his tutor Alexios and some of his trainees, young Diaz reminded himself how large was this citadel.

It was big enough to be called a small city, and in it resided nobles from several fiefs across the kingdom who participated daily in the court, the prominent among them joined daily in the Council of Nobles a group of powerful families who acted as councillors to the king advising him in management and politics. Only those with a peerage however were allowed to join(landed Barons and above).

The Citadel also housed the relatives of landed nobility, the so called gentry which made the bulk of the administration personnel, big companies and the elite of the royal army like the knights and heavy armored forces(man-at-arms).

On paper the citadel alone could muster a significant elite army of close to 10.000 heavily armored men if they included the personal escorts of each household. Considering the capital city below had 80.000 people living in it this was a significant force, on paper at least.

“My prince, up ahead” alerted his tutor, who by this point noticed that young Diaz was lost in thought, coming to know a bit of the young’s habits.

Not too far another group appeared in front of them, a quite large escort made of ladies-in-waiting and some armored older woman. In the middle Diaz saw the figure of a fair mature black haired woman with emerald eyes, dressed in a beautiful dress dyed in Blue and white, long sleeves, a pair of delicate white gloves and a emerald tiara atop her head. It was his mother, Queen Cassandra Lusian Vasconcy di Algeirs and her attendants.

“My Quee-”

*Plak!

The sound of a fan closing loudly interrupted the prince's greetings.

“Hello my dear son, you seem healthy,” said Queen Cassandra, giving a beautiful smile to her son.

“Why yes, I am being well taken care of by Matilda and the servants and sir Alexios keeps me active” responded the boy stoically.

“Is that so? I can see they did a good job too at choosing your garments, you are handsome my son.” happily said the queen.

“Thank you my Qu-”

*Clop!

A loud sound of a heel interrupted Diaz as he reminded himself of what just happened to his father. Taking a mental note to correct old bad habits.

“ Thank you Mother...”

“uh-hum~” the queen hummed, satisfied. Or at least Diaz thought so.

“Now, look at the sun, it seems we are going to be a bit late, so how about I help my little boy get to the main hall quickly since his steps are still small~?” Expressed the queen in a excited mood.

“What do you mean by help-” Tried to ask the prince while the queen quickly embraced the boy and lifted him, carrying him toward their destination.

“Now~Now~, no need to be shy.Oh my you're lighter than you seem~” the queen happily said, caring little for her surroundings.

“Wait!, there is no need for this My Quee-” Protested the young prince while being silenced by his mother with a finger on his lips.

“Shh~~, Children should be pampered by their parents, don't you agree?” whispered the queen with eyes who were very different from the previous caring and loving ones she showed.

Through the emerald eyes of Cassandra Diaz could see a deeper meaning than just of a mother trying to pamper her son, he could see the eyes of a cunning viper with another objective in mind.

Looking around, Diaz could see some people watching them, and so conceded.

“Yes...Mom”. Spoke Diaz to his mother, allowing her to do as she wished.

“Good boy~”. The queen, content, went on with the young prince, who despite not being small for his age, stayed all the way in her arms, with the queen not even breaking a sweat.

The Queen of Lusian, Cassandra wasn't just any woman.Not only was she the daughter of the Duke of Algier, one of the few powerful dukes who supported the king, but also the De facto Spymaster of the Kingdom, the one who dealt with the darkest secrets behind the scenes of the court.

The queen appearing in front of her son wasn't a coincidence, she planned to make a show in front of many servants, a demonstration of a loving mother and her child, of a beautiful and innocent scene that would surely have an impact to those seeing.

This show of affection had two Main objectives: 1 - improve the image of her son so he could be seen more as a normal kid like his age suggested. 2 - to dispel the gossip going around that Diaz was little cared for or even despised by the royals. A rumor born from the fact he was rarely seen by his parents.

The queen tackled these problems both because she loved her son and because she needed to protect the royal house image, for there were many internal enemies inside the kingdom who were ready to use any means in order to destabilize royal power.

For example, the queen got wind from her agents that some of the powerful dukes were trying to use their relatives inside the citadel in order to create a rumor that Diaz was a bastard and that the queen committed adultery, a clear lie since the prince had both the genetics of the king and queen right on everyone’s faces. Still this lie was given some credit due to the neglect he suffered until recently, and even more so by the fact that DIaz 2 younger siblings did not suffer the same amount of neglect.

This was likely done in order to diminish House Algier power and capacity to support the king by attacking Cassandra directly and forcing them to waste energy just to put down these rumours. It just shows how low some are willing to go in order to take down their rivals but they do so because it can be effective.

Still, she was the de facto Spymaster for a reason and Cassandra was not yet done dealing with this pesky rumor.

When the queen, Diaz and their escorts arrived at the backstage of the main Hall, with Cassandra still holding her son, they approached the king, who had the Third prince Teia, dressed similar to Diaz but with the colours similar to his mother, at his side, and presented themselves.

“My husband and my dear Teia, here I am with our little boy, ready for the feast.”

“...” Silently the king, who was now dressed in an imposing regalia of a long yellow golden cloak, a ceremonial coat of plates, cavalry boots and a crown, looked at his wife and son Diaz as if wanting to say something. However before he could say anything she handed over Diaz and placed him in the king's arms.

‘ If you want to get closer to him you have to consider his personality and be aggressive my husband, much like you do at night,’ the Queen whispered playfully.

“HEY!” protested the King.

“I will see the ladies at court, my loves, give it your all at your duties ok?” Said the queen to her husband and 2 sons, going off to the front of the Hall in order to greet guests.

“Then father, I shall take myself to my duty.” Said Diaz’s brother, Teia .

“Oh, yes go with my blessings, son.” responded the king seeing Teia off.

Diaz looked at his brother who had extreme semblance with his mother, while Teia looked back.

In Teia’s eyes Diaz could not see hostility but it also wasn't exactly joy that was there, perhaps a bit of curiosity and innocence. Still the fourth prince could not help but have a bit of a warm and new feeling seeing a young brother to himself for the first time, since he only had sisters in his previous life.

Teia seemed to notice a change in Diaz and smiled, waved and went off to join a bunch of children his age. something that surprised Diaz but also made him realise that this wasn't a bad family at all, as such there was still one thing this fourth prince had to do.

Diaz then looked at the king while still in his arms and said:

“Well then… Father ?”

“Y-Yes?” spoke the king quite a bit surprised, hearing his son calling him father for the first time.

“May I also have your blessing to go ?”

“Oh! Yes of course my son, go and have some fun, with my blessing” excitedly, the king gave a quick hug before putting down his son, seeing him off to a crowd of small children in another corner of the hall.

‘You truly are the Beloved of my life, wife’ whispered the king to himself, thanking his wife for the help in closing the distance he had with his son, even if just a little he was still happy about it.

Still he threw cold water in his excitement when he reminded himself that there was work to do, for this feast wasn't just to celebrate, but also to make announcements that would move the gears of war towards an escalation of the conflicts at the border.