After calming down, Warrick and Aqua asked for my group to sit down. Sarah sat at the left side of Warrick, opposite of Aqua. Cynthia sat next to Aqua. I sat next to Sarah, so I was opposite Cynthia. Asha sat next to me and her father, who was on her right. Sharon sat next to Cynthia and her father. I was confused why Sharon and Asha were technically sitting above their parents. Sarah seeing my confusion, spoke to me.

  " They want their Daughters to be close to their Friends. And allow them to be part of the conversation as Etiquette Training."

  " Ah, I see."

  While sitting, waiting to see who would talk first, Warrick started to speak to me.

  " Marquess John, allow me to introduce the people here! To Lady Asha's right is Duke Adam Clearfield and his wife, Penelope Clearfield. To the left of Sharon is her Parents Baron Clark Ashblade and his wife, Tina Ashblade."

  " It's a pleasure to meet you all. As Friends with Sarah, Your Daughters have helped take care of me the past few days. And I hope they can continue to do so in the coming months."

  The first to speak was Lady Clearfield. She was dressed in a light-yellow dress that contrasted well with her strawberry blonde hair. She looked like a more mature Asha. Her eye color was the same as Asha's as well. Anyways she spoke to me.

  " It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Marquess John. My Husband and I would like to express our gratitude in saving Princess Sarah's life. My Daughter was beyond herself with grief before the news reached us. My Husband and I have wanted to thank you in person for a while now, but Responsibilities of a Duke are time consuming."

  " You're welcome, Lady Clearfield. I'm also very glad I was able to save Sarah."

  After I responded to her, she turned to her husband with a warm smile. Her husband, Adam Clearfield looked like a typical fantasy hero. Blue eyes and golden blonde hair he looked human if not for his height and the 2 black horns coming out the top of his head, almost like dog ears. He was around the same height as Warrick, his wife only a few inches shorter than him. He stared at me with a warm look in his eyes and began to speak.

  " My Love, apparently, he saved Princess Sarah not once, but twice. How Heroic of you, Marquess John!"

  " I just did what I thought was right... Also, if I'm being honest, I was very angry at them. The fact that they were able to take Sarah right in front of my eyes. I wasn't going to just walk away."

  * Grip! pressure. Warmth.*

  Sarah held my tense hand as I spoke, I relaxed my muscles and smiled at her, she returned the smile. To think if anything didn't go right, I wouldn't have this warmth next to me.

  * grip.*

  I hold her hand with my free hand, I squeeze it gently. While this was going on, Lady Clearfield began to speak.

  " What strong emotion you have for Princess Sarah. However, whatever feelings you had at the time back then. You were still able to save Princess Sarah and bring both yourself and Princess Cynthia back with no injuries, I think that is quite splendid."

  Lady Clearfield smiled at me. My God! She's so kind, why can't Asha be like tha..

  * Pain!*

  " Ouch!"

  I Look to my right and see Asha was pinching my side. Why?

  " Why are you pinching me?"

  " Because you were thinking something rude."

  " How could you possibly know?"

  " A Lady's Training requires being able to read people."

  " What does the training say about pinching someone in front of a King?"

  " Covert Operations are allowed."

  " And if I were to bring it up?"

  " I'd make you take Responsibility."

  " What is this about "Responsibility", Asha?"

  Sarah cut into our conversation. I guess after hearing a certain trigger word? Asha began to stammer, I sighed and covered for her.

  " She mentioned how I'd have to take Responsibility for deepening your Love for me."

  " Oh, is that so?"

  Sarah had a sharp glance pointed at Asha. Why are Cynthia and Sharon staring at her as well? Regardless, Baron Ashblade began to speak to me as well.

  " Marquess John, My Wife and I would also like to extend our thanks. Our Daughter's demeanor shifted once she was able to go visit Princess Sarah after she had recovered. I thought at first after she had beaten me in a sparring session, she may lose her motivation to grow. But since arriving here, she has had a completely new drive."

  Baron Clark looked like a professional fighter, thick muscles, but not to the point where it looks like it'll slow him down in a fight. Fitting considering he's a military man I suppose? He had somewhat long black hair and black eyes. As he stared at me, waiting for a reply, I began to speak.

  " You're welcome, Baron Ashblade, I'm not positive it is because of my influence that Sharon has decided to train with vigor. I'm sure it had just as much to do with Sarah's drive to fight the Hero's Party."

  Baron Clark looked satisfied with my answer. Lady Ashblade began to speak to me next.

  " I would also like to thank you for helping my Daughter! Sir John!"

  Lady Ashblade seemed uncomfortable. Her light blue eyes were darting back and forth in a fast manner... I remember now! She was originally a Commoner! She's so nervous, she called me Sir instead of Marquess! I decided to help her out.

  " As it seems I'm the man of the hour, would it be ok if everyone could grant a request for me?"

  Everyone looked at me in interest. Lady Ashblade looked horrified. Maybe she noticed she technically messed up? I hope to fix that.

  " If it would be ok for everyone, I understand we are in front of a King and Queen, but can everyone just call me John in private?"

  Everyone seemed to notice what I was doing, they all agreed. Lady Ashblade seemed to be looking guilty. I started to speak.

  " I appreciate that, I'm from a Country where monarchy doesn't exist. So honestly, all the etiquette wears me out. I may be a Noble of High Rank, but I'm still not even sure what I'm supposed to do with the Marquess Title.

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  I rub the back of my head to emphasize my feelings on the topic. The Baron couple look at me with sympathy. The Baron slightly so, his wife looked like she found a lost puppy on the side of the road. The Duke looked at me with empathetic eyes, he too seems has some feelings of being tossed into a High Noble Ranking by this royal couple. But he chose it himself in a way, Love does have its challenges to overcome, keep fighting on man. His wife just had an awkward smile towards me and her husband. Meanwhile, Warrick and Aqua sat with awkward expressions on their faces. Cynthia looked at me for a brief moment, then turned her face away from me to her mother, why is her face red?

  The strangest of the looks however were from the trio of friends. Sharon had a similar look as the Duke. But there was something else in her stare? I was puzzled by it, but Asha's was even stranger. She simply wasn't looking at me. She simply looked at her parents. and began to mumble something that sounded like the word " Unfair" I decided not to poke the bear and simply turn to Sarah... Why is she staring so sharply at her 2 friends? To break this weird mood, Aqua began to speak.

  " Now that he's said it, we can finally stop this silliness! Pena, Tina, I'm coming over!"

  Aqua began to get up and walk towards the wives. Warrick began to speak.

  " See? I told you guys he'd say it eventually! John, as for your role as a Noble, don't worry. Aqua and I will be picking a few teachers for the know how you need going forward. Now, having said all of that! Adam, Clark I'm coming over!"

  Warrick began to walk over. After shuffling some chairs. The younger people were at the head of the table, with a bit of an awkward atmosphere for some reason. And the parents were having a jovial conversation like it was a party. I tried to speak to everyone, but I was silenced by Sarah who began to speak instead.

  " Asha, Sharon, we can have a conversation about this later. For now, let's just enjoy the dinner. Cynthia, you should speak more freely like Our Parents. Why not make some positive impressions everyone!?"

  The girls all started to act a bit more upbeat, and dinner was an upbeat affair considering how it all started. After dinner, Warrick came up to me and asked me for my opinion on Sarah's kidnappers. Everyone listened to my thoughts intently. After I finished explaining the events, I began to voice my thoughts.

  " So, after thinking a bit, I think there's about 3 different possibilities. the 1st, is the simplest and least complicated, but also the one I find the most unlikely. This possibility is that the one responsible for Sarah's Curse decided to try to grab her today. Evidence for this is very light however and it doesn't fit the previous actions of trying to kill her."

  " I see. I also thought about that idea and found it unlikely."

  Warrick seemed to agree with me.

  " The 2nd and more likely possibility to me, is that someone from Promethia somehow convinced those Demons to kidnap Sarah and bring her to Promethia. There are 3 points against this theory the first of them being the Demons who kidnapped Sarah seemed to be mercenaries that were formally military men, meaning they probably hold certain views towards Promethia. The 2nd being that I believe one of their men is a Necromancer, which as you said Warrick, Promethia's religion discriminates against them. The 3rd reason being they didn't actually do anything to Sarah. If they were after Sarah, I think they would have injured or killed her outright to stop her from escaping or being able to fight back. Which leads to my 3rd idea, also the one I find the most likely."

  Everyone was considerably quiet and focused on me as I spoke. I continued on.

  " I believe that a Noble from Diablos attempted this kidnapping, because they don't want Sarah to marry me. Whether this has to do with certain feelings towards Sarah. Or certain feelings towards me or more likely, feelings towards Humans in general. I think it is someone with close ties to the military, A respected figure in the military and most likely in Diablos. They would be either a bachelor or a mother or father of a bachelor seeking to force marriage on Sarah to himself or the bachelor son. I think this explains why they captured her as quickly as possible, why they kept her in a Barrier instead of hurting or confining her. And the amount of money and respect it would take for such strong solders to turn on their King and Country."

  Everyone seemed shocked, before anyone could speak, Sarah approached me and hugged me. She then began to speak in a shaky voice.

  " I won't ever allow myself to suffer such a situation. I am your Fiancé and only yours."

  " I know, Sarah. I know."

  I returned her hug. It took a few minutes for her to calm down. Cynthia began to speak next.

  " If that's the case, why would they want to capture me?"

  " My best guess, they would use you as a political tool. Either setting your return as a condition to leave Sarah to the marriage partner or marry you off to create an alliance with someone. I don't know if I said it aloud, but, I really am thankful I could save you both today."

  Cynthia blushed, before long Warrick began to speak.

  " I see, I'll have the appropriate people look into this. I can compile a good list of suspects I imagine. Now with that out of the way. We seem to be up against even greater odds now. Sarah, John, Asha, Sharon, Anna and Cynthia, from now on, don't separate from each other for long. I ask you 4 to look after My Daughters while Aqua and I cannot. Anna, Cynthia, from now on, you both are going to be joining our training sessions. Cynthia, I'll write a Royal Decree to give you time away from the Academy from now on, my first priority is going to be whipping you all into shape individually and as a group, this will reflect in the training from now on. Tomorrow will be another rest day. We can relax and bid the Clearfield's and Ashblade's farewell as they leave. "

  Warrick said his piece. There's a giant elephant in the room for me. I think about the pros and cons of asking it, but this involves Sarah and Cynthia's safety, so I feel compelled to. I begin to speak.

  " I apologize in advance for how this sounds but, Baron Ashblade, do you have any unmarried sons?"

  Sharon had a certain look in her eyes, but I decided to ignore her and focused on her father. A few people in the room had a similar look, except for the Baron and his wife.

  " Ah don't worry, John, I understand where you are coming from. No, I do not have any sons, I have been blessed with 3 daughters! And a marriage to the Love of my life!"

  He had a giant grin on his face. I smiled as well. and begin to speak.

  " I'll apologize again. I truly am sorry, it's just that I know you fit the description, and everyone trusts you here. I feel I would be the only one to make such a connection... Again, I am so sorry!"

  I bowed to the Baron. I began to hear 2 sets of footsteps approaching. I didn't move even as they stopped in front of me. Lady Ashblade was the first to speak.

  " Raise your head, John. A Marquess shouldn't bow to a Baron so easily. My Husband is many things, but a liar has never been one of them. He truly doesn't seem to feel anything wrong with what you have said. I feel a little insulted, but I know it comes from your feelings regarding both of the Princesses and their safety. So please, raise your head."

  I did as I was asked. I was met with 2 warm smiles. I then felt a large warm hand on my head, it rubbed my head gently. Baron Ashblade began to speak.

  " I will never fault you for trying to protect the people you Love. However, if you truly wish to apologize to me. Watch over My Daughter and Lady Asha along with the Princesses during these chaotic times. We would do it ourselves, but unfortunately, Adam and I will have to return to our Territories for work. "

  After he spoke, he returned his hand to his side. I answered him with honesty.

  " I was always going to do that during our time together. But now I'll put in 110% of my effort into it! You have my word!"

  Once everything was done, we all began to head back to our rooms. Except of course, for Sarah and me. We met on a balcony before heading to our respective rooms. I asked her what she wished to speak about.

  " I simply wanted to spend some more time with you today, seeing as how we were robbed of time today. I plan to regain what I lost today. And also, I want to hear what you have to say about today."

  * Squeeze. Tighten*

  Sarah proceeded to hug me after she finished speaking. I returned her hug and gripped her tight and began to speak.

  " I was so worried about you today. I was so angry at myself for failing to protect you. I was so scared that I'd be helpless to save you like with my Parents. I feared I'd never see your smile again."

  * Wet. Warm.*

  I tightened my grip and tears began to flow. Sarah began to speak to me through her own crying.

  " I was so worried about you when I woke up. I dreamed that you had been hurt so badly... I awoke to find you missing from my side, surrounded by strange men and trapped like a dog in a cage. When I heard the commotion, I knew it was you. I was so scared you would hurt yourself trying to save me. I nearly lost my will to live when you hobbled into the room. Don't ever do something like that again without telling me! If not for Cynthia reminding me, I would have lost my mind in grief!"

  " I'm sorry you had to go through that. I promise I'll get so strong I won't ever have to use tricks like that again. I'll get so strong that when anyone tries to separate us, I'll end them in one move regardless of who they are! I swear it, Sarah! I swear it."

  We simply held each other in our arms and cried for half an hour. Sarah, Satisfied now, kissed me on the forehead and decided to retire for the night. I followed suit. After a bath, I entered my bedroom. Anna had to prepare a few things for the training tomorrow. Apparently, everyone will follow my schedule from now on. from Aqua's to Warrick's classes. I slept well that night, with new goals and determination to guide me from now on.