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"After you," the woman said, turning toward the king and maid.

Nodding his head, Astaroth gestured the maid to go first, before following immediately after. Stepping in the bright light, his body felt sucked inside the root, travelling at high speeds, not unlike when he used Luna\'s Travelling Roots spell.

They soon exited through the wooden surface, inside a brightly lit room filled with luxurious wooden furniture and plants in every corner. By the massive desk in the middle of the room, he could guess this was the woman\'s office, if he went solely by her title of commander.

As the woman came out of the wall last, the opening-closing behind her, she walked over to the desk and sat behind it.

She motioned to the seat across from her.

"Sit."

Astaroth suddenly felt like he was back in high school, meeting the director after pulling a prank on his teachers. He swallowed nervously.

"I would prefer to remain standing, if you don\'t mind."

"Sit," she repeated, her tone final.

"You know I\'m the king, ri—"

"At the moment, I couldn\'t care if you were the king of the world. I said sit."

"Yes, Ma\'am!"

Astaroth swallowed his arguments and sat his ass in the chair. Something about the way this woman was talking to him reminded him of his mother.

The calm exterior, with a steady tone, did nothing to hide the boiling anger beneath her surface. From experience, he knew best to listen than argue against these women.

\'Women truly are the scariest thing in existence,\' he thought to himself, suddenly feeling under pressure.

His palms were already sweating up in nervousness, as the woman stared at him in silence.

Meanwhile, the maid stood behind him, her head bowed toward the Elf.

The commander, Alena, rose her eyes to look at the maid.

"Coral, my dear, sit down as well, please."

The tone used for the maid differed so much from the one employed toward Astaroth that he almost whined in protest. But he held back the urge, feeling like it would be a bad idea.

"As you wish, Commander Alena."

The maid pulled up a small chair from the side and sat a bit in retreat to Astaroth, her head still lowered, while the commander looked at her with a tinge of sadness.

"When will you stop calling me that? I thought we were well past that stage of our relationship."

"I\'m sorry, Commander. But in light of the king\'s presence, I don\'t think we should be as much at ease as in private."

The maid kept her head down low as she replied. She knew the king didn\'t mind more casualness, but in the presence of both the king and the commander, it was best to remain cordial and well-mannered.

Alena turned her head toward Astaroth.

"Do you even care about such protocols and etiquette?"

"Oh, dear gods, no. Do as you please. I have already told her to be casual around me."

Smiling at Astaroth, Alena turned her head back to Coral.

"You heard him. We can drop the pretenses and act normal. Who cares if my son isn\'t present right now?"

"If you wish, mother."

\'Wait… Mother?\' Astaroth thought.

He looked at Coral, and she was clearly Human, whilst Alena was an Elf. Then another point clicked.

"Wait a minute. Coral, is this woman your in-law?"

The maid nodded as the commander cleared her throat loudly.

"This woman, as you say, would prefer you keep up proper etiquette with her, at least until you apologize. It\'s Commander Alena, for you."

Astaroth was again confused at the stern attitude she held toward him. He wondered what she wanted apologies for as well.

"I\'m sorry, what? Apologize for what?"

Scoffing at his cluelessness, Alena stood up and walked in front of him, staring deeply into his eyes.

"For many things. But first, how about you apologize to my dear daughter-in-law for scaring the life out of her? From there, I can tell you what to apologize for in plenty of detail."

Coral hurriedly waved her hands in front of her.

"No! Please, Mother. He doesn\'t need to apologize. He has done nothing wrong."

"Nonsense, dear! He brought you to a dangerous place, putting you at risk, and caused you to fall to your death. That alone would make me arrest him and have him whipped if he wasn\'t the king."

Coral looked at the woman pleadingly.

"I assure you, Mother. He wasn\'t the reason I fell. If something, Castien is the one that startled me, and he is to blame for that fall. The king is the one that saved me."

"That is yet another reason he needs to apologize," Alena said, turning her head to Astaroth.

"The way he gripped you to carry you to the ground was highly inappropriate and too handsy to my tastes."

"To my defence, there weren\'t many ways to catch her as she was falling and flailing about…" Astaroth tried pleading.

To which, the Elven woman promptly delivered him a small smack to the back of his head.

"Drop your excuses. Who brings a young maiden up to such a place, if not to try to flirt with her?"

"You have my intentions wrong. I only wanted to show her the view. I was there to reminisce, myself, and nothing more."

Even Coral vehemently protested there.

"Mother, the king has done nothing of the such. He stayed a gentleman and only ever spoke that way of the queen."

The Commander eyed Astaroth with daggers in her eyes.

"Very well, I retract the need to apologize for this matter. But that isn\'t all. There is still the matter of making all my sentinels look like idiots, by transforming into a monster. Or yet again, the lack of permission to go up into the canopy unaccompanied."

Astaroth was starting to get frustrated at the stubborn woman.

"I doubt I need permission to go anywhere in this kingdom, and I also don\'t need an escort. You are being unreasonable…"

Commander Alena suddenly became furious, her not being used to being talked back to, and as she was about to clench Astaroth\'s collar to give him a good talking to, Coral jumped up.

"No! Don\'t you ruffle the clothes I so carefully prepared for him! This farce has gone far enough, Commander Alena. Please contain yourself in front of our monarch!"

The sudden spunk she showed took both the woman and Astaroth by surprise, as Coral\'s beet-red face scrunched up angrily. But then she immediately shrunk back on herself.

"My apologies for losing my temper. But maybe we please move past this dead-lock of attitudes? It is getting tiresome."

Astaroth only nodded, calming down immediately, as the Elven woman centred herself back, straightening out the wrinkles in her outfit.

"Very well. In this case, let us get to the reason I brought you up here, King Astaroth."

"I am all ears."