Inside his office The baron was sitting on his chair behind his desk, his elbows place atop and his hands were covering his mouth while his finger intertwined, he stared at the door waiting for his daughter to enter.

As he waited he began to seriously think, his trip to the capital was quite helpful as it managed to give him a grasp of what was going on and how the nobles were moving, it also made him see where his reputation stood.

His reputation amongst the nobles was not particularly bad, it seemed most see him as a recluse as such no one bothered him as they assume he liked his space, the thing about the nobility in the Elderon kingdom is that if you do not take the chance to interact with fellow nobles said nobles will not bother to interact with you.

Meaning if you do not invite them to your territory, they won't invite you into theirs either. As such it's important to hold parties and tea ceremonies.  

The reason Harold has not Invited anyone to his territory is mainly that, the only time he can relax and not worry about the possibility of a monster attack on his territory is during winter and during winter nobody would wish to reside in the north due to the cold, plus he, himself could not feel comfortable leaving his territory, even when he occasionally visited the capital he never felt at ease there, as such he always quickly leave and come back home.

Having recently Visited the capital he realized his attitude would not do because he needed to be active or at the very least mingle with fellow nobles.

That goal was somewhat achieved, thanks to the help of doctor Adam, it seems the capital is lacking doctors of the same caliber as Adam and because of that, he managed to gain favor with a few nobles, though it's still a long way before he can interact with nobles of high standing it's a start.

With the birth of twin princes, the successor to the throne is not obvious meaning that both princes have an equal chance, this means in the future there will be factions dividing the nobles into different camps that oppose each other. 

He needs to be in a faction that ensures the safety of his family and territory because there are several ambitious nobles who want control over the throne  and he needs to make sure the faction that ends up controlling the throne is not the faction filled with ambitious nobles that want to take control of every territory or amass power for war 

Succession wars can often be dangerous, assassinations are not uncommon and it's only a matter of time before the nobles set their sights on his Magic stone mine.

Once the nobles set their eyes on the mine, their first attempt would easily be the way of a proposal, but Harold would never let his children marry for political reasons, he has seen what a loveless marriage looks like and does not wish that upon his children, just like how he was allowed to marry the person he loves so it shall be for his children. 

This is where the assassination might come in, since he won't allow political marriages the nobles would easily remove him and his wife and con Emil to handing over the mine and territory  Or Put Elia in a situation that forces her to marry. 

The mere thought of his precious children suffering such a fate caused him to Tighten his hands in anger, he could not accept such an outcome.

'I'll crawl back from the depths of hell to stop it'

*knock knock*

A knock came from the door, causing Harold to come out of his thoughts.

"Enter"

The door opened and Elia entered, She did a bow before she spoke.

"Good afternoon father"

Harold scrutinized his daughter, and the first thing he noted was her pale complexion, it seemed a tad paler than he remembers it to be, and her eyes seemed a bit lighter in color, almost as if they were losing their blue shade and turning white.

'I could have sworn her eyes were a much brighter blue in color'

After noting her eyes and skin, he pushed those aside for now and he looked at her dress, a blue one-piece ball gown dress, the one she was wearing two days ago, he also noted the way she bowed rather than curtsy.

'Might be time to teach her about noble etiquette'

"Good afternoon daughter, I hear you've spent the past two days in the library, did you learn anything of value?"

"Yes, father. My visits to the library have been quite informative and enjoyable"

Elia politely answer, it always surprised him how well-spoken and mature she was,  while she had her childish moments, it seems she was at least aware of her environment.

"I see, I'm glad you liked it, I called you here today because I think it's time you learned about noble etiquette and because next year You will be participating in a children's ball and it would be a great opportunity to make friends" 

Harold explains, once noble children turn 6 years old they will be formally introduced to noble society and Start forming friendships with other noble children, however as per law parents are not to say which children their child should get along with or try to befriend as that would ruin the point of children making friends with other children. It is only when they turn 12 years that children can be introduced to the political side of things.   

"Is my attendance at this ball Mandatory? father"

"Mandatory no, however, It is necessary for future relationships"

Harold answered it seems his daughter is similar to him in a way, dealing with people can be somewhat tiring.

"I see, then what must I do"

"I will Hire an etiquette teacher and a tutor for you by the start of next week, how about your magic training is it going well "

"Yes, but sensei seems to be hesitating to teach me more advanced magics but I will be patient."

Harold noted the strange word she spoke, while he does find it adorable that she made her own words, she will need to discard such words in the future.

"I see, good.  you can go back to what you were doing, you are dismissed"

He said and Elia did a bow before exiting the room, leaving the Baron to his devices.

.........

A/N: hello again, this might be abrupt but I'll be pausing this for while, I have so much stuff to do so this will be on hold, Sorry