"Do you know how Gaius Julius Caesar died, Arthur?"

"Yes, I know. He was stabbed to death in the Senate."

"Yes, he was stabbed to death by his closest ones. Caesar was a lion, but a dozen hyenas can kill a lion. Especially if those hyenas are the people you trust, then you don't stand a chance, Arthur."

-----

Ethan opened his heavy eyelids and saw the beautiful woman lying next to him. Luna's hair was disheveled and the traces of last night could be seen on her body even from a distance. Ethan began to caress Luna's stomach, which was completely naked. He had lost control of himself last night and there was a chance that Luna might be pregnant. Of course, Ethan knew from his previous life that women had a 20 percent chance of getting pregnant after sex, but there was still a chance that Luna could be pregnant, and frankly, Ethan had no problem with that. But He just didn't think he was ready to be a father yet and if he was going to be a father, he wanted to do it after the war.

While Ethan was lost in thought, Luna felt a gentle hand on her stomach and opened her eyes, looking at Ethan. She held his hand tightly on her stomach and leaned towards him. With his other hand, she fixed Luna's disheveled hair, planted a kiss on her cheek, and continued to stroke Luna's stomach, trying to find the right words.

"You know... Last night was amazing, but because of what we did, we might have maybe a child..." Ethan said.

Ethan's words brought a faint smile to Luna's face. "You would be a wonderful father" she said.

"I'm sure you'd be a wonderful mother too, but I think I need to wait a bit for this. You know" he said.

"Don't you want a child? Or don't you like children? " Luna asked, surprised.

"Actually, I'm not particularly fond of children, but if I have a child, of course, I'll love him or her. But that's not the point. We're both very young, and I have a tough battle ahead of me. I think we should postpone this for now" Ethan said as he got out of bed and straightened his rumpled clothes. While Ethan was getting dressed, Luna looked at him with a pensive expression on her face.

Seeing Luna's sad expression, Ethan sat back on the bed and reached out to her. "Hey, don't be so touchy . I love you, okay?"

"Okay. I just... I don't know. I felt so happy before going to sleep last night... and now I don't know , Ethan. Anyway, I understand what you mean, and you're right, I need to wait," Luna said.

"Yeah, thanks for understanding," Ethan said, quickly kissing Luna's lips and getting up. He then went to the dining room with Luna to have breakfast. After breakfast, he went to his father's study, which had become part of his daily routine. He was receiving training from Richard almost every day, and although at first he thought this training was useless, Ethan's opinion had changed over time. He felt he was learning something new every day with his father, and sometimes he realized that things he hadn't cared about were actually worth paying attention to.

And so Ethan continued with his daily routines. The days were passing quickly, and some nobles had already arrived in the capital. Richard had given orders to all his vassals and had ordered the army to gather. Gathering an army depended on many factors and usually took time, but Richard wanted it to be as fast as possible, and it seemed that this time the nobles were trying to gather quickly. Although it seemed that the insults from Alpshar were the reason for the nobles' excitement for this war, in reality the nobles were selfish and arrogant by nature. What excited the nobles in this war was Alpshar's wealth.

Alpshar had a great kingdom and was incredibly wealthy. In recent years, Alpshar had renovated his capital from top to bottom and had created one of the most beautiful cities on the continent. All these were details showing Alpshar's wealth, and apparently that was enough to make the nobles' mouths water. Normally, the nobles, who begged the king not to go to war, were now writing praises to Richard with their saliva and saying that they wanted to be in the front lines of the army. But fortunately, the nobles' greed was quite useful to Richard.

While Richard was trying to gather the army, one day he received a letter from the Kingdom of Merdonbia. The letter briefly stated that they hated Alpshar and declared war on him with the power of God. Therefore, an approximately 10,000-strong army from Merdonbia had arrived in the Asina kingdom, and they would fight against the barbarians from the south. Richard wrote a letter to the former Queen of Moritan, who was now the Duchess of the Asina Kingdom, and told her to meet the Merdonbian army. After all, the lands where the former queen resided were close to the Kingdom of Merdonbia. After finishing the letter, Richard looked at Ethan, who was quietly reading a book in a corner.

" come here, son'' Richard said.

Ethan got up and approached his father's desk. "Do you need something ?" he asked.

"According to the this letter, soon an army belonging to the Kingdom of Merdonbia will come here to help us in the war,and the number of man reaches around 10,000 ."

"Wow, that's great news, isn't it?"

"Yes... but the person leading the army is Prince Arkion, and I know he proposed to Anna. So I understand you even seduced Theodora's daughter Anna, and that's not such a bad idea. Anyway, what I want you to do is not to start another fucking prince's duel and get us into another war. Okay? Do you think you can do that? "

"Yes, I'll do my best, but I hope this Arki - whatever his name is- doesn't bother Anna" Ethan said.

"Don't worry, Anna is already far away in her own house. Just control yourself. If you want to be a successful king in the future, you need to get used to this Richard said.

"I understand. I won't cause any trouble, father. I'll be a good boy. Can I go now?" Ethan asked.

"Yeah, yeah, you can go" Richard said, and Ethan walked towards his own bedroom. It was already evening, and after asking to have dinner brought to his room, Ethan went to enjoy a romantic evening with Luna.