"What did you do this time?"
I rubbed the back of my neck.
"So… I got engaged."
Old man Duke raised an eyebrow.
"That doesn't narrow it down. You already have more wives than most kings."
"Yeah, but this one is different."
"Oh?" he said slowly.
"She's a dwarf princess."
The old man blinked.
"A dwarf princess."
"Yep."
"And whose daughter would that be?"
"Aurelia. The only daughter of King Monrok."
The cup in his hand froze halfway to his mouth. For a moment he didn't say anything. Then he slowly lowered the cup and stared at me.
"Monrok?"
"Yeah."
Old man Duke leaned back in his chair and let out a long breath.
"Well, I'll be damned."
"You know him?" I asked.
"Know him?" he scoffed. "That bastard and I practically grew up together. He's an old geezer too. I thought he said he didn't want to have children, haha."
"Oh?"
"We were childhood friends," he continued. "Trained together. Fought together. Drank together. Caused plenty of problems together."
