By the time the musicians began to play, the feast had transformed into something entirely different.
Long dining tables were quietly moved aside.
Crystal chandeliers brightened.
Servants rolled polished oak barrels into the center of the hall.
The moment Queen Lysara saw them, her eyes lit up.
"There it is!"
King Thalorien looked toward the ceiling with the expression of a man who already knew he had lost.
"I was hoping no one would remember."
"I remembered."
"So I noticed."
Nyxian leaned toward Llandra.
"What are we looking at?"
Llandra smiled knowingly.
"Trouble."
Queen Lysara clapped her hands together.
"My favorite kind."
Her husband chuckled.
"It used to be."
She looked at him with a grin that seemed twenty years younger.
"It still is."
For just a moment...
She wasn't Queen Lysara.
She was simply Lysara.
The woman who had once wandered forests with a bow over her shoulder, laughing beside the man who would someday become her husband.
Jax caught the exchange.
It reminded him of older couples who still flirted after decades together.
He smiled.
That...
Was the kind of marriage he wanted.
Servants uncorked crystal bottles filled with shimmering pink-gold liquid.
Wildflower aromas drifted through the hall.
Honey.
Fresh berries.
Spring itself somehow captured inside a bottle.
Jax inhaled once.
"...That smells incredible."
King Thalorien noticed immediately.
"You've never had Pixie Mead?"
Jax shook his head.
"No."
The King smiled.
"Then tonight is a worthy occasion."
Crystal glasses appeared around the room.
Queen Lysara personally poured Jax's first glass.
"You only experience your first taste once."
Jax raised his glass.
"To family."
"To family."
The hall echoed the toast.
They drank.
Jax frowned.
"...I'm not sure I—"
Then he remembered.
His Status Resistance.
Quietly beneath the table, he opened his System.
STATUS RESISTANCE
ACTIVE
Temporarily Disable?
Yes.
Warmth spread through him almost instantly.
The music became richer.
The laughter brighter.
The room somehow felt...
Lighter.
"...Wow."
King Thalorien laughed.
"There it is."
"This..."
Jax looked into the glass.
"...is incredible."
"It should be."
The King accepted another pour.
"Our brewers have refined it for centuries."
"We reserve it for the rarest occasions."
"Coronations."
"Royal weddings."
"The birth of heirs."
"And," he sighed dramatically, "whenever my wife decides today sounds fun."
"I regret nothing," Lysara declared proudly.
"No one expected you would."
The room laughed.
Jax took another thoughtful sip.
His merchant instincts immediately awakened.
"How much do you produce every year?"
The King blinked.
"...Excuse me?"
"Annual production."
Several ministers exchanged confused looks.
The Master Brewer answered proudly.
"Approximately twenty thousand bottles."
Jax nearly choked.
"Only twenty thousand?"
The brewer nodded.
"Each bottle is handcrafted."
Jax slowly looked around the room.
"...You know..."
King Thalorien narrowed his eyes.
"What?"
"I could sell every bottle you produce."
Silence.
"In the United Kingdoms."
"I'd buy your entire yearly production."
The Master Brewer laughed.
"No one drinks that much."
Jax smiled.
"They will."
The brewer frowned.
"...Why?"
"Because this isn't just alcohol."
Jax held up the glass.
"This changes a celebration."
"It makes memories."
He looked back toward the King.
"I don't think you realize what you have."
The King folded his arms.
"Oh?"
"I think Pixie Mead becomes your greatest export."
One minister cleared his throat.
"It already is."
Jax shook his head.
"No."
"I mean hundreds of thousands of bottles."
The room fell silent.
The Master Brewer actually laughed.
"We couldn't possibly make that many."
Jax grinned.
"You've got the recipe."
"I've got the infrastructure."
"I've got the transportation."
"I've got the customers."
King Thalorien slowly lowered his glass.
"I believe..."
"...this is the first marriage discussion in history that somehow became a trade negotiation."
Jax shrugged.
"I am a merchant."
"So I've noticed."
Several glasses later...
Pixie Mead had fully taken hold.
The musicians struck faster melodies.
The dining hall transformed into a dance floor.
Laughter echoed beneath vaulted ceilings.
Queen Lysara was the first royal onto the dance floor.
Thalorien sighed.
"I suppose I'm expected."
"You most certainly are."
She grabbed his hand before he could object.
The King laughed as she pulled him toward the musicians.
Watching them together, Llandra smiled.
"...I haven't seen Mother like this in years."
Vaelrith quietly nodded.
"Neither have I."
Nyxian watched with a grin.
"I like your mother."
Llandra laughed.
"So do I."
Without warning, Nyxian swept toward Jax.
She grabbed him by the collar.
Kissed him deeply.
Then pointed directly toward the King and Queen.
"I know we promised we'd behave..."
"...but I had to taste him tonight."
Before anyone could react...
She turned and kissed Llandra just as boldly.
Llandra—already pleasantly affected by the Pixie Mead—kissed her back.
Then froze.
"...Mother."
"...Father."
Queen Lysara smiled.
"I rather admire her confidence."
King Thalorien laughed so hard he nearly spilled his drink.
"I was going to say enthusiasm."
Jax rubbed his forehead.
"We have... a complicated relationship."
The King waved dismissively.
"We know."
"Our spies are exceptionally thorough."
The Queen smiled warmly.
"We know you're engaged to all four of them."
"And have been for quite some time."
Jax relaxed slightly.
"Many royal families throughout history have taken multiple spouses," Thalorien said.
"And occasionally..."
Lysara added with a teasing smile,
"...royal women have taken multiple husbands."
Jax's eyebrows climbed.
She immediately laughed.
"Oh, not us."
She slipped her arm through her husband's.
"I've always preferred quality over quantity."
The King kissed her forehead.
"I appreciate hearing that."
Jax smiled with visible relief.
Then quietly muttered,
"...I'm still not royalty."
King Thalorien stepped beside him and wrapped an arm around his shoulders.
"You will be."
"In three days."
"My son."
The words hit harder than any battlefield ever had.
"My son."
Jax swallowed.
"I... was actually planning to ask for your blessing."
"You already have it."
"I was hoping to do it during a hunt."
The King's smile softened.
"I haven't hunted in years."
"I know."
Jax hesitated.
"I was hoping to change that."
The King's eyebrows rose.
But then reality settled over him more heavily than the Pixie Mead.
"I'm King."
"I can't go on hunts anymore."
Jax smiled.
"We have a saying where I'm from."
"It's good to be the King."
For several seconds...
King Thalorien simply stared at him.
Then he laughed.
Long.
Hard.
Perhaps...
It really was time he remembered exactly what that meant.
Across the hall, Legos—the eldest prince and heir to the throne—and Heiron watched quietly.
Neither saw a rival.
Neither saw an outsider.
Only the man who had somehow convinced their parents to laugh like they had when the brothers were children.
Legos smiled first.
"I think..."
"...he already belongs here."
Heiron nodded.
"So do I."
For the first time since Jax's arrival...
The princes of Etherevalis no longer saw him as the man marrying their sister.
They saw him as the brother they hadn't realized they were missing their entire lives.