#ate-if asks

Still being worked on 🫡

Honestly, life's just been really hard this past year so I haven't been able to work on ATE as much as I wanted to, but I'll be trying to get back into working on it over the following months.

At this point, I'm embarrassed FOR Ædan. He was so caught up in his own self pity and making googly eyes at Helene, that he failed to notice all the things MC had been doing all those years to help rule at his side. Why do I get the feeling even he isn't prepared to help Helene prepare for the what is to be expected of the royal consort?

🤭

He has been trying to teach Helene some of the things she would need to know as Crown Princess, but she's nowhere near as prepared as MC already is. Honestly, not having ample time and resources is only part of why Helene's not on the same level as MC; the other part is that Ædan isn't as extensively prepared as MC either, like Ædan is more than just good enough, but MC's on another level entirely.

Ædan: Well, was it accepted?

Delivery Boy: ...Uh no...The Duke had promptly ordered for me to send them back to you, along with this letter that says "You can take those tactless garden weeds and shove them straight up your-"

LMAO

I think that if the only compensation Ædan gave was a bouquet of flowers that weren't even MC's favorite ones, the duke would just calmly go to the training yard and train until all the practice dummies are lying in precisely cut smithereens on the ground, then he would go, "Sola give me the strength to not commit treason," over and over again in his head while he tries to calm himself down completely.

...I don't think I have ever breathed in so deeply through my nose. This man is so self-centered he'd be one with the Earth's core, such a idiot that he makes rocks look like Einstein, and so spineless that he'd be right at home with jellyfish. 🤣

+ Helene, Ædan, and my MC! (I'd put her in something Ædan and Ædric where but oh well)

In one idiotic move, his eldest son has severely strained House Aurelius relationship with the kingdom's strongest ductal house and vassal. Along with staining their House's reputation both domestically (mostly among the nobility and gentry) and abroad.

The Royal Family is lucky that King Erick has built such a strong relationship with the current Duke Argentius and that the ductal house are loyal protectors of the kingdom. Since the Kingdom's rivals would try to use House Argentius resentment towards the Royal Family over the broken engagement to destabilize the realm or even topple House Aurelius from the kingdom's throne.

(Since House Argentius has been around since the Kingdom's founding, they probably have intermarried with the Royal Famiy in the past. It's possible that House Argentius has the strongest claim to the throne after the Royal House.)

Edan will soon have to deal with the consequences of his decision to break his engagement with the MC.

The marriage contract the two House's signed probably clearly stated what the consequences would be, if one side broke the contract without the others sides consent. So the Royal Family owes the MC personally and House Argentius reparations, payed in either money, honors or land/titles or a mix of the three.

(Due to the broken engagement, House Argentius probably also grained a lot of soft power over the Royal family.)

Since the MC was the only heir to the duchy and was going marry into Royal House, was House Argentius lands and titles going to be absorbed by the royal domain when they die? Or as part of the marriage contract was the MC allowed to chose one of their younger children with Edan, to be their heir?

(The child chosen to the heir would take the Argentius name, once they came of age.)

This was answered in my Discord server, so here's what i wrote there! Posting the answer here too since I had a number of asks about the king's reaction but i never got around to answering them because i struggled to figure it out 😭

I'd really like to know though what yall think about what i wrote, like if it makes sense, are there things that you guys think might be better if they were changed, stuff like that

Also welcome to a sample of what my rough drafts look like lmao

i've been thinking about the question of how furious the king was when he found out about how Ædan blindsided everyone and canceled the arrangement for over a year now since i had similar questions asked around the time chapter 1 part 1 came out, and i think the reason why i struggled with this question a lot is because i couldn't imagine the king getting mad at Ædan over this

like, i can picture the immediate dread that he feels upon hearing the news, followed soon after by frustration then disappointment. but when i think about him calling ædan to his office to confront his son about what he did, i can't really see him yelling at ædan in anger, or even talking to him in a quietly furious tone; instead, what i picture is him speaking in a very tired and disappointed tone

"why did you do that?"

"because i knew you would not let me marry helene, she's not of noble birth"

"might i remind you that your mother -"

"she's not my mother-!"

"Your. mother." "was not of noble birth either. so why would you think that her nobility would matter to me so greatly that i would not have allowed you to marry her?"

"nobility obviously mattered enough for you to have chosen MC!"

"I offered the Argentius heir a future where they will become your future consort because i know what kind of people the duke and duchess are. I knew that if their child was anything like them, they would put their duty to the kingdom before anything else upon accepting the offer. Clearly, that is something you have yet to learn." "Ædan, I am the last person to care about the nobility of your partner; what matters most to me is their capability to take care of the citizens of our kingdom."

"And who better to take care of our people than the Saintess? She who has been chosen by the gods themselves to heal any affliction that may plague the kingdom?"

"Healing is not the only thing our people need, child."

(this is where ædan realizes he needs to appeal to his father's emotional weakspot) "Please... do not keep us apart. I love her, Father. I cannot live without her."

(ÆDAN used I LOVE HER! It's super effective!) the king sighs. "MC feels the same way about you, you know. I can see it in the way they look at you, their love for you is genuine and true."

ædan looks down. "I know. But i also know that i am doing them a kindness; I would not want them to end up like my mother."

the king rubs the bridge of his nose for a few moments, thinking in silence before he releases the deepest sigh of his life. "It would have been much easier to resolve this whole situation had you not deceived us all, especially MC."

"I'm sorry."

"I am extremely disappointed in you, Ædan."

"I'm sorry."

the king thinks some more.

"I want to hear about your plans to compensate House Argentius and guarantee that the Saintess will be able to handle the responsibilities of a monarch by this time tomorrow."

"I-I'm sorry?"

"Was I not clear enough? Or were you expecting me to use my authority as the king to solve your problems for you?" "There are consequences to every action you take; you must face them yourself, not rely on your privilege to escape from them. You would do well to remember that, child. You are dismissed."

As for the future of House Argentius, they had agreed that one of the younger children would inherit the ducal title and lands, to be chosen by MC. and yes they would take the Argentius name once they are of age

Poor man has enough plot twists to last him a lifetime. Don't worry in-law, leave everything to the power couple

Lmao yeah, that's why I do really want to get into writing about the things that happened during the king's youth soon 🤭

When MC was still betrothed to Ædan, the king felt very calm and secure cause Ædan was doing fine in his duties as Crown Prince and he could also see how hard MC was working so he knew that the kingdom would be in good hands. But ever since Ædan's announcement the king's just always tired cause he hasn't been sleeping well and really disappointed in Ædan.

^you 🤣