Trash Prince and Ice Queen 10th Re - Life-Chapter 135: Confrontation and Reveal Hidden Secrets
The atmosphere inside the room grew increasingly tense; no one moved, as everyone was on high alert, waiting for someone else to make the first move. Ard and Eva continued to stare at King Murmic without blinking, while Geoffrey stood beside them, gazing at Thorena who stood next to Murmic. Finally, Hardim stepped forward, and every soldier immediately leveled their rifles at him. Hardim raised his hands.
"Your Majesty, this is not the time for us to clash or be stubborn," Hardim said.
"Hah... you’re on their side, Hardim? Look at them—they brought an elf before me. Such insolence!" Murmic shouted.
"She is indeed an elf, but she is our friend. We are together at the academy and are traveling to kill Ophelia and Malekh—to finish what we should have finished 3,000 years ago. As I said, our purpose here is not to form an alliance with you; we were sent here to secure the Githiess egg from the giants’ territory by order of the Dragon God," Ard said loudly.
"What exactly are you trying to say?" Murmic asked.
"What we are trying to say is that we don’t care about the internal issues of the dwarves because we are more concerned with the state of the world as a whole. If you only want to maintain your ego and your stubbornness, we will no longer speak with you," Eva added firmly.
The room fell silent once again. King Murmic’s face was still red with anger, but his daughter Thorena had begun to look calm. Seeing this, Geoffrey took a step forward and reached his hand out toward Thorena. Naturally, Thorena looked conflicted; on one hand, she clearly wanted to run to Geoffrey, but on the other, she didn’t want to leave her father. Ultimately, after a few moments, she made her choice. She stepped away, letting go of her father’s arm, and joined Geoffrey. She then stood facing her father, which left King Murmic utterly shocked.
"What is the meaning of this, Thorena?" Murmic asked.
"Enough, Papa. They mean no harm and came to our kingdom with good intentions. Stop our hostilities with humans, giants, elves, and dark elves—all of that is in the past. Times have changed," Thorena answered.
"W...what? You are a dwarf, Thorena. You are my daughter. We must uphold tradition," Murmic shouted. 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚
"Tradition? Like I said, I am in love with Geoffrey and he is a human. I don’t care if I am a first wife, a second wife, or just a concubine, because I want to be with my love. I am no longer a princess; I will be a bridge for the dwarves to the outside world. We have all been underground for too long, do you understand, Papa?" Thorena replied.
Hearing Thorena’s words, Geoffrey turned to look at her standing beside him. He finally realized that Thorena wasn’t just a spoiled princess who only wanted to get her way; she was different, and she truly wanted to create change for the future of her people. She had clearly thought about all of this even before meeting Geoffrey. Without realizing it, Geoffrey reached out and placed his hand on Thorena’s shoulder. She flinched in surprise and turned to see Geoffrey looking at her.
"Thank you, Princess... Thorena," Geoffrey said with a smile.
"Like what I talked to you about last night, I’m serious," Thorena said.
"I know. You’ve already proven it," Geoffrey replied.
The room fell silent once again. Now, Thorena and Geoffrey kept their eyes locked on Murmic, whose face grew even redder, and the three generals standing beside him, who looked slightly confused despite maintaining their stern expressions. The atmosphere became increasingly strained; only the sound of Murmic’s breathing could be heard throughout the room.
Ard and Eva, who had previously reached for their weapons and stood ready to draw their swords, lowered their hands. Then, they turned back and asked all their friends to lower their blades and put away their familiars. Seeing the tension among Ard, Eva, and their friends finally ease, Hardim stepped forward. He took a deep breath and stared intently at Murmic’s face.
"How long do you plan on being this stubborn, brother? What if Grumir saw you huffing and puffing with such emotion like that?" Hardim said.
"Shut up, you foolish brother," Murmic shot back.
"Huh... brother?" Ard, Eva, and the others asked in unison.
Hardim turned around, looking at Ard, Eva, and the others with a smile. Then he glanced at Thorena, who was smiling as she looked at him. After that,
"Actually, I am King Murmic’s younger brother. There are three of us siblings; Grumir and I didn’t want to get involved in palace affairs and chose to give up our royal family status. That is why I went to the surface to become a guild master, and Grumir opened a tavern in the capital of the Grimgarth Kingdom," Hardim said, introducing himself once again.
"But isn’t your name Hardim Nighthorn?" Ard asked.
"Correct, that is my name on the surface. My real name is Hardim Goldshield, and my younger brother is Grumir Goldshield," Hardim answered.
"Hey Hardim, don’t talk too much," Murmic said.
"You’re the one who should shut up, brother. Your daughter is right; it is time we made a change. I told you what my purpose on the surface was, right? Observing humans and studying their lives. From what I’ve learned, they are just like us—and don’t be mistaken, they live side-by-side with dark elves on the surface," Hardim stated.
"Oh, really, Uncle?" Thorena asked in surprise.
"Yes, that’s true. In fact, I know the chieftain of the dark elves, and he is a friend of mine," Hardim answered.
The tension began to ease, and the soldiers, looking confused, started to lower their weapons. Meanwhile, the generals turned to look at their king, then looked at Hardim, and then back at their king again. Their faces revealed that deep down, they too seemed tired of fighting the giants and harboring hatred toward other races; they agreed with Hardim, even if they remained silent and did not show it.
Seeing himself outnumbered and outvoted, Murmic clenched his fists, his face growing even redder and his jaw tightening until it looked painful; however, he then took a deep breath and exhaled, trying to calm himself down. Seeing Murmic begin to soften, Ard and Eva sighed in relief. Ard put his arm around Pyria in the middle,
"Just stay calm, okay? Sooner or later everything would have come out, so it’s better that everything is out in the open now," Ard whispered with a smile.
"Yes, Ard," Pyria replied, holding Ard’s hand.
"Thank goodness nothing happened," Eva added.
"Yes, Eva," Pyria replied, looking relieved as well.
The room fell silent again, but this time the silence wasn’t suffocating or tense like before. Finally, after a few moments, "thud," King Murmic II sat back down in his chair and sighed; his jaw relaxed and he looked exhausted. Hardim stepped forward toward the table.
"Are you calm now, brother?" Hardim asked.
"You really are a useless younger brother, but you’re right. Papa wanted the same thing before he died... even though he was stubborn his whole life, he asked us to bring change to our people... maybe it really is time," Murmic answered in a heavy voice.
"Exactly, brother. But you weren’t moved because of me or Papa, were you? You were moved because your daughter has made her choice," Hardim said, glancing at Thorena and Geoffrey.
Murmic glanced toward Geoffrey and Thorena, then turned back to look at Hardim in front of him.
"My children have made their choices. My first child, Elmar... also went to the giant kingdom and took the Githiess egg there. He was seriously in love with a giant princess. And my second daughter, Lurgena, has gone off somewhere—last I heard, they said she was on the northern continent. And now Thorena... I don’t even know anymore, my children are all leaving me," Murmic said, looking desperate.
"That’s because you’re stubborn, brother. Still don’t understand?" Hardim asked.
"Haaah, I understand... this is truly exhausting," Murmic answered, wiping his face with his large hands.
"It is not time to be tired yet, brother; we still have much work to do to realize the ideal changes for our people, right?" Hardim replied.
"I know, you foolish brother. Let me complain just this once and let it all out, you nuisance," Murmic said.
"Fine, brother. But after this, please focus. We must continue to fight for our people," Hardim replied as he walked to his brother’s side and placed a hand on his shoulder with a smile.
Hearing the conversation between Murmic and Hardim, Ard and Eva were a bit stunned; they immediately turned to look at each other with faces that seemed to say, "so that’s the story; peace is not an impossible thing to happen." The two of them waited and let Hardim speak with his brother, the king, without interrupting them. The generals also appeared silent, nodding their heads, while the soldiers turned to look at one another while occasionally scratching their heads, whether they were actually itchy or not.
