色戒无删除版

Kieve wanted to stay longer at home but there were so many things that he needed to fix. The piled up documents waiting for him seemed endless. The pressure from his responsibilities and from the people around him made it impossible for him to have a relaxed day.

It was crucial for him to perform well because a small mistake might get those greedy council members a reason to remove him from his post. He couldn't let that happen. Once the crucial month was over, he promised that he would definitely spend time with his family.

"You've been working hard," the king commented.

Kieve looked up and saw that Zandro was standing by the door and looking at him. The mage sighed and glared at him. He had been working diligently to finish all his work because he wanted to make sure that the council wouldn't find fault on him.

"Yes. Your council members are watching me like a hawk. They'll devour me before I even know it if I ever make a mistake." Kieve answered with his hands crossed on his chest.

"That's true. At least I am the king so even if they find fault in me, they won't be able to do anything." Zandro laughed as he entered the room and closed the door behind him.

"What brought you here, your majesty?" Kieve asked after the king found a seat for himself.

"I received ten complaints about you. Most of them are about your incompetence and that you are being disrespectful of them," Zandro answered.

He looked around the office and saw that nothing changed. It remained as it was when Maius was still the high mage of Lunaira. Well, Kieve had been busy for the past few weeks so he had no time to fix everything.

"They really are persistent. Why don't you just replace them all?" Kieve suddenly suggested which made the king silent for a while before he burst out laughing.

It was an unexpected statement from the man himself. Zandro was amused at how the man's brain was working. He spoke that line with such seriousness that the king thought he was not joking.

"If I could just do that then, I would have done it from the very beginning." Zandro tilted his head towards the ceiling and sighed. "But in this place, I don't have anyone to support me. I am merely clinging to this position to the best of my ability."

The atmosphere suddenly became somber at the turn of the topic. Kieve looked at the king and sympathized with him. King Xenos was a man who was harsh and yet still compassionate. He put his people above himself because he was the king. Due to this, many of the nobility stopped supporting and had been looking for ways to replace him as the king.

If not for his father's protection and backing, King Xenos wouldn't be able to hold on to his position. Eighty percent of the magicians in Lunaira all supported his father and thus in return, King Xenos had the support of these mages. Add to that his perfect control of the military power of the kingdom.

Most of them were commoners who rose to rank because the former king believed in equality and gave them the chance to show what they could do. That nailed the king's position and now that he died, that power swayed. He knew that Zandro had changed and did his best to meet the expectation of the military.

In Kieve's opinion, he was doing great and most of the warriors already acknowledged him as the king and were silently supporting him. The generals were also his side as he had conversed with them a couple of days ago. Zandro must have not known about it but they had been protecting him from those greedy people.

As for him, he did have his father's position but the mages were still reluctant to support him. His father already made a remark about it one time. He explicitly told him that the time and season had been changing. The people of the past were no longer who they were once.

"You have a loyal supporter. You've carried your father's teaching well as those he had helped in the past still see you as their king. Nothing has changed. They will remain loyal to you and the royal family." Kieve gave the king a sincere smile.

His voice was reassuring and it made the king softly chuckle. Zandro knew who the mage was pertaining to. He indeed had them behind him so not even those who called themselves nobles would be able to overpower him.

"Your majesty, you'll need to solidify your position amongst the common people because they will be your greatest support. I believe that there are still nobles who supports the commoners and they will eventually help you when they see your sincerity." Kieve was no adviser but this was the best advice he could give the king.

Zandro closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "I know and I am doing my best, but why are you excluding yourself?" The king opened his eyes and looked at the mage with a frown.

Kieve shook his head. "You can't depend on me all the time, your majesty. The mages have changed and I don't have their full support. I even suspect that none of them supports me. I will do whatever I can to assist you but that is as far as I go."

Kieve was silent for a moment after what he heard. He indeed heard about the news and he even received a letter requesting for him to approve of a magic tower being established. They wanted to be independent and use this chance to help more people.

"They have been requesting for me to approve the establishment of a magic tower, an organization solely for mages." Zandro spoke out of nowhere.

Now that they were on the topic, he might as well inform the man of the plan that the mages came up with. Those request letters came just a month after the high mage died. Normally, it would have been a normal request but the timing had been bothering the king.

"They finally made their move, huh." Kieve shrugged his shoulders. "They've been requesting the same thing to my father but he suddenly fell ill so I advised them to stop bothering him. They wanted to get away from the control of our family."

"What will you do now?" Zandro had a clue as to what the man was thinking. By the tone of his voice, he suspected that he would give them the go signal but eventually as the king, he still had the last say about it.

The room was once again silent after the king's question. Kieve had been in conflict over the topic for a while now but it seems that the time has come for him to let it go. The thought of severing their ties with those mages was already set in his mind because he thought that Altair would be much better without them. He just didn't have the time to do it because he took up his father's position.

"Let them be but that's eventually up to you, your majesty." Kieve finally answered after a few moments of silence.

He looked at the documents he was reading and picked them up. He then placed them on the stack of papers on his right side. The rustling of the paper filled the room as they fell into silence.

Zandro stood up and stood in that room for a while before he opened his mouth once again. "I'll do as I please then." He did not wait for the man's reply.

He placed his hands behind his back and turned around to leave. There was a smile on his face after that conversation with the mage. He returned to his own study and started to deal with the papers that needed his attention.