Chapter 203 A Mother’s Pain (1)

Why were the princesses proposing to a nobody, that too all of a sudden? Could it be, that it was another one of their strategies to take their opponent by surprise? It was possible, or at least everyone in the room would have thought that.

Ashton was no exception either. At first, he thought their sudden proposal was a way to catch him by surprise. However, with a quick use of [Perception] skill, Ashton was able to determine the truth.

The princesses weren't lying. They were proposing to him with all the correct intentions. They actually wanted to marry him. The situation wasn't something Ashton could have prepared for beforehand... and he wasn't liking it at all.

That being said, the idea of marrying the princesses was a bit tempting. After all, once it was done, no one would be able to take him lightly. He would have freedom like never before. But leaving the werewolves behind wasn't something he could have done just yet. Not without wrapping up the business, he had with them.

"What is going on here?" He finally said something after a couple of minutes, acting all confused.

"In our family, there's a tradition followed by the females." Alucard explained to everyone present in the room, "The females of the family can decide to challenge a person they might see as a suitable partner, to a duel. If the person wins the duel, they also win the right to marry the woman. That's what happened here."

Although the explanation made a bit of sense, the situation was still just as absurd as ever. The sisters eagerly kept looking at him with love and respect in their eyes. While every other guy in the room was looking at him as if they were going to rip him to shreds.

Ashton could understand why the guys felt like that. The sisters were so beautiful they would have even made the heart of a dead person start beating if they were to profess their love to him. No one in their sane mind would have rejected their proposal, but Ashton didn't have a sane mind, did he?

"I'm sorry, but I cannot accept this proposal."

As those words escaped Ashton's mouth, everyone got even more shocked. If the proposal had made them speechless, the rejection made them lose their crap all over again.

The sisters still were on their knees, it seemed they were unable to comprehend being outright rejected like that.

Alucard was the only one with an unreadable expression on his face. But if Ashton were to predict what was Alucard thinking, it would have to be 101 ways he would kill him. As Alucard opened his mouth to speak, Ashton stood motionlessly.

It was for the best if he didn't offend the man any further after 'breaking' his daughter's 'hearts'. But to his surprise, Alucard wasn't pissed at him.

"May I know the reason why you're rejecting them?" He asked Ashton.

Rather than replying to him using words, Ashton decided to show him something, no member of royalty would accept... the slave mark on his hands.

"Would you still want to give your daughters away to someone like me?"

Before Alucard, Irina or Verina could give a reaction, the jealous counts among the crowd began admonishing him. The princess's proposal to a werewolf was already a bit much to handle, but a slave... it was something none of them was going to stand for.

"You really got some guts marking this place with your filth, human!"

It was merely one of the many insults thrown at Ashton and also an attempt to protect their own insecurities at the same time. After all, how could they accept that a mere... human was better than them? But this time, Ashton didn't remain quiet and fired a verbal bullet back in their direction.

"You sure like to bark a lot for someone who isn't even being addressed here. Why don't you shut your mouth and keep sucking your thumb as you have been till now?"

"You..."

"What? Are you afraid of backing your words with your skills?" Ashton kept on taunting the man dressed in a flowery red tuxedo. In all honesty, the man's fashion sense seemed to be one of the many reasons for his annoyance.

All of sudden, more and more people found their backbone and jumped into the fray. They no longer wanted to insult Ashton with words, but their intentions were to make him suffer through the pain of getting mobbed.

Michelle and the knights could feel the tension in the air and rushed to protect Ashton, but the vampires reached Ashton quicker than they could. However, to their surprise, before any of them could even touch Ashton, Irina and Verina jumped in front of him, their rapiers were drawn to kill anyone who dared to take one more step in Ashton's direction.

"You dare break the law in front of the people who made them?" Irina hissed at them, "Discriminatory behaviour against a human is a crime punishable by imprisonment or execution in special cases."

"Whether Sir Ashton accepts our proposal or not," Verina coldly warned everyone, "we have accepted him as our-"

"Irina, Verina, pull your swords back." Alucard instructed her daughter, "As for you, I'll deal with you later. Griffin, escort them to the courtroom for now."

"As you wish..." Griffin nodded towards a bunch of guards who immediately forced them out of there.

Once that was done, Alucard turned his attention once again towards Ashton and repeated his question, "Tell me the real reason, why are you so adamant about not accepting my daughter's proposal?"

"You saw right through me, your highness." Ashton smiled wanly before staring Alucard right in the eyes, "As much as I would love to marry your daughters, I have sworn loyalty to my king, his kingdom and the people of Lycania."

He continued, "I'm afraid, by marrying your daughters I'll be bound to live here. Which would make it impossible for me to protect the ones who care about me."

Alucard's eyebrows raised in admiration for the kid standing in front of him. He wasn't even grown-up, and yet he had his priorities straight. A quality that he appreciated in anyone regardless of their gender or species.

"Is that it?" He asked Ashton who nodded his head, "Fine then, is there anything I could do to help you out with that?"

Ashton couldn't help but smile on the inside. He had to improvise a lot, but he could finally achieve his end goal.