Author's Notes:

Hey everyone! The next chapters will mostly be dealing with Saito and Louise's interaction with their families (mostly Saito's family). There will be little to no action at all. That's not to say the plot won't move forward, just that it might be slow for some of you. Anyway, enjoy chapter 49!

Chapter 49: First Impressions

Saito woke up one morning. It was the day Louise's parents were supposed to arrive, so he was extremely worried. He dressed himself in clothes similar to the ones he wore during his coronation ceremony, complete with his crown sitting on his head.

He let his now long, flowing hair hang outside his coat down to his waist. He chose not to wrap his tail around his waist, as he found it extremely uncomfortable. Besides this, his children had tails as well, so hiding his would be meaningless.

He had spent the past four days since he came back to the human world studying. He wanted to make sure he knew enough to impress Louise's parents, so he spent day and night studying the history of Halkeginia, as well as the political and social policies of their neighboring countries.

As he put on his coat, Louise came to help him. Because he was wearing the clothes from his coronation, she chose to wear hers as well. In the four days since he arrived, he had also managed to start walking more on his own. He still needed a cane, but he no longer required someone to be with him and help him walk.

"They'll be here in a few minutes. Are you ready?" Louise asked.

"Yeah, I think I am." He replied. "Where are Riza and Gabriel?"

"They're in their cribs." She replied. "I'll go and get them."

Saito nodded and waited for Louise to come back with their children, who were acting as jovial as always. They dressed Gabriel in a black, one piece pair of pajamas and a hole on his back for his tail. They dressed Riza in a matching piece of clothing which was white instead of black.

When Louise came back with them, Saito picked up his daughter and put her on his back. Louise carried their son in her arms. As they looked in a mirror, they felt proud that they had finally started a family together. As they thought about it, a guard arrived in the room.

"My Lords, the Vallière family have arrived." He said.

"Thank you. Please allow them to come inside. We will meet them downstairs." Louise replied.

The guard bowed and left the room. Saito took a deep breath and looked at Louise. She didn't look nervous at all, which gave him some more confidence. He rubbed his children's heads, then they began to walk downstairs.

"We should leave the kids in here for now." Saito said. "We might shock your family otherwise."

"You're right." Louise replied, pulling Gabriel from Saito's back. "And what about Hayai?"

Saito looked at the dragon that was laying beside their bed.

"Let's bring him with us." Saito said.

The dragon seemed to understand him, as it got up and walked next to them as soon as he finished his sentence. As they came down the stairs, with their superior hearing capabilities, they were able to hear the sound of Louise's family discussing what they were expecting from her spouse. When they reached the bottom of the staircase, Saito saw the faces of Louise's family, all of which stared at himself and Louise with an extreme amount of judgment.

"Hello Mother. Hello Father. Hello my dear sisters." Louise said.

"Louise, you look different." Cattleya said. "You're so grown up."

"Thank you, elder sister." Louise replied.

"And who is this?" Louise's father asked, referring to Saito.

"I am Louise's husband." Saito said, bowing slightly. "Pardon my walking cane. I was injured during the war and have yet to fully recover."

"You are Louise's husband? And what is your social status?" Éléonore said, cutting straight to the reason for her being there.

"King." Saito replied simply. "You see, Louise is the Queen of Côte de Nice through me. Although, before I was made king, I was technically a plebeian."

"So you're a pleb." She replied.

"Does that bother you?" Saito asked, seemingly becoming irritated.

"The Vallière family cannot be disgraced by my little sister marrying a pleb!" She replied.

"Regardless of what any of you think, I am going to remain with Saito." Louise replied. "Besides, we...already had kids together."

Her family's eyes widened with surprise and, with all of them other than Cattleya, anger. They were silent for several moments, taking in the words she had just spoken. When some of the shock subsided, Louise's mother finally decided to speak.

"You are not to frighten your mother with bad jokes, Louise." She said.

"Mother, I am serious. I have a baby boy and a baby girl." Louise replied.

"Nonsense!" Her father said.

He grabbed her hand and began to pull her towards the palace door. Infuriated, Saito grabbed her other hand and pulled her back, showing the great strength he still had despite his condition.

"That is no way to treat your daughter." Saito said, his eyes glowing with rage.

"You who is not even human has no right to speak of my daughter!" Her father replied.

"Father, if Louise is happy in his company, I believe we should allow them to live as husband and wife." Cattleya said, trying to calm him down.

"Unacceptable!" He replied. "This...thing is not even human! Not only are you a zero at using magic, but you choose this thing as a husband!? You are coming back to my estate immediately! You will be married to Wardes as soon as possible."

Hatred shot into Saito's heart upon hearing that name. He had completely forgotten about his existence since he arrived in Halkeginia again. He deduced that Wardes must have never had the opportunity to do what he did before, as Saito had destroyed Reconquista very quickly.

"I refuse." Louise said coldly. "I love Saito, so I will remain with him."

"We, as your parents, have arranged your marriage already. You will obey us." Louise's mother said.

"Mother, I refuse. If you cannot accept my relationship with Saito, then leave this place." Louise replied, although she seemed to be more afraid of her than her father.

Ignoring what Louise was saying, Éléonore attempted to pull Louise away again. This time, however, Saito tore her hand away, burning it with his body heat in the process. He looked directly into her eyes, with his own eyes striking fear into her heart.

"You heathen!" Louise's father said. "How dare you handle my daughter in such a way."

He fired a ball of magic at Saito, but Hayai seemed to appear from nowhere, letting the blast hit him. It seemed to dissipate into nothingness when it touched the beast's fur.

"It's okay, Hayai. Guard Louise for me." Saito said, rubbing the dragon's head.

It licked his cheek, then laid down in front of Louise, guarding her from her own family.

"Father, if you wish for Louise to leave me, then I will let you do so if you can defeat me in a joust right now." Saito said.

"A man who cannot even walk wishes to fight me. How amusing." Louise's father said. "Very well."

"Saito, you're not well enough for that." Louise whispered into his ear.

"I am. I can defeat your father without moving an inch." He replied. "I may not be as strong as you are, but I'm not weak either."

"Please don't hurt him." She said.

"Don't worry." He replied.

He stared at her father, beckoning for him to attack. Her father lifted his staff into the air and shot a beam of magic at Saito. Saito lifted his hand into the air, at which point, a strange aura of magic began to envelop it.

It was the same magic that came over him while he was healing after his accident in the war. As soon as the Duke's magic touched the dark red aura surrounding Saito's hand, it stopped as if trying to get past a barrier. After a few seconds, it dissolved and disappeared.

Shocked, Louise's father continued to fire a variety of spells at Saito, all of which had no affect, as if they never existed. Saito then reached into his pocket, pulling out a small coin. Faster than the Duke could see, he flicked it directly at his head. As soon as it hit him, he fell onto the ground, unconscious.

"I do apologize for having to do this." Saito said to the Duke's family. "I'm in love with Louise. I won't let you take her away from me."

As his family gathered around him, Louise's father woke up, humiliated by his quick loss. He was quite dazed, so he didn't say anything. In the meanwhile, Saito took Cattleya's hand and bowed.

"I'm sorry for harming your father and older sister, Cattleya." He said. "I know you want what's best for your family, especially Louise, but they tried to take her away. I couldn't let that happen."

"As long as Louise is happy and her husband can protect her, I will support her relationships." She replied. "Besides, you seem to love her more than anything, so I am happy for you as well."

"Thank you. Please, you and your family are welcome to stay here for a while." He replied.

"I appreciate your courtesy." She replied. "If you don't mind, I would like to see these children you speak of."

"Of course. I'll be right back." Saito replied.

While Saito went upstairs to retrieve his children, Louise's father came out of his daze. He looked directly at Louise, fuming with rage. He took several deep breaths, as if contemplating what he would say to her.

"Louise, our family is renowned for our power in using magic." He finally said. "You are the exception to this. Please, don't bring further disgrace onto our name. Marry someone of a higher class so that at least then, your lack of magical ability may be overlooked."

"I'm not weak." Louise said with a calm demeanor. "I've grown strong. Stronger than even you and Mother."

"Even if you are hurt by what we say, making preposterous claims such as that is unnecessary." He replied. "Even your elder sisters have yet to surpass your mother. But you...you cannot even master one type of magic."

"If all you are going to do is berate me, then I would appreciate it if you left." Louise replied, rubbing her dragon's fur. "Saito is the one I chose to be with."

"Your choice is wrong." Her mother said.

"Then let me be wrong." Louise replied, becoming very irritated.

At this moment, Saito came back downstairs holding one child in his arms while one hanged on his back. Saito handed each of them to Cattleya to hold. She found them quite cute, and wasn't fazed at all by the fact that they each had glowing eyes and tails. Most likely because she knew they got these traits from their father.

"They're adorable." She said as they looked up at her face.

"Thank you." Saito replied. "Luckily, they inherited their mother's looks."

"I wish I could have children of my own." She said. Saito could detect the well hidden sadness in her voice.

Saito remembered that Cattleya was never married due to her being ill, but he never knew what exactly her illness was. He thought about trying to heal her, but decided that this probably wasn't the best time for that.

"I'm sure you will one day." He replied, trying to act like he didn't know how sad she really was. "Louise, it will be midday quite soon. Perhaps we should let your family have some food."

"Yes, you're probably right." She replied.

"Before that, though..." Saito began.

He walked towards Éléonore and held her arm where he burnt her before. After a few seconds, he let go, revealing that her hand had completely healed. He walked away before she could say anything, then sat down on a chair, as the amount of activity he did in such a short time made him dizzy.

Louise sat down next to him, rubbing his back. She wanted to ask him about the magic he used when he 'fought' her father, but she was too worried about his condition. His head was pointed directly at the ground with his eyes closed and his skin had become quite pale.

"Do you need anything?" She asked him.

"Some water, please." He said, very quietly.

She nodded and quickly left to fetch him a glass of water. As Saito sat on his chair looking quite weak, Louise's family, apart from Cattleya, were having a hard time believing he was any sort of war hero, let alone a king.

When she arrived, Louise immediately gave Saito the water he so desperately requested. He quickly drank all of it, then fell silent for a few seconds. Soon, color started to come back to his face and he sat up straight.

"I'm sorry, but I think I pushed myself a little too hard today." He said to everyone. "I hate to do this, but I'm afraid I need to go and rest."

"It's okay, I can take care of them." Louise replied.

Saito nodded and went to his room upstairs, where he quickly fell asleep on his bed. For the rest of that day, Louise acted coldly to her family members other than Cattleya. She saw it as their fault for Saito falling ill the way he did.

Despite their many attempts to gain her attention, be it through acting like family or trying to exercise their authority, Louise only treated them as guests, not family. That night, she showed them to their guest rooms, then went to the living room downstairs to calm her nerves.

As she sat in the dark, thinking to herself about what she should do about her family, Cattleya suddenly sat down next to her. Louise was surprised, but didn't say anything.

"I'm sorry about Éléonore, Mother, and Father." She said.

"It's not your fault, so don't apologize." Louise replied.

"I know you really care for that boy." She said. "Don't leave him. No matter what the others say."

"They think I'm stupid all because I was never able to use magic." Louise replied. "Now when I tell them I'm stronger, they don't believe me."

"They can be closed minded. Think nothing of it." Cattleya responded as she combed Louise's hair.

"Cattleya, you seem to know a lot about this kind of thing." Louise said. "Surely you can find a man who loves you."

"I'm sure I could, but I wouldn't want them to have the misfortune of having to live with me." She responded jovially. "I cannot have children, you know that."

"Still, there are men out there who would love you as their wife." Louise responded.

"Louise, if such a man exists, he deserves to have a young woman who can give him a son or a daughter." Cattleya said, standing up to go to bed. "Thank you for having us here. We'll be leaving at noon tomorrow. What will you do after that?"

"Well, once Saito gets better, we'll be going to meet his parents." Louise replied.

"Hopefully they accept your relationship a little more than our own did." Cattleya replied. "Good night, little sister."

Cattleya went upstairs to her room, with Louise going to her room as well, where Saito was still fast asleep. She laid herself next to him, wrapping his arms around herself. Soon afterwards, she too, fell asleep.

The next morning, Saito woke up with Louise asleep in his arms. The sight of her peaceful face and the sound of her soft breathing made his heart flutter. As her eyes slowly opened he gave her a kiss on her forehead. She smiled and kissed his lips in return.

"Good morning." He said.

"Good morning." She replied. "Are you feeling better?"

"Much better." He said. "That magic I used yesterday...I'm not used to it yet."

"What is that magic anyway?" She asked.

"No idea. After I was injured, I just felt it come over me." He replied. "I am afraid of seeing what it does, so I'm not going to try anything with it."

"I see." Louise said, remembering what Sasha had told her about the magic he used. "You probably shouldn't use it until we know for sure what it is."

"You're probably right." He replied. "I suppose we should go and see off your parents, huh?"

"Yeah. Hopefully, things don't become too dramatic." She said, getting up out of bed.

They helped each other get dressed, then went downstairs, where Louise's family was waiting for them. There was a rather awkward silence for a few seconds as they all remembered the previous day. Louise's father cleared his throat and took a deep breath.

"Sir Hiraga, on behalf of myself and my family, please accept my humble apologies." He said. "My behavior yesterday was unnecessary. I just...couldn't accept that my daughter married someone who is not distinguished, but is also clearly not...entirely human anymore."

"I understand." Saito replied. "I'm sure it must have been hard on all of you."

"Indeed." Louise's mother replied. "If you wouldn't mind, we would like to properly meet you some day. Perhaps we may get along better."

"I would like that." Saito said, feeling a great sense of relief. "I will take care of your daughter. I promise."

"I will count on it." Louise's father said. "Now, my family and myself have stayed on your property long enough. Farewell."

"Until we meet again!" Saito said, waving at them as they walked into their carriage and set off.

"That went well-ish." Louise said when her family disappeared over the horizon.

"Yeah. Now to deal with my own family." He replied. "God help us."

Author's Notes:

Hey guys! Sorry for the late chapter. I'm doing semester finals so...yeah. There may be another one today. If not, there will definitely be one tomorrow, so look forward to it. I hope you're enjoying the story as much as I enjoy writing it! See you next time!