The World Dragon's Heir

Chapter 808: Formal Claim

Much to Katerina’s surprise, not only did her groom get a prime seat next to her at the graduation dinner, he brought a friend.

A group of Royal Guards, more than had come with Prince Jacob, accompanied an older man with long grey hair pulled back into a ponytail that looked odd with his heavily receding hairline.

She was about to say something about it, when the man with the bad hair spoke.

"Announcing his highness, King Johann of Chip."

Ooh, her father-in-law was coming.

Dominic stood to greet the King, who waved for everyone to rise.

"Greetings, no need for the formalities. I heard the good news that my son has finally chosen a wife, and had to come to secure the arrangement myself before he changed his mind."

Prince Jacob rolled his eyes, but Katerina was intrigued.

"Which one was it? Did he think you were too picky? Or perhaps that you preferred boys?" She whispered, nearly causing the Prince to choke on his wine.

"I was simply focused on my training, and he’s in far too much of a hurry," the Prince whispered back.

Katerina nodded. That made sense to her. Her parents got into a hurry about the strangest things as well, and then hesitated when you wanted to be decisive about other things. It was a bit hypocritical, but she was quite satisfied with her choice.

He was strong, he liked to train, and he smelled good.

That was the important part. She was definitely not marrying some guy who smelled like sour pork left in the sun too long. Not happening, no how, no way.

The King came over and smiled at Katerina. "So, you’re the lovely young lady who has captured my son’s heart. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Princess Katerina."

"The pleasure is all mine, Your Majesty. Please have a seat, make yourself comfortable. We will all be family very soon."

"You seem quite pleased with this arrangement. I had thought that the daughter of a Paladin Princess might be quite obstinate about matters of the heart."

Katerina smiled. "I am a decisive person. I found my human, he seems like a good one, so I will keep him."

The King laughed, while Prince Jacob smiled.

They had both been informed that the Princess was a bit more dragon than human in her way of thinking and speaking, but for Prince Jacob that was actually a selling point. The dragons were well known for their loyalty, and to a military man, loyalty came before all else.

And it certainly didn’t hurt that she was both beautiful and skilled with a sword.

The King took his seat, leaving everyone at the graduation dinner frozen in shock. Dominic hadn’t gotten around to making the announcement yet, as that was normally done after the dinner, along with other announcements that weren’t related to the event.

Instead, the whole graduation dinner had been overshadowed by the arrival of a King, and the subtle announcement that the Princess of Wistover, the magical prodigy that all the graduates of this class looked up to, was getting married and moving to Chip.

That was huge by any standard. She might not be a senior Princess, directly in the Royal Lineage, now that Claudius had taken over, but she was Royal on both sides of her family, and her father was the Governor of two Provinces, as well as a Duke.

With Jacob in line for the throne, as well as being a talented Paladin, they were very close to the ultimate power couple.

Even the story of Dominic and Alexis wasn’t quite as overpowered as that, as Dominic didn’t gain the vast majority of his power and wealth until after they were married. These two would be going into it with everything that they could possibly want.

The King sat, and Dominic continued to stand as he addressed the crowd.

"It seems that we will do the announcements out of order today, as our esteemed guest arrived much earlier than expected. As of today, we have accepted the marriage proposal of Prince Jacob of Chip with our daughter Katerina.

As is Wistover tradition, all are invited to the wedding, which will happen at their earliest convenience, unless the King prefers a formal ceremony in Chip.

I would like to congratulate all of the graduates on finally seeing the results of their years of hard work, and to celebrate the day that you will finally begin to reap the benefits of your training.

Here is to the graduates!"

Everyone raised their cups to the toast, and the King of Chip smiled at the young couple sitting between himself and Dominic.

"Is there any claiming tradition that I should know about before the wedding? I know that Wavemates family members have a few of their own ancient traditions," he asked.

Katerina smirked, and Alexis sighed as she realized her daughter was going to do something strange again, and she was too far away to stop her.

The Princess leaned over, and for a moment Jacob thought that she was actually going to kiss him, the way that Thorvald had sealed his claim on Josephine in front of the King.

Then, she licked the side of his face.

"I licked him, he’s mine. I called dibs."

The graduates burst into laughter as the Prince’s face went from confused to flustered, and the King raised a napkin in front of his face to hide his laughter.

He should have expected no less from a Wavemates Princess.

"Did you want to do a ceremony here? Or a formal one in Chip?"

Katerina thought hard about it for two seconds.

"Both. The Priest is here, sitting on our right by the headmaster. We can make my claim official right after dinner with all these witnesses present, and then when we get back, we can do the big formal one for the people of Chip.

It wouldn’t do to cheat them out of the experience, but it’s best to make everything official first."

She was not letting her man reconsider.