Headed by a Snake

Tycondrius was Queen Rylania's eldest and only son. He was the most successful War Prince in the history of Charm (aside from her) and had found Realmwide acclaim due to his guild, Sol Invictus.

If Queen Nyctis sought him as a son-in-law, her eldest daughter, Ananta was his only socially suitable pairing.

If the age gap was a concern, the Queen of Shadow had other daughters...

Conversely, Suka was the youngest Princess... her bloodline, the least pure, and with the fewest achievements to her name.

Tycon could have chosen to be offended by Ananta advocating a marriage between him and Suka.

He was not.

From what he knew of Ananta, she did not particularly care about status-- neither hers nor her family's.

She was a woman who once allied with the fallen Cobra Families, hoping to enlist their aid in the anti-lizard offensive-- and that was well before its formal establishment.

#Cobra Families: See Chapter 464.

Tycon could only conclude that Ananta's support of her sister... stemmed from kindness and familial love.

"Ssssweeeeet... Prinnncccce..." Ananta cooed, twirling a strand of her dark hair, "(Are you, perhaps... thinking of me?)"

"I am," Tycon smirked.

"Eh? Really?"

"My apologies, Ananta," Tycon smiled. "On the topic of marriage, I have someone else I'm romantically interested in. She's fighting on our eastern front."

"Ehhhh... You're an iniquitous tease, Ivory Princce..." Ananta said with a resigned laugh.

Tycon lowered his chin, raising an eyebrow.

"(Is it a human?)" Ananta suddenly asked.

Tycon felt his mouth twitch.

"Ahaha~" Ananta giggled, "(Humans tend to be rather fragile, no? Does she know the difficulties of being a denmother? To breed a new generation?)"

Tycon took in a deep breath, sighing even deeper.

"The Realm is going to end, Ananta."

"(Of that, this one is well aware,) Ananta said. "(But I like to pretend otherwise. Else, I'd be tempted to jam a spear down my throat.)"

Huh?

Tycon narrowed his eyes, "Ananta."

Ananta's eyes lit up, "Oh! Do you wanttttt the ssex, Ivory Prince?"

She waved her hand. The window displayed a... crudely imagined intimate scene, between him and her in their human forms.

And it seemed that, like her sister, Ananta assumed that Tycon had more than one.

#More than one: In chapter 466, Suka used her sister's Domain Magic to make a version of Tycon's human form.

"No," Tycon shook his head, "Ananta, stop that. You're being crass."

"(If you were not aware, once you marry my sister, I would gladly become your concubine.)"

The image changed to display a theoretical harem. An extravagantly dressed Ananta sat at the center of the crowd, being fanned by a trio of nude, muscular males.

...Tycon's also-nude, anatomically-incorrect approximation wasn't even adjacent to her. He stood on the harem's outermost ring.

--and weren't harems supposed to be primarily female?

"Ananta, stop."

"(I can imagine her face! She'd be so dreadfully upset!)"

The window displayed a magnified image of Suka's face, her face reddened by blush, her eyes large and watery.

It was... nostalgic. The young lady had shown Tycon that exact expression, once before.

"Princess..."

"(Our children would be so much stronger than hers!) Kahahaha~!"

The image changed once more to display several young hatchlings. They were younger and smaller copies of Ananta's human form, save each with Tycon's green hair and golden eyes.

Also, all of them looked vaguely displeased.

Whatever was being implied, Tycon did not like it.

"Are you finished?"

"Hoh?" the Shadow Snake Princess jumped in surprise. "Yessss?"

Tycon sighed, then swiped down on the window to deactivate the illusion.

"Ananta," he said... "are you familiar with the ⌈Speak with Dead⌋ Spell?"

"Mmmm... (So the Ivory Prince is a man of culture,)" Ananta nodded. "I sssseeeee~"

"Nn... argh," Tycon grit his teeth, then lifted up the severed arm he'd been holding for the past fifteen minutes, "Ananta, the arm."

"(Well... alright,") Ananta said with a slight pout. "(But let it be known, my preference is to use something of yours-- something still attached.)"

"(I don't care for your preferences, Princess)" Tycon hissed. "(I wish to speak with this person.)"

"Ssssso what'ss in it for me?" Ananta asked.

Tycon blinked... "I'm sorry?"

"(You wish to utilize my magics, Ivory Prince,)" Ananta said, holding her hands together and fluttering her eyelashes. "(Perhaps you shall grant me a boon in exchange?)"

"Three suns, Ananta," Tycon frowned. "I kept your people safe for three suns."

"(You used them to fight in your front lines.)"

"I am the Commander of our combined armies," Tycon argued. "It is well within my right to issue basic orders."

"But thisssss one wantssss a bOoOooon~" Ananta whined, "Pleeeeaaasssse????"

"Fine!" Tycon snapped. "I'll grant you a boon. But know that, in all likelihood, whatever you ask for will have to *wait* until my duties end as Commander."

"Oho?" Ananta giggled, outing her earlier tantrum as a deceptive farce. "(What is it you fear, Ivory Prince?) The Realm isss going to ennnd."

Tycon narrowed his eyes, "Perhaps you might (pretend otherwise.)"

Ananta raised her chin, "You will take Ssuka as your wife."

"Ananta, I cannot--"

"For my boon, Ssweet Prince, my request isss as ssssuch: You will ssseek out my ssister at firsst opportunity."

Tycon wanted to argue, but Ananta held out her hand to silence him.

"You *will* dissscuss the prospect of marriage," she continued, "whatever the resultt may be... I will deal with your *handler* to smooth over any complicationss. I have sspoken, child of Rylania."

...Tycon narrowed his eyes to squints. Ananta's unusually formal diction meant that there was no longer room for debate.

She was well within her right to speak as such... and her request was reasonable enough to honor. However, the oppressive social maneuver annoyed him greatly.

"My mother is not my handler," Tycon muttered. "She has no hold over me."

The Medusa Matriarch of Charm could not be contested anywhere on the western side of the continent. However, Tycon was technically still questing on her behalf... and they were in the Eastern States, far, far away from the Free Nation.

He wasn't scared of her.

Really.

"Tss," Ananta scoffed as she waved her hand, reactivating her illusion window.

"I wass sspeaking of your beloved sssister," she hissed.

There was an olive-skinned girl displayed in the image. If she were human, she'd be a young teenager-- certainly not an adult. She stared lazily outside of her palanquin while the twelve black snakes and a single green comprising her hair looked equally bored.

Judging by the surrounding trees and foliage, she was somewhere in the Eastern States. However, Tycon could not discern if she was a few suns away from their camp or a few bells.

Curious.

Tycon did not know his sister's opinions on the topic of Suka.

Unless something had changed over the past few years, Suka was his sister's closest friend and confidante.

A cold chill seeped into the back of Tycon's neck, causing him to shiver.

If both his mother and sister supported the marriage... it would be troublesome.

Thankfully, there was a cataclysm on the way. It wasn't impossible for the Realm to meet its violent end before he had to deal with that and other issues.

"Very well," Tycon sighed.

"I knew you'd ssee reasson, hussband," Ananta winked.

Tycon pursed his lips, not wanting to deign himself to a verbal response. Instead, he pushed the dead man's arm toward her.

The Shadow Snake Princess took it and threw it out the window-- or that's how it appeared. Tycon did not sense the arm hitting the ground outside.

Ananta then waved her hand, conjuring a new illusory image, "It is done."

An older human male appeared in the window, like a prisoner in a transparent-walled cell.

He wore the armor he did in life, though a cut on his chainmail appeared to be mended with a thick thread. Tycon recalled hacking his curved blade through the man's left collarbone, down to one of his lower ribs.

There was also a gruesome scar on his forehead. Tycon recalled kneeling on the man's chest and driving Mercy through his skull.

Recalling the satisfaction it gave him at the time brought a smile to his face.

He gave a nod to Ananta. She had done quite well.

"It's YOU!" the human wailed. He tried to move towards Tycon, but his arms and legs were bound to a far wall by thick, shadowy chains.

"You only delay the inevitable!" the ghost shouted, "When the dragon descends, you'll get what you DESERVE!!"

"Naught but ash and fire?" Tycon suggested.

"Err... yes, actually. Have we had this conversation before?"

"You might have mentioned it as I was murdering everyone you knew and loved," Tycon admitted... "Anyroad-- good evening."

"O-oh. Good evening?" the ghost replied, somewhat confused.

"I have questions," Tycon smiled politely. "Prepare to answer them."

The notion seemed to enrage the ghost. His form adopted a tinge of greenish-blue and grew nearly a fulm in height. Then he began to scream, his mouth stretching to inhuman proportions.

"And why would I help YOUUUU?!?!" he shrieked, "You... KILLED ME!! You killed ALL my men! You spared no one-- neither soldier nor civilian! You just-- you just started killing people!!"

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