Segro was a beautiful country surrounded by mountains and ocean and compared to most kingdoms on this continent, Segro's king, Feser was a good man. He cared about his country and  people. His rule brought prosperity to the Sergo .Sar'gen started negotiation as soon as he reached Segro's borders. Secretly he knew what King Feser would propose as a condition for surrender.

- Marriage?  

-Yes.

All his generals looked at Sar'gen patiently.

King Feser had only one child, his beloved princess Effil. He married young but his wife died shortly after giving birth to Effil. Feser was a good king and a good father. He put all his time and effort into looking after his daughter and his kingdom. It took him a lot of time to bring prosperity to Segro and looked after child without a mother. So he missed any opportunities to remarry. When Effil turned 15 years old, it was the first time that they faced assassination attempt. There were no direct challengers to the throne, however, his extended family decided that without a crown prince, Segro's people would have no choice but to accept their not-so-direct royal linage.

King Feser tried to catch all traitors and put them in prison but some found support in the Maron kingdom and were able to flee from Segro. Maron queen Zahla enjoyed bringing disturbance, so she actively supported the traitors of Segro. In the next 3 years, Effil faced a lot of assassination attempts.

It was a difficult decision for Feser. However, if Zahla with traitors would succeed in overthrowing him, it  would bring a lot of suffering to innocent people. He decided to put political marriage as a condition for surrender, it would also secure his daughter's rule as her husband from Ilula kingdom would be able to protect her and Segro from any enemies. 

- Are you going to marry princess Sar'gen? - asked Masari

-Me? Why me? - Sar'gen smirked at his friends

-What?

-There 5 of ours...so why it should be me?

Sar'gen sat down and looked at his surprised generals. He did not want to marry Princess Effil. No way, in his previous life he married her. It was the decision that he regretted. Effil was a loyal and gentle person, who wanted to be loved but Sar'gen never loved her. It was a miserable marriage for both of them.

However, he kept this a secret for a different reason because Effil was very close to all his generals in his previous life. She became good friends with Kedra, Vulal and Solala. Effil was the person who tended to dying from his wounds Vulal. After the Vulal's death, Effil never recovered. Sar'gen always regretted not marrying this gentle soul to his shy brother who was never good with women. He looked at Vulal who was talking to his twin sister and smiled.

Vulal was the tallest in the family, above two meters high, his huge frame scarred children and women away. He wielded two huge swords that he wore behind his back that would make him appear even bigger. However, under all these, Vulal was a very shy person, who loved children and adored small animals. Effil was the only person in his life, excluding his family, who accepted him for what he was and called him "Shy Giant". Princess Effil had a beautiful voice, she would sing to blind Vulal Segro's songs about the ocean and mountains and about his brave journey of uniting the kingdoms and stopping the wars.

Sar'gen noticed their feelings too late. When Vulal lost the ability to walk and see, it was too late to change anything. Effil was with Vulal till his last breath, she held his hands and sang. Sar'gen cried as he never cried before when Vulal died. They won and united the kingdoms but the price was too high. The sacrifice was enormous.

This time he would make his brother happy. Sar'gen promised himself this as soon as he came back. He never talked about Segro with them on purpose to hide the truth. There were only two secrets that he kept from his friends.  His marriage to Effil was one of them. He hoped that as in previous life, Segro's king again would propose the marriage so he could make his brother marry Effil.

-I think we should draw lots...what do you think?

Sar'gen wanted to make sure that Vulal would not be able to decline this marriage. So he proposed that everyone try luck. Sar'gen knew that if he insisted on Vulal being the candidate, it could backfire instead.

- You mean all of us? - Kedra and Solala glanced at each other.

-Have you asked the king if he would accept us as pretendents as well? 

Ilula had different marriage laws. Unions between men or women, or men and men or women and women were common there. You can choose to spend your life with anyone you want and no one would be able to say anything about it. Life in Illula was too short and harsh to waste time caring about gender. However, most other kingdoms restricted marriage to only men and women.

- Yes, he agreed to accept anyone from lead generals. - confirmed Sar'gen

-Have you met the princess Sar'gen? - Kedra jumped excitingly, she was very popular with men and women and was weak to beautiful people. 

-Yes, she is gentle and kind.  - replied Sar'gen glaring at Kedra with clear warning. 

-What? - Kedra moved her shoulders, - I will go first.

While everyone was crowded around the box no one could notice that Sar'gen pulled the magical artifact and sneakily touched Vulal's back.

Kedra moved to the box with lots and put down her hand to pull the white square.

- Nothing...- Kedra was disappointed as she showed to her friends a white square.

-OK me next...- Sar'gen moved to the same box and pulled the same white square.

-Haha not me...-

Vulal was next, he put his hand in the box and pulled pink square.

-Omg..I cannot believe it...- Vulal was so stunned that he could not move.Solala and Kedra exploded in loud giggling, and hugged Vulal, crushing him in their strong embrace.

-Hahahaha you are lucky bastard...you would be marrying first out of us..hahahhaha

+++

Sagro' royal palace.

-Father...- Effil called him

-Effil, my baby...- King Sagro, Feser hugged his daughter. He scooped her in his arms and cried. Feser desperately wanted to protect his only child from all dangers but as a parent, he wanted for her to be happy and be loved. His decision to marry her to Ilula's general was risky. Ilula's tall huge people scarred him. Would they be good to his small and weak daughter? Secretly he hoped that General Kedra or General Solala would become his daughter's marriage partner. At least they were both women but a courier from Sar'gen brought news that his daughter's partner would be General Vulal.

-What to do Effil? My baby...I cannot agree to it...- Feser cried and kissed his daughter.

- Father...what happened? They rejected your marriage proposal?- Effil looked at the king.

-No...baby...but your marriage partner...- Feser looked at his daughter sadly...- It would be Vulal.

-General Vulal? - Effil blinked in surprise...- I do not understand. Why you so upset? He is older brother of General Sar'gen?

Feser pulled away from his daughter and just noticed that she took this news without any issues compared to him.

- My baby are you not afraid of him? 

-Hmm? - Effil remembered meeting Vulal during negotiations a few days ago. He was a very awkward person. Vulal felt out of place and tried to hide behind his friends' backs. It was not helping as he was the tallest in the royal hall anyway, and everyone would look at him and panic. People would react with screams which would create chaos around him. Never even once Vulal was aggressive or angry mostly uncomfortable and miserable.

At the end of the meeting, he ended up hiding in the furthest corner of the hall, almost behind curtains. It was strange but Effil thought that Vulal was a cute person. He was a strong warrior but every time Effil glanced at him, he would be in an awkward position due to his huge build and height. Awkward giant with a shy smile, what she thought about him.

Vulal was like her beloved country Sagro, huge and strong like Sagro's mountains, with deep blue eyes like Sagro's ocean. Effil liked him right away.

Moreover, it was obvious how all these strong generals dearly loved this giant warrior and cared about him. 

Opposite to his father's hope, Effil wanted to have Vulal as her marriage partner, so she felt happy about this choice. Effil was not a naive princess after years of fighting assassination after assassination. Effil had a good understanding of the people's true nature. Vulal was a huge and tall but shy and awkward person.  

Effil smiled gently...she had a strange feeling that she might be able to have a happy marriage, her cute giant with a shy smile that would listen to her songs and love her back...man that was so similar to her beloved Sagro country.