“Lady Maude,” Jakob said, bowing a little as he walked into her room. “Duke Rosenberg has requested your presence in his study.”
“At once?” Maude asked, sipping her hibiscus tea.
Jakob cleared his throat awkwardly. “Ah, as soon as you can, my lady,” he said.
Maude sighed, slipping on her slippers. “We’ll have to talk more later, Helena,” she said, smiling at the maid who was sitting on the couch with her, sipping her own cup of hibiscus tea.
“Of course, my lady,” Helena replied, smiling back. “Thank you for letting me try this priceless tea.”
“It was my pleasure,” Maude said, taking one last gulp of her tea before standing up.
“Right this way,” Jakob said, leading the way.
“Thank you,” Maude said. “This manor is so large I’m afraid I would get lost if I tried to navigate myself.”
Jakob smiled. “It is quite a large space,” he said.
“So what does his grace need me for today?” Maude asked.
“Well,” Jakob said, sounding awkward again. “I think at some point you asked him to get you newspapers from the empire?”
“Have they finally come in?” Maude asked excitedly. She gripped the top of her dress from trying not to go too overboard with her excitement. Finally, she thought. A way to confirm if the rumors I’ve heard are true!
Jakob’s face looked a bit grim. “What is it?” Maude asked, furrowing her brow.
“He has a few things regarding the war to discuss with you,” Jakob said. “I believe he mentioned something about your father as well.”
Maude’s heart sunk in her chest. “My father?” she asked. Jakob nodded. “He seemed a bit upset about what he had to tell you.”
Maude swallowed hard. Is it possible that my father is dead? She thought. And that Callum has been given the title of Duke of Holloway? Maude shuddered at the thought of her younger brother being in charge of that house. If she was still living under that roof, she’d be put to death immediately. Callum and Zara would have been overjoyed to even make something up to frame Maude with. Anything to get her out of their hair.
“Here we are, my lady,” Jakob said, gesturing to the study doors.
Maude gulped. It had been a few days since she’d last seen the duke, and seeing him again made her nervous. What if he decides to take everything back? She thought. What if it really was all a dream?
“Thank you, Sir Jakob,” Maude said.
“Of course, my lady,” he replied.
Jaspar was sitting at his desk, his head bent over some documents. He looked up at her and met her eyes. Maude felt heat rush through her, and found herself glancing at his lips.
“Maude,” he said, her heart skipping a beat at the sound of her name in his mouth. “That was much quicker than I anticipated you would be.”
Maude winced a little. “Ah, I’m sorry for the inconvenience, Jaspar.”
“You’re not an inconvenience at all,” he replied, stepping away from his desk and walking up to her. He touched the bottom of her chin gently and said, “Never.”
Maude felt a shiver of pleasure run down her spine. His eyes fluttered shut, and he gently brought their lips together once more.
It wasn’t a dream, Maude thought. He still likes me.
“I’ve missed you,” she said softly as he pulled away from her.
Maude saw color fill Jaspar’s cheeks. He looked away from her, bashfully. “I’ve missed you, too,” he replied. “It has been a long three days without having a chance to see you.”
“Indeed, it has,” Maude murmured. “I know Jakob said you had some information about the war to share with me, but I wouldn’t care if you have nothing to share,” she said. “I’m just happy I’ve gotten to see you.”
Jaspar chuckled softly. “Well, worry not, because I called you in due to having some war things to discuss with you, but also because I wanted to see you.” He smiled warmly at her. “I am finally done playing catchup from the day of the ball.”
“It’s incredible that it’s taken you this long,” Maude replied.
“Such is the life of a duke in a country at war,” he said. “Now, let me grab these newspaper articles from the empire,” he said, striding back over to his desk. “Please, have a seat.” He gestured to the couches where they’d spent a great deal of kissing one another only a few days ago. Maude could feel the heat building on her face at the thought.
Maude sat down on the couch, chewing on the inside of her cheek to help her stay serious and not grin like a fool by his mere presence. Jaspar had summoned her to talk about the war.
Jaspar strode over and handed her the first newspaper, while still holding onto another one. “Here’s the first one,” he said. “It took a while to get it here, so it’s dated about a month ago.”
Emperor plants trees, the headline declared, in efforts to reduce reliance on other countries.
Maude swallowed hard. She looked up at Jaspar. “So it’s true, then,” she said. “The empire is after the trees in Aulbert.”
Jaspar nodded. “You were actually the one that helped me figure that out, Maude,” he said. “Aulbert is one of the most heavily wooded kingdoms of our region.”
Maude’s heart stuttered. Wait what? I helped him figure that out? But I didn’t do anything…
…except tell him what I experienced traveling to get to Aulbert. Or how I was in awe at the trees charging with the seasons. How few trees I remembered being in the empire. So is this what everyone has been referring to when they have been praising my deeds for Aulbert?
“Why would the empire need trees?” Maude asked.
“Well,” Jaspar said with a sigh, sitting down next to her. “Trees are a renewable resource, but it takes an extraordinarily long time to grow them. If the emperor never planted trees before now, it will still take an incredible amount of time for them to grow large enough to be useful lumbar. However, lumbar has a lot of uses in the empire, building houses, stoking fires for food and warmth, tools, you get the point.”
All I could think about were fires, Maude thought. I didn’t realize it was used in so many different capacities.
“The empire may maintain good diplomatic relations with its neighboring countries, but they are more than happy to bully them into submission if it is something they need desperately. While Aulbert had maintained good relations and trade relationships with the empire, the empire was attempting to bully the king and the prince into submission this past spring. The emperor was concealing what it was he wanted until the king and prince said they would work with him. Obviously Aulbert said no. We could have never imagined that the empire was after lumber.”
Maude shook her head. “The emperor couldn’t have just traded for that?” she asked. “It is not as though the empire’s coffers are empty.”
Jaspar frowned. “I think they are emptier than you might think, Maude,” he said. “To boot, with starting a war, the emperor had a lot more to gain besides just trees. Land, money, influence, and power are things he will gain if he wins the war.”
“And people,” Maude pointed out.
Jaspar’s face paled a bit. “And people,” he agreed.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
“Does this confirm then that the empire is keeping slaves then?” Maude asked, looking down at the newspaper. “I had never heard of such a thing until I came to Aulbert.”
Jaspar grimaced. “The slave labor the empire depends on is one of the empire’s best kept secrets,” he said. “I’m not sure how they managed to pull it off,” Jaspar said. “My guess is that there are only a few noble houses involved, including the palace.”
“Would my house be involved?” Maude asked.
“Your father is one of the emperor’s closest confidants,” Japsar replied with a nod. “As such, there is a very high chance that the staff in the Holloway manor are slaves.”
Maude shook her head, her stomach rolling at the thought of her father.. But that would at least explain a few things, she thought. Like how the maids were always trying to sleep with my father despite how rough and aggressive of a person he is. They were trying to get money from him… And while they couldn’t show open hostility to the main members of the family, they could towards me. I was still benefiting from their unpaid labor.
“The vast majority of the slaves in the empire,” Jaspar continued, “Only perform manual labor and the building of structures.” He paused. “There is also one additional thing that likely led to the empire declaring war on Aulbert.”
“What’s that?” Maude asked.
“Well…” he hesitated. “There is a multi-nation effort to smuggle slaves out of the empire, and Aulbert has spearheaded the initiative in an effort to free them.”
Maude’s eyes widened. “So there is a mass exodus of slaves from the empire.”
Jaspar nodded. “Aulbert has played a large role in that. About forty percent of the slaves that have been smuggled out chose to settle in Aulbert.”
“So the emperor is punishing the whole country as a result,” Maude said.
“Correct,” Jaspar said. “Additionally, all of the empire’s slaves have come from the other kingdom’s that the emperor has conquered over the years. If they win the war, not only will the emperor be able to reclaim forty percent of his escaped slave workforce, he will also be claiming a whole other kingdom’s population worth of slaves.”
Maude thought about Cristyne and Melissa and how nervous they were that the Aulbert Kingdom may lose the war. It all makes sense now, she thought. If Aulbert loses, they will all become slaves. She shivered at the thought.
“Why would Aulbert get involved with another country’s affairs?” Maude asked.
Jaspar smiled. “A fair question. I don’t really have a good, exact answer for that except that the empire is the only place where slavery is condoned on the continent.”
“Oh, wow. I didn’t know that,” Maude said.
Jaspar nodded. “In general, most people see it as highly immoral. But also, one of the queens of the kingdom’s that the empire conquered was the prince’s aunt. They spent a great deal of time growing up together, as his aunt was much younger than the prince’s mother. So he has been releasing slaves in hopes of finding her again.”
Maude’s eyes widened. “I hope he can find her,” she said. “I never really got all that involved with the news and politics prior to coming here, so I’m not really sure if they would have put her to death or not.”
Jaspar shrugged. “It’s also incredibly hard to know because half of what the empire publishes in the newspapers are lies. So the prince’s search persists.”
Maude nodded, looking down at the newspaper in her lap again. “So the empire is just doing the same thing it has done to the other neighboring kingdoms, just to Aulbert this time?” she asked.
Jaspar nodded. “That’s what Prince Erich and I believe,” he confirmed. “Except, in the past, the kingdoms struggled to defend themselves against the empire’s sneak attack, so they were quickly overwhelmed and lost. Not so much with Aulbert; this has been the longest war that the empire has seen in over a decade.”
Maude shook her head. How had she never known any of this? Were these the reasons why her father had kept her naive to war strategy all these years?
“Ah,” she said, remembering her conversation with Jakob prior to coming into the study. “Jakob said that you have news of my father.”
Jaspar’s face looked grim. Maude’s heart skipped a beat. Was it true? Had her father died? Was Callum the new duke?
Jaspar handed her the other newspaper he had on his lap. Rather than being pulled open to a specific article like the first one had been, it was a front page headline.
Maude Holloway, the empire’s only sword saint, killed in battle with Aulbert, the headline seemed to be screaming.
Maude blinked a couple of times, trying to understand the words she was reading.
“What?” she finally managed out loud. “But I’m not dead.”
“You are most certainly not dead,” Jaspar agreed. “And both your father and the emperor are well aware of that fact.”
“How do you know?” Maude demanded, looking up at him. His eyes were looking at her with pity. She did not want Jaspar to pity her in this manner.
Jaspar sighed. “If you recall, when you first came here, I told you that I wrote a ransom letter to your father and the emperor.”
“Of course,” Maude replied.
“That letter most certainly made it back to your father, because he replied,” Jaspar said.
“He replied?” Maude asked. “But he did not request for me to come home? He did not give in to your demands?”
Jaspar folded his arms. “Well, my demands for you were far too high,” he replied. “To me, a sword saint is incredibly powerful, and the type of person that a country should want to protect. They are a true asset to the country. However, your father and the emperor’s perception of you is very different,” he said.
Maude nodded. “Probably because I am against violence,” she said.
“Maybe,” Jaspar said. “But it seems as though their use of you was to be a martyr. It’s the only reason that makes sense to have sent you into battle with a bunch of new and inexperienced soldiers.”
Maude looked at Jaspar, confused. “But you said that the battle could have gone either way if I’d used my Augment ability and spread the ability to my soldiers.”
“If you’d used your augment aura, absolutely,” Jaspar agreed. “You may have won and lived, but there is an equally likely chance that you would have died in battle. It never made sense to me why they would throw their best soldier into that dicey of a fight. But now, I know.”
Maude stared at the headline, still in disbelief. “I also wondered the same thing,” she admitted. “I thought ‘surely the emperor didn’t make a mistake.’” She shook her head. “Why would they do this?” she asked him.
“Making you a martyr rallies the troops,” Jaspar replied. “Morale couldn’t be higher than ever in the empire’s forces. They want revenge for your death.”
“No one even knows who I am or likes me, even in the empire,” Maude said. It couldn’t be true. Her own father intended to use her as a sacrifice? Even the thought of it was absurd.
Jaspar sighed. “As I’ve told you before, you are, without a doubt, one of the most famous people in the empire. Just because you were treated poorly by the nobles and your family, does not change the fact that you have a household name. You were beloved by your country. But your father made sure no one could recognize your face. What better way to make a person feel worthless than to make it feel as though everyone hates them?”
Maude stared at him, dumbfounded. “You can’t possibly know that.”
He breathed heavily, then stood up and walked back over to his desk. He opened a drawer, and pulled out a single piece of parchment. He walked back to the couch, and looked her in the eyes. “If I give this to you to read…” he said. He looked incredibly conflicted.
“Is it the response to the ransom letter?” Maude asked. Jaspar nodded. “Do you want me to read it?” she asked him.
“It’s horrible,” he replied. “We received it recently and while I’ve believed every word you said, I could have never imagined that a father would treat his sword saint daughter in this manner,” he said.
Maude swallowed hard. She knew that her father had resented her existence, and that she had been born a woman…even that she’d been the child that had ended up a sword saint. But the way that Jaspar was talking about the response letter made her nervous. What if her father had hated her more than she’d ever imagined?
Do I really want to read it? She asked herself. What value will it bring to me, really? She gulped. I really do want to see it, she thought. Just to confirm.
To confirm what? Her heart asked her, aching. You already know how he feels about you. You just don’t want to acknowledge it.
My heart is right, she thought. Nonetheless, I want to read it anyway.
“I can handle it,” she replied in a voice that sounded much more fragile than she wished it would.
“You made this choice,” Jaspar said, handing the piece of parchment to her. “Don’t have me take responsibility for your actions.”
Maude nodded, and took the sheet from him. She flipped it right side up, and was greeted with her father’s messy scrawl.
Good day–
I do not care what you do with the sword saint. It would be a mercy to have that child beheaded and gone from this world. We have used her for our purposes and she has completed all use we have for her. She is not, and has never been, wanted in the Holloway manor. When Aulbert loses, if she is found alive, she will be beheaded as a traitor of the empire.
Signed,
Duke Matthias Holloway
Maude felt herself swallowing back tears. Her chest felt tight, and she felt her body heating up. She had never even been considered to be a person to her father. She had never been anything more to him than a pawn in a game of power and influence.
Maybe this letter is forged, a part of her suggested. Father surely didn’t think that little of me.
Maude shook her head slightly at herself. There was no doubt that this letter was written by him. It was gruff, straightforward, and short, all words that described her father.
She looked up at Jaspar, who most certainly saw the tears forming in her eyes. He grabbed the letter out of her hand, threw it off to the side, and grabbed her back, pulling her into his arms.
“Your grace!” she exclaimed, tears starting to fall from her eyes. “Your grace! You saved me.”
He was gently stroking her hair, her head planted on his shoulder. “What do you mean I saved you?” he murmured.
“How would I be able to live with myself if I’d fought?” she cried. “I would have been fighting for all of the things I hate. I would have defended their corruption!” she blubbered. She pulled back away from his shoulder and then looked him in the eyes. “Thank you for taking me hostage,” she said. “You literally saved my life. You had every right to kill me, but…” he cut her off with a sweet kiss on her lips. The kiss tasted like the tears that were streaming down her face.
“When I found the empire’s sword saint hiding in a bush, I couldn’t help but be curious about her,” he murmured in her ear. “I was worried that it was a trap, but figured I’d try to give her a second chance.” He gently kissed her ear. “I, too, am grateful that I chose to spare you that day.” He kissed her neck, and she couldn’t suppress a shiver.
“You saved me,” she whispered. “I didn’t have anywhere to go. They would have killed me eventually in that house.”
“Indubitably,” he replied, kissing the underside of her chin. He found her lips again. He was still gentle, but much more forceful than he’d been the previous time. “I will do everything in my power to ensure you feel worthy of the title of sword saint,” he murmured to her.
“Thank you,” she replied, before they kissed again.