The two of them reached Vincent's manor within fifteen minutes, neither Vincent nor Elaina saying a word the entire journey.

The carriage pulled to a stop. Vincent got out and held open the door for Elaina, and held up a hand to assist her in exiting. Elaina stepped out of the carriage without grabbing it, and to any casual observer it would appear as if she just hadn't seen his hand. As she passed him, he retracted his arm and silently moved up to the manor doors, which opened as he approached.

A maid and an old butler met them at the door.

“Hello sir, I only recently received word of your arrival. Your room has been kept aired out and ready for your arrival, as always, however the lack of staff necessitated we prioritize maintenance of the manor, and unforuntately the ladies suite is not yet ready. If you would like I can serve you tea in the drawing room while Nadine finishes readying the ladies chambers.”

Elaina moved to follow the butler when Vincent spoke up. “Dillan, I think I am going to do a security check of the house, please entertain my fiance while I do so.”

With this Vincent left, Elaina's stomach roiling in knots as she watched him disappear up the twin curved staircases that dominated the foyer of the manor.

Elaina watched him go, then turned to the Butler, apparently named Dillan. “Some tea sounds very nice, Dillan?” Elaina asked, her voice a little nervous now that she had been abandoned by the only person that she knew, but also relieved.

“Right this way miss... If I may ask, has something gone amiss between you and Lord Vincent?”

The two of them started walking, into the foyer, which was dominated by the twin staircases circling the outside of the chamber that Vincent had just ascended. While she composed her thoughts on how to continue she took in the rest of the chamber. Several display tables lined the wall opposite of the door, no doubt normally displaying finely wrought craftwork and other displays of wealth in other times, but now covered in protective cloth covered in dust. Two doorways, one to the left and one to the right, led off at right angles to the main entryway.

They turned off to the right, and entered a hallway with large bay windows to the right, facing out to the front of the house presumably, but currently covered with massive and heavy drapes, the left side held numerous doorways, interspersed with bits of furniture also covered in dusty canvas.

“We were... Things were going good. And then... And then we got here, and he met the mayor... and it sounds like the current Mayor killed the old mayor and took his place, trying to use some legal chicanery with duels to obfuscate it, but Vincent saw through it, and... I mean it all makes logical sense, but he went from the sweet Vincent I've spent the last few days with, to this ruthless, vicious man man stabbed a an unarmed noble under nothing but suspicions.”

Dillan visage became pensive.

“Forgive me miss, we've been quite cut off from news from the rest of the realm for some time. We had heard that Vincent was to be wed, but not to who. May I presume you are from another country?”

“I am Elaina Von Otterbach, princess of the kingdom of Planhaften”

“Ah, Planhaften, I remember, more than thirty years ago, when the lord of Planhaften came to our queen's aid. I was right there, fighting on the walls against the revolutionaries. When your father showed up with his army. At first we thought the enemy had managed to bribe him to join our enemies, but no. He marched out in front of his army, brave as can be, as we were engaged in the middle of a pitched battle. Damn fool almost took a dozen arrows in the neck before the queen sallied out and got his army into the city.”

“... I see.” Elaina said, not sure what the point of this little trip down memory lane was.

“The reason I bring this up is... you have never been in a war have you?” The elderly butler asked.

“No... I think the last time we came close to war was before I was born. We have a large collection of allies and we are very well off economically. The closest we've had was a peasant revolt after a collection of corrupt nobles started taxing them to the point they could barely feed themselves. That happened when we, me and Ezra, were eight, Father spent months sorting out that nightmare.”

Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

Dillan nodded. “Ustral has been at war either internally with it's own nobility or in a number of border conflicts ever since Prince Vincent has been alive. In point of fact I do not think we have had more than a year of peace in the last century.”

Elaina's eyes widened.

“How does that work? How does your economy survive?” Elaina asked

“Well a lot of it is geared towards supporting the nobles in their conflicts. They'll recruit promising commoners sure, but most craftsmen, farmers and the like keep their heads down and produce goods for whatever noble is in charge, as long as everyone follows the rules.” Dillan responded.

“The rules...”

“War may seem brutal but there are certain rules followed, and even more in the nation of ustral, and most of our enemies have learned to follow those if they want things to stay within the lines as it were. Most of the time, the nobles fight, generally speaking in Ustral levies will not be called up, though if a noble see's a promising commoner they may elevate them to a knight, that is how most of Ustral's fighting forces are organized. A noble with his elite retinue of knights, they will go fight other nobles, if the war is within the country, or the enemies forces, and whoever wins makes concessions. If cities and sieges are involved, things get murky. Within Ustral it is settled with duels, out of it... Well, like I said, most countries have learned to meet Ustral on equal terms.”

“Okay, I understand that...” Elaina said as they entered the tea room, which had two finely appointed chairs, a love seat, and a divan, but all the rest of the room was covered with those same dust sheets she had seen in the rest of the manor.

“That's the world Vincent's formative years were spent in, learning about all of this, and how it kept the country running, and the common people safe. While not every noble house emphasizes it, the queen is well known for stressing the importance of the common folk, and punishing any that would take advantage of them. She has instilled this into all of her children, Vincent included.”

“Okay...”

“Now the empire comes in, and the first sign of them going to war with Ustral is them sacking a city. No declaration of war, no trying to hash things out, they just sent infiltrators in, butchered the militia at the gate, then rolled their whole army into the city. They looted everything, butchered the populace, and left the place a ruin.”

Elaina just looked at him. “I take it the royal family did no take that well.”

“They did not. And let's just say, those rules that Ustral put in place? It was mainly to keep the nobles in general, and the royal family in particular in line. The queen has been trying to keep her children from descending to the same level as their foes, but.... “

“Not much success huh?”

“Some success, she's managed to held them back from engaging in cruelty for cruelties sake, but things like poisoning the enemies food supply, hexing them with disease to slow them down, leaving brutally displayed corpses in the middle of their encampment to discomfit them... These are all very effective, and, importantly for you, it is an area of warfare your fiance has found himself to be uniquely capable. This kind of 'no rules' warfare suits him, but it's also made him very hard very quickly. Most physical displays of violence that people his age would shy away from are part and parcel to his everyday life. THIS is the reason most of Ustral's enemies face them while following their 'rules' because Ustralian nobles are actually really good at this kind of asymetrical warfare. Each noble represents a concentration of force that require massed formations of troops for most other countries to face.“ Dillan said

“I get that it's just... all at once.” Elaina said, grasping for an explanation.

“Yes, of course, it was a shock. I will get your tea now.”Dillan replied and left the room.

Elaina focused on getting herself together. She knew that Vincent had been completely justified in how he handled the mayor, she wasn't stupid. But so soon to having a front row seat through her divination watching a man get torn apart by zombies, and once she saw Vincent's sword cut into him... She just saw the man coming apart at the seams like what the zombies had done.

Elaina held her hands out in front of her, and, seeing them shake, she grasped them tightly to herself.