“Ways to establish a noble house?”
Elias was looking abused as he repeated Ewald’s question. He was writing a letter in his study when Ewald requested an audience.
“Why would you even ask such a question? Who is it for?”
He felt that there was no reason to lie.
“It’s for Raem. He told me that he wants to become a noble.”
“I see…” Elias adjusted himself in his seat, crossing his fingers on the desk.
“I wish to help him if able.”
According to Elias, there was only one way for Raem to become a noble.
“Which is not easy,” He added quickly. “The most important thing is prestige.”
For warriors, prestige was earned in combat, meaning wars. It could also be earned by defeating bandits, but there were rarely any bandits due to the fact that night time in the wilderness was harsh. A bandit group would need to be fairly large to defend themselves at night, and a large bandit group was hard to maintain since they were a group of thugs essentially. Therefore, participating in wars was the only reliable way for warriors to earn prestige.
“For Raem to be recognized as a noble, he must partake in wars. That would be the first step. If he distinguishes himself enough in battles, he will earn the rank of knight. This is a noble rank but it’s not hereditary. He must earn more prestige until his lord decides to grant him a fief.”
“His lord? Not the king?”
“Under normal circumstances, if a lord has enough fiefs, he can assign them to his vassals. Delegation is a thing. However, in the kingdom of Egra, there are only a few noble houses that have more than one fief.”
“Does that mean Laufeld has been assigned to another noble house?”
“No, currently the Fenchel has direct rule over all three fiefs. Your father is a capable man.”
Ewald folded his arms.
“Meaning, if a fief is assigned to a noble house that works for his lord, the fief in question is hereditary?”
“Yes, although the right can always be revoked at will. Once a knight has a fief, he will become a permanent noble even if his fief is taken away later.”
“By using that logic, the king can revoke the fiefs which we rule?”
“No, it’s different. The king can revoke the right to rule for Laufeld because he was the one who granted it. But he cannot touch Lux and Fort Reen without a valid reason, like treason for example.”
“Hang on.” He was a little confused. “Does that rule apply to fiefs the Fenchel grants to his vassals?”
“No, for the Fenchel, they can always revoke fiefs for their vassals. There is no time limit.”
“So, there are two rulesets with some variance.”
“Correct. Let’s say the Fenchel belongs to a class of high nobles. The landless noble house, the Harder, would be low nobles. They are both noble houses, but you cannot say that they are the same at the moment.”
“I see. I see.” He nodded repeatedly. “One more question, Sir Hunt.”
“Go on.”
“Raem told me that he would like to wed a noble lady. Would that aid him in his quest to become a noble?”
Elias replied right away as he swirled his pen gracefully.
“Not under normal circumstances. The only exception would be if he was marrying a royal princess in which case he is either marrying into her house or has to establish his own house decreed by the king. The latter would be a very special case. Another case is him marrying into his wife’s house. It won’t be creating his own house though.”
A king would never let a princess marry a commoner indeed. He’d make his son-in-law a noble in one way or another.
“I see. This has been pretty informative for me, Sir Hunt. I do have … another matter I wish to talk to you about.”
Elias rubbed his temple, fearing what he was going to say.
“What is it now?”
“Well, I am going to say that rubbing your temple is warranted in this matter. I’d like to meet Flora Flissing.”
Elias frowned immediately. “Why now?”
He explained his situation with Rivka briefly to him.
“In short, it’s not working out. She doesn’t like me, and I am starting to lose interest in her. So, I’d like to meet Flora.”
“You do realize that we have a verbal agreement with the king already, do you not? What is the point of doing this now?”
He retorted, “It’s only a verbal agreement at this point, is it not? I’d like to explore the options.”
He really did not want to plot against his future father-in-law. He really wanted to avoid that scenario. Additionally, marrying Flora would form a close alliance with the Flissing which might just come handy in his future rebellion, should it come to that. Finally, she had been, so far, the only girl who ever showed interest in him although it was probably because he saved her from her certain demise.
“What do you have against a royal marriage?” Elias questioned with a bemused expression. “Objectively speaking, the royal marriage will be better politically.”
Under normal circumstances, it certainly would be.
“I want a happy marriage,” He replied firmly. “For that to happen, the woman I am going to marry needs to like me first and foremost.”
Elias rubbed his temple once more. “But weren't you the one who opposed the marriage in the first place?” Exasperation was clear on his face.
“I did. The circumstances are different though. I opposed the marriage because, at that time, I was trying to keep my end of the bargain by marrying one of his daughters. Now that it is no longer a possibility, I am pursuing my own interest.”
It wasn’t exactly a lie. He did want a happy marriage where a husband and a wife can be friends. If possible, he wished to replicate the same kind of marriage he had with Fionara.
“Besides,” He pressed, “I think an alliance with the Flissing is as good as the royal marriage.”
In fact, in his mind, it was better. In the case of rebellion, it might be possible to coax the Flissing into his fold. If the two most powerful houses within the kingdom revolted, the Egra house was going down certainly. Geographically, they might even be able to topple the king even before any aids from other houses arrive. Of course, he wasn’t going to say that to Elias.
Sighing with exasperation, Elias folded his arms after putting down his pen. He fell into thoughts for a moment before responding.
“I cannot deny that you have some valid points,” He concluded and added, “Your father isn’t exactly happy with the royal marriage, either.”
“May I ask why?”
“The Fenchel will have little say in matters during the marriage negotiations. It’s a one-sided marriage is what I am trying to say.”
Basically, the king was forcing his daughter onto Edmund’s son, who happened to be the heir. The implication of such an action was easy for everybody to see; the king wanted to control the Fenchel. Now, this wasn’t a problem on its own. However, the king wasn’t on good terms with a lot of other noble houses. But this was something Ewald wasn’t aware of at this moment.
He elaborated further, “Normally, a noble house would be thrilled to be graced with a marriage offer from the royalty. The Fenchel, however, is powerful enough that we don’t actually need the connection.”
So far so good then.
“I will actually let you talk to your father because the scope of our topic is beyond my station.”
Thus, Elias led him to Edmund’s study.
“What is it now?” He sounded irritated as he saw Ewald enter. “Elias, you come in. Might as well.”
Elias on his behalf explained what they had discussed right before coming here.
Sighing, Edmund crossed his fingers on the desk.
“Elias is correct in his assessment that I am not entirely too happy about the marriage with a princess,” He explained. “The king will set his terms, and we will have little, if any, say in what goes under the marriage contract.”
Ewald wasn’t entirely sure what the hell would go under such a thing as a marriage contract but decided not to ask for the time being.
“However,” He continued, “You marrying Flora Flissing might really piss him off, and we don’t have a good excuse to go ahead with it especially when he has sent us a verbal proposal.”
“You are not against me marrying Lady Flissing on its own then?”
“No, I don’t have a problem. The truth is that I’d rather have an alliance with the Flissing than the royals.”
Edmund was surprisingly receptive to the idea. All he needed was a sound excuse.
“I will come up with an excuse.”
“It needs to be sound. Or it will simply backfire.”
Folding arms, Ewald racked his brain to come up with something, something… Interestingly, this time, it was Elias who came up with an idea.
He suggested, “We could claim that Ewald and Flora have fallen madly in love.”
Aww, that’s tacky.
“That’s weak, isn’t it?” Edmund replied doubtfully.
“It’s weak, yes, but humane. The event backs it up as well. He has saved her. That’s an indisputable fact.”
Ewald, too, felt it was weak. However, as weak as it may be, it was indeed humane as he claimed.
“We are children after all,” Ewald pointed out. It was certainly awkward to point out that he himself was a child when he was mentally in his early 30s.
“The king fuming at a young pair of lovebirds wouldn’t look good for him,” He added, trying to coax Edmund.
After a moment of silence, he asked Ewald.
“I don’t have a big issue with this. I mean, I am willing to go with Elias’ idea. However, I do want to ask you, son.”
“Yes?”
“I get a hunch that the reason you want to marry Flora has something to do with the little plan you spoke of before.”
Well, he got me.
“The reason I brought it up was because I wanted to keep my end of the bargain. I just want a happy marriage after all. Can you imagine a princess as my wife? I bet she will be cocky as hell.”
Edmund had his own share of wife problems with Loukia. If there was anyone who could understand his dilemma, it was him. Indeed, he folded his arms and stuck his back deeper into his chair. Groaning, he eventually admitted.
“I do hate to admit but, in that perspective, I can see where you are coming from.”
“I am not saying I want to marry Flora. I wish to meet her first. Let us talk and then I will decide. No harm in this at this stage.”
Edmund glanced at Elias who gave him a discreet nod.
“Very well, I will send a messenger to Dido. This does take time, so don’t expect a reply in a while.”
It would take at least 15 days for a messenger to arrive, meaning it’d take a month to receive a reply. If a capable wind mage was used as a messenger, it’d take less than a week for a reply. However, Edmund wasn’t going to use a wind mage because it would appear desperate on the surface.
“I understand.”
A messenger on a horse would take about half a month to reach Dido. If on foot, at least twice more. It was never easy to communicate, which was the main reason that necessitated the royal party: for the nobles to gather in one place and discuss things in person.
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
Either way, the meeting was concluded.
While they were walking in a hallway after leaving Edmund’s study, Elias remarked.
“I wouldn’t say you are a troublemaker, but you do surely keep bringing in issues. A normal child would be thrilled to wed a royal princess.”
Sorry, Elias, but that very princess is the last person I want to get close to. I am not letting the king become my father-in-law.
“A cocky wife is the last thing a man wants, Sir Hunt,” He retorted with a lie.
“You talk as if you’ve met the princess. You have not. You don’t know what she will be like.”
“By the time I get to meet her in person, it will be too late. I will take my chances with lady Flissing.”
By the time he would meet the princess in person, it would be only after everything had been sorted out. There would be no backing out by then.
“You are correct in that at least.”
In the end, Elias went to his study while he went straight to the decoy house.
“Hmm?”
Lara and Rivka were at a standstill when he arrived at the decoy house. It was his first time seeing Lara being pretty aggressive. They were glaring at each other and looked to be ready to jump on each other at any moment.
Not knowing what he should do, he quickly dashed into the kitchen. Karla was usually found here but she wasn’t present at this moment.
“Raem?!” He shouted, hoping to get him involved. Alas, he didn’t appear to be present, either.
“Damn it!”
He dashed back to where the girls were at each other.
“Hey, hey, girls, what is going on here?”
Rivka ignored him while Lara glanced at him and replied.
“I asked her to launder her clothes. She told me that I should be the one to do that. I asked her why and she said I work here!”
It appeared that Rivka thought she was a maid. Given the fact that Karla was acting like a maid, it was understandable why she had come to such a conclusion.
“Rivka, Lara is not a maid,” He told her. It was only then, she glared at him.
“That does not matter!” She barked. “I shouldn’t be doing laundry!”
“You shouldn’t? Why?”
She raised her voice at once. “Because I am -” She didn’t finish her sentence, but he knew what he was trying to say.
She thinks she is still a noble, huh. What should I tell her now?
He did not know what kind of upbringing she had experienced. However, given the fact that she thought she was a noble, her upbringing must have been above standard.
“You are not a noble anymore, Rivka,” He told her bluntly, perhaps a bit too bluntly. Alas, this was the reality she would need to face at one point. The sooner, the better, he felt.
Tears welled up in her eyes as she bit her lower lip. Then she slapped him in the face hard.
What the fuck?!
He was dumbfounded in the sudden turn of events.
“Hey!” Lara shouted at her and grabbed her crimson hair at once. “Stupid bitch! Leave Kamil alone!”
Rivka, in return, attempted to grab her hair in retaliation. However, Lara’s hair was fairly short, thus she had a hard time getting a firm grasp of her hair. This was the moment he realized that Lara had cut her hair. She used to have shoulder length hair.
Wait, it’s not the time to notice that.
“Hey, you two, STOP!”
Ewald jumped in between them, trying to stop the fight. Then, the girls ended up grabbing his hair instead. The whole situation was spiraling down into pure chaos as he tried to stop the two girls without much success. Tears started to form in his eyes due to the pain of having his hair being pulled by four hands.
This is a curse by the Gods, ain’t it?! I am meant to suffer at women’s hands, ain’t it!
He screamed mentally. Then…
“Woah? WOAH! Hey, STOP!”
It was Raem’s voice who dashed in, grabbed Ewald, and pulled him off the girls. The two girls panted heavily as they watched Raem who dragged Ewald away from them.
“What the hell is going on here?!” He demanded strongly.
“Awww, this hurts,” Ewald muttered as he sorted out his hair. “Raem, I can explain -”
“No!” Raem interjected. “I want them to explain!”
Rivka, turning around at once, attempted to walk toward the stairs. However, Lara caught her by the collar.
“You are going nowhere, bitch.”
She turned around at once and violently tackled her, resuming the fight once again.
“What the hell?! I told you to STOP!” Raem dashed to grab Lara and shouted at Ewald. “Sir, please grab the other girl!”
“R, right!” He dashed to grab Rivka off Lara.
“Oh, my…, what is happening here?” With her hand on her mouth, Karla wondered aloud.
The scene before her eyes was wild to innocents. Raem was on top of Lara, pinning both of her arms down to the floor while Ewald had grabbed Rivka from behind by her chest area.
Oh, hey, the girl has some volume there.
Ewald could feel some softness in his hands.
“W, wait, this is not what it looks like!” Realizing how it looked, Raem quickly got up and explained the whole situation or at least what he thought was happening to his mother. Ewald added to his statement for the full picture.
“I see. You two boys are excused. I will have a talk with the girls,” Karla said with a heavy tone.
The two boys left the decoy house for some fresh air.
“Oh, man, my scalp hurts so bad…,” Ewald massaged his head with both of his hands while Raem was walking with his shoulders sagged. Lazily looking at Ewald, he asked.
“Are you alright, sir?”
“Well, I will live. What’s wrong with you? You look drained.”
“That was some high energy shit, sir. I feel spent. I’ve seen two dudes duking it out, but that was a totally different kind of fight.”
Ewald giggled immediately upon hearing his remark.
“It’s called a cat fight.”
“A cat fight?”
“Yeah, when two girls duke out, it’s called a cat fight.”
“Why is it called a cat fight even?”
“I don’t know?” Ewald shrugged. “It’s called a cat fight regardless.”
“I see…”
Anyway, he felt this was a good time to tell Raem about what he learned about establishing a new noble house. After explaining to him that the only aspect that mattered to become a noble was prestige, he didn’t seem too discouraged.
“That’s how it should be,” He said with conviction in his voice. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
“So, it doesn’t matter who you marry.”
“Yeah, that’s good to hear. Personally, I don’t want to marry a noble lady. She ought to be cocky, no?”
Ewald laughed internally because he, too, was trying to avoid that exact scenario.
“Good news for you. I’ve been hearing that the Siwen might invade us soon. There will be opportunities, I am sure.”
“The Siwen…?” Raem trailed off for a moment. “Should we be worried? I heard they invaded us like 10 years ago as well.”
“From what I can tell, our nation seems to be fully ready to combat their invasion. Besides, we are in Lux. I doubt the war will impact us down here.”
“True, you have a point there. I guess I will be partaking in that war then as a soldier of the Fenchel.”
He fixed his shoulders, and fire returned to his eyes. Clenching his fist, he declared, “I will earn my prestige there.”
Noah, Raem, and everyone else seemed to be itching for the war in Ewald’s eyes. He felt that they were missing a crucial aspect in wars: people die. A lot die. In fact, he died in war. His wife died. So did his children.
A dark cloud dominated his mind afterwards. He recalled how his wife plunged a dagger into her heart after losing all hope in her life. That image, her dead face, was alive in his mind vividly still. The faces of his children were, however, hazed. He could no longer recall their faces. Meanwhile, Fionara’s face that was drained of all hope right before her suicide was engraved in his mind. The man responsible for that was within his grasp.
Standing still, he shut his eyes and drew several breaths in and out to calm himself.
“Sir?” Noticing that Ewald was not walking alongside him, he turned around.
“It’s nothing,” He lied as he resumed walking with a fake grin on his face.
After taking a short walk around the city, they came back to the decoy house at which point Karla informed Ewald what had happened while they were away.
Apparently, she found no fault with Lara. Rivka was at fault for everything that had occurred. However, Karla wasn’t sure she was in a position to scold her, given the difference in social status, thus she inquired him on the next step.
It was clear from her own words that Rivka considered herself a noble while the truth wasn’t so clear. She was an illegitimate child from Edmund. Since she was never acknowledged by him, she was never a noble to begin with. Whatever happened made her think that she was a noble, he had no idea. Nevertheless, if she considered herself to be a noble, Karla scolding her wouldn’t work indeed. She’d just scoff at her and walk away since nobles had a strong tendency to look down on those beneath their social status.
“I guess I will talk to her.” He had to volunteer. He was the only one who outranked her. She wouldn’t listen to anyone else otherwise.
Reaching the door to her room, he knocked twice. There was no answer. Normally, he wouldn’t barge into a lady’s room, but this was an exception. He twisted the knob on the door, and it wasn’t locked. Opening the door, he found her facing down on her bed.
“Rivka, this is Ewald. We need to talk.”
After a short moment of silence, she replied with a muffled voice.
“About what.”
He took some steps forward, approaching her.
“You need to get used to the new life that has been granted to you.”
There was no response. He looked around to see her room; it was bare. There was the bed in a corner and a desk with a chair across it. Finally, a small closet was in another corner. That was it. Every piece of furniture in the room was made with wood and had no decorations at all.
She eventually dragged herself up and sat down on the bed. She looked agitated clearly. He was not going to tell her that she was not a noble again. Instead, he was about to give her a choice.
“Do you want to leave here?’
She looked quite shocked to hear what she was just told.
“What?”
He repeated, “Do you want to leave here?”
“Leave here, then what?”
“It is your life. Do whatever you want. I can get the ten silver coins back to you.”
Once you choose to leave here, then it will be it, girl. There will be no turning back.
“Are you kicking me out?”
“If I were kicking you out, I'd have done so already. I am giving you a choice. You are clearly unhappy here. Then, go out there and live however you see fit.”
Emily told him that she was “passive and pessimistic”. That was a roundabout way of saying she was lazy. In his own past experience, being lazy wasn’t something that could easily be corrected. Scolding and such didn’t generally work. One had to realize on his own that he was lazy to begin with, and that was only the first step.
She wouldn’t answer, and he pressed. He didn’t want a potential cause for instability in the decoy house. Additionally, he had told her previously to make up her mind which she chose to stick with being a maid. She rejected him once before and she was rejecting him now. He felt the time for a final decision had arrived.
“I give you a choice. You either work with me or leave.”
She glared at him with tears slowly forming in her eyes.
“Fine, you don’t want me here, right? I will leave, fine!”
She got up and began to pack her belongings in a backpack.
So be it.
Ewald walked out of the room and informed Karla about Rivka’s decision to depart the decoy house and asked for the money she had previously given her.
“It’s all here,” She said as she handed over the same leather pouch. “I haven’t even touched it.”
Grabbing it, he walked back to her room and threw it over her direction. His eyes were cold. Rivka, at the moment, was sobbing as she continued to pack her belongings. Not wanting to put up with her shenanigans any longer, he went down to find Raem and Lara with worried expressions on their faces.
“She’s leaving,” He informed them curtly.
Lara was about to say something, but Raem stopped her by placing his hand on her shoulder.
“I trust his judgment,” He explained.
After a moment of uneasy silence, Rivka came down with a backpack on her back and her staff in her right hand. Karla followed her from behind.
“I am sorry that it had to end like this,” Ewald told her who, in return, fired a glare at him. Her eyes were red. Without saying any word at all, she simply walked out of the house.
“She’s only ten, Milord,” Karla told him. Everyone was looking at the door.
“You should have let her stay,” Lara added. Raem, however, remained silent because he had no intention to argue against Ewald. If it wasn’t him, he would still be struggling in poverty. He decided to put his faith in him and was not about to doubt his decisions.
“I am not pleased with how it went,” Ewald responded with an exasperated sigh. “However, I have given her choices even before coming here. She refused every single time. She had to go.”
“She has enough money to settle down elsewhere,” Raem backed him up. “Unless she wastes it, that is.”
Ewald couldn’t shake off this bitter sensation as if he had made the wrong choice. At the same time, he was glad that she was gone. There was no reason to keep someone who didn’t want to be here.
Time to inform Elias, I guess.
Heading back to the manor, he visited Elias once more and informed him of Rivka’s departure.
“I see,” He replied nonchalantly.
“You don’t seem surprised.”
“I foresaw this outcome. Her character hasn’t been outstanding while she was working here as a maid.”
Ewald nodded. “Emily told me. And she thinks that she is a noble.”
“She is not,” Replying curtly, he stood up from his chair and walked to the only window in the study. Gazing through the window, he explained that Edmund initially adored her.
“She was his second child. He still had high hopes of having a son at that time and treated Icilia and her very well.”
His threatmeant toward them waned over years as he continued to have only daughters apparently.
“Sir Hunt, given your explanation, I have a feeling that Rivka thinks I am the cause of her being discarded.”
For the two girls, Ewald being adopted was a turning point in their lives. Icilia was murdered to make a way for him. Rivka was discarded in the end after becoming useless in Edmund’s scheme. It was true that, if he hadn’t been adopted, they might have led far better lives.
Elias rubbed his temple. “Perhaps,” He replied. “Either way, I am impressed that you made such a decision. That wouldn’t have been an easy decision to make.”
It wasn’t.
“Had to be done.”
Turning around, Elias had a grin on his face in spite of the situation.
“You may not be Edmund’s biological son, but you two act very much alike.”
“I assume that’s a compliment?”
“It is. Being able to make a decision whether it’s right or wrong is an important trait for leaders. There are times a decision must be made regardless. Those who hesitate in such situations will fail as a leader.”
Does that even apply in this case? I just cast a ten year-old girl away.
He did feel waves of guilt over the deed. The girl probably didn't know what outside would be like. Where would she even go? Where would she stay? She knew no one. All she had ten silver coins which was too much for -
Fuck.
“Sir Hunt, is it possible to send Fenchel guards to search for her?”
“Why now?”
“She has ten silver coins on her. If anyone dodgy finds that out, he might go after her.”
Elias’ face stiffened at once. However, he rejected his request.
“A decision has been made. We are going to stick by it.”
“But -”
Elias interjected, “Let her be. If she gets killed by a robber, that will be her fate.”
Sure, sure, and that will be on me, right?
That concluded the meeting, and he was back in his room.
Standing still at the door, he scanned his own room which was at least ten times larger than the room Rivka had at the decoy house. Every piece of furniture in the room was painted in glossy white and had golden decorations on them. In a corner of the room, there was a room divider and a bathtub beyond it. There were three windows on one side where his desk sat between the second and third window. The desk was a dark brown antique wooden one that had been stained in light brown. There was his bed along with a nightstand and a closet in a corner. His bed was so large that he could roll around and not fall.
Essentially, everything in the room was as fancy as it could get. He assumed that Rivka used to live in one of these rooms, perhaps not as extravagant but similar. If one lived in these kinds of rooms for many years, he couldn’t be blamed if he thought he was a noble.
He felt guilty for what he had done to her even if he felt, at that time, that he had the right to have done so. Taking a deep breath, he approached his desk, stood there for a moment, and kicked it hard. He missed the simpler life where all he had to do was provide food to his family.
“Damn, my foot hurts,” He muttered.