Where Kamil, or Ewald he used to be called during the period, used to maintain a small field of Macomaco tea plants, there were two unnamed tombstones right next to each other instead. They were nothing fancy, just two rectangle stone slabs standing. No one but three people knew who the tombstones belonged to. Louika kneeled down in front of the two tombstones, flanked by Petra who was a maid who used to serve Ludwig. She was holding a shiny plate with two cups of Macomaco tea on it.
“Grandfather, I am sorry that it took so long to make your tombstone,” She spoke in a soft tone, but her voice was very slightly shaking as if she was holding onto emotional outbursts. Her eyes moved to the tombstone right next to it. “And I am sorry as well, Icilia.”
image [https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img924/6733/1vhU4D.png]
Icilia was the daughter of Edmund and her, who only ended up being assassinated to make space for Ewald to be adopted. She never acted like a mother to her.
“It’s … laughable that I am acting like this now to you. After all I have done to you … or the lack thereof…” She dropped her head, tears gathering in her eyes. Then her eyes moved to Ludwig’s tombstone. She was deeply ashamed of speaking to her deceased daughter when all she had done was neglect her while she was alive. “Grandfather, you’ve shown me, with your life, that familial ties are the most important treasure in the world. I shall keep your words close to my heart. I swear to the God of Life and Death… Petra.”
The maid placed the plate next to her gently so that no tea was spilled. Loukia took a cup and poured its content over Ludwig’s tombstone.
“Grandfather, it’s your favorite tea which you could never have as frequently as you would have liked due to financial difficulties…”
Ludwig worked very hard to keep as many family members as he could possibly have under the Mesurii’s payroll. The family was bloated as a direct result, and they were undergoing extreme financial difficulties. Regardless, he kept the family together until his successor ruined it all in one strike by raising a flag of rebellion. After she was done pouring the tea, she grabbed the second cup and was about to pour it onto her daughter’s tombstone but froze.
“Do I even have the right to do this to you?” She lamented weakly. “You’ve always loved the tea, but … do I have the right?”
Petra shut her eyes, and her eyelids remained closed. It wasn’t outrageous to claim that Loukia was directly responsible for her untimely demise. Petra, being Ludwig’s close maid, was fully aware of what had gone down. It would have been easy to blame Loukia. However, it rang differently when she was under such crushing remorse.
“Petra, please.”
She opened her eyes, took the cup and gently poured the content down to Icilia’s tombstone while Loukia looked away, biting her lips discreetly.
“I can never forgive myself for the sins I’ve committed. I am sure that the God of Death will hammer his judgment upon me when the time comes,” She said. “And I will gladly accept whatever punishment.”
The Mesurii were traitors. Therefore, there was no way for her to display Ludwig’s tombstone openly. As for Icilia, she was supposed to have been married off to some merchant. Therefore, logically her tombstone shouldn’t exist, either. It weighed heavily in her heart that she could not mourn for them openly. It was further complicated by her own actions as well. When she fled the Fenchel manor, she did not take her daughter with her because she was a Fenchel. She had no right to take her. She had played by the rules which was ironic since she had broken the rules by attempting to assassinate Kamil in the first place. If she had taken her at that time, she may have survived although Ludwig would have likely forced her to send Icilia back to Lux. Whatever the case, it was all in the past at this point. What was done was done. Loukia and Petra remained silent for a while in front of the two tombstones under the bright and sunny sky of Lux.
“Mommy!” Reuben cutely dashed toward the skirt of Loukia upon entering her room. The toddler, 3 years old at this point, featured Loukia’s hair color of light brown, almost autumn color, and had blue eyes.
“Hello, my boy. Did you behave well?” She smiled as if whatever dark emotions she had displayed back at the tombstones were washed away. Edmond and a pair of maids were present in the room as well.
“I played with daddy!” He declared aloud with a joyful voice.
“I see, I see.” She picked him up and carried him in her arms. She never did this to Icilia, not even once. As soon as she realized that she gave birth to a daughter, she rarely paid much attention to her.
‘I was such a bitch back then… A child should be loved…,’ She lamented internally.
“I was told that you visited the place,” Edmund told her with a bitter smile on his face. He was the third person who knew who the tombstones belonged to.
“I have. I thank you for allowing it to happen.”
She requested him to construct the tombstones, and he approved it. The tombstones weren’t entirely fake. There was a small box buried underneath each tombstone, each having some personal belongings. Icilia’s box had her favorite dress and dolls. Ludwig’s box had his coin pouch as well as a book he frequently read. His items were provided by Petra, the maid. Loukia approached where Edmund was, which was a round table painted in white with golden patterns. There were numerous plates with various foods. As soon as she sat down, the boy reached out to grab a piece of sausage by hand, but she tapped on the top of his hand.
“No, boy. Learn manners. Sit down properly and use utensils.”
“Okay.”
“No, ‘Yes, ma’am’.”
“Yes, ma’am!” He complied enthusiastically.
She looked at the pair of maids who were standing behind Edmund.
“Make sure that he gets to exercise as well. Obesity is a sin.”
“Yes, milady,” They replied in unison.
Obesity was rare in this world because food wasn’t always easy to come by. For commoners, obesity was non-existent due to the fact that veggie soup was their staple food. Their diet simply did not carry enough calories and fat to make anyone obese. In contrast, it was possible for nobles to become obese since their diet consisted of bacon, steaks, cheese, and milk. Regardless, becoming fat was heavily frowned upon within the Kingdom of Egra because it meant that the person was consuming an unnecessary amount of food which equalled to wasting food. Obesity was a bit more common in the North and it wasn’t as heavily frowned upon as Egra. However, in general, obese people were rare. Anyway, once they had breakfast, Reuben was taken outside by Petra while maids cleaned out dishes. Soon enough, Edmund and Loukia were left alone in the spacious and luxurious room.
“How did it go?” He was referring to her visiting the tombstones for the first time. He had already paid it a visit before her.
“I was just utterly ashamed of myself,” She replied while looking at an open window nearby, casting a vacant gaze at it. “Great grandfather did absolutely everything to save his family, and what have I done?”
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“Don’t blame yourself too much. We’ve all made mistakes, me included.”
She could not deny that although it did feel like she had a bigger share of blame. At least he was trying to make it work while she simply ran away.
She carefully asked, “You… never told me how she passed.”
He cast his eyes down. “A stiletto to her heart from behind. She shouldn’t have felt much,” He confessed after a short moment of uneasy silence.
“I see…” She heaved a long sigh. Both of them were traumatized by what they had done. “By your own hands?”
“Yes.” It was a short but firm reply.
“I see…” She actually felt a bit better because, if anyone had a right to end the life of his own children, it was the parents. At least, the man had the guts to perform the deed with his own hands. She had to respect that. After all, she didn’t have the guts to take her with her when she fled the manor.
“There is someone else I must be grateful for,” She said. “It’s Ewald …, err, Kamil.”
If he contested the position of the house heir, Reuben stood no chance even if Loukia assisted him. Edmund would have been in an awkward position not to support Kamil also since he made a huge deal about her harassing him and that he was the heir he had been looking for. To sum it up, Kamil was in a good position to hold onto his position of the heir, yet he withdrew from what was rightfully his without a fuss, enabling Loukia’s son to inherit into his old position seamlessly. At that time, it seemed to be a weird decision. Looking back at the moment, however, it was probably the best decision he made.
“He is an enigma,” He said with a weak chuckle. “You cannot underestimate him no matter how young he looks. Even Elias and I have fallen for his wordplays.”
A carrot on a stick was a common way to convince others, and many were aware of this tactic. When done masterfully, it was extremely hard to resist it in spite of knowing vaguely that you were being played. Edmund was fully aware that Kamil was playing him when he suggested moving to Laufeld. It was unprecedented that an heir of a house would move away to govern a small town, and he would have denied his request under normal circumstances. He allowed the move because of a carrot on a stick. A man in 30s was played by a boy of early teens. That was how it was. If he did stay and fight for his spot, his biological son wouldn’t have stood a chance. It wasn’t even unthinkable to imagine that Reuben may have already been assassinated.
“We should be glad that he is or was on our side,” He added. Kamil was no longer a vassal of the kingdom. When it came to politics, even a close relative could turn into an enemy in an instant. It was no longer guaranteed that he was on their side anymore.
“I’ve been hearing that Laufeld has been growing really rapidly. Is it true?”
“It’s been renamed to Ceres and, yes, its population is now about 10,000 with a more active market than Lux. With airships, more people will flock there. In my personal opinion, give it a decade and the city will outgrow Lux at this rate. It could even happen sooner.”
Lux had received some refugees as well, but its population was stagnant at around 27,000 people. The city could not grow more due to availability of food. In fact, any incoming refugees were redirected to elsewhere swiftly to avoid shortage of food. If they still had Laufeld’s wheat, it would have been a different story.
“I see…,” She trailed off, shivering internally that she attempted to assassinate such a person. It didn’t appear that he held any grudge against her however. While she was grateful for him to have backed off, life was never that easy. When a problem went away, generally another problem would soon move in to occupy one’s mind.
“The king’s itching for war?” Loukia raised her voice in mild surprise.
Petra had just informed her what she had been hearing over her shoulders. As her head maid, one of her tasks involved gathering information, including politics. She never used to pay attention to such information. In fact, she barely did any job as the madam of the house before.
“Yes, it is said that the king has always had eyes for Atra. They say it has always been his dream to conquer the nation.”
They were in the rear garden of the Fenchel manor, taking a casual walk. Loukia grimaced upon hearing the daunting news.
“Just how many more wars does he want? It feels like the kingdom has been involved in wars nonstop.”
The Fenchel had been one of the houses that benefited the most from the spoils of war. Even so, Loukia wasn’t pleased with news of more war. As the madam of the house, her job was protecting Edmund and Reuben. The former was especially important right now because her son was too young. Should the father perish in a battle, there was no guarantee that Reuben would inherit the Fenchel house because there was Kamil. Yes, at the moment her son was posed to inherit the house, but it was not a firm decision because Edmund never disowned Kamil. He could not disown him in fact because he left on amicable terms. Therefore, the current succession in the Fenchel was a bit of a question mark moment. The smoothest way for her son to inherit the house was when Edmund would abdicate the seat directly to her son, and Kamil was not expected to object although they were talking about an event that’d happen after 12 years. In fact, the couple had discussed this option, and Edmund planned to do exactly so as soon as Reuben turned 15 years old. This was the best they could do without having to fight Kamil or anyone. However, Edmund’s well-being may not even matter, should the kingdom lose. There was no doubt in anyone’s mind that war with Atra would become ugly.
“Can we even win?” That was the gold-coin question.
“Nobody knows, but the king has a history of emerging victorious from predicaments.”
Winning in war did not always mean destruction of opponents. Push an enemy hard enough, they would sue for peace. Besides, Atra was far larger than Egra. It was logistically impossible for Egra to be able to swallow Atra at once even if they somehow emerged victorious. This was why they couldn’t swallow the Siwen when they won against them during the invasion. They had to consume their territory in smaller chunks. Regardless, as a mere madam of a noble house, she had no powers to stop what was about to occur. All she could do was make small alterations here and there to boost chances of survival for those who she cared for.
“Okay…, the other thing I asked for, have you looked into it yet?”
Loukia asked Petra to track down those Ludwig had managed to free.
“Milady,” The maid said as she leaned forward slightly, “Those the former master was able to rescue, they were fringe members. He was able to secure them only because no one would notice even if they were gone.”
They may have been from the Mesurii but only on paper; They were his great great grandchildren who played no role whatsoever within the family.
“Are you implying that you could not locate them at all?”
“If we could put up posters, we could likely find them, but you do know our situation, do you not?”
They were traitors. There was no way that they could put up posters announcing that they were looking for Mesurii members.
She could not argue back. “You’d be correct…”
“Milady, with all due respect, while I do understand your desire to secure the former members, your priority should be your son. He is the only one who is almost guaranteed to carry the blood of Mesurii.”
She waved away. “He is a Fenchel, and I intend to educate him that way.”
“He is a Fenchel, yes, but you could still teach him the story of your family. My point is that the bloodline is not truly lost as long as he lives on.”
Loukia has no intention to risk her son’s safety. At the same time, she admired, from the bottom of her heart, how Ludwig tried to protect the family although he was ultimately unsuccessful. In a way, she felt that it was her duty to carry on his task.
“Either way,” Petra said, “I don’t believe they could be found. We don’t even know their faces, and it has been years since. The former master was the only one who saw their faces before sending them away.”
Truthfully, not many would have survived. They were raised as nobles and never did any physical labor. They would have not known what to do once left alone in the wilderness. Not many would have hired them, either. Only female members would have had a higher chance of survival by selling their bodies in taverns. Ludwig was also aware of their slim chance of survival but he wasn’t in a position to help them further. He could have given them some money, but it wasn’t as if he was wealthy at that time, either. Besides, giving them some coins would have only delayed the inevitable.
“Is that so…” Loukia sighed. “So, they are as good as gone then.”
“I am afraid so, milady.”
“Shouldn’t they know that I am here? If they could make it here somehow…”
“Pardon my manners but …, when they were freed, the whole family had very much forgotten your existence at that point…”
She was exiled at that time and, although it was planned to bring her back at one point, she was indeed largely forgotten. Even Ludwig himself had completely forgotten about her until the very last moment. Realistically speaking, the Mesurii had just a single member: herself. Her son could be included broadly.
‘Great grandfather…, there is no family left to protect…,’ She lamented in her head. It was all too late. She wasn’t entirely correct, however. She still had a family to protect, but it wasn’t the Mesurii anymore. It was the Fenchel.