POV King Olgierd

"... Thank you very much your Excellency for answering my sudden council."

"This is not something worth thanking me for, I think you Baron Makho should rest before setting off into the dark night to resolve your issues though." I advised the frontier noble in front of me. His tired face showed a hint of surprise as I said his name. He wore worn-out traveling garb which in the sea of opulence was the most exotic thing in the room I witnessed this day. The only thing which demonstrated his noble status and allowed him entry to the palace was his fur hat with a colourful feather pinned to the front a sign of his military rank.

"Thank you for worrying about me your Excellency and I wish I could stay but duty calls regardless of time or day." The lord of the northernmost Oblast replied. Under his grey eyes, large dark circles weighed heavily on his fatigued face unmistakably caused by The Fallen which established themselves in his vast frontier territory. He clicked his heels and turned around toward the exit with military gusto.

*Sigh*

The rogue mercenary company was currently ravaging the countryside burning and pillaging villages. The self-nominated natives were unable to directly assault any of the major settlements with any real chance of succeeding but their continual provocations already caused a few of the frontier nobles to switch sides or secretly aligned themselves with the traitors to put their constant raids behind them.

I put back my mask and navigate towards the dining hall. A rare feeling of comfort surrounded me as I walked through a cheery crowd without them turning their attention to me disturbing the joyful atmosphere. I grabbed a cup of white wine from a servant walking past me and looked around. "Oh, Miss Umbria is here?" I uttered as I spotted the distinctive white hair of my most trusted advisor, she was sitting straight in one of the lounges observing the hall with her all persevering golden eyes.

"Do you expect someone?" I asked approaching the woman.

"Oh, your Majesty I haven't noticed your approach." Did I somehow manage to finally managed to sneak on Miss Umbria? "What did your blessed Queen Mother say about sneaking on women?"

"I do not remember my Blessed Mother ever speaking to me about this matter."

"She did when you were about 4 years of age you had mistaken a female ambassador of Flinter for your Mother's mother. Your little mistake caused the ambassador to pass out from fright almost causing a diplomatic catastrophe to occur." The long-time friend of the family explained. She adjusted herself on the padded couch, taking a sip from a goblet beside her. "A king shouldn't just stand there like a nail waiting for the hammer to strike, take a sit please." Miss Umbria motioned me to sit down in front of her.

Am I going back in school? I took a sip of my own drink before Miss Umbria spoke again.

"I am in fact expecting someone to come back, but her loyal but slightly infuriating companion is probably making her meanderings take longer than they have to be." Miss Umbria looked like she dropped a heavy bolder from her heart as she spoke in a slightly hushed tone.

"So you are expecting a woman?" I asked, surprising myself that I too took on the conspiratorial tone.

"Yes," She explained. "Let's stop gossiping about people who are unfortunately not here and talk about something else, your Majesty." The subject suddenly changed.

"That is fair. Did you find any more traitors among my court?"

"No," She turned her golden eyes directly toward my eyes. "But I have my suspicions about the Minister of Diplomats but I have to send my little birds to investigate some more."

"Minister of Diplomats..." An image of an older gentleman flashed through my mind. Even when I was little I remembered him as a gentle old giant with the kindest heart in the entire realm. "That can't be true. I remember him carrying me when I was but a child and he served well when my blessed Father was still alive."

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

"My King." Miss Umbria tilted her head. "In my long life, I witnessed many things, Daemon worshipping, kinslaying, betrays of the most hideous kind. Once the impending fog of death looming over everyone's head enters a person's thought horizon, they can do the most bizarre things to satisfy their desire to live in one way or another."

"I do not understand." Do they suddenly lose their mind or something? That can't be right, an entire lifetime of achievements is wasted on a pointless whim.

"No one wants to be forgotten in the never-ending forest of history, hoping to be one of the few to burst out of the forest's canopy. Unlike most, you have already achieved this so it might be hard for you to imagine but the feeling of... emptiness is paralyzing. Everything you are, all of your achievements, desires, memories and even the memory of your very existence are eventually hidden under the very same desires of the people in the future. It must dawn on certain individuals extremely hard after realizing this, maybe even enough to cast everything aside and give one last desperate try."

"Don't they know that there is an afterlife in the warm and comforting hands of the Aspects?"

"Well, death or perhaps the path which the soul takes after leaving Niuran behind is shrouded in uncertainty and uncertainty is what they fear rather than death itself. Because uncertainty is neither good nor bad it breathes doubt into our minds which festers and blooms into dark thoughts which beg us to cling to what is known to us. In a country ruled by a tyrant whose rule is fierce yet liveable enough, the populace will not rebel fearing what would come after the tyrant is overthrown. Would a just king be found or perhaps the masses had grown spoiled by their riches and are incapable of seeing the scale of cruelty that the living are capable of is much grander than they could imagine?" Miss Umbria spoke unbordered by the morbid topic, casually sipping on her crimson drink. "Maybe undeath isn't as bad as we think? Life of true constants devoided of many fears that we the living have to face... Doesn't sound that bad to me."

I lifted my head toward the ceiling with a fresco depicting Pruina banishing a powerful necromancer away from Firmusa into the Ridge. "For the low cost of your soul. Undead are devoided of the Breath of Life. They are not even capable of taking a singular breath into their abominable husks. They are perfect examples of soulless and mindless monsters."

The woman made an exaggerated sigh before speaking again. "Yet Soulsteal works against them. Of course, the undead we find are all mindless but I was more talking about a theoretical example of undead retaining their uncorrupted mind." She clarified. She always said the most vital piece of information at the end of her debates.

"Are you scared of death, Miss Umbria?" A childish curiosity overtook me as memories of her lectures resurfaced.

"No, not really, I wholeheartedly believe in covenant and the greater task awaiting me in the afterlife." Her confidence gave me a weird feeling of comfort as her words overflowed with steel-hearted conviction about the far but imminent future.

"What Aspect are you devoted to or are you undevoted?" An obvious question entered my mind that I had never bothered to ask.

"The most powerful of them all." Her golden eyes flashed with a bright shine. Of course, Miss Umbria is devoted to Citranus the Aspect of Humanity and the Sun which purges darkness. Why have I even asked?

We sat silently with each other, Miss Umbria's golden eyes returning toward the dinner hall, carefully observing it from behind her mask. I too joined her in observing the hall perhaps spotting the mysterious woman my spymaster was searching for. I should wear masks more often I really enjoy people not swarming around me and being normal not bothered by my presence.

"Mistress." A servant wearing Blackworm colours approached Miss Umbria extending his hand with a letter toward her.

She took the beautiful white envelope and opened it with a neutral face. Her eyes swiftly read through the letter. I could see the vague shadow of the black ink through the paper glad that my reports weren't usually that lengthy.

"Deal with it, I can't attend to it now." The Spymaster's voice was cold almost hostile to her own servant. "She cannot know anything is wrong with the current state of affairs, understand?" She ordered withholding the letter from the servant until she received a nod. Was Miss Umbria always this cold to her staff? I followed the servant with my eyes until he disappears curious about the contents of the letter. "I am sorry for this, nothing to be worried about my Majesty simply personal matters."

"Lady Blackworm." A woman wearing a mask resembling a cat approached our table giving me a courteous nod.

"Lady Froststeel, nice to see you again... did something happen? You look like a wreck." Miss Umbria shifted in her seat to make space for Lady Froststeel.

I wondered how Miss Umbria does it? Lady Froststeel looks exactly like usual, overflowing with confidence and female appeal yet Miss Umbria instantly saw that she was stressed even under her mask. The newly arrived noble fell into her seat and rested her head on the shoulder of the royal advisor seemingly not worried about the etiquette of which she is an infamous enforcer of. Instead of poncing on the seemingly weakened noble the arch-noble gently stroked the other grown woman's head resembling a caring parent comforting their child.

I didn't know Miss Umbria and Lady Froststeel had such a good relationship with each other even if they are in the same faction and from houses cordial to each other, what was happening in front of me was something very private not meant for my eyes, perhaps they are best friends when away from the public eye which wouldn't surprise me.

"What happened?"

"I... I lost at a game of Square." The motherly concern faded from the sunrise eyes of Miss Umbria replaced with a look of parental disappointment.

"Marleen? Did you just have me worry over nothing?" Miss Umbria said. "I told you so many times that game of yours is nothing but trouble."

"No Mis-Lady Blackworm. I am just surprised by who I was defeated by. It was young noble I think. She was just too adorable to refuse her offer to play and like that *Snap*, I was swept in her little game." The woman snapped her fingers." I bet that little devil had planned that from the start. No one can learn and then master Square in such a short time." The woman turned her eyes toward Umbria. "Should I find out from which house is she? Minister of Diplomats was I would say enchanted by her but she didn't act like a true noble. She is clearly very intelligent despite her young age though. Shall I introduce her to your birds or maybe I can deal with her." The woman's voice turned strangely seductive as she spoke.

"What mask did that person wear?"

"Ehh... I think it was an owlcat mask but I might be wrong. I was fascinated by her blue and golden eyes I didn't take any notice of her mask." Upon hearing Lady Froststeel's words Miss Umbria exposed mouth turned into an unremovable knowing grin which confused the noble beside her.

Ahh, so the woman Miss Umbria is expecting wears an owlcat mask. I wonder what that woman is like.