The princess looks confused, but she smiles slightly at the handsome man, who has just turned around. I whisper in her ear “You might have forgotten, but he always played at the palace when he was younger and only left later on to tend his duties. Oh, did I mention it? He is the heir of the northern duchy, and… I know it’s a bit of a surprise to you, but he might very well become your fiancé! He should be of your taste, right? I heard he fell in love when he was younger and did his duties with masterful excellence because he wanted to prove to your father, the king, that he would be worthy of you, the princess.”
The princess looked worriedly at Illic, when she saw his cold demeanour, she turned to the little duke and saw him smiling at her, amiably and like he was in love. She became shy and blushed, then I pushed her slightly and told Onaia to take her to the little duke so they could talk a bit. I signalled with my eyes that this was the chance to express a bit of her demonic aura. To an untrained eye, this would look like normal aura, but to someone with dark magic, it would look like an special aura with some darkness properties, intriguing him probably.
I chat a bit more with the prince before I set off with my husband, going to a corner of the ball and sitting down to eat a few bites and enjoy the sight I created. I look at Illic with soft eyes, he returns it and I gently caress his hand under the table “Darling, I meant what I said. I would like to make the oath with you, what do you think?”
He takes my hand into his grip as he says “Since I said I wanted to marry you, naturally I also want an oath. You are probably better with this, so I will follow your lead.”
The ‘oath’ they talked about was an oath of marriage. There were of course many different oaths, but an oath of marriage was when someone took a partner for life, and not upholding the oath might bring forth many punishments, the worst by far was not death, but things much worse.
Nonetheless, there were different oaths of marriage, and there had to be a witness. If one was part of a religion, it was norm to have the god as witness and judge. There were many other types of witnesses, one could even declare an awakened forest to oversee it. The most binding witness known to the public was the world itself, it would see everything and follow up with punishments that were above all the others.
Of course, I know one more ‘entity’, which, just like the world, can’t really be called an entity. Anyways, that entity is even crueller than the world, and way more binding. But the important thing is, the oath of marriage was one of the few things one can do to create a karmic relation to that entity. Living in this world, one would have a karmic relation and instantly be able to make an oath with the world as witness. But that entity is beyond the world, in normal circumstances, one would never get a karmic relation to it, and without that, one wouldn’t be able to harness its power either, no matter what ritual one uses.
Marriage Oath’s and other Oath’s which bind two souls go above the physical or mental dimension, they exist even above the soul space, since all souls are alone in their pure form. But an oath binds two oaths together on such a high dimension, that it infringes on the realm of the entity, allowing you to form a karmic relation to them. Of course, not all oaths are so powerful, those for servitude or slavery were the least powerful. Only those oaths that went into the realm of souls could be called true oaths, and normally they would last for a lifetime. The oaths that would last for the whole existence of the soul were the only ones that infringe into the realm of that person, and marriage oaths of such importance are always myths.
So, I tell Illic “The oath I want to make… is not just about Alaric and Illic, it is about our Origins, about our past, present and future, about our souls, not just this life. Are you truly sure?”
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Illic looked me silently in the eyes for a moment before he answered “I know this might seem like a childhood love for you, or even a long crush. But for me, you are my everything. Each relationship has a start point, but since the oath would go beyond this life, we would forget each other and have to find ourselves again.
Since I love you in this life, I want to be together with you forever. I don’t know about my past lives, I only know that in this life I want to live my life with you present, and if I can, then I want all of our future lives to also be together.”
“Mhmm” I say as I close my eyes and try to calm down. This unconditional love was the reason why, in every run I could, I would choose to play Alaric, romance Illic, and then leave to do my plans. This time it’s no different, but now that it was in real-life, I didn’t think ‘If only I found someone like that, you have to good Al’- no, I don’t need to think that. I am Alaric after all. I also don’t think he and I are different people, his original personality died out and only his body remains, if Illic was so superficial to only like Alaric’s body, then he would’ve never thought of marrying me, even if I coaxed and corrupted him.
The evening went on slowly. At one point, Alaric and Illic went back to the place, and they talked with some more nobles. Onaia also joined them after seeing that the princess didn’t need any guidance anymore. Alaric introduced some more secrets about each and every noble he knew, he played the basic story many times, after all.
He didn’t want to trouble himself with such a low political stage, having nothing to gain out of it. Onaia, in comparison, would get the chance to fully establish her family lineage in this place. With his help, she would have it a lot easier.
After the king left, one high noble after the other left too. The lower ones would continue having fun, taking it as a break. Many of them came from far away, so even if the higher nobles disdained them, they didn’t say anything.
Inside the carriage, Onaia looked out of the window for a bit before she looked back at Alaric and told him “I have decided. If lord Alaric allows it, I shall become the Third Head of House Violet. I will lead the branch here and my lineage will all be part of the house. I hope you can excuse me for I won’t be able to fully publicly disclose this matter, but the insignia of House Violet will always have it’s place next to the insignia of the Seer Tribe in this world. Would you be agreeable with this, marquis?”
Smiling, I say “That is very satisfactory. I will not deny your Origin, that would be going against the existence of everything, but I hope you will always remember that your Origin in this World will be bound to House Violet. We will treat you as a full part of the family, the same as each and any other joining member. There are barely any rules, besides that the Violet Council has to be berated for matters that concern matters on a larger scale. The only real rules are to always care for you children and follow the families’ maxim. That is all.”
Confused, Onaia asked “Care for your children? What does lord mean?”
Smiling somewhat disdainfully, Alaric explains “You saw so many of the younger nobles in this ball, and you probably also saw many in your demon realm. These children are arrogant to the core, spoiled and bratty, this isn’t something the family accepts. It is fine if you care greatly for your children, but growing an incompetent child will make you experience the punishments for your child ten-fold. That is not a arguable rule, if your children do badly, and I mean not naïve innocence, but truly badly, then you will be the one to suffer alongside them. You can see that my methods are neither just nor righteous, but there are lines not to be crossed.
The dignity of every being is inviolable. This was a saying from where I come from, the maxim of our family, and I always follow it. Murder? Massacre? Theft? All things I accept happily, not if they are done simple for entertainment but for a real purpose, such as a ritual, for example. But no matter what, acts such a Rape, Slavery and Discrimination are forbidden.
The maxim somewhat allows acts against dignity such as torturing, because they are often necessary in this world, but rape will never be allowed. We make no slaves, I don’t mind if you buy slaves, and I will probably do so too. But we will never enslave anyone. If they are useful, then offer them to work for you. If not, ignore them. If you have a reason, kill them. It does not matter; we take no slaves.”