Kalista lounged in a comfy armchair as she sipped on a fragrant floral tea. Her mother gave it to her last week and said she’d gotten it from some merchant from the east. It was created from a mixture of dried rose petals, jujube, and chrysanthemum. San Bao was what she called it. Kalista recalled her mother introducing it to her as she enjoyed another sip. The tea was mild and mellow and it had a sweet—almost nutty—flavor from the dried jujube.

“Nell,” Kalista called nonchalantly to her maid. A girl similar to her in age quickly appeared next to her. Nell was almost 20 and had been at Kalista’s side since the princess was 3 years old and was exceptionally loyal. “Get me the list of attendees for Friday’s ball,” Kalista stated and Nell nodded and looked to another maid who quietly slipped out of the room to fulfill the task.

“My lady, it’s rare for you to be interested in attendees of a ball,” Nell stated softly as she poured Kalista another cup of San Bao tea.

Kalista shrugged, “it seems Vasilios is excited for the party.” Vasilios had left her with a nagging feeling since yesterday afternoon. After some consideration, she’d determined that he was too pleased after yesterday’s conversation. Of course Kalista wasn’t concerned to any extent, her brother would never hurt her in anyway, but it made her curious. Caution was never a bad thing.

“His Royal Highness must be excited for the beautiful ladies in attendance,” Nell commented without emotion on her face.

Kalista snorted, “that brother of mine, if it was girls he’s after he wouldn’t mind going to a brothel, he wouldn’t need me as an excuse.”

Nell didn’t comment, but Kalista knew the maid had only made previous her statement as a matter of a fact—and she wasn’t exactly wrong. While Nell was a maid, she had also grown up with Vasilios and knew his personality as much as Kalista did.

At that moment, the door opened again, and the maid who had gone to fetch the attendees list had returned.

Kalista placed her teacup onto the small dish, and received the thick packet of paper. She quickly scanned over the list of names, frowning in annoyance at some, and sighing when it came to others. On the second to last page, she stopped when she read the name: “Duke Vander Windsor”.

“Nell, tell me what was the late Duke Windsor’s son’s name?” Kalista asked.

Nell racked her brain for a moment before replying, “I believe it was Lord Vander.”

“Hmmm?” Kalista murmured under her breath, and placed the names list on the table and picked up her tea cup.

The old Duke of the North, Martin Windsor had passed away suddenly four months ago during the late spring. She had been down south at the Eastern Sea port in the City of Whitesilver when she’d received the news. She was upset because she had actually liked the old Duke; he was one of the few King Zale considered a friend and she’d given him a passing grade after the handful of times she’d interacted with him.

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Kalista had never met the late Duke’s son. The Duke rarely visited the capital except for official functions. Since his wife had passed away many years ago, whenever he visited the capital, his son was left to take care of the north. I’m sure it never crossed his mind that his son would need to be familiar with the capital at the time. Kalista thought remorsefully, feeling a little bad for the young Duke. Taking over as Duke at such a young age—and never even stepping foot into the capital either—was a daunting task.

She finished off her tea, and placed it back onto the dish. No wonder Vasilios was so excited; he probably wanted to take the opportunity to get the new Duke on his side. Although Vasilios was Crown Prince, his position was still precarious. Iakobos, who was 21 and only one year younger than him held a lot of influence with nobles since his mother was the sister of the Duke of Marais who ruled over the western providence of Ethaossi. Not only did he have influence, Kalista knew that her second brother had ambitions for power—although he hid it well from their father.

Iakobos’s mother was the only son between King Vale and his first concubine, Lady Sheria. Out of all her siblings, half-siblings included, Kalista clashed most with Iakobos. She also disliked Lady Sheria’s haughty attitude, she could barely sit in the same room with the woman. She had another blood sibling, Lucas who was 15. She had another younger brother: Mete, 16; and younger sister: Yolie, 14, who was birthed from her father’s second concubine, Lady Rasia.

Her mother, the Queen was born in the Holy Land of Valnesse and came to marry her father when she was 19. However at the time, her father already had two concubines, and he kept them even after the marriage.

Does father love mother? Kalista thought quietly. It was something she pondered regularly when she thought about her family situation. Amongst nobility, men often had multiple concubines in addition to their legal wife; and as royalty, her father could be considered tame with only two concubines in addition to the Queen.

Kalista despised the idea of being married to a man whose heart was divided. Although, for a while she believed that if she were to go against the grain, she would have her own lovers—as the princess no one would say anything against her. But as she thought about it deeper, she quickly rejected the idea because she hadn’t found an interesting man, let alone a few to be in multiple intimate relationships.

She knew her brother’s response to her question. “Of course, just because I love beautiful women doesn’t mean I don’t love Cerelia." That was his answer when she’d ask him once. Cerelia was his betrothed and someone Kalista found pleasing to converse with.

Vasilios’s answer was stupid, but as Kalista thought about how much her father doted on her and her two brothers—it was clearly favoritism at times—she could only draw the conclusion that her father did love her mother. To a certain extent that is.

Kalista sighed, drawing her thoughts back down from the clouds. She got up from her armchair, picked up the list of attendees again and strolled to the door. She was going to find her brother. It was a silly game of “guess who” he was playing with her, but she didn’t mind helping him achieve his goal after she’d discover who that “who” was. She exited the room and turned right and headed down the hall to find his study.