The next morning, Jule woke up feeling a bit more lethargic than usual, his body having still not recovered to perfect shape after yesterday’s beating.

A dull pain in his lower back fights his will to get out of bed, but in the end, he manages to overpower laziness. He was ArchDuke Redshield’s heir, he couldn’t just mess about.

Today was one of the days he was free from that unbound gorilla, Parn. He would study many aspects of warfare and noble-hood. Some of the most renowned professors across the entire Redshield Dukedom would gather for the opportunity to teach the heir.

It wasn’t everyday that one could become the mentor of a future ArchDuke, it was a once in a lifetime opportunity.

Though Jule sometimes preferred the young and “interested” teachers, he would alway learn from those wise old men, with knowledge beyond their years. Some would come to spread their knowledge for rewards, others would come to share what they knew in gratitude to the ArchDuke, others would come expecting Jule to remember them in the future.

That is why, for today, Jule dressed lightly, a dark colored tunic and some loose pants made sure he was not uncomfortable at all while sitting those long hours in the library.

He did make sure to advance with his target, the young maid had come with the older one again. Jule felt a little more confident today, so he went ahead and placed his hand on her cheek, caressing it romantically.

It was supple, some baby fat still remaining on her face, making the experience rather dream-like, though he had to stop after she audibly yelped in surprise.

It was quite annoying to be sure, but he wouldn’t rush it. As a grand noble, he could always force her to go further, it would be no skin off his back. Nevertheless, he had often heard, from eavesdropping on the guards, that the touch of a woman in love was much better than one without it.

He would make sure to conquer her and then take his just desserts…

It was a little bit like cooking… Jule thought as they finished putting the rest of his clothes on.

He went out of his room and tried going to the right, deeper into the castle, where the library was.

Instead, he was intercepted by a man in elegant attire, he had grey slicked back hair, and a sharp jawline with exquisite blue eyes.

He was his father’s butler.

“Young Master, The ArchDuke requests for your presence at his study” The man bowed deeply and said, the tone of his voice being the most perfect neutral Jule had ever heard.

“Understood” Jule answered back and turned on his heels, his destination now to the left of his room.

Jule was a bit fidgety, it wasn’t everyday that his father requested him to head to the studio, mostly only in emergencies. He hoped to get closer to his father this time, he would prove himself and become worthy of standing at his side.

After walking for a few minutes, he finally saw the mahogany doors that separated the hallway from his father’s studio. When he was little, he would struggle greatly to open them, nowadays though, his strength made it literal child’s play.

As he saw the same studio he was in last night, always obscured by the curtains covering the windows, his attention was attracted by a man resting against the wall.

“Did that dumbass Parn get me into trouble?...” Jule muttered under his breath, his eyes glaring daggers at Parn.

Parn whistled, the same irritating smirk present on his face.

“Calm down tiger, nothing bad is going on...rather, I think you are going to like it..”

His tone was as stupid as ever, but his words did manage to get Jule’s attention. Jule hoped Parn wouldn’t be as evil as to mislead him, though knowing the bastard, it was a possibility.

His father cleared his throat, making Jule jump and Parn to release a wry chuckle, throwing away a cigar he was puffing.

“Jule, we have received a report that some monsters have escaped from Zanya into our territory”

Although this was not a worst case scenario, it was pretty bad. Many villages were built in this land, becoming rich off the mercenaries that went to Zanya for money but didn’t feel comfortable sleeping there.

My father brings out a map from a drawer in his desk and motions Jule to come closer.

Jule’s eyebrows shoot up and his body freezes in place. He had never gotten that close to his father, today was truly a good day for him.

Before his father had the time to change his mind, Jule rushed and stood right next to him, causing his father to lightly cough for some reason.

As Ethan unfurled the map, his finger traced over some red markers in the border.

“They have somehow avoided our squad defending that section of the land, managing to reach some villages and massacre all of the population” Jule’s father lets him take a look at the map.

Jule felt no sympathy for those villagers, they knew what they were getting into and they still did it, all in order to gain the wealth from the mercenaries that crossed the border. They were extremely foolish and paid the price.

“It won’t be long before they reach the Altia plains and have access to the rest of the Dukedom” Jule’s father tells him, his finger tracing some black lines on the map.

The Altia plains was one of the few open spots between Dresden and Zanya. Thanks to its remoteness and the pressure of the Grandia border close to it, no fort was ever built there, only a simple staging camp maintained by rangers.

The rest of the border was closed off by the Dragon’s Spine, the biggest mountain range covering the Human Continent. It was extremely back luck that the monsters happened to cross the border right at that spot.

Yet, Jule couldn’t help but wonder what his part in all this was.

“Parn here, told me that your training is going along rather well…” When Jule’s father mentions this, his eyes focus on Parn, who simply waves his hand a little and snorts.

Jule thought he wasn’t that bad after all.

“Rather well for a child…” Parn manages to slip in a comment, always trying to get the last word.

Jule immediately regretted what he thought earlier.

“Well, whatever the case...he tells me that you need some experience on the field to round it out” He drags his words for a second, as if trying to make the moment more dramatic. I could already guess his words though, and they were the best thing I had heard in years.

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“You will lead a portion of the garrison towards the Altia Plains and intercept the monsters there, stomping them out for good”

YES!!,YES!!,YES!!

FINALLY!

“I will not let you down father!” Jule gets on his knees as he says this, thanking the heavens for this opportunity

Ethan only answers by coughing again, making Jule wonder whether he is a bit unwell.

Jule glances upwards trying to catch his father’s sight, yet his gaze has long escaped him, focusing back on the hundreds of papers stacked on his desk, his hands not stopping for even as second as he signed documents.

One day…

Jule swore.

One day, he will prove himself to his father, carving with his own hands a place at his side. He will make sure that his father will feel proud and that he will love and respect him as his true heir.

And maybe…

Maybe one day, he will be able to call him Dad…

Perhaps he might even ask that as a reward from this mission, depending on how well he did…

...

No, he will absolutely annihilate those monsters, and would make sure that no one would doubt his achievement.

Jule felt his body burning up, trembling all over from sheer excitement. His feet were shuffling, as if he was not able to wait a second more.

Without a pause, Jule stood up and bowed to his father, his footsteps carrying a certain thunder with them. Nothing would be able to stop him, this will be the first of an endless streak of victories.

He didn’t wait any longer and left the room as quick as he could, he knew his father would never say empty words like good luck…

He will make his own luck.

…..

“Good luck…” Ethan mutters some small words, his gaze lingering on where his son was, just a second ago. He had wanted to say some encouraging words but his son left in a hurry.

He had even prepared a speech and everything, that was why he was shuffling and writing down on his papers. He was searching for the words he had written earlier in a flash of inspiration and marking down papers in order to avoid mixing them up in the pile.

...

“He sure is a special one…” Parn laughs and walks towards the door.

“Well, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree…” Parn murmured as he looked at the dejected Ethan. Although extremely different, both seemed to have this awkwardness he couldn’t put a hand on.

For him, messing with Jule is like messing with Ethan back in his early days, it was very nostalgic…

“Parn…” Ethan looks at his Head Knight with pleading eyes, making Parn sigh loudly. He had gone through thick and thin with Ethan, and this new Ethan really made him feel uncomfortable.

Another reason why he spent time with Jule.

“I know boss, I will take care of him...with my life, if needed” Parn smiles warmly at Ethan, even though Ethan was a right old bastard, for some reason he just couldn’t come to hate him as many others had done before.

He knew all the good, and the very countable bad that Ethan had done...and he had done it along with him, every step of the way.

“Thank you…” Ethan scratches under his eye, a small amount of red peeking behind his hand.

It was clear that Ethan still hadn’t become used to the sedentary lifestyle, and to leaving his domineering attitude behind.

“Boss...you should just tell him the truth…” Parn turned around, he needed to watch out for Jule, who knew that troubles he could get into, all riled up like that.

“But…”

“He is all grown up, soon to be an adult… He will understand” After finishing his piece, Parn rushes behind Jule, his steps light, as if he was walking on air.

“One day...I promise…” Ethan whispers and continues his work.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Jule meets with Parn just outside the armory, a separate building dedicated to storing armor and all sorts of other gear. The order of the subjugation spread while Ethan was explaining matters to his son, many servants walked through the building, outfitting all the soldiers heading out for battle and preparing the provisions.

Parn looks at Jule and releases his trademark smirk.

“Are you ready, weakling?” He provokes Jule once again

A long time ago, Jule had asked him why his personality was so rotten, and Parn explained to him that he did it so that nothing would faze him in battle.

Jule had a sneaking suspicion though, that he only did it because he found it amusing.

Therefore, Jule snorts his way and leaves him behind, heading towards the fitting room. The garrison should have already prepared his horse, he only needed to get his armor on, the earlier the better.

Sadly, as he was The Head Knight and was supposed to stay with his noble master all the time, Parn made sure to be outfitted with his armor right next to him.

Well, at least he wouldn’t have to count the stains on the roof while the servants did all the knots and belts his armor needed in order to tie the layers together.

...

“The Conference was 4 days ago right?” Jule idly asks Parn, his mind wondering what the event would have been like.

“Yeah, Lord Redshield decided not to go” Parn answers in a surprisingly polite tone. Although it only made Jule shake his head, that bastard seemed to only respect Jule’s father.

Well, in a way, he could understand Parn. He too admired his father.

“Wasn’t it King Oliver’s first Conference?” Jule asked after some time, from what he knew of politics, it was seen as extremely rude to miss a ruler’s first conference.

“Yeah…” Parn narrows his eyes but then relaxes them with a sigh.

“We will probably get into a bit of trouble, Lord Redshield doesn’t care much though”

Jule’s eyebrows rose up, he had never heard of his father not caring about The Conference. The reason why he didn’t offer to go himself was because he thought his father had intentions of going or at least cared about it.

Parn, noticing Jule’s confusion, added to his statement.

“Ever since KIng Louis died, Lord Redshield has been losing interest in politics. I guess he finally broke, he seems to be more focused on the people now…” Although Jule didn’t like the way Parn said it, as if his father could be broken, he had to admit that it made a little sense.

“It is a bit worrying though…” Parn released another little morsel and then went silent, his eyes turning towards the armor being outfitted on him.

Jule was not a fool, it was clear what Parn was trying to do, tempt him with information.

Normally, he would have simply shrugged it off and continued his own train of thought, but the matter at hand was too important for that.

He was too smart to behave like a child at this moment.

“What is?...” Jule’s barely muttered under his clenching jaw. Although it was easy to say that one needed to throw his pride away, in practice it was anything but..

Parn smiles cheekily, the look of a child who had just succeeded in pulling one over someone else’s head.

“Well, since you are so interested…”

“Ever since King Oliver was crowned, the amount of nobles visiting Lord Redshield has gone up nearly ten times” Parn says this and puts his armored hand over his face, a sigh escaping under his lips.

“The problem is that he always gets angry at them and makes me throw them out, the amount of nobles cursing my family in recent times is not good for my health…” Parn removes his hand from his face and moves it towards the servant, letting her tie the remaining belts.

Jule got the second surprise of the day, he couldn’t for the life of him figure out why his father would get so angry at some random nobles…

...

“Why would he get so mad?” Jule resorts to his last alternative and asks Parn, hoping for a straight answer.

“Well, who knows?...”

“You are a smart cookie though... I believe you can make some educated guesses” Parn snorted and turned around, a clear sign that he was done speaking.

Jule’s hand clenched into a fist, a vein nearly popping on his forehead. His annoyance only lasted for a while, his mind becoming occupied with trying to put everything together.

Around the Kingdom, or at least from back when he was at the academy, the consensus was that King Oliver was an average King at best. Strong in battle, but equally dull in the mental department.

A bit like the Founder King.

It is because of this that another rumor was made. Viscount Dandelion was the true mastermind behind the throne, without his informed and wise decision-making, King Oliver was hopeless in ruling the Kingdom.

Well, it was as expected, Viscount Dandelion was mentored by his father after all.

Moreover, it made sense that Viscount Dandelion was the one with the best entry point into the Royal Family. The Rute fiefdom was bordering the Royal Territory, nearly enveloping all of it.

No one knew the reason why this was so, but the truth of the matter was that this forced both the Royal Trins Family and the Rute Family to develop close bonds, they depended on each other.

If Viscount Dandelion had used this bond to finagle himself into an advisory role to the King, usurping his influence from the shadows…

Viscount Dandelion would be a truly fearsome man…

Jule couldn’t imagine the other Noble Houses being too happy about it though, being ruled by a Shadow King was not all that enjoyable, adding to the fact that it was from a lowly Viscount Family.

Even Jule himself felt a bit disgruntled.

...

Wait…

It can’t be right?...

…

A revolt?

Even though Jule didn’t want to admit it, it connected all the dots perfectly. His father was one of the most loyal men to the Kingdom, serving faithfully from the time of the Second King.

Although his father had the influence and power to easily overthrow the King, he had always accepted his role and carried it out with due diligence. It made sense why his father would get so angry…

If that was the truth though, there not be a more idiotic course of action. If their enemies saw Dresden wracked into a civil war, the various powers surrounding them would jump for the fresh and weakened meat.

Jule didn’t worry too much though, without his father, not a single noble would be able to face The Royal Family and keep existing.

And if they thought they could make his father stray from his path, they had another thing coming for them.