volume 3 - Chapter 235 – Gryphine’s letter (1/2)

============== Gryphine’s POV ==============

“You head towards the Ancestral King Erik’s flag, but whether the light is still with Aouine, as the daughter of King Oberg, princess of the royal family, I am unable to answer you; Lord Brendel, you have fulfilled your promise you had made in your previous letter.

Your resolve is shown through your words as well as your deeds. Currently, the northern rebels are starting to swarm together and for that reason, the kingdom shakes. As a direct descendant of the Corvado lineage, I cannot show any signs of retreating.

I thank you for your trust with much grat.i.tude, and if hope still resides in Aouine, then it would definitely be found in our hearts.

This letter is my wish to give you a reply. I promise to change this kingdom even if I have to dedicate everything that I have.”

Gryphine Corvado Orphelia folded the parchment lightly. Her expression was relaxed as though her worries and concerns did not exist in the sinking and decaying s.h.i.+p that she was in. But this was the calm before the storm. Dark clouds and raging winds were gathering, and furious storms were about to brew.

A few knocks came from the door, and it was the attendant who wore a set of red gown asking for the third time in regards to the arranged schedule. The carriage was already waiting outside the palace, with Oberbeck and Makarov as well as other important retainers expecting her presence.

The meeting with Duke Arreck was pus.h.i.+ng right in front of their brows. The Aouine right now had never experienced such a personage who was able to affect the entire balance of the scales.

Gryphine did not expect the young men and women from the Vlada region to change the situation of the civil war, and the only army that was prepared to resist the northern n.o.bles now was the Verstein army.

Gryphine’s half brother had tried of ways to court Duke Arreck into his camp, but he was unfortunately unable to put up a bid high enough to do so.

The princess knew clearly what that wily old man wanted. He wanted a successor with royal blood to legitimately steal the Aouine’s throne, and his family had been plotting to do so ever since the Ten Years Commandment.

But she would rather cause a b.l.o.o.d.y war than allow that to happen. The people who broke the divine oath made by the Ancestral King would never be able to inherit that bright flag. It would be the stain made to the Lionheart, especially when the Arreck family colluded with the Unifying Guild for many years. They thought their secret was safe, but such affairs were never possible to be always kept hidden.

Gryphine’s pursed lips could not help but curve upwards. It was a mocking smile of seething rage. Who were they fooling?

The current weather was melting the season’s snow. Delaying this meeting would push Duke Arreck to the other side.

[As a figure of the royal family, I should have made a decision long ago.]

Gryphine lowered her head, reached out her slender fingers, and combed the soft hair on her young brother’s forehead away.

“Sister?” The future successor of Aouine raised his head and looked at her sister a little restlessly under the flickering dim candlelight.

“You will become king, Haruze.” Gryphine said.

“I know, you said that before. I’m Aouine’s king,” the young boy said.

“Yes, I’ll pave this path for you, and no one will be able to change the revival of this kingdom. I have arranged everything,” Gryphine’s voice was soft as though she was describing a scenery, “but you must become stronger, Haruze.”

Her eyes went to the window, seemingly gazing into a tempest and past it, finding an ending of darkness where a.s.sa.s.sinations and hidden schemes scattered around the th.o.r.n.y throne. But what came after the rain of blood would be rebirth.

“I have become stronger, I’m practicing swordsmans.h.i.+p every day.” The boy pointed at the parchment in her sister’s hand and asked: “Who are you writing this letter to?”

“A knight.”

“I want to be a knight too in the future. They say that you’re going to Ampere Seale?”

After a year of a difficult life, the boy had learned the wiles and shrewdness of a n.o.ble youth at his age.

“Yes.”

“But what should I do if you’re gone?”

“It’s time for you to learn how to make decisions on your own. Do you still remember the things that I taught you? You’re a man, Haruze, and you need to steer the s.h.i.+p.”

“Okay.” The boy was a little disappointed: “Then you must come back earlier, otherwise there would be no one to test my swordsmans.h.i.+p.”

Gryphine could not help but give a wry chuckle. Her cowardly younger brother was learning how to beat around the bush.

“That….. He……” Haruze suddenly wanted to continue the topic about the parchment, but he held himself back and appeared to stutter.

“He?”

“That knight. Will he protect you?”

“What exactly are you trying to say?” Gryphine glared at him.

Her stern expression was frightening, and the boy could not help but shrink backward:

“I…… I don’t like the idea of you marrying Duke Arreck.”

“What?”

She was a little surprised. Her timid younger brother would never speak to her about political affairs, and she immediately suspected that someone was using him as a mouthpiece. However, she immediately rebuffed that idea. Be it Makarov, her wise teacher, or the other retainers on her faction, they wanted to have Arreck’s aid. It was clear that they were able to see the poison behind this inticing trap, but no one spoke of it.

The princess remained silent without protesting because she understood she still needed the support of these n.o.bles. Aouine was still a kingdom of n.o.bles.

“I don’t like him.” The boy shook his head.

“But why? You have never seen him.”

“It’s……. I just heard……” The boy stared back and spoke with faltering words.

“What did you hear?”