Akia maintained a neutral look on her face and she gave Alia the sa answer that she had given her before. She was like a cassette player that was playing one line of the sa song.
"Very well." Alia stood up and she left the hall.
As soon as she entered her carriage, she told her right hand woman, a knight nad Hilbert. "Send soone to Nemoris secretly and look for anyone nad Mirena and...." She paused and sighed. What it did matter anyway, her return would make no difference. "Never mind."
Alia decided to let go of the secret which she had been told by her mother, a forr lady in waiting of the dead empress.
*********
While Roland and Sigrid were having dinner with Elarin and duke Thorin on the balcony of the royal dining room, he shared with them how his day had gone. He had just finished telling them all about his new fortification plans for the walls in Nemoris when Sigrid decided to share sothing she had heard from her system.
"I reckon we won’t have to worry about doris for a while."
"And why is that?" Elarin asked.
"Haven’t the knights and soldiers guarding the wall told you about the fires in Northern doris? With their king dead and that golden throne they are so proud of empty, every high ranking noble with power is scrambling to beco the next emperor." She shared.
Duke Thorin put his fork down and pulled a saucer with a slice of a white chocolate cake. "Let guess, Alexander Ridley has taken the north."
Sigrid’s head turned so fast and her hand accidentally swiped a glass of pear juice which fell down. "Grandpa, how did you find out so quickly?"
"Because I have t Alexander." The duke replied. "After the was thrown out of the royal family for sleeping with his brother’s wife, he lived a hard life. His father sent him to the north with no wealth and an empty fief in a territory that was hard to govern. Back then, Northern doris was where the criminals were exiled to. There were no comrcial activities and Nemoris was trying to expand so it was always eyeing their territory.
The soldiers guarding the Northern boarder were no different from barbarians and thieves. They stole from the people, killed them and did as they pleased. Poverty and despair was all one could find in Northern doris."
"That is not the northern doris I rember." Elarin said.
Three heads turned to her, all with curious eyes.
"You have been to doris?" Roland asked curiously.
Elarin nodded. She regretted speaking up now because she was worried about the follow up questions. Her family was not from Eldoria, they were from doris. Her father had escaped from there after a noble man decided that he wanted their fertile farm land and for that, their entire family had to die.
A six year old Elarin, her mother and her injured father had survived the massacre. Her father had used the little money he had to pay for his wife and daughter to be smuggled into Nemoris on a ship.
He died during the journey. Her mother had decided that not even Nemoris was safe enough and crossed to Eldoria. Elarin’s mother had died when she was fourteen and she had been on her own since then.
The one reason why she was willing to follow Sigrid and risk it all was because soday, she planned to avenge the wrong that had been done to her family. No matter how old that noble man was, as long as he was breathing, she would kill him.
"What business took you to doris?" Roland asked her.
"Her father had business there, she was a child. I don’t think she rembers much." Sigrid answered for Elarin, saving the woman from thinking and stamring as she ca up with an answer. "Anyway, back to you grandfather. Did you personally know this Alexander Ridley? Should we help him take the throne of doris?"
"Woah!" Roland exclaid. "My love, slow down. How have we gone from the life story of Alexander Ridley to making him the dorian emperor?"
"Because sooner or later we have to deal with doris. It is either we agree to beco friendly or we go to war. Right now seems like a great ti to ddle in their affairs because of all the unrest they are experiencing." She answered.
She was absent minded that she nearly picked up Roland’s glass that was filled with red wine. He snatched it quickly and placed a large blue berry in her hand. It was the size of an apple back on earth.
"Blue berries should not be this big." Sigrid muttered. She opened her mouth and took one big bite. The juices of the berry fell on different parts of her face like blue rain drips.
Roland and Elarin chuckled. They had been watching her and waiting for this to happen. Elarin was so amused that she even slapped the table as she laughed.
"I knew she would not control her bite. Crown princess, you should take small bites."
Sigrid responded to their laughing by rolling her eyes. She stubbornly insisted that berries should be eaten in one bite. Sotis, one should even eat two or three at a ti. The magical blue berries were abnormal, not her.
Lanai ca forward and wiped the blue juice from Sigrid’s face slowly and carefully.
"Is anyone actually interested in hearing about Ridley Alexander?" Duke Thorin asked them, seemingly displeased that his tale of the grand duke that turned his situation around had been interrupted.
"Go on grandpa." Sigrid encouraged him.
Duke Thorin waited for Jesting to top up his wine glass and he thanked the butler. Then he turned to them, leaning forward with a glimr in his eyes like he was about to reveal the greatest secret in the world. His body language alone was enough to draw them in and their ears burned with the desire to hear all about this great thing.
"The North was a lawless wasteland. It was a place were gold ant nothing but trouble. One could lose their heads for even paying for sothing with a single gold coin because it would make them a target for the thieves and soldiers alike.
The streets were littered with starving people and everyday, survival was a daily battle. It was anarchy and the emperor did not plan to intervene. All he cared about was the safety of the boarder.
As long as the soldiers had food and did their job, the rest did not matter. You can only imagine what it was like for a prince that was once accustod to wealth. lavishness and feasts. He suddenly found himself among the beggars and bandits, scavenging for scraps."
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