Aurelia suppressed her shock at the thought of duelling her own father. She felt a strong surge of dislike for Crown Prince Rian and Earl Rosewood.
In such a joint duel, it wasn’t clear whether she and her siblings would work together, or whether they would pick each other off instead.
When she spoke again, her voice was calm: “If that is Your Majesty’s order, then I will convey it to my brothers and sisters.”
“I’ll think about it,” King Augustus said. “You can convey this to your siblings if you wish.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“As for this contract, have them amend it. Each loser must pay 100,000 Sedaverian gold.” King Augustus thought that this ‘loser must pay’ clause was not a bad idea. If he was duelling against Angio nationals, he would simply seize their assets. But against two Sedaverians, this clause would suffice.
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
Aurelia took the contract back. “Additionally, this morning, Prince Rian requested a guide to visit our hospitals, and he would like to speak to me alongside anyone I wish to invite. He would also like to see the duelling field today. Earl Rosewood wanted to see our agricultural fields but I declined.”
“Let them visit the hospitals. Take your siblings with you to meet Prince Rian.” King Augustus smirked. “And allow them to see the duelling field. If they think it’ll help, let them.”
Aurelia bowed. “Yes, Your Majesty.”
“You’re dismissed.”
“Long live Your Majesty,” Aurelia said. With that, she left.
King Augustus rolled back his shoulders as his magic stretched to the sky. Clouds started to gather above, grey and dark.
Prince Rian and Earl Rosewood must have some tricks for them to dare to challenge him. But so did many of the other duellists in the past. Their bodies were unrecognisable after their duels.
The contract was a passable ‘trick’ to stop him from killing them, but it won’t stop the pain they’d feel during and after. There were so many ways he could cause them so much pain they would rather die…
He hadn’t been looking forward to a duel so much for a long time.
Princess Marcia and Prince Marcus took the Sedaverian contingent on a tour around the castle. Princess Marcia introduced the different important places and talked briefly about their history. Prince Marcus interjected occasionally, but otherwise couldn’t be bothered.
Duke Helios took over the tour to the Angio court and the Angio Capital.
Princess Aurelia reappeared when it was time for lunch. “Prince Rian, we can meet over lunch. His Majesty has requested that my siblings join.”
Prince Rian smiled happily. “That’s perfect. Can I bring Earl Rosewood with me? And Lady Sage too?”
“You may.”
Florence: ???? Why did Prince Rian suddenly mention her?
So, Rian pulled Ren Xiyang along, while Florence walked behind them.
They went to a smaller dining room, while the rest of the Sedaverians went somewhere else for lunch.
After the food was served and everyone had a bite, Princess Aurelia turned to Rian.
“What did you want to talk about?”
“First of all, I wanted to thank you for managing the distribution of the food that Earl Rosewood and I sent previously,” Rian said. “You were fast and efficient, and a role model for improving network distribution efficiency back in Sedaveria.”
Princess Aurelia’s lips softened the tiniest fraction. “I should thank you and Earl Rosewood. Your timely action saved hundreds of people.”
Rian’s smile turned humble. “One of Earl Rosewood’s goals is to eliminate hunger across the continent, and Lady Sage has been immeasurably important in the matter. I heard that you’ve promoted the four-crop rotation method and new fertilisation methods across Angio.”
“They improve crop growth efficiency,” Princess Aurelia said.
“Then you may have heard that Earl Rosewood sold new crop seed variants to Marquis Terra. Earl Rosewood could continue to create variants that are suited to your local climates, but it would be more efficient if you developed them yourselves. You know the local conditions the best.”
Prince Marcus felt bored, bored, bored. Why were they talking about farming? And why wasn’t his sister stopping them?
Rian continued, “As you know, Earl Rosewood allows farmers to visit the Rosewood fief and learn about the most recent non-magical farming techniques and methods. We were thinking of extending such a program, where visiting mages or researchers could learn from Earl Rosewood or Lady Sage about magical techniques to improve crops and to breed new crops.” He smiled slightly at Princess Aurelia. “Are you interested?”
Princess Aurelia’s expression remained cold. “At what cost?”
Rian looked at Ren Xiyang and Florence.
“It’ll be a sum of gold,” Florence said.
“—Or a certain number of hours worked on our fields,” Ren Xiyang said.
“And what is your benefit?” Princess Aurelia asked.
“It’s an occupational disease,” Ren Xiyang said.
“Disease?” Princess Aurelia’s brows pinched together.
“In a figurative sense,” Ren Xiyang said, while Rian hid a smile. “As a researcher, knowledge dissemination is an important part of my work, and I’m always looking to convince more people to join in with my research.”
None of the Angians looked convinced.
“Please think about it,” Rian said graciously.
Prince Marcus looked like he definitely wasn’t going to think about it.
“We also have some minor goods I believe we could source from Angio, if you could put us in touch with the relevant suppliers,” Rian said. He pulled out a list he prepared earlier. The items on it were innocuous: raw materials that were common and cheap in Angio, and local spices, ingredients and food products not grown or made in Sedaveria. The sources would be various fiefs from across Angio.
Princess Aurelia accepted the list. Her lips thinned as she looked over it. “And you can’t obtain these from Sedaveria?”
“Some of these can’t be found in Sedaveria at all. For some, I believe that the Angio product would be of higher quality. I understand that I’m asking you for a favour that I’ll repay in turn in the future.”
Princess Aurelia handed the list to a lady-in-waiting. “Is there anything else?”
“If you’re free tomorrow, could we see your greenhouses? Earl Rosewood is quite interested, as is Lady Sage,” Rian said.
“You’re fighting for your life tomorrow,” Prince Marcus said coldly. “You’re the one who’s not free.”
Rian smiled faintly. “Then you can humour me.”
Aware that Earl Rosewood may not be alive by the end of tomorrow, Princess Marcia acquiesced. “I’ll show you some of our greenhouses today.”
“Thank you,” Ren Xiyang said.
Rian brightened. “We appreciate it, Princess Marcia.”
With the business out of the way, Rian focused on getting to know each of the princesses and princes. He questioned one person at a time, asking them about their hobbies, past times, favourite foods, recommendations, and whether they had any magic tips.
Given the group setting and that there were five different people, Rian couldn’t delve deep, but Prince Marcus’s and Princess Ariadne’s impressions of him improved after that.
Princess Aurelia found it a waste of time, Princess Marcia was withholding her judgement, and Prince Pollux felt they were being too blithe about the entire thing.
After lunch, they all stood up.
“Before we head off, I’ll like to take this opportunity to present my gifts to you.” Rian signalled to his Royal Guards. A small group of them ducked out and returned with various chests and boxes.
“First, Princess Aurelia, here are some small gifts. I hope you will accept it.”
The Royal Guard retrieved a chest and respectfully held it forward.
Princess Aurelia barely looked at it. One of her ladies-in-waiting took the chest.
“Next, Prince Marcus. Princess Marcia. Prince Pollux. And last but not least, Princess Ariadne.”
Out of all the gifts, the one to Prince Pollux was the largest, which made both Prince Marcus and Prince Pollux frown.
“This has been a lovely lunch,” Rian said. “I understand you have a busy schedule, Princess Aurelia.”
“Come to the front of the castle in half an hour and Princess Marcia will take you. You should inform the rest of your convoy,” Princess Aurelia said.
After polite farewells, Rian, Ren Xiyang, and Florence left first.
Once the Sedaverians were out of earshot, Prince Marcus snorted. “Are you going to open that now, Pollux?”
Princess Aurelia glanced over but she didn’t stay. She was too busy to mediate any squabbles between her two brothers. Following her lead, Princess Marcia and Princess Ariadne also slipped away.
Pollux glanced coldly up at his brother. “If you’re so curious.” He signalled to his servants. The servants quickly stepped forward to unpack the wooden crate that was his gift.
Inside, there was a contraption made of metal and padded cushions. It came with a small handbook. A servant respectfully passed the handbook to Prince Pollux while Prince Marcus poked the thing.
“What is this?” Prince Marcus muttered.
Prince Pollux read the title of the book and flipped through the interior contents.
It was a wheelchair.
The wheelchair was currently in its storage position. By pressing the right button, or using a voice command after configuring it, the wheelchair should unfold. Unlike the current wheelchairs that Prince Pollux used—typically pushed by servants—this wheelchair was magically powered by the same magical spells as Prince Rian and Earl Rosewood’s floating carriages. Prince Pollux would have full control over it.
At the very back of the handbook, there was a short section on future possible extensions and improvements such as changing the chair frame and adding a stand-up option, and a completely new wishful idea: a magically powered exoskeleton.
Prince Pollux slammed the handbook shut. His chest felt uncomfortable, and there was a bad taste in his mouth. “Take this away and put it in my quarters,” he ordered his servants.
“What is it?” Prince Marcus asked again.
Prince Pollux gave him a sneer. “It’s a wheelchair, do you want it?”
Prince Marcus flinched back. “Wow, even the Sedaverians pity you! I’m not surprised, they’re such holy saints.”
Prince Pollux’s expression darkened. He and his servants went away.
That just left Prince Marcus. He rolled his eyes and opened his own gift. Inside, there was a complete jewellery set.
The largest item was the gold brooch studded with precious gems. It was shaped into a tiny sword with a surrounding lightning motif, and the gems were magical crystals, storing magical energy. The brooch was spelled with both protective charms and a few healing spells.
There was a similarly designed necklace, bracelet, ring, and watch. They were all exquisitely made, with tiny perfect details.
According to the small note accompanying it, each had different spells embedded. For example, the brooch provided strong protection against light and shadow attacks, while the necklace was good against lightning and psychic attacks.
The note boasted about its protective ability, but Prince Marcus didn’t believe it and didn’t care. He didn’t need protection against the attacks from low-class mages.
“Put this away,” he told his servants. “And you, prepare my practice field.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
Princess Marcia opened her gifts upon returning to her quarters. She found a jewellery set with a sun-and-moon motif, all charmed with protective spells.
There was also a book. It was carefully wrapped with a separate sheet of instructions: the first person who touched it would be ‘keyed’ to it, and the book would only reveal its contents to that person; everyone else would find something else inside.
Princess Marcia unwrapped it herself. The moment her fingertip touched the book’s cover, a brief glow covered the book. She opened it. Inside, at the front, there was a collection of spells, lightning type and non-lightning type, combat type and non-combat type. This was followed by blank pages.
Her lips thinned.
Why did Prince Rian want her to learn these spells? Was it because she was weaker than her twin brother, Marcus? Tch, she didn’t want to learn Sedaverian spells.
She closed the book and stuffed it under her pile of books on her desk.
Meanwhile, Princess Ariadne also opened her gifts. There were two boxes: one was a tea set made from gold and porcelain with accompanying tiny canisters of tea. The teapot and tea cups would magically keep the tea warm at a configurable temperature.
The other box contained an assortment of magical written charms that could be applied to any item. The top charm would make the applied item emit warmth for a week. Another charm would imbue a personal shield that could take some number of attacks, and so forth.
Princess Ariadne thought that they were very practical items. The charm that emitted warmth would be useful if she applied it to her bed or a piece of clothing. Given that it was early spring, the nights were still cold.
Prince Rian was weird, but he wasn’t that bad. Sedaveria’s culture must be quite different for Prince Rian to have that kind of personality…
In the afternoon, Princess Marcia took Prince Rian, Earl Rosewood, Lady Sage, the healers, and any other interested parties to see the hospitals, the duelling field, and the greenhouses.
At the same time, several groups entered the Capital: Marquis Terra’s first instalment of his tribute arrived accompanied by some senior Terra servants and guards, Baron Natrium came, and so did Earl Petrus with his daughter Lady Lara Petrus.
They soon learned about the impending duel.
Earl Petrus and Lady Lara Petrus met up with Julia Terra and Hadrian Terra.
“Did they really…?” Lara asked.
Julia nodded gravely. “They did.”
“Even if they’re strong, they’re not that strong,” Hadrian muttered, depressed.
Earl Petrus’s brows pinched with worry. “Is there any way to stop the duel from occurring?”
“Princess Aurelia has been preparing the duelling field,” Julia said.
The four of them looked at each other, solemn and grim. If Prince Rian and Earl Rosewood could walk out of the city after the duel, it would be two miracles.
Before the duel:
Rian: ^_^
Ren Xiyang: Farms plz?
Angians: How can they be so relaxed before the duel????
Meanwhile, Count Aegean: ⊙△⊙
Aurelia suppressed her shock at the thought of duelling her own father. She felt a strong surge of dislike for Crown Prince Rian and Earl Rosewood.
In such a joint duel, it wasn’t clear whether she and her siblings would work together, or whether they would pick each other off instead.
When she spoke again, her voice was calm: “If that is Your Majesty’s order, then I will convey it to my brothers and sisters.”
“I’ll think about it,” King Augustus said. “You can convey this to your siblings if you wish.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“As for this contract, have them amend it. Each loser must pay 100,000 Sedaverian gold.” King Augustus thought that this ‘loser must pay’ clause was not a bad idea. If he was duelling against Angio nationals, he would simply seize their assets. But against two Sedaverians, this clause would suffice.
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
Aurelia took the contract back. “Additionally, this morning, Prince Rian requested a guide to visit our hospitals, and he would like to speak to me alongside anyone I wish to invite. He would also like to see the duelling field today. Earl Rosewood wanted to see our agricultural fields but I declined.”
“Let them visit the hospitals. Take your siblings with you to meet Prince Rian.” King Augustus smirked. “And allow them to see the duelling field. If they think it’ll help, let them.”
Aurelia bowed. “Yes, Your Majesty.”
“You’re dismissed.”
“Long live Your Majesty,” Aurelia said. With that, she left.
King Augustus rolled back his shoulders as his magic stretched to the sky. Clouds started to gather above, grey and dark.
Prince Rian and Earl Rosewood must have some tricks for them to dare to challenge him. But so did many of the other duellists in the past. Their bodies were unrecognisable after their duels.
The contract was a passable ‘trick’ to stop him from killing them, but it won’t stop the pain they’d feel during and after. There were so many ways he could cause them so much pain they would rather die…
He hadn’t been looking forward to a duel so much for a long time.
Princess Marcia and Prince Marcus took the Sedaverian contingent on a tour around the castle. Princess Marcia introduced the different important places and talked briefly about their history. Prince Marcus interjected occasionally, but otherwise couldn’t be bothered.
Duke Helios took over the tour to the Angio court and the Angio Capital.
Princess Aurelia reappeared when it was time for lunch. “Prince Rian, we can meet over lunch. His Majesty has requested that my siblings join.”
Prince Rian smiled happily. “That’s perfect. Can I bring Earl Rosewood with me? And Lady Sage too?”
“You may.”
Florence: ???? Why did Prince Rian suddenly mention her?
So, Rian pulled Ren Xiyang along, while Florence walked behind them.
They went to a smaller dining room, while the rest of the Sedaverians went somewhere else for lunch.
After the food was served and everyone had a bite, Princess Aurelia turned to Rian.
“What did you want to talk about?”
“First of all, I wanted to thank you for managing the distribution of the food that Earl Rosewood and I sent previously,” Rian said. “You were fast and efficient, and a role model for improving network distribution efficiency back in Sedaveria.”
Princess Aurelia’s lips softened the tiniest fraction. “I should thank you and Earl Rosewood. Your timely action saved hundreds of people.”
Rian’s smile turned humble. “One of Earl Rosewood’s goals is to eliminate hunger across the continent, and Lady Sage has been immeasurably important in the matter. I heard that you’ve promoted the four-crop rotation method and new fertilisation methods across Angio.”
“They improve crop growth efficiency,” Princess Aurelia said.
“Then you may have heard that Earl Rosewood sold new crop seed variants to Marquis Terra. Earl Rosewood could continue to create variants that are suited to your local climates, but it would be more efficient if you developed them yourselves. You know the local conditions the best.”
Prince Marcus felt bored, bored, bored. Why were they talking about farming? And why wasn’t his sister stopping them?
Rian continued, “As you know, Earl Rosewood allows farmers to visit the Rosewood fief and learn about the most recent non-magical farming techniques and methods. We were thinking of extending such a program, where visiting mages or researchers could learn from Earl Rosewood or Lady Sage about magical techniques to improve crops and to breed new crops.” He smiled slightly at Princess Aurelia. “Are you interested?”
Princess Aurelia’s expression remained cold. “At what cost?”
Rian looked at Ren Xiyang and Florence.
“It’ll be a sum of gold,” Florence said.
“—Or a certain number of hours worked on our fields,” Ren Xiyang said.
“And what is your benefit?” Princess Aurelia asked.
“It’s an occupational disease,” Ren Xiyang said.
“Disease?” Princess Aurelia’s brows pinched together.
“In a figurative sense,” Ren Xiyang said, while Rian hid a smile. “As a researcher, knowledge dissemination is an important part of my work, and I’m always looking to convince more people to join in with my research.”
None of the Angians looked convinced.
“Please think about it,” Rian said graciously.
Prince Marcus looked like he definitely wasn’t going to think about it.
“We also have some minor goods I believe we could source from Angio, if you could put us in touch with the relevant suppliers,” Rian said. He pulled out a list he prepared earlier. The items on it were innocuous: raw materials that were common and cheap in Angio, and local spices, ingredients and food products not grown or made in Sedaveria. The sources would be various fiefs from across Angio.
Princess Aurelia accepted the list. Her lips thinned as she looked over it. “And you can’t obtain these from Sedaveria?”
“Some of these can’t be found in Sedaveria at all. For some, I believe that the Angio product would be of higher quality. I understand that I’m asking you for a favour that I’ll repay in turn in the future.”
Princess Aurelia handed the list to a lady-in-waiting. “Is there anything else?”
“If you’re free tomorrow, could we see your greenhouses? Earl Rosewood is quite interested, as is Lady Sage,” Rian said.
“You’re fighting for your life tomorrow,” Prince Marcus said coldly. “You’re the one who’s not free.”
Rian smiled faintly. “Then you can humour me.”
Aware that Earl Rosewood may not be alive by the end of tomorrow, Princess Marcia acquiesced. “I’ll show you some of our greenhouses today.”
“Thank you,” Ren Xiyang said.
Rian brightened. “We appreciate it, Princess Marcia.”
With the business out of the way, Rian focused on getting to know each of the princesses and princes. He questioned one person at a time, asking them about their hobbies, past times, favourite foods, recommendations, and whether they had any magic tips.
Given the group setting and that there were five different people, Rian couldn’t delve deep, but Prince Marcus’s and Princess Ariadne’s impressions of him improved after that.
Princess Aurelia found it a waste of time, Princess Marcia was withholding her judgement, and Prince Pollux felt they were being too blithe about the entire thing.
After lunch, they all stood up.
“Before we head off, I’ll like to take this opportunity to present my gifts to you.” Rian signalled to his Royal Guards. A small group of them ducked out and returned with various chests and boxes.
“First, Princess Aurelia, here are some small gifts. I hope you will accept it.”
The Royal Guard retrieved a chest and respectfully held it forward.
Princess Aurelia barely looked at it. One of her ladies-in-waiting took the chest.
“Next, Prince Marcus. Princess Marcia. Prince Pollux. And last but not least, Princess Ariadne.”
Out of all the gifts, the one to Prince Pollux was the largest, which made both Prince Marcus and Prince Pollux frown.
“This has been a lovely lunch,” Rian said. “I understand you have a busy schedule, Princess Aurelia.”
“Come to the front of the castle in half an hour and Princess Marcia will take you. You should inform the rest of your convoy,” Princess Aurelia said.
After polite farewells, Rian, Ren Xiyang, and Florence left first.
Once the Sedaverians were out of earshot, Prince Marcus snorted. “Are you going to open that now, Pollux?”
Princess Aurelia glanced over but she didn’t stay. She was too busy to mediate any squabbles between her two brothers. Following her lead, Princess Marcia and Princess Ariadne also slipped away.
Pollux glanced coldly up at his brother. “If you’re so curious.” He signalled to his servants. The servants quickly stepped forward to unpack the wooden crate that was his gift.
Inside, there was a contraption made of metal and padded cushions. It came with a small handbook. A servant respectfully passed the handbook to Prince Pollux while Prince Marcus poked the thing.
“What is this?” Prince Marcus muttered.
Prince Pollux read the title of the book and flipped through the interior contents.
It was a wheelchair.
The wheelchair was currently in its storage position. By pressing the right button, or using a voice command after configuring it, the wheelchair should unfold. Unlike the current wheelchairs that Prince Pollux used—typically pushed by servants—this wheelchair was magically powered by the same magical spells as Prince Rian and Earl Rosewood’s floating carriages. Prince Pollux would have full control over it.
At the very back of the handbook, there was a short section on future possible extensions and improvements such as changing the chair frame and adding a stand-up option, and a completely new wishful idea: a magically powered exoskeleton.
Prince Pollux slammed the handbook shut. His chest felt uncomfortable, and there was a bad taste in his mouth. “Take this away and put it in my quarters,” he ordered his servants.
“What is it?” Prince Marcus asked again.
Prince Pollux gave him a sneer. “It’s a wheelchair, do you want it?”
Prince Marcus flinched back. “Wow, even the Sedaverians pity you! I’m not surprised, they’re such holy saints.”
Prince Pollux’s expression darkened. He and his servants went away.
That just left Prince Marcus. He rolled his eyes and opened his own gift. Inside, there was a complete jewellery set.
The largest item was the gold brooch studded with precious gems. It was shaped into a tiny sword with a surrounding lightning motif, and the gems were magical crystals, storing magical energy. The brooch was spelled with both protective charms and a few healing spells.
There was a similarly designed necklace, bracelet, ring, and watch. They were all exquisitely made, with tiny perfect details.
According to the small note accompanying it, each had different spells embedded. For example, the brooch provided strong protection against light and shadow attacks, while the necklace was good against lightning and psychic attacks.
The note boasted about its protective ability, but Prince Marcus didn’t believe it and didn’t care. He didn’t need protection against the attacks from low-class mages.
“Put this away,” he told his servants. “And you, prepare my practice field.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
Princess Marcia opened her gifts upon returning to her quarters. She found a jewellery set with a sun-and-moon motif, all charmed with protective spells.
There was also a book. It was carefully wrapped with a separate sheet of instructions: the first person who touched it would be ‘keyed’ to it, and the book would only reveal its contents to that person; everyone else would find something else inside.
Princess Marcia unwrapped it herself. The moment her fingertip touched the book’s cover, a brief glow covered the book. She opened it. Inside, at the front, there was a collection of spells, lightning type and non-lightning type, combat type and non-combat type. This was followed by blank pages.
Her lips thinned.
Why did Prince Rian want her to learn these spells? Was it because she was weaker than her twin brother, Marcus? Tch, she didn’t want to learn Sedaverian spells.
She closed the book and stuffed it under her pile of books on her desk.
Meanwhile, Princess Ariadne also opened her gifts. There were two boxes: one was a tea set made from gold and porcelain with accompanying tiny canisters of tea. The teapot and tea cups would magically keep the tea warm at a configurable temperature.
The other box contained an assortment of magical written charms that could be applied to any item. The top charm would make the applied item emit warmth for a week. Another charm would imbue a personal shield that could take some number of attacks, and so forth.
Princess Ariadne thought that they were very practical items. The charm that emitted warmth would be useful if she applied it to her bed or a piece of clothing. Given that it was early spring, the nights were still cold.
Prince Rian was weird, but he wasn’t that bad. Sedaveria’s culture must be quite different for Prince Rian to have that kind of personality…
In the afternoon, Princess Marcia took Prince Rian, Earl Rosewood, Lady Sage, the healers, and any other interested parties to see the hospitals, the duelling field, and the greenhouses.
At the same time, several groups entered the Capital: Marquis Terra’s first instalment of his tribute arrived accompanied by some senior Terra servants and guards, Baron Natrium came, and so did Earl Petrus with his daughter Lady Lara Petrus.
They soon learned about the impending duel.
Earl Petrus and Lady Lara Petrus met up with Julia Terra and Hadrian Terra.
“Did they really…?” Lara asked.
Julia nodded gravely. “They did.”
“Even if they’re strong, they’re not that strong,” Hadrian muttered, depressed.
Earl Petrus’s brows pinched with worry. “Is there any way to stop the duel from occurring?”
“Princess Aurelia has been preparing the duelling field,” Julia said.
The four of them looked at each other, solemn and grim. If Prince Rian and Earl Rosewood could walk out of the city after the duel, it would be two miracles.
Before the duel:
Rian: ^_^
Ren Xiyang: Farms plz?
Angians: How can they be so relaxed before the duel????
Meanwhile, Count Aegean: ⊙△⊙
