From this point Valerian's POV will be written in first person. It is an experiment so please bear with me.
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They cannot tell but I am scared. I am so scared of the Traveller. My followers expect me to be all knowing, all powerful and everywhere at once but I am not a god. I am not a god in the way the people on earth considered god to be. My one truly godly aspect is my indifference to the lives of mortals.
Marie, Alexander and I sat in the head office of Sara's Capital Bank. Marie was shaken. Alexander was battered and bruised, parts of his face were swollen thus his expressions were nearly impossible to decipher while Marie was too scared to look me in the eye. I was sitting quietly waiting for one of them to speak.
"I..." Alexander paused. Perhaps it was due to pain or he was considering his position and his words carefully. "I must confess that you are quite strong. I am a vampire of my word. The Von Windsor Family pledges our undying fealty to you, Lord Valerian."
I smiled slightly. What could I do with their fealty? They are weak. They cannot hold a candle to their ancestors and the Von Windsors were not even a ruling family to begin with.
My disgust only increases the more I learn about this world. My anger increases. My sadness increases. The more I know the more I wish I had never woken up.
I wish I had never woken up. I have lived too long. I have suffered too much!
Of course my true feelings do not show on my face. I can only smile at his comment, so that is exactly what I do yet the moment I smile is the moment, Marie choses to look at me and the sight of my smile causes a visible wince from her.
I wish I cared more about what she thinks. I wish I cared more about what they all think, even if it was just a little. Samael was the same. He was uncaring but his stance was far from indifferent, he was malicious, malignant and vile. The more negative emotions I fail to reign in, the easier it is for his personality to infect me, to change me.
I need to stop letting them disappoint me. I need to stop letting the world disappoint me. I will accept what I see now and move with it. They are pawns anyway and a pawn, no matter how weak it is, is still a pawn. A chess piece is only as good as the one who moves it. They are clay and I will mould them to be exactly what I need.
"I accept your fealty." This is all I said. This is all I could say. I desperately needed to meditate. A headache was forming and that was due to my own folly. My own negative emotions were giving my trapped personality more control.
"I am grateful, my Lord. I have prepared a few humble gifts for you, Eminence." As soon as he finished speaking Alexander took out a satchel from behind Marie's desk and passed it to me.
"This is a dimensional storage bag. In it are powerful and rare gems, grimoires, weapons and other things you may find mundane but are great treasures to my family. The King of Aruval has also given you the title of Grand Duke at my suggestion.
It is the same title I hold but I promise you that no one will expect you to bend the knee to him once your identity is known. We have also reached out to the Castellon Empire, as a bank of course, and let them know that one the highest authorities in the bank has no noble title.
They were only happy to comply and they too have awarded you with the title of Archduke of Vermeer. As a landed noble of one of the superpowers of the continent, you will have more...flexibility and authority to carry out your goals."
I could not help but smirk at this. "I appreciate the...consideration but what if my goals are sinister?"
"Then we will see to them to the best of our ability." Alexander responded.
"You deserve credit for such a quick response. Alright. I will tell you what you need to know. After all, I do have my own limits, I cannot do everything on my own."