Prince Thomas had just returned yesterday from his honeymoon with his wife Freya. He spent two months abroad recovering from the lightning that struck him. Everyone was talking about his awakening when the princess kissed him, to the point that they attributed it to a miracle.
But he took it as an anecdote to tell his children and grandchildren one day. He remained in his office waiting for a response to his letters, but in its absence, he decided to go find it.
He called on his knigth Peter Fuller to help him with the homework. They hadn't seen each other for a long time, and he was looking forward to greeting him.
-Pete, how long no see! -
-Tommy I'm glad you're better. How can I be useful to you? -
-I need you to go to the Vixx duchy and ask to speak to Tristan. Give him this letter and send me the urgent reply. I have been sending him letters for half a year and he has not responded to any, nor did he come to the wedding, do you know if he returned to the border? -
Peter froze when he heard Tristan's name and didn't know what to say.
-What happen? Don't tell me, he is came back there. That fool told me that this was the last campaign and would he ask for retirement or... is it that my father refused again? -
-Tom ... I don't know how to tell you, you're supposed to be convalescing and we shouldn't talk about it-
-Why do you make that face? What happened in my absence? -
-Tristan, he ... died-
-You know I don't like bad jokes, really-
Thomas looked at Pete and his advisor Mikhail covering his eyes and looking away. He started to get a bad feeling.
-Tom, sit down, don't get upset and listen to what I'm going to tell you. While you were preparing the wedding in Heiz County, your father quietly deposed Trist from the position of supreme commander and your mother convinced the duke to exile him to the demonic forest-
-...-
-And on your wedding day, during the storm, lightning struck his hut and killed him. Are you listening to me...-
-You're lying, my cousin isn't dead. They are playing a prank on me. Father could not be so stupid to do that knowing what will happen if he is not here and mother would not have committed such stupidity-
-I wish it was a bad joke but ...-
-Tom, I swear we went out to look for him the day of the storm but when we arrived we only found a crater and there was no trace of it anywhere, Tom ... Tom stop !! -
The king's bust flew out the window to crash into the middle of the garden. The people passing by realized that the prince was pissed off again, now who knows why.
The room was in tatters and they were both trying to appease Tom's anger.
-That's why he didn't answer my letters! I sent him dozens and nothing. I thought he went back there and it turned out that these motherfuckers got rid of him silently-
- Investigate the reason but I did not want to alter you more, you were sick ...-
-Sick? Do I have a stupid face? What the hell happened?
-The duke intercepted the letters, that's why Trist never made it to the meetings. They knew he was a Sheldon supporter, but it doesn't end there. Your brother found out and abandoned the race for the throne, he did not tolerate what the king and the duke did, he declared that he will not return from the border-
-Not! Shit, they ruined everything! But why did they kick him out, they only ended up condemning us to death! -
-That's not the worst part.-
-What! There is more?!-
-The reason for his dismissal was that he refused to marry to inherit the power of the Holy Guardian, he sent the queen, the duchess and the Marquis Xunco to fuck off. They, angry with his refusal, dared ...-
An awkward silence disturbed Tom.
-Oh fuck! They insulted his mother! Why ... why didn't she kill them? -The question arose
-That I asked myself too, the last one that insulted the Butcher, ended up with both legs and arm amputated but curiously he did not react, on the contrary, he seemed to be pretending, so much so that I believed that he had read the letters and that he was following the plan, but it not-
-So he didn't know anything about it. He was the only one who could help us, I even promised to give him the heads of Oswald and Cecilia, we only needed another half year to crown Shel and seal the cracks-
-We are left without a prime minister, without a commander, or a saint. In addition, the Shuto empire and the other countries found out that they fired him, Franz left the alliance and the others did not take long to follow their example-
Anger spilled over into Tom, who wanted to kill his parents and uncles for his incompetence.
The cover-up about what happened to his cousin only made Tom make the most drastic decision he could. I order the parliament and the league of nobles to be called to request the abdication of the king in his favor. The rumor that Tristan left the duchy voluntarily was dismissed with the declaration of the prince and his people.
The vast majority blindly believed the words of the kings when they declared that Tristan betrayed the country and fled with the enemy but upon learning that he was deposed, exiled and later ended up dead in the most absurd way, hatred and panic erupted.
Without a saint they could not seal the cracks of Intermundis to avoid the charix and without a leader they were at the mercy of chaos. The vote was unanimous, Tom would be crowned king and as his first act of goodwill from him towards Tristan, he had Dukes Oswald and Cecilia executed for high treason and his parents were given house arrest in the cold palace.
Tristan received posthumous recognition for his services and his mother's name re-entered the register of saints. Even with that, the anger that Tom felt was indelible, he could not prevent the death of Tristan and less receive the answer to his letters. He wished he could see his cousin and his childhood friend again to apologize for the delay.
In his office, seeking to resolve the alliances, he recalled the instructions Shel received two years ago. Tristan had guided them to the ruined temple and showed them where he would keep a salvage plan in case his return from war was delayed or the worst happened.
To his relief the file was still intact. Seeing the box only made him cry for his stupid confidence that Tristan would stay there until the end but he didn't.
-He always had a plan for everything. I thank the gods that he thought about the future of this nation. This file may save us a few years but this is enough to survive, until then we must look for the heir to the blood of God to invoke the Labyrinth Clock -
-But how will we do that, Trist never dated women, she spent her time fighting and working-
-He would have ever had to throw a gray hair in the air, he must have left a son or two when he traveled, don't tell me that he was chaste until his death? That sounds stupid-
Peter and Mikhail scratched their heads, implying that his friend was never with anyone.
-God, no ... he died without leaving heirs, damn it! -
-You know how serious he was, he did not like to start conversations with women since they all wanted a child of his and that made him bitter-
-There must be some clue in the temple of Lior about his lineage, the blood of the gods came from somewhere. The oracle could help us. Tom let's bring Shel in to intervene-
-Shel said that he will not return, he is still angry that Trist died in vain. We can only go to the temple and read this. I'll see how I solve this hell, something I learned watching him work-
The trio returned to the palace and began to fix the mess left by their predecessors.
While this was happening ...
-You're not focused, Rusty, what's up? -
-I only remembered my cousin Shel and the gift I left him, I hope it will serve him some day ... so where were we? -
-You were eating me little bear-
- Come here Leeny-
If Tom and company knew that Tristan was living a happy new life as Russell, who had married and was about to be a father, they would not have believed it, but when they found out through the oracle they would seek to bring him back.