It had been over two months now since Enki was named the crown prince. He had quickly adapted to life within the palace and was doing well with his duties. The aides and courtiers that were appointed to him by his father, the Emperor, had all been thoroughly investigated and found clean of any corruption or links to the major noble families. Being the only prince that was allowed to live inside the main palace where the Emperor resided as well, Enki didn't run into his half-siblings that much, which was a huge relief for him. He couldn't be bothered to exchange false pleasantries with them with a fake smile.
But sadly for him, the Empress lived inside the main palace as well. While the two Queens did not live there, they often visited on official business, so he ran into the three of them frequently. While the two Queens were at least polite to him on the outside, the Empress didn't bother to hide her hostility. Every time Enki ran into her, she would glare daggers at him and never bothered to return his greetings, as if doing so would tarnish her "holier than thou" reputation.
But now, after two months of staying in the palace, Enki had mostly learned the Empress' schedule, so he tacitly avoided her to the best of his abilities. While the woman never harmed him, just the sight of his mother's murderer made Enki's blood boil and he had a hard time restraining the rage building within him.
Now Enki was sitting within his office, finalizing the palace budget for the next quarter. He had radically reduced the budget of the other princes and princesses. Their extravagant spending had truly shocked him. They each spent more in a month than Enki spent during his five years in the academy, his tuition costs included.
With Enki was his personal aide, Madelein. A prestigious merchant company had recommended her, and she was more than qualified for the job. She had been a tremendous help to Enki during the past two months, thanks to her he could split the workload into two and get things done on time.
Gazing at Madelein, he couldn't help but sigh in pity. The woman was as beautiful as a goddess, with her slender frame, raven-black hair, and dark eyes. The only thing that ruined this beautiful appearance was the fact that Madelein always had a stoic and cold look on her face. It was like the muscles in her face were paralyzed, unable to move from that position. She also always spoke in a cold and monotonous voice, which made it hard to know what she was actually thinking.
At first, it had bothered Enki, but he had gotten used to it by now.
Hearing his sigh, Madelein turned to look towards Enki and asked in her usual cold voice; "Is something wrong your imperial highness?"
Enki simply shook his head, muttered something along the lines of "what a pity, what a pity" and focused on his work once again.
The day went quickly by and Enki was on his way back to his chambers when he was suddenly summoned to the throne room by his father. Enki quickly made his way there and upon entering he noticed that most of the Imperial Council members were present, as well as the Empress.
"Your Imperial Majesties.", Enki bowed towards his father and the Empress.
"What is going on?", he asked with a puzzled look while glancing at the people gathered here.
"We just received reports from the northern and southern battlefronts. As you are now, the crown prince, I want you to be here and learn about how to handle these matters. Besides, considering you used to stay at the Barca mansion, I'm sure you are eager to hear the news.", the Emperor replied.
'It's called the Supreme Commander's mansion. They are pretty adamant about it.' Enki thought to himself while simply nodding to his father and taking a seat beside the council members.
There were three ducal families within the Empire, but only one person at a time could hold the title of Supreme Commander, so it was the Barca family's pride and joy to use the title at every chance they got. This tradition had been going on since the founding of the Empire. The Barca house was the oldest military family within the Empire and always managed to produce the next Supreme Commander. It was highly likely that Mago would be the next Supreme Commander after his father retired. While other houses and military commanders contested for the position, they were never able to best the Barca men.
'Considering Mago's talent, it's a given that he will be the next Supreme Commander.' Enki thought with a smile.
"Alright, start reading the reports.", the Emperor commanded the messenger that was standing stock-still in the middle of the room. Beads of sweat could be seen on his nervous face, it was obvious that he wasn't used to being in the presence of so many high-ranking officials and nobles.
"Yes, your imperial majesty.", the messenger replied and gave a small bow. He then started to recount the events of the southern campaign and highlighted the achievements of Mago, as High Commander Andremes had ordered.
Hearing of his friend, and what he had been up to made Enki give out a faint smile.
"... and now Primigenia has started to besiege T'cammen city.", the messenger concluded.
"And now as for the northern front.", the messenger started.
On the northern front, the three armies under Supreme Commander Barca's command had finally broken through the Deadwind Pass, advancing further into the Raltova kingdom's lands. They had steadily advanced for the last two weeks until Raltova suddenly got some reinforcements. The troops coming to help Raltova didn't bear any uniforms, badges, or banners that would indicate their origins, so the Empire's forces didn't know who they were yet.
With the unknown forces joining the fray, the three Imperial armies had been pushed back all the way to the Deadwind Pass, where they finally managed to hold on to their positions. Now they were back to a stalemate, with just the change that the Imperial army was the one defending the pass this time.
Hearing that the enemy had gotten some mysterious reinforcements made all the people present frown. They naturally knew that the only reason for a country to send troops without bearing their insignia was because they didn't want to offend the Empire, but at the same time, they did not want the kingdom of Raltova to fall.
"Does the Supreme Commander have any idea of the other party's identity?", the Emperor asked in a grave voice. The northern war had been going on for a long time, and now that they had finally shown some results, a third party interfered and rendered their efforts useless. He was not happy, to say the least.
"He has no evidence to support this conjecture, but he suspects that the western kingdom of Tavius is responsible. Their country neighbors Raltova and have shown signs of unrest about what happens if Raltova falls. They fear the Empire will target them next and thus it makes sense for them to help Raltova.", the messenger replied.
"I see.", the Emperor nodded.
"Thank you for the reports, you can leave now.", he told the messenger.
The messenger bowed and left the room, sighing in relief. He did not like to be in front of all those big shots.
After the messenger left, silence descended upon the room. No one wanted to be the first one to speak, in fear of receiving the Emperor's ire. A few minutes passed by like this until the Emperor finally broke the silence.
"What are your thoughts regarding the kingdom of Tavius?", he asked with a growl.
"Until the Supreme Commander finds some solid evidence that supports the fact that the enemies are indeed from Tavius, I don't think we should do anything rash and let them be for the time being. But if it's found out they are indeed from Tavius, we can't let this provocation go unpunished.", stated Duke Lapius, the father of the Empress. He was an old man in his seventies already, with gray hair, a face full of wrinkles but violet eyes that were still brimming with life and looked extremely sharp, like not the slightest detail would be missed by them.
The other Council members murmured in agreement.
"Very well. That will be all for today.", the Emperor said with a tired sigh and dismissed everyone, including Enki.
Enki wasn't the least bit worried upon hearing the news from the north. While he didn't know the exact situation up there, he knew that the old man Darius would eventually resolve the problem. He wasn't known as the Empire's Sword for nothing. Then the meddlesome outsiders would pay the price for poking at the slumbering beast known as the Empire's Sword.
'I just hope future father-in-law won't take too long to get back.', he thought while walking to his chambers. He really wished to have someone he could trust in the palace. Someone with the power to help him and be his backer. He had actually gotten a bit jealous about his half-siblings, who each had a house backing them.
What Enki didn't notice was a pair of dark eyes staring at his back from the depth of the shadows.