Trojan was in a tight situation, not like he was unfamiliar to it. However, he had never been in a situation where the stakes were as high as the one he was facing.
The country's economy crisis, sure, had he failed, the peasants would have suffered. Maybe he would have lost his noble title and all his wealth, maybe the other nobility may be affected as well. However, Trojan was nowhere near dying if he failed.
Trojan had survived off his wit alone, his parents having tragically passed on when he was young, ten years ago. He had solved problems after problems that arose, shooting his popularity and rank up faster than anyone had ever seen before. He had never once been afraid for his life.
Trojan, seated in a room with four other people, was feeling slightly stressed. He was starting to worry. If his plan failed, or rather, even if it succeeded, his death seemed extremely likely. The Royal Family may very well decide to kill Trojan anyways.
To make matters worse, should the Royal Family choose to kill Trojan before he would send out the letters, or even prevent the spread of the letters, Trojan would have failed. So many of his decisions rested on chance, chance that the Royal Family remain reserved for at least a few more days.
At least, another day of peace, enough time for Domino to return. Domino would then bring about another problem, what if Domino failed his task? Trojan would need to send Domino back out with the interest of negotiating with Duke Phoenix, leaving Trojan defenceless once again.
"Dismissed," Trojan told his staff.
He had dismissed them early to get things done. Trojan needed to write up all the letters before the day after. He quickly thought through how many influential noble families were out there. Those who were willing to root for Trojan and also willing to speak up to the Royal Family. Trojan found that he could trust quite a few, leaving him to write about twenty letters to around twenty other families out there.
Trojan's plan was simple. He would spread the rumour that the Royal Family was after Trojan. Trojan would personally state through a letter that should he die, the Royal Family was at fault.
The plan also brought about an undesired effect as well. If there was any noble families out there that wanted the Royal Family gone, as well as one of the most influential figures in Ether, the family would simply need to kill Trojan without anyone noticing. Trojan could not find too many people willing to do something like that.
There were three extremely influential figures in Ether. The Royal Family, Duke Phoenix and Duke Trojan. The regular noble family knew that even if the Royal Family was criticised for causing Trojan's death, even if the Royal Family disbanded as an effect, no nobility family would be able to step up. No one was capable of gathering enough support and power to contest Duke Phoenix.
Trojan tried not to overthink things, instead, he stood up and walked towards his office. The letters best not be too obvious, he needed it to be jarring, yet not too obvious.
The letter Trojan planned to send to the Royal Family was an invitation to attend the party/wedding. Trojan needed to make sure that they understood the situation they were in so that they would not even think about killing him.
In the party, Trojan needed to reconcile with the Royal Family, and he could not have them simply attempting to kill him for the rest of his life.
Trojan started getting to work. He picked up the paper and started writing frantically, trying to make sure he could finish everything by the day after.
He was stressed, so much so that he felt restless and could not stop sweating. Trojan did not wish for death, at least, not from some assassination while he still had dreams to accomplish.
Trojan wrote into the late night, where a candle was his only lighting, as well as the moonlight that streamed from behind him.
In the dark, silent and empty room, the only person inside was Trojan. The only sound was the faint whispering of scratching as he wrote. Trojan was starting to get desperate, but he was also starting to get drowsy.
The moon hung high in the sky, it was well past midnight.
Trojan was determined to continue writing out the letters, especially the invitation to the Royal Family. It was important, not for some financial or social gains, but simply for his own survival. Trojan did not lie to himself, he knew the dangers of messing up, he knew the cost of not achieving his goal.
The next day, Trojan was sprawled over his desk, sleeping. He had arranged and stacked up every letter he written. All of them handwritten and personally addressed from Trojan to the respective noble families.
He had done it, but he knew there was definitely more.
Outside Trojan's estate, a man hung high in the air, holding onto a wizard's staff. His robes and hat were red, and he looked down at the estate, keeping out an eye for it.
It was Alastor, and under the command of the Royal Family, hidden behind a spell, he watched Trojan's estate for any suspicious movements.
Alastor knew the Royal Family wanted to kill Trojan, but they knew the repercussions of killing him so soon after he had visited the Palace. Trojan was a dangerous man, a very dangerous man to the Royal Family.
Alastor, as mage of the Royal Family, was eternally devoted to them, and would do anything in his power to serve the Royal Family. Of course, one of them was to endure the Royal Family remained in power for as long as Alastor was there.
The sun rose.
Alastor looked as men riding horses departed from Trojan's estate. The mage sighed and waved his hand, his finger lighting up with n orange light. Of course, Alastor could not make it seem too obvious that he had attacked the men, and he could not have killed them too close to the estate either.
An orange light appeared above the men. No one could see it except for Alastor, as well as any local beast, as well as the men Alastor had hired. Mercenaries moved to ensure that their targets were killed, and without any questioning or interrogation, every single messenger from Trojan was killed, and the letters were all burnt by Alastor.
Trojan's plan was a failure, or so Alastor thought. While Alastor had been too busy, birds flew from the estate too, scattering in all direction.