Ertburn
"Are we really releasing that whore father after what she had done?" asked Kanas, not daring to believe what his father had just said.
It hadn't been even five hours since they arrested that whore and now, his father is planning to release her.
He was planning to fuck the bitch after leaving this meeting before throwing her to the other prisoners to have their way with her.
Father turned toward him, and there was a deep anger in his eyes.
"I have told you many times to keep your cock in your pants, but you never listened," he said.
"Now, you have made a needless enemy, as if we didn't have enough of them already," he added with his whole body shaking in anger.
"Have we become so weak that we are scared of the little lord?" I asked angrily.
I am the heir of Ertburn and I had enough of my father treating me as a child.
It seemed to make Father even angrier, and the aura burst out of him. Making me nearly kneel on the ground for a moment.
"He is not a little lord, but master of Grade III legacy."
"The biggest one on the entire continent and he had suspended the supply of the emotion essence to imperials,"
"Now both of them are pressuring me to release his whore," replied father.
I was shocked, but soon, I controlled myself.
"So what? He won't be able to do that for more than a week. We can easily bear the pressure, till then," I said and heard my brother snicker, while same time, my father got even angrier.
"Then what about Laris?" he asked, and I shuddered to hear the name of that man.
"He threatened me. If I didn't return his whore, he will support Laris with the full power of legacy."
"Do you know what that means? He will use the essence of his legacy to support Laris. The legacy with the capacity to produce more emotion essence than all seven legacies," he said with gritted teeth.
I shuddered at hearing that. I know how important; the emotion essence is.
It is what saved my life, in the last battle.
Powerhouses want them. Some leave the service, if the liege can't provide life-saving resources like that.
"He can't do that. Talk to imperials. Tell them to stop him," I said with panic building in my heart.
Silver is a minor lord.
He didn't even have an army of a hundred thousand, much less a powerhouse of father caliber. The only thing the bastard has is his legacy.
Still, it shouldn't be able to pressure us enough to release his whore.
"Hahahaha…"
I laughed derisively.
So angry at this idiot son of mine, that I wanted to bring out my saber and cut him into two, but unfortunately, I can't do that.
He is my blood.
"You have made a mess with a single action. How foolish can you be?" I asked, barely controlling the anger, I was feeling.
"She is a whore!" he replied defiantly. I nearly took out my saber and hacked him.
She was a whore, but she was on a diplomatic mission, and I had promised her immunity.
Now my son had tried to fuck her, and Silver had paused all the supplies of the emotion essence to the city.
I have been called by the imperials. Even Salazar had called me and the lord of Inam.
That little bastard had also threatened to back Laris. That would be terrible. He would pose a massive threat to us if Silver backed him with thousands of emotion essence.
That is not, what I fear the most. My biggest fear is Silver. He is powerful now, but he will be more powerful in the future.
He is barely twenty but awakened the aura. Those who do it so early, rise high in the level.
That whore had also awakened the aura.
There is the legacy, the biggest danger. It is the biggest one on the continent. Capable of producing more essence than all Grade III and below legacies on the empire combined.
If it ever reached Grade IV and it grew as it did this time, then it would be terrible.
Even if the legacy went is under imperial control by that time.
He would still be able to create trouble for my house, as his legacy would effectively become one of the most powerful legacies on the continent.
I am furious with my son.
Not because he tried to fuck. He had been doing that for years, despite me trying to stop it.
This time, he had made a move on the wrong person. No, not a wrong person.
She is a whore.
The mistake he made was, that he failed to gauge Silver's affection for her.
It surprised even me. Seeing it had taken less than ten minutes to suspend the emotions essence supply to the empire.
I have to say, he had a good eye.
That whore awakened the aura. Only those with the strongest will could do it.
Once the news spread. It will shock the whole continent.
I wanted to kill her as she might become a threat in the future, but I couldn't. If I kill her, Silver might act on the threats he made, and it is a risk, I couldn't take.
Last time, I was barely able to stop Laris's advance. If Silver were to aid him, it would make things difficult.
"Father, don't release that whore. It will not look good on our house," he said and the anger in my heart, reached the limit once again before I calmed it down.
Yes, it will not look good, but there is no other choice.
I had a cordial relationship with Silver. He had invited us last time for the opening of his tower, two months ago, and I had sent my youngest.
There was even discussion in the nascent phase about emotion essence, but now everything has gone down the drain.
I can now forget about getting emotion essence from him. I might not be able to get even a few bottles from other legacies as well.
These hosts of legacy are united in these kinds of things. Even if they hate each other.
Thinking that, made me even angry, but also brought clarity to my mind about the decision that I had been thinking about for years.
Kanas isn't fit to be heir. I thought he would learn, but after what he did today.
I know he will never learn and might even bring bigger trouble than this. If he continued acting like, he had today.
"My lord, this is the best I am able to achieve," said Nadim. Interrupting my thoughts.
A moment later, a contract projected in my mind.
"Only for a year and a half?" I asked after I read it carefully. Nadim sighed tiredly. "He isn't willing to listen unless we agree to take a decade less for the house," he replied.
I focused back on the contract and a few minutes later. Turned back to him.
"I agree," I said with a sigh, and he raised his hands toward me. I took it and a moment later, I felt the contract clicking.
"Release her," I ordered.
…
"I agree," I said with gritted teeth and felt the contract clicking.
The contract has the conditions for Carla's release. I had been negotiating it for two hours.
It is a humiliating contract, but I am weak. If I had power, I would have been to make them release Carla with just the word alone.
The contract had many conditions, but three were most important.
The first condition was that I could not intentionally take any direct or indirect action against House Raulim and the territory of Ertburn for two decades.
They wanted it to be perpetual and then moved to five decades, but I didn't agree.
The second condition is that I couldn't intentionally make a direct or indirect move against Kanas Raul.
At first, I simply declined to agree with it, but they were too adamant about it. I had to agree, but I brought down the time to one and a half years.
He is going to pay for what he did to Carla.
There will be no escape, and the punishment would be such, that he will regret it for every second of his life.
The third condition is silence. I could not talk about what happened, for a period of two years.
This was the most humiliating contract I had ever signed, but I agreed. Without it, they would not release Carla.
.....
Carla Salt
The pen in my hand scratched across the paper, and the contract clicked as I signed on the last page.
"You are free. Our people will escort you and your people to the port," said a balding man in his early fifties.
He is Halis. Commerce adviser to Count Raul.
I had met with him in the morning. He is one of the people from the Ertburn, that's been invited to the celebration.
I didn't acknowledge his words, but got up and walked toward the door of the jail suite.
I had been here since they arrested me a few hours ago. I thought I would be here for weeks if not months and years, but I am leaving within hours.
I want to leave. I don't want to stay in this city, even for a moment.