Ten years before the events of the banquet, the imperial capital was in turmoil as the youngest prince, Dante, had led a revolt in an attempt to seize the throne from his father. In the throne room of the palace, Emperor Gallen and his eldest son, Crown Prince Eric, stood bloodied and battered before Dante, who lay against the wall with injuries all over his body and blood slowly dripping from his wounds.
"WHY, DANTE? WHY? I TREATED YOU AS IF YOU WERE MY OWN BROTHER, SO WHY?" Eric exclaimed, his voice filled with hurt and betrayal.
"Is this the price I must pay for raising my bastard son as a prince? ANSWER ME, DANTE," Gallen screamed.
"What did you just say? You treated me as if I was your own brother? Do you think I wouldn't know the condescending look, the look of pity, that you always had on your face?" Dante spat out through gritted teeth, his voice filled with anger and resentment.
"And you, father, if you never wanted me in the first place, why the hell didn't you kill me when I was young? YOU DID IT TO MY MOTHER, WHY NOT HAVE RELIEVED ME OF MY MISERY? WHY?" Dante screamed, his voice filled with rage.
"FUCK ME, YEAH I WAS WRONG. I SHOULD HAVE KILLED YOU BACK THEN, JUST LIKE I DID WITH YOUR WHORE OF A MOTHER," Emperor Gallen cursed, his expression filled with regret and anger.
"FATHER, HOLD YOUR TONGUE!" Dante shouted, his entire body trembling with anger.
"Forget it," the Emperor said as he looked upon the pitiful state of his youngest son. "Once I crush this little revolt of yours, I'll strip you of all your royal privileges and send you to the North. I won't kill you, as it was your mother's last wish for me to spare you. But know this, you, or your descendants, are never to set foot on the Empire's mainland again."
Eric, looked at his father with a distraught expression. "Father, why? He betrayed us. Why not just get rid of him?"
Gallen, looked upon his youngest son with a mix of anger and sadness. "I know I'll pay for this later, but he's still my son. No matter how much I hate him, I can't bring myself to order his death." With a heavy heart, Gallen and Eric left the throne room, leaving Dante lying on the floor, with a small smirk on his face.
As they left, Dante's laughter echoed through the halls. "Hahaha, sure, send me away, Father. But I assure you, this is not the end." His voice slowly faded as he passed out, unable to finish his sentence.
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The banquet hall was in an uproar as the grand duke made his entrance. The emperor, seething with anger and frustration, turned to the high king. "I told you, father. We should have gotten rid of him a long time ago. Now, what are we going to do? He's taken, my son!"
The high king, his expression determined, replied, "Don't worry, my son. I'll march north myself. I won't let your son suffer because of my foolish choice from ten years ago. I won't let our plan fail again." And with that, he stormed out of the banquet hall at top speed, determined to catch up with the grand duke.
The emperor let out a curse before announcing the end of the banquet. "The banquet is over. Please return to your quarters. You are free to move to your estates if you wish." He then turned to the prime minister. "Call Duke Viktor right now."
The prime minister quickly took out a communications crystal and made the call. The emperor then addressed Lord Tarrenfal, "We'll discuss the country's future soon, but first I have to deal with this mess. I apologize for the unsavory sight you've witnessed here today." Without waiting for a response, he stormed out of the banquet hall, determined to save his son.
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While the emperor and high king were preparing for a full-scale invasion of the north, the grand duke, who had stormed off with John, could be seen running with John trapped between his arm and waist.
"Come on, kid, wake up. I know you're awake. I didn't hit you, so there's no way you would have fainted," the duke said as he slowed down for a moment.
"What do you want from me, you crazy bastard?" John said, his voice filled with anger. 'What the fuck is happening right now? Who is this guy? Pallas, answer me you bastard, you said no major changes would be happening,' John screamed inside his conscience. Not only was this never supposed to happen, but the grand duke himself was not someone that should have existed in the first place.
'Well, it seems like my calculations were…slightly off the mark,' Pallas said, avoiding John's and Kostas' gaze.
'Slightly? Did he just say slightly? Idiot, this is a person who should have never existed. My father was an only child in my past life,' John said, his anger growing. 'At this rate, nothing about this world will be the same as our previous one. What's to say that the two of you even exist in this world? If a person who never existed now somehow is there, it's possible that someone who did exist in our previous world doesn't in this one.'
"Hey, that's a bit too rude to call your uncle something like that, don't you think? And while I may be a bastard, aren't you one too?" the duke's voice cut through John's thoughts, bringing him back to reality.
"So, what do you want from me?" John said, struggling to keep up with the duke's sudden change in pace.
"Well, I want to raise you to be a proper ruler. That's it, for the most part. But I also want to give my brother and father a taste of their own medicine. I can't trust them to raise an heir, so I'll do it myself," the Duke said with a bitter expression.
"Hmmm, let's get to my castle. I'll explain everything to you once we're there. For now, just keep quiet and try to keep up. I'm sure my father has already set out to chase after us," the Grand Duke said as he picked up the pace even more.
John screamed in protest as he was about to ask the Duke what he meant, but the Duke only laughed as he increased his speed.
30 minutes later, they arrived at a large castle standing tall within a vast frozen grassland. Now covered in dust, debris, tree branches, and leaves, John couldn't help but retch.
"Get it together, kid. We can't enter the castle like this. You're making a mess," the Grand Duke said as he stretched his body.
"You could have slowed down if you didn't want me to get sick," John managed to gasp out before he retched again.
"Hahhhh," the Grand Duke sighed, seeing that the kid showed no signs of stopping anytime soon. "Guards, tell the Grand Chamberlain that I'm back and to prepare my office. Also, inform the Field Marshal that we may need to prepare for a fight," the Duke said as he turned to the soldiers standing guard outside the castle.
"Yes, sir," one of the men said as he ran into the castle.
A few minutes later, after John finally calmed down, the Duke looked at him with a sense of accomplishment. "I see that you aren't throwing up anymore. Great, we can finally enter the palace," he said as he grabbed the young prince by the collar and proceeded to guide him into the castle.
"Wait, what's going on?" John tried to protest, but against the Grand Duke's superior strength, he couldn't do much.
"Just walk," the Grand Duke said as he loosened his grip around John's collar. "Oh, Grand Chamberlain, it's nice that we met on the way. I have some important things to discuss with you. Follow me to my room, and have the servants prepare some food for my father, he'll likely be arriving soon, and a room for the kid" he said as he met a thin, bald man on his way to his office.
"What?! Your Majesty, don't tell me when you said you were going out on a trip, you meant to the imperial palace," the Grand Chamberlain asked in shock. "And hold on a minute… who is that?" he nervously asked as he stuttered, glancing at John.
"He is John von Eldrin, my youngest nephew, and third in line to the empirical throne," the Grand Duke responded as he strode towards his office.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH," the Grand Chamberlain exclaimed in horror, realizing the implications of what the Grand Duke had just done.
"Aish, shut it. My ears hurt," the Grand Duke said, signaling for the Grand Chamberlain to quiet down.
"Hmph, fhuuuu," the grand chamberlain nervously muttered as he trudged behind the grand duke. "Your Majesty, what are you planning? Why didn't you tell me anything about what you did?"
The grand duke let out a deep, belly laugh. "Hahaha, you fool. Do you think I don't know that you tell everything I do to my father? Just because I never talked to you about it doesn't mean I didn't know." He turned his head slightly towards the bald man, a smirk playing on his lips.
The grand chamberlain's expression shifted, his nerves giving way to confusion. "How long have you known?"
The grand duke leaned against the door to his office, crossing his arms. "Pretty much after I gathered all the northern nobles to form the duchy. My father's swift response was far too suspicious. So I investigated a bit." He said turning towards the large wooden door with intricate designs carved into it.
The grand chamberlain let out a sigh of relief. "Really…well, I can then assume I'm fired. Whuuu, finally I can leave this hell."
But the grand duke simply chuckled. "Who gave you that idea? You think I'm going to set you free now that I finally have a leash around your neck? Disloyal as you may be, you're quite the competent bastard."
"FUCK ME," the grand chamberlain exclaimed, a mix of shock and resignation in his voice.
The grand duke grinned. "Now, wait here. I have something to talk about with this little one," he said, gesturing towards the confused John before walking into the room.