[CHAPTER 1: THE BEGINNING ]
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--- Year x829 ---
Summer was in full blast; scorching hot weather and singing sun beetles filled your ears from everywhere you walk. The Aeonian Capital was buzzing with domestic and foreign nobles, causing the dozens of streets to be filled with traffic and life.
All the nobles were purchasing their dresses and suits in a hurry - The Imperial Summer Ball was one week away. The majority of nobles were looking forward to the ball. However, they were more looking forward to meeting the young heirs of the Five Archduchies. It was the perfect chance to introduce their daughters or sons to the heirs for political reasons.
"We greet the 'Evening Dusk' of the Aeonian Empire, Suzerian Malefic!" A loud chorus of knights greeted a young handsome man - who rose his stallion through the Capital gates - with extremely straight postures.
The young man's face was the definition of handsome: a sharp jawline, high cheekbones, and sharp cat-like magenta-amber-coloured eyes with perfectly arched and neat eyebrows, a sharp nose, and full-ish lips. The two beauty spots at the corner of his right eye and bottom lip were the perfect little detail on his face.
Silently, he sent them a slight bow of his head to show that he acknowledged their greetings. Dozens of the knights grew flustered at his striking visuals while others smiled.
"Whoa..." One knight mumbled with his jaw hanging open while his eyes followed the ravenette's backside as he disappeared into the busy streets. "He looks so..." He whispered, however, he got interrupted when the captain of the knight squad wrapped his arm around his shoulders.
"Perfect?" The captain teased, snickering at the pink colour on the young knight's face. "God Aeonian blessed him too much with good looks," The captain joked with a sigh and looked in the direction where the ravenette disappeared, "He's got it really rough..."
The said ravenette rubbed the back of his ear when it tingled and he rose a brow, 'Is someone talking about me?' His gaze flickered around the shops and carriages as he rode through the streets with his stallion. He ignored the stares and attention he was receiving from on-lookers.
'They're staring more than usual,' He noted with a frown and glanced down at his attire, 'Is it because of my outfit?' His clothes resembled a formal military uniform; a black long-sleeved button-up shirt, a tie tucked inside a tight black blazer, trousers, and loafers.
A long cape-like trench coat was attached to his shoulders. On the collars of the blazer and shirt were small golden patterns sewn into the material and thin golden chains dangled from them. His hands were covered by black latex gloves. His thoughts were not far off for thinking it was because of his clothes, but in reality, it was his face that was gaining attention.
With a shake of his head, he took out a pocket watch and glanced at it.
'I still have some time to spare before going to the Imperial Palace,' He noted with a smile and shoved the pocket watch back into his breast pocket. Steadily, he pulled on the reins and directed the stallion towards a familiar building - 'Alora'.
Once he was in front of the building, he dismounted himself from the stallion and rose a brow when a male worker rushed out of the door. He watched how the worker scrambled towards him with wide eyes and a smile. The worker had to raise his head to look him in the eye due to how tall the young next-to-be Archduke was.
"Please take him to the nearest stable for me, sir," The ravenette ordered with his lips in a thin line and handed him the reins. Hurriedly, the worker nodded his head and gulped as the ravenette walked past him towards the door. He opened the door and was instantly met with peering eyes from customers.
"Ah, Your Grace!" A cheerful voice greeted him from the side, causing him to look in that direction as he closed the door behind him. His gaze was met with a short yet young woman, who had long ashy-brown hair that was braided and round emerald-green coloured eyes. She was dressed in a plain cream-coloured dress with a white apron and he noticed some flour on her clothes.
"You've returned quite earlier than expected from the subjugation, Your Grace," She pointed out with a smile and walked out from the counter, "Did His Imperial Majesty summon you again?" Her gaze flickered over his face and frowned when she spotted the dark-yet-faint circles underneath his eyes.
"Indeed, my presence is needed once again," He mused with a sigh, a small side grin appearing on his lips. The sight of that small grin made some ladies swoon. "Aish... That's too bad," She joked with a chuckle and gestured for him to follow her when she picked up a menu from the counter.
"Being the personal royal aide for His Imperial Majesty must be difficult," She stated, frowning to herself when her back was turned to him and she heard him follow her up the stairs, "I can tell by those dark circles under your eyes that you haven't been sleeping much again because of work..."
An inaudible chuckle escaped his lips and sent a slight bow of his head to the nobles when he walked past them on the second floor. The second floor was filled with potted plants and lights while full tables of people chatting and enjoying themselves filled the room. "Do I really look that tired?" He asked when they arrived on the balcony and she watched how he sat down at a table that was under the shade.
"My squad told me that I have too much energy whenever I work, haha," He joked with a chuckle and sent a smile towards her when he noticed her brow twitch out of annoyance. "Your Grace," Her voice was stern as she sighed and snapped her fingers together, causing a steaming pot of coffee to appear in her hand with a 'pop' sound, "With due all respect, you look like a corpse."
"Really?" He looked a bit taken aback by her comment and watched how she poured him a cup of coffee with a nod. "Some of your admirers might think this type of look fits you but others might get startled when they see you," She stated while placing the cup of coffee in front of him, "I personally think you should get some time off from work and relax at your villa."
"I'll ask His Imperial Majesty for such an offer when I get an audience with him," He reassured with a relaxed expression, picking up the cup of coffee and smiling when the strong scent of coffee beans reached his nose. "Good," She mumbled as her gaze looked to the side, feeling a bit happy that he listened to her suggestion.
"I'm assuming that you're having your usual order today?" She asked with a teasing tone and giggled when he took a sip of the coffee; a playful glint was swirling inside his eyes. "Then I'll get it prepared for you, Your Grace," She bowed her head at him before leaving, humming a catchy tune.
The moment she was gone, he could feel the customers glance at him, whispering the same thing whenever he was in the Capital - 'The Emperor's mutt has returned.' His eyes darkened in mere seconds and frowned with annoyance, causing some on-looking customers to flinch and hush the others. Irked, he sighed as his brows furrowed and placed his attention on the busy street below him.
He, Erix Malefic, was the current Emperor's personal royal aide, who received many nicknames in society. The ones that were most affiliated with him were 'The Emperor's Mutt', 'The Evening Dusk of Aeonian', 'The Devil of Malefic Archduchy', and 'The Unattainable Bachelor'.
People considered him 'too perfect' in every possible aspect that they can think of, such as political and social status, physical attractiveness, military power, magic, ruling, etc.
Because of people's expectations, the young soon-to-be Archduke was bombarded with political proposals of marriage, business proposals, military warfare proposals, and even harem proposals from foreign kingdoms. He was even selected as 'The Most Handsome Man in the Aeonian Empire' by the young ladies for the last seven years.
However, with admiration, there would always be jealousy and envy close by. The young man was extremely popular with the ladies - even if he had no interest in them - and that caused hundreds of men to approach him with malice. It always ended with bloodshed or compensation from the angered man's family whenever the young man was challenged.
It was always about marriage talks and he was getting sick of it at this point.
'Can't they all just fuck off already?' He thought to himself with a small scowl as he sipped on his coffee and crossed his right leg over his left thigh. 'Damn it,' He inwardly cursed before softly groaning, 'I never should've done that interview a few months ago...'
The interview he was thinking about was the interview with the Aeonian Newspaper Company from a few months ago. They were granted an interview with all five heirs from the Archduchies. During the interview, the reporter asked them about their opinions on marriage.
People of the entire empire were speechless when they read that the ravenette had no interest in getting married so soon and stated that he would rather choose his own partner, regardless if they were the same gender as him or not - it was all up to him.
Due to his answer, thousands of foreign and domestic love letters flooded his mail; all from both men and women. There were even fictional works written about him and the other archduchies' heirs on the back of the daily newspaper. He didn't want to admit it, but, some of the fictional works written about him were quite entertaining.
With a sigh, he placed his empty cup down and picked the daily newspaper up from the table. Casually, he started flipping through it, his eyes skimming across the inked words. The newspaper contained information about the Demonic Beast Subjugation that occurred at the Southern Border.
That was another reason why he arrived in the Capital earlier than usual. He and his troops were deployed to destroy the Demonic Beasts' nests a month ago. However, just in the span of three weeks, they successfully destroyed the nest. They were granted that last week off at the Southern Imperial Villa when the young heir encountered an incident.
After twenty minutes of reading the newspaper, the woman from before - known as Riyana Zielle - appeared with a tray in hand. He thanked her with a smile when she placed his meal in front of him and refilled his cup of coffee before leaving. His usual order was a medium-rare steak with soy sauce and spices.
He took his time eating his meal and enjoyed the soft murmurs of people around him as they continued with their daily lives. Once he was finished with his meal, he placed all the used cutlery and cup together so that it would be easier for Riyana to take. He pushed his chair in before heading down to the first floor of the restaurant and paid for his meal.
He tried his best to ignore the piercing stares he was receiving from the nobles sitting by the first-floor tables. With a sigh and a smile, he gave Riyana's head a gentle pat as he thanked her before stepping out of the door, "Thank you for my meal, Lady Zielle. Stay well and healthy, alright?"
She was flustered and speechless as she watched him leave without another word. Erix headed to the nearby stable where his horse was and handed the stableboy a few gold coins before mounting himself onto the saddle. He slipped into the busy streets and paid no attention to flashy carriages passing him.
However, he felt uneasy and tense when an Imperial carriage passed him. 'That might be one of the princes or princesses,' He noted with a frown as his gaze caught a quick glimpse of platinum-white coloured hair in the carriage window.
There was a reason why he felt uncomfortable with the royal kin of the Emperor; they all saw him as competition for the throne because their father dotes on him as if he was one of his children. Erix never asked for such attention from the Emperor, but the Emperor was his 'uncle' and dearest friend of his father.
'I have a bad feeling about this,' He inwardly sighed as he tightened the stallion's reins and clicked his tongue to tell the stallion to gallop. His pitch-black hair danced in the wind as the horse galloped with extreme speed towards the Imperial Palace.