Far from Kedra's residence, on the outskirts of the capital, the Deslandes manor was in an uproar. The patriarch had finished his month-long diplomatic mission in the elven territories and had announced his return.
Every last servant had been mobilized, cleaning efforts had been doubled, and preparations were under way, as, by the order of the eldest son, a celebration was to be held.
Eliseo Deslandes, the firstborn son of the Deslandes name, sat in his office, silently working through the mountain of documents that were delegated to him in his father's absence.
As one of the most influential families in the kingdom, the Deslandes received an endless stream of official documentation that required their approval, not to mention the management of the vast territories that had been offered to them by the crown in recognition of their ancestors' achievements.
This workload, usually reserved for the duke himself, could not have its undertaking postponed; thus, the responsibility fell to the eldest son.
As Eliseo signed the final document on his desk, he sighed in relief, taking a moment to admire the fruits of his labor: two tall piles of completed paperwork.
Suddenly, he heard three knocks on his door, along with the familiar voice of the head butler.
"My lord, you have visitors."
"Let them in Laurence."
As the door to his office swung open, he saw the graying servant beckon two children into the room, whom he quickly recognized as Ansel and Aline, his two younger siblings.
Remembering that the last time he had seen them, they were on their way to the bastard child's residence, he dismissed the servant with a wave of his hand.
"Big brother! You would not believe what Kedra did!" Ansel did not waste a second before complaining.
"Yeah yeah! She refused to let us in, and then she killed one of our guards!" Aline added.
"That child did? What's spurred this on?" Eliseo grew intrigued; he had not foreseen an act of rebellion from the child.
"We don't know; her maid said we couldn't come in, and when we tried to insist, she had a scary man kill our guard."
'That's odd; I don't remember father ever dispatching any men to her residence.'
"Will you punish her for us, brother?"
"Yeah! You should punish her for scaring us like that!"
Eliseo laughed at the twins' request, patting them both on the head.
"I'd love to, but it would be a waste. Think about it, my dear siblings; she is the only woman bearing the Deslandes name to not be coddled by our dear mother."
"So what? What does that have to do with anything?"
"So that means that she'll be a very useful pawn in the future; getting rid of her now would be counterproductive."
"I'm afraid you'll have to deal with this loss for the time being, my dear siblings. But don't worry; I'm sure in the future you'll have many chances to get back at her."
"Do you promise?"
"Of course, have I ever lied to you two?"
Eliseo ushered the two out of his office before asking a nearby servant to fetch the head butler for him.
'The girl should be eleven by now, right? It's about time I put that plan into motion.'
Hearing three knocks on his door, he once again ordered the servant to enter.
"How may I serve you, Lord Eliseo?"
"Laurence, when my father returns, can you let him know that I'd like to have tea with him on the terrace, just the two of us?"
"Very well, my lord, I will start the preparations."
"Ah, make sure you serve that tea from the red desert; he seemed to enjoy it."
Laurence felt a bead of sweat roll down his face as his throat suddenly grew parched. Swallowing the saliva in his mouth, he meekly asked.
"Are you sure, my lord? Following the first duchess' death, the duke has ordered that it only be served on the date of her birth."
"Must I repeat myself, Laurence? I know you don't want to go against my father's wishes, but must I remind you who is paying for your dear wife's medical fees? Or your darling daughter's tuition?"
At the mention of his family, the servant quickly made up his mind; the patriarch had refused to involve himself in his servant's matters, deeming the pay he offered enough to deal with such problems.
Eliseo, on the other hand, had taken it upon himself to assist the servants who needed additional financial support in exchange for further loyalty from them.
"There is no need for that, my lord; it shall be done."
"I'm glad I could count on you, Laurence."
_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_
Returning from his long voyage in the elven country of Placeia, Friedrich Deslandes sat in his carriage, deep in thought.
'It is truly a shame that I had to leave Eliseo and Suzanne with so much work to be done. But I simply could not ignore an order from his majesty.'
'I'm sure Eliseo has finished his share of the work without issue, but I worry about Suzanne; she isn't one to work very hard. And even though Eliseo is competent, he has been acting wary of me lately. Just where has that innocent young boy gone?' He sighed, holding his head in his palms.
"Gods, please grant me strength to face these trials."
A few light taps on the carriage's window broke him out of his contemplation. Looking out, he saw that the source of the taps was the head of the guard, a tall, well-built man wearing heavy plate armor decorated with the colors and crest of the Deslandes family.
"Is everything alright, your grace?"
"Yes, Fabius, I'm fine."
"We will be arriving at the main residence shortly."
"Very well, leave me be; I must sort out my thoughts."
"Of course, your grace."
As the duke's carriage arrived at the mansion accompanied by a cohort of several soldiers, the residence's servants formed a line leading from the gate to the main door, lining up in order of importance.
Seeing the Duke exit the carriage, the servants all bowed their heads in reverence.
"We present our greetings to the Duke!" The servants yelled in sync, keeping their heads bowed until Friedrich entered the mansion.
As he entered, the Duke was quickly met with Laurence, who beckoned his attention.
"Your grace, Lord Eliseo, wishes to have a word with you; he said it was of paramount importance that you went to speak with him."
"Is that so? Very well then, lead me to him."
"Of course, your grace."
Led by the servant, Friedrich made his way out to the terrace, where he saw Eliseo sitting at a table under a gondola, calmly drinking out of a teacup.
'That was Maryll's favorite seat; I doubt he suddenly felt nostalgia for his mother. Just what is he playing at?'
Approaching the table, the Duke took a seat in front of his son.
"Hello, father, has your trip gone well?"
"Yes, there were no issues; the elven representatives were much more cooperative than we had anticipated."
"I'm glad to hear that." Eliseo said, calmly raising the cup to his lips and taking a long sip.
"Anyway, I'm sure Laurence told you, but I have something important to discuss with you, but first, why don't you have some tea?"
As he brought the teacup to his lips, Friedrich immediately recognized the tea's fragrance. Without taking so much as a sip, he put the cup down, clenching his fists in anger.
"Who served this tea? I'll have them fired."
"Now now, father, it was served by my order; please go easy on our servants."
"I cannot take much more insolence from you, Eliseo; speak; what is the purpose of this meeting?"
"That bastard you had—don't you think it's about time you made use of her?"
Friedrich's face dropped, with a single phrase, his anger had completely vanished.
"How did you—no, I'm sure it wasn't terribly difficult for you; I suppose that convincing myself that you would not care was foolish."
"Indeed, but that is besides the point."
"You see, father, recently I have noticed that our family has lost a certain degree of influence in the upper spheres of society; our voices are slowly being drowned out in favor of the Lanford dukedom."
"To fix this, I devised a plan to increase our family's influence in the country by arranging a few marriages with influential figures in our kingdom. However, you know how protective mother is of her dear children; she has accepted that they marry powerful nobles, but my current target is an up-and-coming merchant that has recently seen success in the capital."
"The problem is that Suzanne would never marry her daughters to a mere merchant's child."
"Exactly; thus, I believe that if you recognized that bastard child as your own, we would be able to marry her off to that merchant without any trouble; we will put her through basic education in order to build her up as a proper noble lady, and then upon her coming of age, we will have her marry into the merchant's family."
Friedrich was conflicted; Eliseo was right; the Deslandes family no longer held the power it did a few years prior; however, he was unsure about revealing the child's existence to the world.
"If you are having doubts about how you can properly integrate the child into your family without revealing that you had an affair, we can simply say that she was born into mother's family and sent to us to follow a proper education."
After debating the idea in his head for what seemed to Eliseo like an eternity, he finally relented, sighing heavily.
"Very well, Eliseo; I'll make the necessary preparations."
"You've made the right choice, father."