Thoughts*

Chapter-12

Somewhere

A guy in his late middle ages was going through his paperwork. The room was brightly lit with magic crystals. The figure stopped moving his pen, put it down and looked towards the window on his left.

Soon enough, a raven flew through the window and circled the room once. Seeing the figure below extending his arm, the crow flew down and perched on that said arm.

The figure was very familiar with this bird. After all, it was his messenger bird. Every member of his guild owns their own messenger birds. He took out the strap behind it, took out the rolled message, unrolled it and began reading it.

After a while, he finally crumpled the paper himself and threw it in the dustbin below his desk. He then took out a dried piece of meat from his desk drawer and fed it to the raven, who ate it quickly.

“You did a good job. Now, go and rest.” He caressed the raven for a while before it flew through the window towards its resting place.

The figure saw it fly away and then sighed after it was away from sight for a while.

“Number 6! I have some work for you.” The man stated seemingly to no one but then a figure materialized from his left side behind him. The figure walked up and stood in front of the desk facing him.

“What is your order, Sir Roko?” The figure was wearing a black mask coupled with an all-black look on his attire. There was a shiny badge on his right side of the chest, a black heart and four swords piercing through it. The symbol of the top assassination guild, Dark Heart.

“It’s a message to the Client you are in charge of. Tell them that Sir Hoko is already on his way to another job and he isn’t a type to abandoned a job midway so they will have to wait for a little. Also, tell them that we will notify them of the place to meet when Sir Hoko returns. Now go!” The guy standing before him bowed and then walked out of the room to complete his task.

The guy sitting on the desk was Roko, younger brother of Hoko, the top assassin around. They both are the founder of this guild Dark Heart.

Giving me trouble, as usual, big brother? I don’t really remember the last time you got injured during a mission but I can’t really tell our client that after all. I have to make an excuse for the time you will take to recover. Get well soon and take care brother. A smile formed on his lips which disappeared the next moment. He stretched and then picked up his pen again.

Alore City, Saluda

Duke Lyon’s Castle

Lia’s compound

She was sitting on her swing while one of her maids pushed the swing and another stood by her side. It was surprising that no conversation was going on and it was because of Lia. If someone tried to watch carefully, they could tell she wasn’t in a pleasant mood with a confused look plastered on her face as trying to figure something out.

It was an enjoyable day for our Lady, Lia Belfrost. She went on an outing with the Duke himself. It could easily pass as a date and she liked thinking it that way. She was led and showed around the Capital by Lyon himself and she was amused by how much he was taking pride in showing her many attractions of the Capital.

She was left awed over the area it covered, the number of people, the size of the market, the scale of activity and how much beautiful and clean it looked in comparison to the City under her father. That city wasn’t even qualified to be compared to the capital in any way while she knew that her city is considered one of the big cities in this dutchy.

And not to tell how she felt when the whole Royal section of Alore was controlled by Purgarian Family with more than half grasp of Noble Section and around half of the Commoner’s Section. The control here isn’t about power but money. Now she knows how all Duke of Saluda till now spent money like a river. They also own private property like Inns, mansions, restaurants, clothes shops, jewelry stores, blacksmiths, pharmacies, etc. throughout the Capital. She, nor her father had ever dreamt of owning this many establishments. And he entered and introduced her as his fiancée to each of these establishments.

They were walking through the town but they weren’t afraid as the elite squad and her two maids were protecting them. They walked as a circle with both of them in the middle. No one dared to try anything. But, even among these many amazing things, there was one thing she saw that left her confused and unsatisfied.

Lyon’s office

Lyon’s POV

“Hah! I’m all refreshed. Bath is the best solution for exhaustion.” I spoke in a relaxed manner as I entered. Then I noticed Marvic seated on another desk left of my personal desk writing replies to all of my marriage proposals. Serve you right!! I yelled in my mind, seeing that old coot suffering after the beating he gave me in today’s training.

I walked up to my desk and got seated to start my work as well.

“Don’t you think Lady Lia looked troubled on our return?” He must have finally noticed me.

“Yes, she was. When we came across the slum area, she happened to see some malnourished children. She had been that way since then” I answered after thinking for a while.

“Well forgive my impoliteness but she does look like a naïve protected noble girl so I’m not that surprised hearing that.” He stated that after thinking for a while and continuing his work without waiting for a reply. I couldn’t agree more.

"She might come to talk to me about it. I will explain it then." I replied flipping over a report to start. But this talk of Lia's situation made me remind about someone else.

Flashback*****

Back to when I was a new Duke. I did came across the slums.

“So, it is because of these people situations that you cannot get rid of the slums.” A voice filled with sympathy came from my side. And there she was, the one who always stood by me since my childhood days, Elaine Phoenix. She had just figured out why I looked so lost looking at them. I just nodded. We stood in silence for a while before she finally spoke.

“If you can’t help them completely then why don’t you help them as much as you can.” Her words surprised me and when I looked at her, our eyes met. The warmth from them poured into me and then she clasped my hand in hers.

“If you can’t get rid of it then you can at least keep it clean for them. In a clean surrounding, there will be better hygiene, less disease, less death, and more people can survive to find a way to live in the Commoners Section. You will be saving more lives of your subjects that way.” She finished with a smile, her smile dazzled me, I cannot think of any solution then because of my worry and the pressure of this heavy title but she cleared it all. Not only hygiene, but I also made several other changes to help them as much as I can.

Flashback end*****

What Lia saw today was a much more improved version of the slums City Alore had in the past.

“…….different from Elaine.” I unintentionally let it out. Before I realized it Marvic has already heard it.

“They are different after all. Since age 4, Elaine knows that she would be your 1st wife, the one in power when you are absent. She is intelligent enough to know she should learn about everything related to ruling and by then she would have been told about the curse of Purgarian family. Lia, on the other hand, for her it was too sudden. You just asked her for yourself and she doesn’t know anything at all, for now. She is a protected daughter on top of that.” Marvic voiced his wisdom again without looking at me. I sighed satisfied. I just had some flashbacks of Elaine’s beautiful smiles.

“That or it might be that Elaine just wants to support me in ruling this Dutchy together. I'm not that innocent to not note her heart and her feelings. She is going to be my beautiful Duchess in few years after all.” I don’t know why some kind of anime music started in my head as I said this. Laughing to myself and feeling light-hearted, I began to do my work.