"I know I've said it many times before, but it's really cold around here. I'd heard how unfriendly the duchy of Felicité was, and while I was prepared for it, I didn't expect it to be this bad. Is it really like this the entire year? " Serana complained.

We were once again inside a carriage. From within, it was no different from a normal carriage, but from outside, its wheels had been adapted to slide on the snow.

Before I could answer her question, Lidy replied, while handling both of us a wooden cup and then pouring us a warm drink known as afaik, "Yes, it is. In fact, we are currently in the warmer season of the year."

She was right. Here in the heart of the Duchy of Felicity, there was such a thing as a warm season. People here lived in the winter the whole year onward.

"I see… I can’t see myself living here in these conditions. Given how hostile this place is, it must be difficult for the inhabitants of these lands to live here.

"And yet they do."

"Evolution…"

"Pardon?"

"I said evolution... That’s something our father often used to say every time we were here in the Filicté duchy when we were children. What else do you know about the Duchy of Felicitée."

"I know that, besides its cold, rocky, mountainous landscape, it is the fourth largest duchy of Altaira Kingdom, but most of its land consists of a chain of gigantic mountains,... I also know that the principal source of income of the Duchy is mainly ore exploitation, but it is still barely enough to keep the Duchy afloat, making this Duchy the poorest of the eight duchies of the Kingdom. "

She was right, this duchy was particularly struggling, at least compared to the other seven, and yet we, the Douglas, consider this place as one of the territories in which we hold the most influence and are the most closely related.

"That is indeed true, but there is something else this duchy is known for that you didn’t mention, and that thing is quite related to my family influence: Aina."

"Aina ?"

"It is not scientifically proven yet, but it is theorized to be due to the harsh environment. This duchy is particularly known for giving birth to many aina users. The ratio is very decent, one aina user per hundred households. ""Evolution" as my father called it, put in a harsh condition, just like monsters, humanity will get stronger, and give birth to a stronger breed because they have to, they have no choice. This is, in our father’s words, why we will always be inferior to monsters. They, since a very early age, pushed to go past their limit in order to survive, while we leisurely remain safely behind this barrier. "

Of course, these were words. He kept them to himself, but there were times when we were alone with him when he would sometimes be honest with us.

Our father wasn’t particularly what one would strictly qualify as a good father. He was the epitome of the expression "tough love," and sadly for my little brother, he had tasted a lot of the toughest parts of this already, though enough love.

When we were children, our father brought us here to the Duchy of Felicity to be trained along with his students. Our family’s main business being the training of Aina users into competent soldiers or legionaries, this place and its hellish and unfriendly environment were naturally the best training ground one could find. The fortress we arrived at yesterday was the place where I spent a huge part of my childhood, at least until my fourteenth birthday, since when I was fourteen, an unfortunate accident happened and I was never able to visit the fortress ever again. Here we were trained to become strong. I, being born an aina user and particularly gifted both physically and intellectually, got off easy, at least compared to my brother, who wasn’t an aina user or particularly gifted physically. As such, my brother, unlike me, might have a particularly bitter impression of this place.

"Not everything is born strong and tough, which is why you, who were born imperfect, must strive for it through hard work."He would often say to my little brother after making him endure the same level of training as a regular aina user.

"I think we finally arrived," Lidy commented as the carriage stopped.

As we got out of the carriage, our eyes were greeted by a giant castle,

It was the Ducal Castle of Felicity, or it would be more accurate to call it a fortress.

Visually speaking, it didn’t have the splendor of the ducal castle of Beaumont, but on the other hand, the Beaumont Ducal castle didn’t have this overbearing aura. The walls of the castle were made of a material known as "crater gold." It was a black material, perfect for both as a construction material and also widely appreciated here for its cold-resistant property:

We were at the entrance, stopped by guards. Instead of wearing full heavy armor like in Beaumont, they were thickly coated in a warm coat.

"Shall we go in then?" I proposed.

This journey here in this place wasn't just for me to daydream about the past, but for a very specific reason.

We were here to meet the head of the Constance Family and the Duke of the Duchy of Felicité.

***

With that, we entered the Ducal Castle. It didn’t take us long to be received in the reception room, and to our biggest surprise, it wasn’t the one we were expecting to receive us.

We were here to meet, Jovian Constance, the Duke of Félicitée, and it was with him that we sought an audience with the Duke, but instead of him, it was a blonde woman holding with her a boy of around four years old and two gorgeous young girls, easily assumable to be the blonde woman’s daughters that received us.

"You?!"

"Bien le Bonjour, Lady Miana, it's been a long time."

"... Bonjour, it has been a long time indeed, I didn’t expect to ever see you in this duchy again."

It was a clear declaration that I was no longer welcome in this duchy.

It seems that she still hasn't forgotten about what I did.

In front, of me was Lady Miana Constance, the current duchess of the Duchy of Felictée.

"And so I thought. Can I assume those are -"

Before I could finish my sentence, she put forward the two girls and got ahead to introduce them. "This is Ana, my eldest daughter," she proudly announced, "this is Ava, my second daughter, and this is Gael, our son."

The Duchess was the same age as I am. The girls were around 13 to 14 years old, while the boy was around 4, meaning that she had her children at a quite late age.

Each one of her three children had the red eyes of their father. The two girls had inherited their dark blue hair from their father, while the boy inherited more of his mother when it came to hair color.

Oh, my,How gorgeous they are! They clearly inherited from both of you and his grace, the Duke of Félicitée, your most breathtaking assets. "

"So, may I inquire as to what brought the Douglas family's first daughter here after all these years?"

"I am here, for there is a matter I would like to discuss with the Duke. I would appreciate having an audience with him; "

"He is not here if you have any business with-"

"I would rather not. This matter I would like to personally discuss with him. "

"... He is … He is- on a short trip, he should be back tomorrow. "

"A short trip? But I- Oh, I see. "

So that’s how it was.

"Well then, I suppose, we’ll have to wait for tomorrow for an audience. Lady Miana, Young Ladies and Youn… Lord, it has been a pleasure. "

With that, we proceeded to leave the castle and got back to the carriage.

Lidy looked at me with a questioning gaze, and I acquiesced.

Immediately knowing what I meant, she asked the coach, "To the Twin Mountain Peaks."

"Huh, we’re not going back to the fortress?", Serena asked.

"No, we aren’t. There is someone I have to meet elsewhere. "

"Who ?"

"An old friend of mine,"

***

It took us four hours to reach the Twin Mountain Peaks. One could tell from a single glance that the mountain was in an unrivaled unfriendly environment.

Our carriage stopped at the base of the mountain, along with another heavily guarded carriage. A path that didn’t seem particularly welcomey was offered at the base of the said mountain, meaning that from here one would have to walk if one would like to reach the top.

"From now on, I will go on alone."

"Pardon?"

"I’m sorry for having brought you this far, but from here I’ll have to meet up with that person on my own. It would be disrespectful of him if I were to come accompanied, Lidy?"

"Yes, My Lady." She retrieved a scroll and handed it to me.

With that, I continued my way to the top of the mountain.

At the base of the mountain, it was icy-stormy and very cold, but as I advanced to the top, the weather got more and more bearable.

The mountain was immense. For someone as old as I am, climbing it would be challenging, but thanks to the fact that I was an aina user, the climbing went rather smoothly.

"How long has it been, since I last climbed." I couldn't help but daydream nostalgically.

Soon I arrived at the peak of one of the twin mountains. The wind here was clear and gusty, to the point that I would even describe it as warm.

A sharp bird cry echoed throughout the mountain.

A large silhouette could be seen looking down from the ledge into the ravine created by the peak of the twin mountains.

I approached the silhouette, but before I could get too close, I noticed a falcon-like creature charging at me from the sky.

Instead of panicking, I simply raised my forearm to form a perch for it to land on. And as I expected it to, the bird landed on my arm.

"So you still remember me, Apollon," I said, to which the bird responded with a sharp cry.

The bird in question was adorned with jet black plumage, a red, sharply curved beak, and two pairs of golden eyes instead of a normal set of eyes.

It wasn’t an animal, but a small-sized high-beast named "Acarion Falcon."

With the motion of my hand, I sent the bird flying into the sky, then made my way to the man, who acted as if he hadn’t noticed me yet.

"It's been years. I was afraid he would’ve forgotten about me, I’m glad he didn’t… just like you did, Your Grace Duke of Felicity, Jovian Constance."

Finally facing me, I saw red eyes, fierce eyebrows, and a brown full-beard.

He was the owner Acarion Falcon from earlier. He kept that beast since his youngest age as a pet, and even until now.

The Duchy of Felicitée is the duchy within which our family had the most influence in the Altaira Kingdom. When we were still children, our father mainly raised us here and then in the Holy Capital.

Our father was a close friend of the previous Duke, and as such, so were we, my brother and I of his son, Jovian Constance.

"Spare me your sarcasm."

"As you wish."

Starring at the empty ravine in front of me, I felt his gaze on me.

"You’ve changed, or I must say, you’ve aged quite a lot."

"Didn’t we all?"

"So, what brings you here in my Duchy after all these years? There must be a reason you’re here instead of your Micah. I waited for you here for hours, so get straight to your point. "

"Straight to the point, as always." I was about to handle the scroll I got from Lidy, but stopped halfway. "But first, have you ever heard of the Aristocracy?"

"I did. Isn’t it an organization of outlaws, idiots, and overly greedy commoners, stirring up trouble for the church randomly here and there."

"Idiot, outlaw, huh? What do you think of them? "

"What do I think of them? Nothing, but personally, I don’t see the point of their actions. " He looked at me, visibly hesitent about giving his honest opinion, but noticing that I was clearly expecting his opinion, he continued, "It’s futile. All they are doing is simply letting go of their newly acquired fame to pump more and more idiots. That being said, they deserve praise for having held on for that long, I envy the financial support they are living on, if only that money was used for more productive use. In any case, those leading that organization, whoever they are, will eventually face reality and realize how futile their actions are. "

"May I ask why it is futile?"

"Because the church isn’t only deeply rooted as an organization, throughout its four millennia of existence it also polluted the soil through the Seven Great Families. There is no way to unroot the church's existence from the human continent. The task of standing head to head against the church itself is near impossible, but even if an organization were to pull that off, it would also have to-"

"The surrounding soil should be burned to ashes. In other words, slaying a substantial part of the noble population, which includes direct and indirect members of the seven great noble families, the entire Parlement of the Erstemensh Theocracy, and members of the ruling families ranging from Emperor to King to Duke, believes me, we’re very well aware of the bloody task awaiting us. "

"You!?"

I handed him the scroll, and he, despite his shock at the realization of what I had just confessed, took it.

For half an hour, he went through the document in question. That scroll, despite its appearance, was a magic scroll. It contained more words than it appeared, but at the very end of his reading, his body stiffened.

While reading, his face went serious, then pale, soon after his hands began shaking. "Mathilda, what is this?! Is this serious?!"

I didn’t even feel the need to confirm it, for he already had.

"Mother, I, and the other founding members, when we set the stone for the aristocracy, we were very well aware of what it would become and how much blood would be shed. We knew that it wouldn’t be only of the church but of a lot of innocent people. "

"This isn’t just spilling the blood of innocents, this is a genocide you’re planning."

"There is no use in shouting at me. I’m merely a piece of the board. Mother has already laid the foundation for this for ages. We are just at the dawn of that change realisation. "

A silence took place between us.

"Why tell me this? Why are you showing me this? "

The content of the scroll explained our schedule concerning the purge this world would have to undergo to change, unraveling the true end behind the creation of the aristocracy.

"To be honest, you and your duchy weren’t included within Mother’s calculation. You and your duchy were and should’ve been among those referred to, as you’ve read within that scroll, as a necessary sacrifice. I came to inform you because of the bond we shared, and mainly because of how free of the plague that is the church your duchy is. "

There was a reason why I dared to bring Serena along here. We made some changes to her face, but we can afford this boldness due to how little influence the church has over this Duchy.

"Tell me who within your ducal is married to someone from one of the seven great noble families."

"Nobody."

"Why is that?"

"Because-"

Let me answer that for you, because no matter how you look at it, your duchy is declining, your lands are infertile, the environment is harsh and hostile, and soon the ore that sustains your whole Duchy' economy will run out. Your Constance family has been waiting for the barrier to be expanded to the South-East for dozens of generations, and yet it never happened; your family's dream of expansion is as much a dream as human expansion toward the Iharana Great Forest. The fact that no one from your family hasn’t been forcefully married to someone, a random bastard from the Seven Great Families, clearly displays their lack of interest in these lands. You and your family are well aware of that, aren’t you? "

He couldn’t respond, for he knew that it was true.

The Church, despite pretended overlyvirtuous precepts and intentions, is led by the Seven Great Families. It was an open truth that every noble and everyone closely related to the Church, every member of the fourteen, and even the Pontiff himself, since the Church's inception, came mainly from the seven great noble families. They are the ones pulling the strings.

"I came here to you, for that reason, your Ducal family bloodline is still clean from the Seven Great Filthy influence. I wouldn’t be able to say that it is the same for those from the other Ducal and Royal Families. The day of the purge would come, a new order would be established, a new order free of the seven great noble families' presence.

"What did they do to you to make you hate them that much? Why are you taking part in this madness?"

"Did they do something to me? ... Nothing. But the day Mother approached me, and when she presented me with her plan, I knew exactly what I had to do.

"I am getting older and older with every passing day. I’m no longer as energetic as I used to be, Jovian. While I still have strength, I’d like to make a change, a lasting change. "

"What did you plan to do if- let’s say, I refused to take part in this? Instead, I decided to bring this scroll to the church so that-"

"So that what? They would arrest me? And what? As I said, I am merely a piece of the board, whether something happens to me or not. I doubt it will alter Mother's plan. So, once again, let me ask you what you believe is the best option: siding against us, joining forces with the Seven Great Family, and becoming what Mother has planned for you: a collateral damage, or joining forces with us when the time comes and having your family survive what you describe as madness and rebirth anew. What will it be? "

He didn’t immediately answer, instead he went thoughtful for a very long moment.

"I can’t take part in this, even if I wanted to. I have two daughters and a son, I can’t get them involved in this. ."

I couldn’t help but smile the moment I heard these words.

"Nothing will happen to your children. You have nothing to worry about. You have my words. In fact, your family and your duchy will not have to do anything because you weren't even part of the original plan. All you have to do is remain on standby and be ready for the change, " I said as I requested him to return the scroll. All Mother and I would ask of you is to get prepared for the purge and the coming change that will engulf the entire human continent.

As we headed back to the base of the mountain, he asked once again. "What really motivates you with this? As far as I remember, the Mathilda I knew and I’ve heard of would never have accepted to be part of something like this. What happened to you when you were off the radar? "

He and I shared a small part of history together. In some ways, he was one of my brother's and my first noble friends. But when we were 14, due to an unfortunate incident, I was no longer allowed to visit the Duchy of Felicitée by my father.

"A lot has happened since the "me" you used to know, but if I were to give it a reason, I would say, it is for the future, the future of my children."

"You have children?!"

"Is it something that surprising?"

"No, it’s not that; it’s just that it is... I've never heard of them, Where are they now? "

"Well, one is big enough to no longer be considered a child anymore, while the other is... somewhere."

"So is it safe to assume that it is for him?"

"Yes, it is."

"There was a time, given how horrible you were to everyone, I assumed you wouldn’t ever be a decent person, and I seemed to be on the spot, but I never would’ve assumed I would ever hear you talking about mother instinct."

"Are you saying I was heartless?"

"I wouldn't call you heartless; it's just that you were a horrible person with a very detestable personality, which is why I believe your father loved you so much.

"I don’t think he loved me that much. You can’t imagine what hell I had to go through after what we had done. "

" What were we exactly thinking of back then? Even I didn’t have it easy. Never have I seen such disappointment in the eyes of my parents. "

"We were young, we were trying things."

"You mean we were trying stupid things."

Back when I was 14, I did with Jovian, what would be considered by the Church as a heresy. It didn’t take long for our parents to catch wind of what we did, and I was no longer allowed to set foot or contact Jovian.

"Maybe it wasn't that stupid. Maybe it could’ve worked. " I muttered.

"What did you say?"

"Nothing, I was simply talking to myself. To get back to the previous matter, you don’t have to worry about your children's safety. After all, their survival would be crucial to the true realization of this whole plan. "

"What do you mean?"

"Children, Jovian, children, they are the future. What our plan entails consists of severing the snake's head. It will be bloody, but it will kill it. It would take time for the corpse to decompose, but children are the key to accelerating the process. It won’t be us who'll see the blooming of this struggle, but them. "

"They will be the pillars of whatever comes out of the rumble left by this purge. We've identified several of them who have particularly bright prospects for the future we're fighting for. "