The Three Ancients

The Ruins of the Royal Palace

The Fallen Capital of Algrim - Greystones

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Inside the throne room...

Three wrinkly old men collectedly stood with solemn looks on their faces.

They were all dressed in expensive garbs and all had shrewd gleams in their eyes as they stood patiently awaiting their host.

This was the point that would determine the results of all the risks and betrayals they had taken upon themselves to initiate and execute.

For better or worse their fates were going to be decided by the person whom they are waited here for, but yet they stood there calmly looking like they had not a care in the world.

" -His Royal Highness, Crown prince Everhard Wesselbutum of Hertalese- " A servant announced when a regal looking youth walked into the hall and plopped down on the throne that previously belonged to Leonard.

"Lord Hardwick of the Derian households greets Crown prince Everhard of Hertalese. "

"Lord Anass of the Rhammer households greets Crown prince Everhard.... "

"Lord Bushwick of the Dultworth households... "

All three old men bowed paying their respects to royalty as customary of all the nations in Udoris. Though their tone was not rude it was neither servile.

The prince silently nodded, inspecting the leaders of the ancient families of Algrim with a light smile and a hint of derisiveness in his eyes.

For a long time now, the ancient noble families have been dissatisfied with Leonard's rule as king and had long sought to dethrone him while they still had the chance.

Despite the fact that Leonard was famous far and wide throughout the seven kingdoms as a benevolent king who made sure his people were relatively happy and well-fed compared to his neighbours, he was not the ideal king from the perspective of certain members of the nobility.

Unknown to many the king's care towards his subjects usually came at the 'expense' of some noble families, especially long-standing ones like the ancients.

The commercial subsidies, reduction in taxes, and the new laws implemented to protect the commoners and treat them more humanely went against the interest of some aristocrats which made quite a number of people of the higher society displeased.

And in an era grandly dominated by patriarchal ideals where women were expected to be subservient to men, the rumours that the king wanted to pass the throne to his daughter made even more people unsupportive of the young king.

The ancients, in particular, had it worse as over the years their power and influence in the Royal Court slowly began to fall, even up to the extent that a 'nobody' whose roots were of just lesser nobility could climb up to rival them in a span of a mere decade.

The fear of being gradually suppressed and rendered obsolete, hence face suppression prompted them to plot to betray the king.

In secret they facilitated the invasion by delaying news of Hertalese mobilization to the best of their abilities. They were also pivotal in the breaching of the southern gates allowing Hertalean troops to bypass the Great wall Maria and flood into the city.

In return for their aid, King Tukhus Wesselbutum, the imperial sovereign of Hertalese promised to help them secure their positions in Algrim while throwing in a few other benefits that they would continue to enjoy even generations from now- so long as the Hertaleans retain sovereignty of Algrim.

Understanding as this, although the prince still looked down upon these shrewd, selfish men who for their personal interests and insecurities betrayed the very nation their ancestors had served for over a century, he still retained the decency to acknowledged that they were critical to the success of this campaign.

Even if Hertalese received aid from both Verum and the Blacksails pirate group, if they couldn't break through wall Maria they would end up with a prolonged and fruitless siege.

And as for the possibility of the Wesselbutums reneging on their agreements, the scheming nobles never even considered it.

They had long since made public their agreement with the Hertalean immediately after the fall of the capital in order to rationalize their actions with the remain members of aristocracy.

If the Wesselbutum's ever went back on their word and the other nobles were to discover that they did, the aristocrats whose livelihood depended on their connection would never want to have any dealings or relations with such openly untrustworthy people.

In a world without any legally enforceable agreement between two or more parties, this is the only way to ensure the trustworthiness of a partner.

Long story short,

The anicents would gain a failsafe method of securing and even strengthening their power in this domain,

While the Wesselbutum's get a subsidiary kingdom under their control elevating their might and status over the remaining kingdoms of Udoris.

It was a win-win situation...

Sort of.

"Your highness our agreement... " Lord Hardwick started saying before he was cut off by he was rudely interrupted by the prince.

"I remember your agreement with my father and I do not plan on going back on it."

"You will get what is yours in due time.

How about Iris, any news about her."

Although the noble elders were disgruntled about Prince Everhard's attitude towards them, they did not deigned this young immature prince who was still wet behind the ears worthy enough to argue with.

Either way their gains this time is more than enough to make them oblivious to whatever ridicule they may have to endure for the time being and as long as they weren't double-crossed they did not mind bearing such insignificant disregard.

"Your highness we haven't found her yet, but our men are still searching for the girl."

Lord Bushwick replied blandly to the prince's questioning.

The whole of Udoris especially the members of nobility knew one thing or the other about the young prince's obsession with the former princess of Algrim.

Ever since he laid his eyes on her and was brutally rejected by her when he sought her hand in marriage during her sixteenth birthday he had grown an absurd obsession with her and had repeatedly tried to win her over.

Some nobles rumoured that her rejection hurt his pride making him obsessed with her while others suggest that he might possibly be a masochist with weird submissive fetishes.

Others even speculated that it might all just be a ruse to snatch Algrim from the Orlando's through marriage...

But that last one no longer seems valid at this point since he had already conquered Algrim but was still intent on capturing the former princess even when there was absolutely no reason to do so.

Whatever the reason might be it was clear that the prince was obsessed about Iris and would go to great lengths to have her.

His obsession was so great that he offered to lead the invasion forces into battle and even offered the position of Duke to whichever lucky knight might capture her regardless of whether or not they deserved such a post.

Just as the prince was about to say something a messenger scuttled in and urgently whispered something into his ears.

When the message was delivered the prince's eyes sprung wide in shock. He jumped out of Leonard's throne as if stung by a wasp.

"Is what you saying true..." The prince grabbed the messenger's collar growling in a gruff dangerously low voice.

"Ye-yes, yes your highness. " The messenger stuttered in a fearful voice.

"Leave! We'll discuss the details about the allocations later. " The prince said in an extremely angry voice.

Although they didn't know what made the prince so angry they had no reasons to get involved, hence they quietly left.

Since they were still going to decide the allocations of resources eventually a little delay couldn't possibly hurt too much.

Turning to the messenger still shivering in fear and Prince Everhard said in a now slightly hoarse voice.

"Lead me there."

"Ye-yes, yes your highness. "