1 Chapter 1: Ruin and Mistakes

The smooth marble of the Family home of the Sienoro House glinted dimly in the light of the moon. The meager amount of servants crept quietly around the house as to not disturb their young lady in her, what used to be her fathers, study. For they knew the horrible state of the family and its members have taken as the previous pristine name of the Sienoro maquess house was sullied by the 'Rising Sword'.

Behind the closed doors of the said study, a young 19 year old maiden sat behind the messy objects on the oak table. She had hardly eaten in the mess her family had been buried into. Her lips appeared chapped in the extreme stress, lack of water, and the nervous biting she had developed in this incident. Unbefitting for a lady of her stature, and as a lady of her class, her deshiveled appearance was completely unbecoming. But also as the only child of this household, she had a duty to uphold as the only daughter of Christopher Kendric Sienoro, as Aviana Evadine Sienoro.

Aviana cleched her bitten nails tightly against the inside of her delicate palm. She curses that damnable man for this horrendous affair. There were hardly enough strings for her to pull to drag their family name back into its pedestle in both the king and other nobles favour.

The first son of the Duke Arthur von Sparthera, Viktor von Sparthera. Such a handsome blonde haired and hazel eyed beauty he was when Aviana had met him in her coming of age ceremony, held in Golden Hedge manor. Such a gentleman he was, greeting her with gentle caresses and charming smiles. That was her first mistake. Meeting him.

Such a fool Aviana was.

She should have seen the suspicious glint in his eyes, the way they shifted from her and her precious and kind father. That was her second mistake. Accepting him in her heart like an idiot from the fiction she reads.

Next was accepting his invitation for tea in his manor. If she had only read between the lines that day, this wouldn't have happened. But alas, like any hopeful lady out there she accepted in the hopes to gain the rising stars attention.

After all he was handsome with an extreme knowledge and skill in branch of archery, swordsmanship, etiquette, and politics. Any lady's ideal partner.

But as the weeks went on, the bastard had kept on inviting along with 1 or 5 other noble ladies into his manor. Until one fateful day, of course she had noticed the dwindling number of ladies that attended this simple tea party, she was the only one that attended.

Utterly charmed by the man's smile she had followed him to his rooms. That was her biggest mistake. Any lady with a brain knew the rule that stood foremost between unengaged pairings, it was both impolite and scandalous for a man to be alone with a lady unless it was her butler or guard. Apparently she had no brain to speak of during that circumstance.

Of course nothing compromising happened in his rooms, since both of still had the smarts that it would sully both of them if anything happened.

But what she heard had her quivering in absolute fear. He whispered a despicable promise to her, so horrible that her mouth hung in shock and her hands bleed at the amount of pressure her nails had pushed on her palm.

" I promise to you, dearest Aviana, that your House will fall to ruin for me to complete my Family's goal."

She had left his room absolutely shaken. The monster didn't even tell her his goal. Not that she expected him to, but it would have been useful. But her lack of evidence of the situation and the amount of power that the Sparthera held was immense only second to the king.

The number of nobles supporting the Sparthera family is as large as the Crown Prince'.

Now she sits here in the uncomfortable wooden chair, rattling her brain for an answer to avoid the impending ruin her House is going to take.

Her kind father was ill due to a sickness he's had since he was a child. How could she reach out to other nobles when she herself was only a young lady barely of age.

Ladies such as herself were expected to be pampered, taught etiquette, embroidery, and other necessities that ensure they secure a suitable husband. Aviana herself, had of course taken these, but along with politics, history, geography, management, and others to ensure, as the only child, that she can support their house.

As Aviana herself sits there doing nothing, she feels all the pressure pushing down onto her shoulders grow. Her beautiful golden hair mussed and frizzled with the pulling she had done, her emerald eyes wary, and her attire wrinkled, such unladylike appearance would surely damage her image if anyone could see her now.

Luckily she had ordered all the maids amd butlers to not disturb her.

Aviana knew rest was needed for a functional body. She mulled on this thought for a moment before succumbing to the sweet temptation of rest.

She folded her arms below her and rested her tired on them. Her hunched form finally relaxed and her racing mind slowed to muddled dreams of her childhood.

Unbeknownst to her a blinding flash of light appeared in front of her, but went unnoticed as the only occupant of the room was in the sweet embrace of unconsciousness. When the light dies down, there lay a flat rectangular object in front of Aviana's folded arms on the table.

Perhaps in another realm, a different era, a similar flash occured too.