KönigStraße (Kings Street)

The light from the candle served as a barrier between the daughter and the father, separating them but also allowing them to see each other.

"It all began 10 years ago, at the heart of the kingdom of Helland." Valenciano looked at the starry night, his mind dived into the night that was similar to today. "That was a bright night, everyone was gathered in the capital and celebrating the engagement of the two greatest families in the kingdom, von Talismania and Felde."

"Weren't they rivals? I heard that the royal family was not allowed to step foot in this city." Viridiana asked Valenciano about this question, she can't imagine these two families used to be so friendly to each other.

"They were rivals after Ludwig death, before that they were the closest family in the Kingdom, the Felde was the family that saved Talismania from the Karpathian." Valenciano took out a medal from his pocket, it was carved with a double-headed eagle. He rubbed the medal with his finger and whispered, "You were such a great man, Ludwig."

"Who was Ludwig? I never heard about that name before. If he plays such an important role, how come I never heard about him?" Viridiana was eager to know about every detail on it. "Calm down, my daughter. Ludwig was…my friend, my saviour, but for the others, he was known as the previous Grand duke of Talismania, also the brother in law of the king of Helland."

Valenciano adjusted his posture, he tried to find a way to distract him from diving too deep into the past. "Ludwig was a great man, he helped me to establish a trade route when I was still a young and naive boy, risking his future by gambling in an expenditure in this country. 20 was gone in a blink, now I was the head of the merchant guild in Ostia, but Ludwig was long gone."

"How about the king of Helland, did you meet him in the past?" Viridiana asked about the king, she felt that she might find some clue from it. "Sadly I never had the opportunity to meet the king in person, but I did know a lot about him from Ludwig."

Valenciano put the medal besides the candle, the reflection from it shined into Viridiana eyes, Viridiana covered her eyes with her hands. "Seems like I did well in the maintenance." Valenciano laughed, "Even after 20 years it still shines like silver."

Valenciano sat back to the coach, he put his hand on the medal and said, "The current king of the kingdom was the grandson of Stefan Felde from Karlsburg, Wilhelm Joachim von Felde. He was a kind person that always friendly toward other, also famous for his generosity toward commoner, even those silver-eyed slaves."

"He and Ludwig were known as the 'best partner and ruler' in the Kingdom during that time, is their credit to let this country recover from the invasion of Karpathian and maintain the balance of nobility and the crown in this newborn country. Ludwig will never stop talking about him every time I talk to him" Valenciano smiled, just like how Ludwig smiled when he talked about the king to Valenciano.

"So, how devastating would the event 10 years ago be, to let such a good situation dive down to the abyss?" Viridiana's question was also the question for most people, Valenciano not an exception, "Yeah, why? If on that day we pay more attention to the princess. If that Ludwig didn't die afterwards. All of these things won't happen." A drop of tear came out from Valenciano's eye, he had bad memories about it.

"What happened to the princess?" Viridiana started to catch the clue, she felt this was very important for her. "The princess ran out from the palace and got onto the street alone, what happens afterwards only be known by some family, the 'Principal of Noble Rules' didn't allow us to know about it, but the fact was the princess was found committed suicide in her room the next day.

"Then…How about the engagement! Talismania must also be angry about what happened to Ilse right?" Viridiana questioned about it, Valenciano noticed something from Viridiana, but he decided not to point it out. "

"Ludwig did, the one who died was his nephew, he was furious and wished to punish the people who caused it, same as the king. They wished to have a Secret hearing between the families and come to an agreement, things seemed good, but it only went downhill from there." Valenciano bent down his back and looked at the floor.

"What happened later, father?" Viridiana tried to not stimulate her father. "Ludwig was found dead, before the secret hearing. His brother Maximilian succeeded the throne because the son of Ludwig was still a child, and he maintained on the throne until now." "Wasn't that suspicious! Why does nobody question it?"

Valenciano laughed, "Someone did, the King was the one who questioned it. But other families just stay silent, I bet if Ludwig and the King knew their friendliness and generosity toward the other gained them such a result, they might never behave in that way." Valenciano laughing loudly but tears started dropping from his eyes.

Before Viridiana wanted to stop asking about this topic, Valenciano continued it. "Those nobles were well-coordinated, they delayed the judgment by keeping holding secret hearings over and over again and other excuses until the King finally called for a Noble Assembly." Valenciano seems to have started to calm himself down, rubbing his fingers between his hands, talking to himself and separating the world from him.

"At last the nobles told the king the Criminal had been exiled to the north of Talismania months ago, they successfully lit up the wrath of the King, and a civil war was started. It lasted for 2 years until the treaty of Hohenberg was signed." Valenciano raised his head, stared at Viridiana.

"Those nobles were prepared for it long ago, Talismania under Maximilian and the Orange raised those levies months before the war started, von Nassau provided the financial support and mercenary. It's a miracle that the King was able to hold them off for so long until the Reingard church intervened." Valenciano slowly told Viridiana about the war, despite it being just a one-sided war.

"What is ironic about it was the commander of the Nobles army was the grandson of the commander during the defence against Karpathian, his grandfather was saved by Stefan from Karlsburg." Valenciano laughed at it, sometimes reality was even more ironic than jokes.

"Who was the commander? He was such a heartless person." Viridiana was also angry about the commander, she cant believe such a person existed in this world.

"His grandfather gave him the same name as his savior, Stefan Teller, the Stadhalter of this city." Valeciano told Viridiana the name of that traitor, someone she won't expected.

"Until now, other than couple person, there had nobody know what happened that night," Valencians stood up and walked to the map of Helland hung beside the bed, he open his lips and continue his words.

"At the KingsStreet."