Judgement Day

"Father, I'm here."

Chalice informed her father as she went inside his study dragging along with her a pouting knight in the form of Levi and a fair, smiling Lucy. She found her father with his back facing them, looking pensively outside the window. This was new. Alaric is almost always buried in mountains of papers every time she visits him.

"The three of you should sit. It's good that you took Levi with you Chalice. I also wanted to talk to him afterward."

Chalice nodded at this and waited for her father to talk. She was pretty sure he called her here because he had already come to a decision. She looked expectantly at her father who was gaze was grave.

"Chalice, what, in your belief, is a Lord?"

Alaric stunned her with this question. Chalice's expression turned heavy. He was testing her. Chalice could somehow see where her father was coming from. She was used to being unconcerned. The sudden turn in her attitude seemed too good to be true. It was only right that her father would be doubtful of her commitment and even her abilities. She paused for a long while, her head down.

"One who has conquered himself is worthy of leadership. A lord is someone who is capable of admitting his faults and aware of his strengths. He is someone who knows that the mistakes he would make are bound to make his people suffer. That his every action would dictate their life and death. Though he knows that there is no definitive way for him to ensure his people's well-being, he does what he can for them to retain their smiles. That is what I believe a fief lord is."

Chalice responded and looked straight into her father's eyes. Determination is evident in her clear, emerald eyes. Alaric stared back at her. He then nodded, after a few minutes.

"Remember what you have answered me today, my daughter. I shall leave the territory in your hands. You are on your own, however. I hope you understand the gravity of your responsibility. I am giving you only this one chance."

Alaric then stood up and turned his back on them.

"You can go now. Take Lucy with you. Levi, you stay. I would like to have a word."

Chalice understood that her father wanted to be left alone. She complied and proceeded to the door with Lucy.

"Thank you, Dad." She said briefly, before going out.

Lucy held her hand as they walked away from her father's door. Chalice looked at her and smiled widely.

"Come and help me prepare for the journey."

She said to Lucy, to which the latter nodded.

--

"Levi, I trust you would not be as useless as Chalice's previous knight. You better make sure she does not suffer any form of difficulties there."

Alaric sternly directed to the effeminate man in front of him.

"My Lord, I doubt that anyone could make the Princess suffer any grievance. The times that I have been with her, though short, is enough to prove that it is her who makes other people suffer."

Levi answered, though his words may sound disrespectful there was a tone of adoration in his seductive voice.

"Heh. It is good that my daughter is the one who makes people suffer. She has every right to. Whoever questions her would face the entire House of Amaranth. Still, I want you to make sure that she is safe and protected at all times. Don't even let a bug near her. Whoever offends her or hurts her in any way, kill them immediately."

Black lines colored Levi's face. He should have known. Where else could that little she-devil get her ruthlessness from if not from her overprotective, great devil of a father? Levi cleared his throat.

"If you're that worried about her my Lord, why are you still allowing her to go?" he asked.

The duke glanced at him before answering.

"She said she wanted to change. I guess in a way, it is her form of redemption. Sigh. My daughter has grown up."

Levi looked at the man in front of him. A man who was beneath only one and above all others. Yet in the end, in the matters of family, he was the same as all of them.

"If that's the case, then you should trust her my Lord. I, for one, am sure that she would be capable if not more. There are a lot of rumors going on about her outside. Most of them are unpleasant. I doubted her too, in the beginning. I was indignant when you assigned me to her. But she proved me otherwise."

"When I first reported to her, do you know what she said to me, my Lord?

'You look like a girl. Are you sure you can protect me?'

I was furious and insulted. But what she said next had shaken my heart until now.

'It doesn't matter. I do not care about how good your abilities are as a knight. What I want from you is loyalty. I can't possibly entrust my life to a fickle man. And I can't expect a disloyal man to give the best of his abilities to serve me either. So which one are you, skilled or loyal?'

I couldn't answer her, my Lord. Until now, I'm still pondering that question. But that was enough for me to realize that I would not go wrong in serving her."

Alaric was silent. Levi bid his respects and left him to his thoughts.