C18 - Island Retreat

We had returned to the sitting room. Mona was sitting on a chair, holding me tightly. Fazio stood behind me, almost a mirror of Selahe who was standing behind the Duke and Duchess. It was surreal to unceremoniously gain servants of my own. Though, I knew as a noble I would probably end up with a few but I was only two seasons old. My age on my status screen was still only zero, for foob's sake!

The Duke smiled widely, apparently happy it all worked out like he wanted. He said, "Now I will share with you the purpose of this villa. When we had Anna, my wife came here and gave birth. After two seasons of caring for Anna my wife returned to Calo but Anna remained here. Being a noble is a dangerous profession. Everyone's looking to take your place or to earn favor with those trying to do the same. As you both discovered." He paused to let it sink in that they were being used as pawns by nobles already.

The Duchess continued, "This is a secret, but I was pregnant before Anna." Mona and Fazio gasped in shock. I had no context and couldn't react anyway so I was pretending to eat Mona's blouse.

The Duke nodded solemnly and said, "Before having Anna, my wife was targeted with an assassination attempt. While she wasn't permanently harmed, the baby unfortunately did not survive." He paused again to let the two digest the information.

Duchess Calo's voice lost a lot of its intensity as she said, "After that loss I was distraught. I had just finally managed to pull myself together when I became pregnant again. When we learned of our second chance, we knew we had to act with extreme caution. Hence this villa–" She gestured with a wave to the manor.

Duke Calo said, "I had this manor built by people supervised by soul bound staff. The governor of this region is soul bound to me. Like a hawk, he monitors the only means of travel: the harbor. We also had a powerful barrier placed on the house. This was all done to protect our child." That must have been the wave of mana I felt as we approached the villa!

The Duchess continued, "We didn't plan on having another child so this villa went pretty much unused. But now that we do,--" She smiled widely and I knew beneath her power hungry facade she was just as smitten with me as her husband. "--we're going to use it again. Damiano will grow up here until he reaches academy age. Just like Anna did. The staff stationed here are completely loyal."

Mona and Fazio were just realizing the purpose of this place and the weight of protecting me. The ducal couple apparently did not do half measures. They went on to explain who would remain. The house would be staffed with a cook, Mona and Fazio, and a housekeeper to clean. Selahe would remain to protect me with a handful of guards. Selahe would also be training Fazio to be my head butler. I was suspicious of the nature of the work Fazio would be doing. Selahe seemed much more than a servant.

The Duke stood and said, "We must be returning to Calo. We have to figure out who it was that wanted little Dam dead. Then we have to cut off their–"

The Duchess interrupted smoothly, "Language, dear."

The Duke corrected himself and continued, "Regardless, we have things to attend to." The ducal couple both said their goodbyes; tickling, kissing, and hugging me. They seemed like they didn't want to leave.

Selahe interjected, "My lordships, you must leave. The duchy won't run itself." They peeled themselves away and left in the plain carriage we arrived in. We stood in front of the villa in silence for long after the carriage had disappeared into the forest.

Mona turned to Selahe and asked, "What exactly do you do for their lordships?" Subtly asking what her son would be doing as well.

Selahe smirked and said, "Let's go back inside and discuss what I do." We entered the villa but passed the sitting room to go to the stairs leading back to the cult basement. The stool had been cleared away and it remained empty. It was not dissimilar to the basement I had been summoned to my first night here.

Selahe turned and said, "Could you please stand there, Mona." She did as he asked with a curious look on her face. Selahe nodded to Fazio and he took a position opposite the center of the room from Selahe. Selahe then continued, "Mona, I am soul bound to Duke Calo. I was soul bound when I was the age of 2 years old in this very room. The personal head butler or maid is, on paper, the head of the household in terms of managing the manor to make sure it runs smoothly. I also act as his personal servant on trips. What most people do not know is that we function as the head of the noble's spy network and are their personal guard. All noble's closest servants are probably the same or similar in their two-faced nature. Whether they are a spy, assassin, guard, mage, or what have you." He paused and let that sink in.

It finally dawned on Mona and she exclaimed, "You are going to give that high position to my son?!" I could see her face looked conflicted. She continued, "So when his lordship said my son was perfect for the job despite never being in service to a noble is because–"

Selahe interrupted, "Because, he has already received some measure of training. Normally, the head butler is trained from a very young age. Given the circumstances, we decided to go with someone who had a head start. Fazio, your education begins now. Please attack me." Fazio raised both his fists and ran at Selahe, who didn't react. I saw a blur of movement and Fazio was on the ground, dumbfounded. Selahe admonished him, "If you're going to protect the young master, you're going to have to do better than that." Fazio got back up and tried again, trying a kick instead of a punch and was again deposited on the ground immediately. Selahe sneered, taunting, "Duke Calo comes back at the beginning of summer to take the young master to meet young mistress Anna. When he arrives, are you going to show the Duke you are worth being spared?"

Fazio stood back up resolutely and replied, "Yes sir."

Selahe nodded and said, "Mona, you should leave us to this."