Heart-to-heart

"Alexander, it was good of you to not keep me waiting this time. Take a seat."

Gregorios greeted his son with a tired voice after watching him enter and silently take a seat in front of his desk.

The office was quite spacious but lacked windows and was devoid of any luxuries. This was not a place to receive guests but purely a workspace.

And it definitely showed in the stacks of paperwork in various states of completion and the multitude of maps adorning the walls.

After a short silence, Alexander decided to get right to the point.

"Father, what is happening? You've been holed up in your office for days holding some sort of debate, and now I'm being sent to our most dangerous front? What's going on?"

Gregorios frowned at his son's abrupt and direct approach, but as the one most affected, he had a right to know what was happening.

"Because something unforeseen happened. That is precisely why you are to head to the eastern front as soon as possible, you see..."

Gregorios took a deep breath and began his briefing.

"Some days ago, we received a message from Prince Slane of the Principality of Lewen. He petitioned us for help, claiming that demons had breached their borders.

We have no choice but to help them; once the Principality falls, we will be stretched too thin. I've already dispatched a force to aid them, but to be frank, it is only possible to stall the demons."

Alexander was stunned by the sudden revelation.

"Weren't the demons in the midst of a power struggle? The last time this happened, it took them nearly a decade to consolidate power."

Demons, like the beastmen, are not a monolithic group. They are a gathering of different races, each vying for control; their diversity is both an asset and their greatest weakness.

They lacked cohesion and unity, and soon after any conquest, they would inevitably fall into chaos as the various clan heads and the faction leaders above them fought for dominance.

"We don't know who managed to seize control of the horde so quickly, but they are far more clever than Amon ever was. We have reason to believe that the demons have infiltrated our ranks; they rather conveniently attacked during the changing of the garrison. The exact date of which is something that only higher-level personnel are privy to."

He paused momentarily, contemplating something for a time before resuming his report.

"Their change in stance is also troubling; They have stopped taking slaves and are now fighting a war of extermination. Someone extremely dangerous has taken the reins, and if we are unable to free up our troops on the eastern border, we will be in dire straits." Gregorios explained grimly.

"And I'm guessing that ending the war to the South was never an option to begin with? From what Grandfather told me, the southern badlands are almost impossible to hold; the tides of orcs and raiding centaurs would make any sort of occupation short-lived and costly. That would mean our only feasible choice would be to somehow subjugate the dark elves to the east. However, not even Grandfather, in his prime, could pull off such a difficult feat. What makes you think I can?" Alexander asked skeptically.

The King had a complicated look on his face as he recalled the late-night strategy meetings he once held with his own father.

"Before your grandfather died, He and I made a few preparations in the event of a worst-case scenario, and you are the one he recommended to enact these plans. Everything he did in his twilight years was to prepare you for the coming storm. He created a knightly order for you alone and personally trained you in the sword. An opportunity that none of my other children had. All while he should have been enjoying his retirement. He was, without a doubt, grooming you to become his successor. You may be a hot-headed philanderer, but you also have my bloodline. I also have no doubt that whatever blessings you receive tomorrow will aid you in your conquest."

It was rare for the King to express such candidness. While he did so with a stern face, Alexander could see the grief in his father's eyes, although he was unsure if it was from thinking of Grandfather or from having to send his son to war.

It was the first time he had seen such an expression, and he felt a tightness in his chest thinking about the burden his father had to bear while Alexander was just moping around directionlessly.

"I haven't always been the best son, but I will do my utmost to live up to your and Grandfather's expectations. Before the Principality falls, I will take the head of the butcher king and display it on our walls for all to see. I will bring our troops back to victory, and once the east is secured, we can turn our attention to helping our allies in the west."

Gregorios was visibly moved by the sincerity he heard from his son. After a few moments, he thought it was best to explain his earlier actions.

"The reason I didn't inform you immediately was because I didn't think you were ready. Ever since your grandfather passed away, the only reports I've received about you have been unflattering, to say the least. If not for the fact that you kept up your training and paid for all the birth control yourself, I would have long ago replaced all the maids assigned to you with male servants."

Alexander had no rebuttal for this harsh evaluation; he had certainly fallen back on his vices after being isolated from the family. The grief of losing a loved one and, with such a complicated family life, becoming a degenerate was practically inevitable.

This was the first real conversation he'd had with his Father in years. Gregorios' unwillingness to appoint a Prime Minister to ease his workload contributed significantly to his lack of time.

After confirming that his son was still paying attention, he continued to reproach himself.

"I was planning on speaking with you privately to test your resolve, but I guess that won't be necessary. It seems as though your brother was the one who wasn't ready; I never expected him to leak military secrets in full view of all the servants just to tease his sister. Alfred was right to warn you. If Theo had dropped that conversation on you out of nowhere, you would have undoubtedly made a fool of yourself. It seems Alfred knows the character of my children better than I do."

Gregorios was now regretting the fact that he had been such an absent father all their lives. He wasn't blind to the constant scheming of the Queen Consort, but as he was so busy, he wouldn't interfere so long as it didn't go too far. However, at some point, even he began to fall under her influence, which led to him failing to notice that his family was falling apart.

If everything had gone as planned, his firstborn son would have been Alexander, as he was the child of his official wife at the time, Saphira. He had been very careful to always use protection with his mistresses, but it 'somehow' failed twice.

Theo was born to Mary, and the first princess, Christine, was born to another concubine. After listening to the honeyed words of Mary and believing that Saphira might be infertile, he stopped using contraception at all. Thus, Theo's sister Sharon was born alongside Christine's brother Abel.

He would have had to be the dumbest man on the planet to not see the dozens of red flags Mary had raised. Still, unfortunately for the royal family, red was his favorite color. While reflecting on his past failures, his son was also having something of a revelation.

Alexander found it hard to refute anything his father said; he had lived a debauched life for the past couple of years, and while his father finally gave him a chance to prove himself, it was only because of desperate circumstances. He would need to show results to fully regain his trust.

"Father, I won't make you regret this. Thank you for giving me this opportunity."

Alexander had entered the room expecting to be scolded and sent on an impossible mission with a high chance of death. He had never imagined that he would be sitting here, thanking his father for sending him to such a deadly place.

He now felt refreshed and determined to honor his late grandfather's legacy.

Gregorios nodded solemnly and changed the subject to something more lighthearted.

***

After having a much-needed heart-to-heart conversation with his son, Gregorios regretfully had other matters to attend to and had to bring their reunion to a close.

As such, he took a notebook from under his desk and handed it to his son before giving him some parting advice.

"This is a collection of everything your grandfather experienced out east. All of his hard-fought victories and all his most disastrous failures. Study it carefully; much blood was spilled for the wisdom contained in those pages."

Alexander gratefully received the notebook and stood up, about to head out the door, before Gregorios called him back.

"One more thing."

Gregorios' expression had a hint of regret as he spoke. "I won't be able to attend the full ceremony tomorrow, but I wish you luck. May the Goddess grant you a fitting blessing."

Alexander nodded and took off with the notebook under his arm, leaving his father to his thoughts. And after safely storing it in his room, he began to head for Lily's chambers.