Branch families

Lucas and Lucy both appeared in front of the door leading to the dinning hall. The same imperial guards who protected the doors at that day also stood there but they now knew about their imperial prince. They bowed to Lucas while saying simultaneously :-

" Glory and blessings upon his imperial highness, the first prince."

Lucas simply nodded at them and then they opened the door leading to the dining hall. Everything was the same as before including the luxurious dining table and the elegant imperial guards and maids. They all bowed towards Lucas until Lucas nodded his. They returned back to their posture almost instantly.

Lucas walked towards his seat which was directly on the side of the emperor's throne. Lucas elegantly sat on his seat while asking in a noble, gentle yet stern and cold voice :-

" Is father not here yet ?"

One of the maids came forward with a few steps. Lucas recognised from the navy blue mob cap that she was a head maid. The only difference between a normal maid and a head maid is that the normal maids wear white mob caps while head maids wear navy blue mob caps. She bowed respectfully to Lucas and said :-

" His majesty expects you to wait for a while, your imperial highness."

Lucas simply nodded at her and she went back into the line. A lot of maids including the head maid were staring at Lucy with envy or to be precise they were staring at her crimson coloured mob cap with jealousy. This indicates that she is the personal servant of a member of the imperial family. Now except for the emperor the only imperial family member left is the imperial first prince.

The guards were not jealous at all as they couldn't even enter the sapphire palace. It is imperial rule that whoever enters the sapphire palace without the permission of his majesty himself shall be executed. Only the maids who are assigned to the sapphire palace are allowed in it and if Lucas the imperial prince allows someone to enter.

The same rule applies for Ruby palace and Emerald palace. In the Ruby palace no male gender is allowed except for the emperor and anyone who brings alongside him. The emerald palace is completely restricted and can't be entered without the permission of the emperor.

" His majesty, the sun of Holy Silvia Empire, Emperor Leon de Algar Silvia is gracing with his presence." A voice was heard from outside the door and Lucas stood up.

Everyone including Lucas bowed before the emperor who walked towards his throne. When he sat down he nodded towards everyone and Lucas sat again on his chair while everyone else returned to their initial position.

" Bring the food." Leon ordered and a small door connecting the dining hall to the imperial kitchen opened and various dishes started to enter the room. While the servants were preparing the plates Lucas asked in elegance :-

" What happened, father ?"

Leon understood what Lucas was asking. Lucas knew that Leon had called him to talk about something.

" Do you know about our branch families ?" Leon asked.

The First Emperor Linus had 4 most loyal subordinates while he also had many siblings and cousins. In the current date his 4 most loyal subordinate's descendants are the royal families while his siblings and cousins descendants are the branch families.

You might think that they also have imperial bloodline then the answer is no. When Silvia created the pact with Linus she completely changed his bloodline. Even though the imperial bloodline doesn't have dragon blood they still have the unique mana signature of white dragon. This completely affected their bloodline resulting in the current imperial bloodline.

This was also how blood match worked during that time. Even though Lucas's bloodline belonged to that of hybrid he was still resulted carrying the blood of the imperial family due to the mana signature of Silvia. Leon already knew about this fact which created the situation completely perfect.

Lucas was deep in thought regarding the matter because after Hans and his family or all the former members of the imperial family were removed from the imperial family they became the branch family members carrying the name of branch families as they were removed from the protection of the royal family which were supporting them. Leon himself ordered them to become the part of the branch families so that they at the very least won't be left alone.

The royal families agreed to the imperial decision of the emperor as they also saw the results of the blood match accepting that Lucas is the blood of the imperial family.

" What about them ?" Lucas asked.

" Do you know the strongest branch families ?" Leon asked while sipping his wine.

" Yes, the Robane household and the Windsor household. The heads of these two households are holding the noble title of Archduke." Lucas answered.

The strongest branch families each hold estate's in the 4 Grand Duchies of the empire. They are called observers who are only loyal to the imperial family.

" Both of them are sending you your loyal companions." When he said that Lucas had a happy expression on his face.

Loyal companions are leverages only given to branch families and it means a lot to them. Even the royal families are envious about this leverage.

The strongest branch families send two childrens from their family members who work as companions to the princes and princesses. In short they are like servants to Lucas who will be directly under Lucas and his helpers. They will stay with Lucas no matter what.

The reason why this privilege was given only to branch families was because the First Emperor wanted a constant connection with the branch families. He didn't want his and his family's descendants to ever forget about each other and only focus on the royal families. This was all just a ruse to keep the branch families loyal to the imperial family.

" Isn't that a good thing ? This means that most of the nobles of the empire have acknowledged my existence." Lucas asked with a smile.

" Yes that's true but…. The relations of the current generation of these families are not on good terms with us, the imperial family." Leon said.