Preparations

Kerron Stenbrig walked through the halls of the Ivory Palace with a deep frown on his face, leaning heavily on his cane as he went.

It was a bad habit he had developed over the years, he could walk perfectly fine without it, but the more he used it, the more he found himself depending on it, especially when he was deep in thought.

Eventually he came to a stop at a set of ornately gilded doors that were flanked by two fully armored men. They inclined their heads at Kerron and stepped aside, allowing him to enter.

The room beyond the door was breathtaking. Aside from the wall that was connected to the main Palace, the rest of the room was a sphere formed of segmented white scaffolding. Panes of crystalline glass sat in-between each scaffold, glistening in the early morning sun.

The Ivory Palace was the abode of the first Queen and her son, and this room – the Ivory Garden, was Queen Isabella's personal meeting place. Powerful formations lined the walls of this room.

There was an obscuring formation that ensured that despite the clear crystalline panes of glass, anybody looking in would only see the sea of flowers. This formation also prevented any sound from carrying out of the room. Adding on the several detection formations in place, it was near impossible to plant a spy here.

On the outer wall of the garden, there were also several defensive formations that meant that it would take hours for even a Level 8 warrior or mage to break into the room by force.

The room itself was like a greenhouse, though there was only a single plant – the Crimson Ivory flower. Like a rose in shape, the petals where a pure white color that gave way to a crimson hue closer to the pistil, which was blood red.

These flowers filled the periphery of the room, leaving a sizable, neat space in the middle. In that space was a large, white table and set of chairs that were delicately crafted.

Sitting at the head of the table with an antique teacup in hand was Queen Isabella Ruby Aristum. Originally from the Hearthrose family, which was a founding family of the Kingdom, Isabella had been groomed to marry into the Royal family by her father, who was the current Grand Minister of the Kingdom.

Queen Isabella was strikingly beautiful, with long red hair and large, bright red eyes. She had an air of gentle innocence about her, as if she were too pure and naïve for the world. Those who knew her, however, knew that this was a carefully crafted and calculated expression that the Queen wore.

Her true face was that of a meticulous planner. A Machiavellian woman who would stop at nothing to achieve her goals.

Sat with her at the table were a few other nobles.

There was Count Elford Bier, a tall thin man with neat hair and a stiff expression. He wore a pair of golden, rounded glasses, and had an air of severity about him, as if he were constantly assessing any and every-one that he came across.

Elford was a high-ranking judicial officer, and the Bier family held significant political power as they had been involved in the Kingdom's legal system for several generations.

Next to Elford sat his polar opposite, Count Wagner Rotchsen. Wagner was an over-dressed man whose chins had chins. He wore several chains, rings and bracelets, and his brown hair was styled to match the Kingdom's latest fashion.

Everything about him screamed nouveau-riche, and his bulbous face and greedy eyes would fool most into thinking he was a fool who had lucked into money that he would soon blow away. In reality, Kerron knew that Wagner was a sly businessman whose family had long held a firm grip on the kingdom's treasury.

Aside from owning and managing the Buller group – the Kingdom's largest merchantry which doubled as an insurance company, Wagner was the nephew of the current High Treasurer.

Opposite Elford was a person who's name and origin Kerron did not know, they simply referred to them as 'Mask'. The individual wore a thick black cloak that obscured their figure, a skin-tight hood that covered their neck, ears, head and hair, and a plain white mask which clearly had a voice-changing spell cast on it.

It was likely that only Queen Isabel knew this person's identity. All that Kerron knew was that they were an official of the Inquisition – the subset of the Kingdom's security force that was responsible for internal security and order. They also operated Queen Isabella's personal information team.

Next to Mask sat Beren, his face was twisted in a permanent scowl, which he had sported since Clifford's death a few weeks ago.

The Queen had done her best to stifle the news surrounding the incident, but those in the inner circle now had a better idea of just how strong the second Prince's bodyguard would prove to be, and just how troublesome the prince himself might become.

From what Beren had described, Prince Damon hadn't so much as hesitated when he killed Clifford, and he hadn't batted an eye in the face of the dead body. The thought of a five-year-old child being capable of such casual cruelty sent a chill up Kerron's spine.

Worse still was the new of Umbra Brightclaw coming back to the capital. Her presence itself was bad enough – it would hinder the first Queen's progress in bringing the Royal guard and the reserve troops in the Kingdom onto her side. But worse, was the fact that Umbra was here to personally tutor the prince and his bodyguard.

Kerron noticed that Beren's hands were stained with blood as he sat with them folded across his chest.

"Good morning your highness. My apologies for running late, I was putting in place the last of the changes you requested." Said Kerron.

Queen Isabella gave him a warm smile.

"No problem, Kerron. I trust there were no issues?" she asked.

"None at all your highness, the Sternbridge Duchy isn't particularly important so there was not much push-back in the personal movements." Said Kerron, taking a seat at the table.

"Good to hear." Said Isabella, sipping from her cup.

"We are waiting on one of mask's men to come. In the meantime, Beren, how did the 'persuasion' go." Isabella kept her eyes on her cup, sipping as she spoke.

"There was a bit of resistance, your highness, but I managed to make them see sense in the end. We'll see the news shift from reports of General Umbra to report's of Prince Richard's awakening and acceptance into the Tower of Flame." Said Beren.

"Ah" thought Kerron, so that's where the blood came from.

"We might have a little issue with the families of one or two of the reporters who needed more enthusiastic persuasion though." Said Beren.

Queen Isabelle smiled at Beren's news and nodded her head.

"Good. Wagner, Elford?" she said.

"I'll intercept any cases." Said Elford, plainly.

"It depends on who it is. I can compensate those who are more troublesome to deal with." Said Wagner.

"About that, I think one of the papers was supported by a budding merchantry. Their head kept offering more and more shares of his merchantry to try to get me to stop. The poor man has unfortunately passed on. They should be leaderless so you might want to look into providing them with some guidance." Said Beren.

Wagner's beady little eyes gleamed at the prospect of taking over another merchantry, and he gave Beren an appreciative smile.

Kerron nodded to himself. Despite Beren's rough attitude, he was quite a charismatic man, and his gregarious nature made sure that he had made more than a few powerful friends over the past couple of years.

"Excellent, I will be terribly upset if I catch wind of any rumours relating to this." Said Isabella.

They sat in silence as the Queen finished her cup of tea. Once she was done, she looked up.

"Richard will be heading to the academy once he is done with his preliminary education at the tower. I'm aware of how difficult it is to get any kind of a grip on that damn place, so, I'm open to any ideas. I trust you all have taken the time to think things through since I asked last month." Said Isabella.

Kerron perked up at this, he had been giving the matter a good amount of thought. The Central Academy was probably the single most powerful force on the continent. It took in geniuses from all the nations on the continent, raising them into powerhouses and releasing them back to their nation.

Centuries of powerhouses hailing from and having ties to the academy, added to the fact that the academy staff consisted of some of the most powerful people on the continent, meant that it had grown to be an uncontested power.

This was great for talented children who were commoners or hailed from less powerful families, as the academy had a policy of equality on their campus grounds. It became a thorn in the side of those nobles who were used to having their every whim waited upon, however, and it was exceedingly difficult to use political pressure or machinations to build one's reputation within the academy.

What Queen Isabella wanted was a method to ensure that her son would take the academy by storm and stand out from beginning to end.

The fact was that Richard was actually very talented, and would likely stand out anyway, but the queen wanted guarantees, and Kerron had managed to think up such a guarantee.

"I wonder how much I'll be able to progress with this." thought Kerron to himself, raising his cane to get the Queen's attention so he could speak.