You were there 1

Chapter 1. Would you rather pick a name you know?

***

It was a bitter winter wind that threatened to swallow the world.

After a long scouting trip, Johannes entered the castle, covered in snow and dirt. His armor rubbed with every step he took, dirtying the floors that the maids had polished to a shine.

He took off his helmet and shook out his silver hair like a lion shaking off its mane, and a few steps into his walk, someone called out to him.

"Your Majesty, you have come."

The long-haired, ultramarine-blue man with spectacles, who had loomed over him like a ghost upon arrival, spoke in an extremely calm voice. It was like a calm afternoon greeting.

"Have you figured out who it is?"

"No. It was a fruitless reconnaissance."

A chill stole through Johannes' walls, as if he were unhappy with his own words. They'd traveled so far, and it hadn't been worth the effort. Perhaps it was a good thing that it was fruitless. 

They say no news is good news.

"Glanton, I need to wash up first."

Johannes was eager to get rid of the sting of not having bathed in days, but the intelligent and capable Nordic chancellor, who went by the name of Glanton, had no intention of letting the king off easy after his return from months away.

"First this."

Johannes raised one eyebrow in disbelief as the paper shreds were held out to him. Hadn't he just said he needed to wash up?

"Water."

Johannes barked the one-syllable command to the chamberlain, who happened to be passing by, and glared at Glanton again.

The quick-thinking chamberlain bowed languidly to the king, who had already turned away from him, and disappeared upstairs to prepare the bath water.

Johannes turned to follow, only to be stopped once more by a hand placed firmly in his path.

"These first."

Holding the two pieces of paper at an angle, as if drawing a a raffle, Glanton waved them up and down once, as if to say, "Come on, take this”. The envelope containing the letter, to be precise.

Johannes let out a short, irritated sigh and roughly snatched it from his hand. He wondered what was so urgent.

"It's a letter from a southern country."

The seal had already been ripped off. Johannes narrowed his eyes, already recognizing the seal before Glanton explained.

"The South?"

The question was blatant in his voice, "Why them?”

He thought of the South as a place where people didn't care about each other, as if it were a different world, separated by the vastness of the Land of the Dead.

The letter gave Johannes room for curiosity in a head full of bathwater.

His eyes twitched slightly as he read the letter. When he'd finished reading the nonsense, he moved on to the next envelope.

As if there had been some sort of disturbance in the south, letters had arrived from two countries at the same time and for the same purpose.

"Envoys have come and gone from the kingdoms of Tranche and Kandel. If they had met, they would have stabbed each other to death, but fortunately, the envoys from Tranche arrived after the Kandelians had left, and the palace was spared a bloodbath."

With a grunt, Johannes gripped the ornately bordered letter tightly. It crumpled in his grasp.

"They both wish to marry Your Majesty, what will you do?"

After braving the elements, what..................

In the midst of his bewilderment, Johannes' eyes remained fixed on a point in the letter.

[Eunice von Pavlone.]

Glanton's voice rang in his ears, as if penetrating the king's thoughts.

"Would you prefer a name you know?"

*** 

Kingdom of Tranche. Capital city, Melbourne.

Eunice had ridden all the way to the capital on a royal command, and the heavy air weighing down her body made it difficult to breathe.

She couldn't imagine a more uncomfortable place in the world.

In the drawing room, where she had thought only Wilhelm II was present, all of the kingdom's most powerful men were gathered.

Seasoned eyes scanned her up and down. Feeling like a fish on a chopping block, Eunice nervously wiped the sweat from her hands on the hem of her skirt.

"You have traveled a long way, Lady Pavlone.”

Wilhelm II's gravelly voice rang through the air.

Eunice unconsciously glanced at her father, Duke Rockford von Pavlone. She hoped she might get some clue as to why the king had summoned her.

But when she saw Rockford's expressionless face, her heart sank.

What did she expect? Did he still have any feelings for her?

She was tired of feeling sorry for herself. Suppressing her throbbing heart, Eunice turned to Wilhelm II and lifted the corners of her lips in a curt tone.

"Your Majesty has summoned me, and it is good to breathe the air of Melbourne after so long."

"I hear you like the seclusion and peace of St. Laurent."

Not exactly. She had avoided coming to Melbourne as much as possible because of Crown Prince Kalian, so it only seemed that way to the outside world.

That was when the prickly voice came through.

"We'll have to see if you're here for the love of it or to raise the ransom."

'Crown Princess Richena...................'

Eunice looked up, her shoulders shaking with embarrassment. Beside Richena was her father, Duke Dale von Schwartz.

Her breath caught in her throat as she felt the father-daughter glare at her. Why were they looking at her like that, she thought, the words rising to her throat, when it was Crown Prince Kalian who was the heartless bastard.

But she didn't dare say it in front of the king, in front of all the ministers.

Eunice was the weakest here. She had no father, no family, no protection.

"Hmph."

Fortunately, Wilhelm II cleared his throat. He was well aware of the behavior of his only son, Kalian.

The sham marriage he'd arranged to cement his relationship with Duke Dale, the kingdom's financier, had long since cracked.

Richena's stomach has been turned more than once by Kalian’s rush to St. Laurent to see Eunice every chance he got, and each time Dale has resented his daughter's heartache.

The aftermath was taking its toll on the king and the financier’s relationship.

"Your Majesty. I'm sure Lady Pavlone has had enough, so it would be best to get to the point quickly.”

 Richena spoke with a gruffness. As if she were the most tired person in the room.

Eunice's green eyes filled with anxiety. She had a premonition that there were huge waves ahead of her. Her mind went white with fear, her feet felt like they were going out from under her.

Wilhelm II glanced at Rockford rather than speak directly. Rockford, who hadn't given his daughter a second glance, turned to Eunice at the king's signal.

"Eunice."

"Yes, Father."

She responded briefly to the solemn summons, and then drew a quiet breath.

"You are of marriageable age."

Why was he bringing up marriage all of a sudden?

Eunice had been of marriageable age for over a year. Last year, she was stuck in Saint-Laurent, working herself to death, and wouldn't even talk about Melbourne society .....

Why would he bring it up now, in the presence of all the kingdom's leaders?

Her heart was beating hard. It was so hard that she was afraid everyone could hear it.

"I don't think there's anything wrong with getting married soon."

"..."

"Especially if your marriage is for the peace of the Tranche Kingdom."

"..."

What does that mean?

How can there be peace when two families marry?

"I trust that you will accept with the honor that Pavlone's name deserves."

"What ......?"

The one-syllable voice came out slowly, but her head still struggled to digest the sound as it entered her ears.

Her heart pounded loudly, like thunder, as if it had moved to her ears. Though her father was speaking elegantly…

“Your marriage to the King of Nordic has been decided.”

A marriage alliance.

Just as Eunice had reached one conclusion, Wilhelm II. kindly put the finishing touches on it.

"You, a member of the Duke of Pavlone’s family, are a relative of the royal family by blood, and therefore not lacking in merit; and as I have always esteemed your upright conduct, I trust that you will conduct yourself so well that the alliance of our two nations may be cemented."

"..."

Her head felt foggy. Someone must have said something, but to Eunice's ears it was just a buzzing noise.

It was a great dishonor to a noble lady to be unable to marry before her marriageable age, and Eunice had long since accepted it as her fate and resigned herself to it.

No man dared to woo her for fear of falling under the eye of Crown Prince Kalian.

Eunice von Pavlone was a pariah in her family's circle, a mere face in social circles, and the object of Kalian’s ardent courtship.

Her future was either as Kalian’s mistress or a virgin.

But she had escaped that grim shadow and was to be married. Should she count her self fortunate, or was it a misfortune?

The Nordic kingdom.

A country built on a barren, harsh land that could only be reached by crossing the Land of the Dead.

It was an inhabited land, but people still lived there so one  shouldn't have any trouble surviving.

But if it was the King of the North...................

[A cruel monster with no blood or tears. Ironically, he is so fierce and ruthless that only he could unify the North, bending the people to his will through force and fear.]

***

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