If your brain is stupid, your body will suffer. Aldus had just woken up with a massive headache and a sense of depression. The words of his master at arms, Sir Harris, echoed in his head. "If your brain is stupid, your body will suffer."
Yet it had never stopped Aldus from his wild drinking until late in the morning. Before moving to the Capital, it was the only thing he ever did in Morgsdale, he and his gang of lesser nobility.
His father had always complained, demanded of him to change his life and contribute to something. "Exemplify your noble blood!" Charles schooled him. "Continue on this path and life will turn on you!"
How could Aldus take it seriously? Being a son of the impossibly powerful Lord Protector of the South, Charles Morg, what problems could he possibly encounter in life?
Aldus turned around in his bed. He didn't dare to open his eyes, afraid of what he would find next to him. To his surprise, there was nobody there. That was strange. Had he really found nobody from last night's feast to share his bed?
He slowly raised himself up, calling for a servant to bring him wine.
The door to his room opened.
"Yes, my lord." There was not a servant who came through the door, it was a squire, a young teenager.
"Who are you? Have you gotten a new job?" Aldus laughed at the squire.
"Sir, I am your squire! My name is-:"
"Where are my servants?" Aldus interrupted the squire.
"They are--"
"Nah... Never mind, I don't care." Aldus interrupted him once more. "Find me some wine, will you?" Aldus believed that wine was the only thing that could ease his hangovers.
"Right away my lord!" The squire said, slamming the door as he was rushing out of the room.
Aldus felt his sore feet as he jumped out of bed. He looked out of the window, trying to spot the sun. Is it breakfast or lunch now? He wondered.
The squire came back, rushing through the door with an unopened bottle in his hand. He handed it over to Aldus.
Aldus glanced at the bottle before he turned his tired eyes towards the squire.
"Aaaaand." Aldus said.
"What my lord?" The squire was more than confused by his remark.
"Are you expecting me to open it myself?"
"Forgive me, my lord!" The squire apologised.
Things here and there fell to the floor, as the squire's butterfingers were searching through shelves and drawers in pursuit of a tool to open the bottle.
Aldus yawned loudly while walking to his jacket. He thoroughly searched it and felt something in the right pocket.
"Here here!" He shouted towards the squire.
The squire immediately stopped searching and rushed towards Aldus. He grabbed the opener from Aldus's hand and fumbled with the bottle
"You are really an intense one!" Aldus said. "Relax, I am not in a hurry anywhere."
The squire did not answer; his attention was fully on opening the bottle.
Aldus snatched the bottle out of the squire's hands. In a matter of seconds, he got the cork out, throwing it out of the window.
"Did you bring a glass?" Aldus asked.
The squire shook his head. "I am sorry, my lord. I thought you already had one by your bed!"
"For fuck's sake!" Aldus snapped, burying his face in his palm.
"I will bring one immediately!"
"No no, never mind!" Aldus insisted. "The bottle will do fine."
Aldus drained half the bottle in a matter of seconds. "Nothing cures a hangover as more wine. Thank the almighty Magnus for that!"
The squire remained in the room as Aldus got dressed; with the prime purpose was to act as a hanger. He shied away as Aldus showed him his private parts.
What a dorky little boy! Aldus thought as he looked at the embarrassed young squire.
While putting on his pants, Aldus offered the squire the bottle. "Don't be shy, try it!" He encouraged the squire.
"I can't my lord, father says I am too young." The squire said.
"Ah come on, you should really try it! Do you know what fine selection you brought me?" Aldus stopped halfway through while putting his pants on. "Who is your father by the way?"
"Lord Gary Bucksby." The squire said, standing at attention as he said the name.
Aldus made a bizarre laughter. "Bucksby? Your father is the overly fat and pompous one?"
"I guess that would be him. I am his son and heir of Brittle town, Harland." The squire replied proudly.
The Bucksby house had been vassals to House Morg for more than hundreds of years. There was nothing special to them. They had neither rich land, any army to speak of nor any resources to trade with. They were simply uninteresting, an average house, as Charles always said. Their family resided in the Brittle castle in Brittleton. Just as their house, the castle was a minor one.
"Of course, you are!" Aldus said as he embraced Harland. "Forgive me Harland, but I am a bit hungry. I have to meet up with my siblings for breakfast!"
"It is lunchtime now, my lord." Harland replied.
"As I suspected." Aldus said. "I always preferred a steady lunch before a boring breakfast. May I ask you to tidy up here? It seems that my servants are currently busy somewhere else. But that shouldn't affect my tidiness, should it?"
Harland shook his head.
"Good, then we have an understanding." Aldus said as he exited his room.
Outside his quarters, Aldus strolled around in the yard, swallowing fresh air to clear his head. As he thought back on what happened yesterday during the feast, a mind battle took place in his head. Back and forth he reconstructed conversation and arguments he should have said or not said. He concluded, if he would have taken it easy with the booze, he would have crushed them all.
The fat merchant from Estaria especially! Kandu, was that his name? Aldus went through their conversation, over and over. What a deplorable accent! And the ideas he had! Laughable, advocating for the free trade cities exempt from taxes, how that would make the nations prosper.
The further Aldus thought about it, the more it annoyed him. He remembered he had a good argument, but just couldn't remember what.
On the way to his sister terrace, between the training grounds and the exotic gardens, there was a minor gathering of Imperator guards and Sir Donn, the captain of the Morg household guard, and Sir Marden. They rather appeared to be some grunts with brute jokes.
The two knights were the same breed, they both originated from small insignificant houses, earning their position by excelling in combat and was fiercely loyal. That's why they were well suited as brutish bodyguards rather than anything else, they were not really the commander types.
Aldus approached them from the side. They seemed to be unaware of his presence as Sir Marden burst out. "Weak fuckers, I would show them pain!"
"Beautiful morning, is it not!" Aldus yelled towards them.
Sir Donn answered with a nod, Sir Marden looked irritated as Aldus had caught him speaking like a peasant.
"What is the matter with you?" Aldus teased him while passing by. "No drinking for you last night?"
At his sister's large terrace, Aldus joined the table with Victoria and their brother Dale. It was so high up Aldus could see over most buildings of Avenheim, all the way to the horizon. The only objects blocking his view were the absurdly tall towers of the Nero chapter and high cathedral.
They were just about to finish their long late breakfast with bread, eggs, ham, bacon, meat, fish, vegetables, cheese and what else royalties ate as their first meal of the day. They got caught by surprise as Aldus suddenly had appeared unannounced. He grabbed a chicken leg and relaxed himself onto an empty chair by their table.
"You two seemed to have a grim night." Aldus said as he bit off a sizable chunk of the chicken leg. It was salty and overly spiced. He immediately took a sip of wine in response to the strong flavour.
"Yeah, you look like you have seen better days." Dale replied as Aldus was drinking.
"This is my natural state nowadays." Aldus said, grabbing a piece of cheese next to Victoria. "Where is your husband, I always thought him to be a morning person?"
His sister ignored his remark. She glared towards Dale unamused. "Fredric is in the healer's wing, praying with Wilfred." She told him. "He really got devastated, seeing Wilfred so torn up when he found his daughter. He really cares for him, more than I knew."
Now it hit him. They had found the youngest Mandos girl in the arch healer's room at the feast in Wilfred's honour, the night before. She had emptied a lot of bottles containing powerful medicine.
Aldus slowly put down the chicken leg on the table. He did not feel like eating anymore. "There could be worse ways to go." He said with a heavy voice.
Aldus studied his sister's large empty green eyes. She looked unaffected by his emotions or anyone's emotions for that matter. At a young age, she had been a happy, optimistic and playful girl. After she had been sent away to the Capital, to marry Fredric, she had lost all of that. She was now cold and emotionless, cursing everyone around her for her unhappiness. Even though there were moments when Aldus saw the old her returning to herself, it had quickly vanished as another unfortunate event took place. She barely cared about anything anymore. Before she was beautiful, she had spent hours with her maids, fixing her long blonde curly hair and makeup. Now she didn't let anyone touch her. Barely eating, she was now so thin; it made her look older than she really was.
"Maybe they should have told her she has to be older to drink." Dale laughed at his own words.
"I really feel sorrow for them." Victoria said with indifference. "Such a tragedy for the family. It is always the youngest and most innocent ones that meet their graves early. There is no justice in the world."
"Well, in fact, she has not gone just quite yet." Dale told her.
Even if it was just a split second, there was something off with Victoria's reaction. Aldus couldn't place it, but he knew that he would be better off without noticing it. It was quiet for a moment. Aldus watched Dale as he continued eating, unaware of his sister's reaction. He had no feelings towards it.
Victoria's pupils enlarged themselves as a broad smile appeared on her face. "What pleasant news you bring us!" She burst out. "How is it possible? What state is she in? Is she awake? Has she said anything?"
Dale finished his cup in one swoop. "It's not possible, she will never wake up from what she had."
Now the memories came back all in force. It was as he never had forgotten it all. Yesterday Emma Mandos had been declared dead. The old alchemist Dakan had gone into the hall and made the announcement himself.
Perhaps that old fool doesn't know what he is doing? Aldus thought.
"If I remember it correctly. Dakan said that no man could drink all of that and live. Let alone a little girl." Dale said. "It must be a matter of time if they thought she was dead last night."
"Who says that she is not dead?" Victoria asked Dale. She sounded frustrated. "Yesterday they told me she was not breathing at all!"
Dale just shook his shoulders. "I am just telling you what Sir Donn just said, he had been talking with some Imperators. Apparently, Duvan, the Emperor's old personal healer, changed his evaluation after talking to those who found her. They said they had responded to noises off glass breaking, coming from the healer's ward. It was just a minute or so before they found her lying on the floor. She probably did not drink that much as they first expected."
Aldus grabbed another slice of cheese, a large chunk of red cheddar, which he dipped in his wine. "It does not require more than a few drops for little girls though." He said.
"Dakan and Duvan apparently gave her something that might have worked." Dale replied with calmness. "They thought what she had was heavily sedative, therefore the silent heartbeats. Dakan hadn't felt it, but Duvan did when he took over. She is in a coma, not dead. She might live."
Victoria raised her eyebrows in anger. "Why have you not mentioned anything?"
Dale looked at his sister, caught by surprise. "Well, I haven't confirmed it myself. Might just be rumours."
"If it is true, we will know it soon enough." Aldus said, chewing the cheese. "She might stay in a coma for the rest of her life. Poor girl."
"Poor girl indeed." Dale joined in.
"Father would be pleased though." Victoria said, with a cruel voice. "Perhaps now he gets his justice. I hope he will be satisfied and stop cursing Wilfred for denying him the Ober lands." She reached over the table, grabbing Aldus wine. "And gave it to the Swan knight, Brad? And now, how could they? I am telling you as I told you before, they are plotting against us.... The Mandos and my husband... Smiting our father and depriving him of the chancellorship. What's next?"
Dale put his hand on his sister's shoulder and started laughing. "Where did all that come from? Don't worry, they are just a bunch of peasants. Wilfred's grandfather got knighted by ass-kissing."
"Might even have been literally ass-kissing." Aldus and his brother joined in laughter.
"Shut up!" Victoria snapped. "Can't you see it? Fredric hates me, he hates our father, he hates every Morg there is!" She jumped up on her feet, staring Dale in the eyes, panting.
Aldus grabbed another piece of cheese. "What is up with you today?" He said interrupting her before she continued. "Father still holds the greatest army in the Empire. You will still be the Empress, you will still be the mother of the next Emperor's children."
Dale reached for the glass of wine in Victoria's hands. He took a large sip to moist his throat. "And what do the Mandos have?" His arrogance was radiating as always. As he was the heir of the second most powerful house in the Empire, arrogance was only natural to him. "A fourth or a fifth of what we have? And a title that means nothing."
"More like a third or half now, ever since he was given-" Aldus said, before being interrupted by Dale.
"Anyway, I would welcome it! If they try anything, father and I will crush them without mercy. Just as we always have those standing in our way."
"Although that is not true." Aldus said. "Father Charles doesn't crush anybody, he makes others do it, just as in the last war..."
"Do not underestimate them!" Victoria said, her eyes blistering. "You have also heard the stories of Wilfred, THE IMPALER! He defeated Maximillian, and even more, he slew Achea himself! This is no joke! Hell Aldus! You of all should know!"
"I wonder what he masterminded by getting his daughter half dead." Aldus snapped at Victoria.
Dale laughed approvingly.
Victoria sighed loudly as she covered her face in her palm. "Just idiotic! He can justify anything. If anyone suggests that this was not an accident..." Victoria silenced quickly after uttering the last words.
Aldus saw the same thing in Victoria as he had seen before when Dale told them about Emma might still be alive. She has an unnaturally uneasy feeling towards it.
Does she know something nobody else did, is she involved somehow? Aldus wondered. Most of the greater houses were always scheming and plotting against one another, sometimes even against the crown. Both Dale and Victoria were involved in various secret political alliances, but could anyone of them have targeted the Mandos family?
Dale did not seem to have reacted to her words at all. "Wilfred is powerless, even when he is Imperial Chancellor. We have allegiances from many houses. Some are even centuries-long. Ten times longer than House Mandos existence. If they try anything, all the old houses would unite against him."
"Now he has my husband backing him!" Victoria shouted out.
Dale shook his head. "Still!" He talked down to his sister. "The balance between the great houses and the crown has lasted since the reign of Magnus. Every time Emperors have tried seizing too much power for themselves, the greater houses have united and dethroned them. It's the world order we live under. If Wilfred, or even Fredric, would come after us, the other houses would come to our defence. Especially if a new and not authentic house is the offender."
"Either way!" Victoria said. "We have to make sure we are one step ahead of them!"
"Seriously sister..." Dale said, his arrogance lingered. "Do not trouble yourself with the Mandos. They will rise and fall, just as the peasant nobility always have."
Aldus momentarily got lost in his thoughts for a moment. It was true that Wilfred was a serious man to be reckoned with, especially now when he is to become the Imperial Chancellor. He would not just get crushed if he would challenge them, as Dale said. Victoria overcompensated, on the other hand, being paranoid, believing everybody was out to get her. Aldus couldn't figure out why Wilfred in particular, scared her so much. Maybe Fredric made Wilfred his closest ally so he could finally cast her aside, but he never would. Just as Dale pointed out, she was the mother of Fredric's children and his wife. Aldus was a superb judge of character and he believed Fredric to be an honourable and practical man. He wouldn't start a war with them. Even if he hated every Morg.
Victoria shook her head to Dale's remark. "Just remember that I warned you!"
Aldus jumped off his chair, took back his cup of wine from Dale and refilled it. "As Dale said." He tried to comfort Victoria. "There is nothing to worry about. Wilfred has no hate for us. I can't see any reason he would conspire against us."
Aldus handed back the cup of wine to Victoria. She happily accepted it.
After taking yet another large sip, she gave it back to Aldus to refill it once more.
"If Fredric truly wanted to get back on our father. Then he would risk dividing the Empire and start yet another civil war." Aldus explained as he filled the cup.
It was well known that there was bad blood between the Morgs and the Imperial family after Charles executed Maximillian. However, it was Charles Morg that Fredric holds extensively responsible, not his children.
"Sometimes, I believe that would be an actual possibility." Victoria replied to Dale, ignoring what Aldus had just said. "You haven't heard what I have heard. And now when he becomes Emperor...."
"Be that as it may, but also, Wilfred is a practical and honest man..." Aldus said. "He would never let it happen. He might hold Fredric in contempt. Maximillian killed his beloved brother after all. There might be more to it than we know."
"Maybe..." Dale replied. "Either way, just relax for now sister. You are just being paranoid."
Victoria reached for the bowl of fruit at the table. "Okay then."
Slowly, Aldus turned. He walked away from the terrace, grabbing an additional slice of cheese as he wandered out.
"Where you are going!?" Dale shouted to Aldus, as he was about to exit.
"I will seek out some Mandos children by the Medicane's quarters." He shouted back. "I have actually never talked to any of them. I might even be able to win some good favour!"