Crowns and Contempt - BOOK 1

Chapter 05 - Destiny within Doom

Emelia and her army had crossed the Eastern Forest and had reached Wildenburg safely. After receiving a grand entrance that Duke Faring had prepared, Emelia headed to his castle. After she arrived at the castle she was taken to the bath and given a change a clothes. The bath relaxed Emelia, who was a victim of fatigue and found no decent place for properly cleaning herself ever since she had left Moleon.

The change of clothes prepared for her was quite extravagant, one could tell it was specifically prepared for this occasion. Only her relic, Raseal, was kept by her side. It was quite a peculiar combination. A princess in a beige dress had a blood red weapon on her waist. After she was dressed, the maids brought her to the dining room along with Olgeared and Slavik close behind. Duke Faring was already seated on the chair with a lavish spread for two people upon the table. He stood and gave a light bow to Emelia, while she nodded her head in response.

Emelia looked at the rest of the table and asked, "Will Lady Anna and your daughter not be joining us?"

"They... are not here. She had to visit her sister... the wife of Earl Margrave. She is quite sick." Snag could be felt in Duke Faring voice. He was not fond of this situation.

"Shame... but I can see the situation demanded her attention, she is still her sister." Emelia voice strayed, as if a deeper meaning was carried in her words. She took the seat next to Duke Faring and both silently started to dine.

Duke Faring was large man, muscular yet old. One could tell just by looking at his build that he was battle-hardened. His face had two large scars crossing each other over his right eye. They made him look so terrifying that it could make a sloth run for miles, yet at the same time, it seemed to bring his out his resolve as a leader. A man that would stand till the bitter end. That was Duke Faring.

As the dinner approached its end only wine was left on the table. The maid poured in both glasses and that's when the talks emerged.

"I have heard that your visit to the Fort turned out to be a success." While Emelia was bathing and getting dressed, Duke Faring had already been informed by his men about the situation.

"If we ignore the dragon attack, yes. But financially, we won't be able to mine the ores in Irex as efficiently as before and we have to find a different way to support the garrison in that fort. Both the means of its supplies and weapons is lost."

"Honestly, I find it hard to believe that Irex has been attacked by a dragon, but such is life in villages. Sometimes they are the victims of bandits, sometimes the war or the monsters and now, dragons as well."

"What is much worse is that dragons are not someone I can deal with."

Hearing Emelia admit her own weakness Faring could not help but smile, and looked at Olgeared as he was not expecting this. Olgeared gave a complicated smile in return. Emelia's honesty was something that was quite rare and hard to deal with. Even other nobles complained when Emelia openly ridiculed their selfish nature. Duke Faring unlike them had spent some time dealing with her and learnt how to adapt to her honest nature.

"Princess have I ever told you about I got this scar?" He pointed at the scar that went from his right eye to his cheek.

"No, I thought it was a sensitive topic."

"Ironically, it is not. I prefer people asking me about this. You see, I got this scar when I was young... very young. My father was quite alive and a group of Drages, lesser dragons, were attacking our territory. He was quite concerned and I wanted to help. Being the Duke's only son, you can imagine how he reacted. But I was young and stubborn, thus I had my way. I disguised myself as one of the soldiers from the subjugation squad."