Ascendance of a Bookworm - OMG, Detlinde...

Chapter 31

Pov Eglantine:

I had just come out of one of the many meetings that royalty organized from time to time to discuss the state of relations with the various duchies.

This time, the central topic was my duchy, Klassenberg.

My grandfather, with his usual insistence, maintained that I was the ideal candidate to marry one of the princes. After all, royal blood ran through my veins.

Originally, I was a princess with chances to ascend to the throne, but the cruelty of the civil war left me orphaned.

My grandfather, who was then the AUB of Klassenberg, adopted me to provide me with protection and a home.

While I understood the logic behind my grandfather's proposal, the idea of an arranged marriage did not sit well with me at all.

The mere thought of someone choosing my partner made me feel uncomfortable. However, what worried me the most was avoiding conflicts.

Since my childhood, I had witnessed the devastating consequences of unchecked ambition for the throne: deep-seated resentments, visceral hatred, unscrupulous manipulations. 

I, on the other hand, only longed for absolute peace.

Every time I tried to promote harmony and forget about that obsession for power, I received reprimands and sermons about the importance of aspiring for more.

Frustration engulfed me as I felt how those with higher status imposed their desires over mine, completely ignoring my yearnings for peace and harmony.

As I walked down the long hallway, lost in my thoughts, I noticed an unusual concentration of people ahead of me.

Curiosity drove me to approach to observe the situation. There, a young man from the duchy of Dunkelfelger, with a look of disdain, intimidated a girl of lower status belonging to the duchy of Ahrensbach.

The girl kept apologizing, her posture hunched and her gaze lowered, revealing her fear and powerlessness in the situation, or at least that's how it seemed.