Later that same night the maids had recently left Claudette after showing her to her room and getting her some night clothes, the young lad peeked through the large window in her room, trying to catch her attention by waving for her to open up. "What are you doing here?" She asked him. "I realised i forgot to tell you my name earlier and i also came to apologize about being so upfront." He replied to her. She opened the window and let him in. "Well i guess i never told you my name either but i am sure you heard my father mention it before?" She told him as he was climbing inside. "Yeah Claudette, it is a very pretty name, you are a lucky lady." He patted his pants to get off the dust from climbing and bowed before her. "My name is Alphonse, i am the heir to become the next margave here."
Claudette looked him up and down kind of questioning his behaviour. "Why are you acting so proper? You just climbed in a girl's window on second floor of a castle at nine the evening." Alphonse laughed a bit and sat down on the side of her bed. "I don't know i just wanted to hang out with you a bit, but i did not want to seem rude or anything." Claudette seemed slightly annoyed but also a bit happy. "So you wanted to hang out? In my room?" Alphonse quickly replied trying not to sound like a pervert. "No! That is not what i meant. I was just kind of thinking you would maybe want to go for a walk with me, you know in the garden and at the forest, this area has a ton of secrets and hidden areas. Even some ancient ruins. I would love to show you around during the day but it is, most certainly way prettier during the moonlight.
At this moment Claudette snapped out of her flashback, she was back to reality. One of her guards had knocked on the door asking about something, she quickly sent him where he needed to be and got back to her thoughts. That is right Alphonse Kreutz, she had entirely forgotten about him in the recent years with all of the wars, the rebel army and the previous queen. The previous queen, her name was Aldra. She was illegally a queen because demons are not allowed to enter the queens blade tournament, she had killed many participants and was on the throne longer than any other. Well a half demon, just like the rebel army leader.
Claudette managed to remember more, ever since she had become the queen she had been getting more forgetful, she is happy remembering about Alphonse. What happened back when her flashback ended was they got along way better, they got almost inseparable. Both alphonse and Claudette would go out and be together if Claudette was back in the Kreutz mansion. They eventually got the news that they were set up by their parents to get married so the two alliances could be united further. Neither had anything against it, however as they grew older they got more busy with their own lives and would rarely meet up, claudette had to take care of her rebellious sisters while also handling the training administration of their armies. Alphonse grew more busy with his training also. It was about this time that Claudette's oldest sister Leina ran away from home and decided to enter the queens blade tournament to avenge her mother Maria that was killed at the previous tournament. Claudette went after her but lost to her eventually and Leina managed to win and take down Aldra, however she gave the throne to Claudette because she is way more capable of leading.
Claudette now started wondering just what Alphonse could be doing and where he would be so she requested a small group of her army to head out to the Kreutz castle to scout it, Elina, Claudette's younger sister and the leader of her army notified her that there was no need to send anyone out. The castle was already destroyed to the ground, only ruins left. Claudette yelled at Elina all confused and furious. "What? How.. who did it? You know what, no it does not matter i need to get there now." Elina stopped her and explained what had happened. "You can not go there, there is a huge chance that the leader of the rebel army might be there, anyway it got destroyed back when i were in a close province. I was informed that the castle was on fire and our troops were charging it. But they were not our troops. They were bandits that were disguised, once i got there it was too late." Elina paused and Claudette seemed in shock. "Wait so.. they are all?" Claudette could not even finish the sentence, but Elina took the hint. "We found the Margave killed with a sword and his wife crushed under one of the towers, pretty much all of the knights were found in one piece, however a lot were lost to the fires as well. "What about the heir? Did you ever find him?" Elina shakes her head in denial. Claudette got a bit more confident now, knowing there is a chance he might be alive so she ordered a large group of her army to find him before locking herself into the throne room for a long period of time.