CHAPTER XXVII.
As far as Olivia knew, this was the first time all of House Bartfort was staying in the capital, the place wasn't that big, it could barely accommodate both branches of the family and their future members such as Daniel and Finley's boy. This was one of Lord Vince's manor in the capital, she was told it was the same size than the one her father-in-law used to own to accommodate Zola and her children
However 'It is way too big for only three people.'
That thought made her angry, she knew of her new family's struggles, all of them caused by either the ex-wife of Lord Barcus or the Crown.
As abusive as Zola was, she was but a symptom of the disease known as the Holtfort Dynasty.
Her life as a commoner and her life as a noble were, as expected, fundamentally different, but perhaps the biggest difference was who held power within society.
As a little girl growing up, her father was always the one who had the final say in any decision, her mother could and would critique him, change his opinions, bribe him, threaten him with one thing or another, most of the times she would succeed, but sometimes her father would still go ahead with whatever was on his mind, sometimes for the good and sometimes for the bad.
As an academy student she noticed that the roles were reversed, it was the girls in the academy who had most, if not all the power, they had the boys wrapped around their little fingers… at first glance at least.
She never saw a future Count begging a girl to attend their tea parties, nor did the daughters of a Count's House parade around with their demi human servants… the Offrey girl being the only exception to the rule.
It was always the Viscounts and Barons offspring engaging in such uncouth behavior, Counts sons and daughters usually entered the academy with a partner arranged by their families.
But when she was in the academy she did not notice due to all the harassment she was objected to.
It took living as a noble outside the academy for a year to connect the dots.
Holfort kingdom's society was patriarchal at large, there were many more women than men in the noble ranks, when they were selling the mercenary ships they captured from House Marmoria she met with various Counts and their families, they acted nothing like she expected.
At first she thought that it was because they were Redgrave vassals, but that was not always the case.
A couple of the Counts were not subservient to Angie's papa, and they all acted the same way.
Sure their wives and mistresses believed they were better than them, but they all listened and behaved according to their husband's wishes.
The Viscounts and Barons though, were exactly like the academy students she remembered! Their wives were adult versions of the academy students.
She discovered the cause for such discrepancies in a few History books.
It was not said directly of course.
It was the fact that there were accounts of many, many rural nobles attacking their neighbors for resources, then the capital when they had a modicum amount of success, the capital always won, but she has lived through enough battles by that point to know that enduring the attacks was way more difficult than being the ones on the offensive.
And there was a particularly nasty book about the proper way to treat a lady written a couple of years after the Principality of Fanoss had seceded.
About ten years later the revered Holfort academy was founded, and at the same time some court nobles were promoted and had their taxes reduced as if just because they were from the capital.
The message was clear: if you want power, send your family to the capital.
Five years later, the attacks on the capital stopped.
The youth was indoctrinated in the capital.
Girls were encouraged, no, they were probably pressured to spend money on the capital, all the while they were told they were superior to men until they believed it.
The boys were told they should treat the girls as their better and present them with gifts, and they eventually did.
The girls loved the capital so much that they did everything in their power to stay to live there their whole lives and their husbands had to return to their territories to manage them.
The girls were encouraged to take multiple lovers. The succession lines got all murky and there was further infighting within the rural nobles Houses
As a result of this social engineering, the belligerent rural nobles were weakened, and no longer a threat.
It was all good for the Holfort Dynasty.
The rural nobles can rot for all that they cared!
To them the rural nobles and the people in their care are of no consequence.
The reason why there are so many sky pirates in the first place is because the rural nobles do not have the resources to hunt them down.
The Bartforts hate pirates, the same was true for the Durlands and the many other nobles that she got to know in the last two years.
They do make life for them more difficult, stealing from them, keeping merchants from reaching them and with their direct attacks they are considered a plague. And the inability of the nobles to hunt them down hurts the commoners living in their territory.
All because of the Holfort Dynasty…
With Lord Leon's raiding their dungeon in what would be qualified as legal robbery they have landed a painful blow to their pride and more importantly, their pockets.
The war efforts were going smoothly, the Duke was buying supplies from neighboring nations to avoid rising suspicions, a new munition factory was built in one of the many mighty floating islands that formed the dukedom.
Lord Leon himself was planning to build an armor factory in their territory… Luxy has sent a report and he found an Island with abundant resources recently, the partner was sent to tow it back to add it to their territory, it'll take three months, hopefully the war wont start before then.
But for right now, they have things to celebrate, really celebrate.
Not the collar the Holforts were trying to put on their necks, calling it a promotion.
Today Finley introduced her boy to them and he was ballsy enough to ask for her hand to Lord Barcus right after meeting the man.
She was so amused when all the women part of House Bartfort, their guest from House Roseblade giggled in unison, Finley was the only exception.
That seemed to intimidate the boy more than all of the men of the House glares, seriously, even the baby Gil was glaring at him… oh wait, he was just pooping!
"Gil needs a change of diapers!" Lord Leon said while running away towards their designated area to change Gil.
That lifted the heavy mood that was present after Ethan asked for Finley's hand in marriage.
The circumstances were not the best, the whole kingdom knows of their affiliation with Redgrave House and this boy comes in now of all times. This could be a set up to infiltrate another spy, one with high enough standing to make an impact, or if he was being sincere, he would bolster their forces…
In a corner Nicks sat with Cordelia at his right and Dorothea Fou Roseblade at his left, the woman was apparently smithen with her brother-in-law, to the point she wouldn't mind becoming his mistress, and she is the daughter of a Count!
Cleare vouched for her, Lord Leon's familiar believed her feelings are the real thing.
The reason why Cordelia was allowing her to become her husband's second wife was because Lord Vince wanted to strengthen the ties in his inner circle.
Originally either Dorothea or her sister were supposed to be bonded to Lord Leon, but Angie prevented that by trading their bed with the feat of conquering the capital's dungeon.
Lord Vince however still tried to get his way sending both of Count's Roseblade's daughters with her family to conquer the dungeon, Angie told her Roseblade House has a particularly strong taste for adventure and allowing them to be part of a successful raid would ingratiate them further… that and maybe they could get to know the Bartfort men…
It was VInce's last attempt to tie the Bartforts and the Roseblades.
He couldn't do that with Gilbert because his wife is a princess from Repard and it would create an unnecessary conflict.
It seemed to have worked on Dorothea at least, Deirdre was periodically looking at Lord Leon too, but not right now that he was changing Gil's diaper… Her loss, Lord Leon makes the funniest faces when trying to avoid the smell of the diapers.
She pitied the maids that had to wash those diapers… and not having to do that is a privilege she is not willing to relinquish!
Back on topic, Ethan Fou Robson was trying his best to convince Angie and Lord Barcus that he wanted to end the Holfort Dynasty, if only to take a higher place in the world after what he believed was an inevitable victory on House Redgrave's Victory.
It saddened Olivia that there was never anything about him loving Finley… but for nobles Love is something that might come after marriage, the most important thing is to gain allies the most reliable way they know, through bonds, sex and babies.
0x0x0
Malcolm Fou Framptom looked with disgust as that incompetent King Roland promoted the Bartfort duo of father and son to Viscounts with a frown.
Doing such a thing was pointless!
They were only aiding the Redgrave faction, and for what?
To tax them? There is no way in hell they're gonna pay a single Dia!
Sure that naive woman might think that would give them an excuse to attack them, but in the meanwhile they will be the beacon to all those bothersome rural nobles to look at and seek, they bring even more bodies to join Vince's army!
If only the Queen allowed him complete reign he would have already put the rebel faction down, instead they keep losing political ground to these upstarts!
It got even worse after they killed the dungeon's Final Bossand took the treasure for themselves!
It was annoying when he overheard the courtiers talk about them and their grand deeds!
And now there was another woman from a prominent House attached to a Bartfort. He immediately recognized Dorothea Fou Roseblade at the main branch Heir's left.
The symbolism wasn't lost on anyone, a little bit behind him, unlike his wife that meant that she had been bonded to the man as his concubine.
Her! the unattainable Dorothea, a woman even his own son failed to woo, she simply never showed any interest, and now she accepts being the second woman of a VIscount's Heir with a smile on her face!
House Roseblade and House Redgrave now had an unbreakable bond!
With them was also Count's Atlee family and he could see Bernard's daughter talking and giggling with the women of House Bartfort, especially Angelica!
Bernard's daughter had her hands on the shoulders of the youngest Bartfort and the blushing boy betrayed the details of their scheming!
House Redgrave was tightening their inner circle using House Bartfort!
The Raising stars of the kingdom! Bah! They are just some lucky farmers with some skills in combat…
Malcolm's frustration only increased when he noticed that he couldn't dismiss the Bartforts even in the privacy of his own mind!
All of the power Vince managed to keep, and the power he was now rebuilding was because of him finding a rough diamond in the unassuming house.
If only he found them first he would have already secured the hereditary position of prime minister… and in a couple more generations his House would have turned the Holforts into their puppets and in two or three more generations Holfort Kingdom would be replaced by Framptom Kingdom!
But thighs cannot be changed, he would still achieve the title of Prime Minister in his lifetime and his descendents would become royalty no matter what.
He eyed the rural House once again and then noticed both Bartfort girls had a boy at their side each.
The older one's boy wasn't much to see at, probably someone she met before her family's rise, but the fact that she kept him around would speak well about them to the other rural nobles giving them a reputation of being reliable.
The younger one though? He recognized the boy, Ethan Fou Robson is supposedly a prodigy that became the Heir of his House by out matching his older brother when the man tried to remove him to secure his place as the Heir of their Countdom. His presence here was not something he expected.
The boy would bring considerable resources to the rebel faction!
Nothing he could do there… except perhaps to seek out the boy's parents, it was known that the youth seeks change while the adults seek stability, so maybe his house was not behind him on this endeavor?
Speaking to Count Robson was a lower priority right now though.
Lately he has been engaging in negotiations with the Principality of Fanoss and he has been working tirelessly to set an ambush that would destroy the backbone of House Bartfort, and demoralize Vince's followers as a side effect.
He has contacts in the Principality, Count Garret has assured him that he could convince Vandel Him Zenden out in the open at a convenient time, and Malcolm would leak that information to the Redgrave faction. It would be too convenient not to attack, and who were the better suited for the assassination of the Black Knight? The Bartforts and their Pirate Bane of course!
Talented the brat might be, but there is a reason why Vandel has been the terror of the battlefield for longer than this current generation has been alive!
0x0x0
Ethan Fou Robson was taking a great risk by defying his parents, he knew, but it would be worth it once the King was overthrown.
His parents felt it was useless to defy the Royal Family, they supposedly have an incredibly powerful airship that could change the course of any battle…
But Ethan thinks such a ship doesn't exist or if it does, its capabilities were greatly exaggerated, his father told him the legend of the Royal Family's Lost Item, his own ancestors fell to it apparently and the memories of such a ship were passed from one generation to the next in his family.
His Father wouldn't listen to him!
Even if That Ship still existed, times have changed and House Redgrave wielded more powerful weapons now through House Bartfort's ships, It was no secret that Leon Fou Bartfort conquered a Dungeon alone and one of the treasures he unearthed was a Lost item.
He was there in the Tourney too, his house arrived shortly after House Bartfort and he got an eyeful of their ship.
It was a new model developed by them, one doesn't need to be a Genius, which he is, to realize that the ship is either another Lost item or they managed to reproduce the technology of their other ship!
The Holfort Kingdom was done and his Father couldn't see it!
But he can, and as the next head of his family it was his duty to form an alliance with the next King, and he wasn't speaking of Prince Julius much less that disappointing Prince Jake, he was speaking about Vince Redgrave!
Securing this House's place in the alliance wasn't easy, his new fiance: Finley, she did a good job laying low, but he had been looking for her since the very first day they entered the academy.
But eventually he managed to get a hold of her activities.
Finley was hard at work securing the loyalty of her peers, the Poor Barons, by arranging Tea Parties with the most reclusive girls in the academy, said girls were not easy to find and even harder to convince to give any boy a chance, preferring to attend to their hobbies such as dancing, writing poetry, reading and a couple of magic enthusiast.
When he finally managed to get her to attend his one Tea Party he had asked her why she was working so hard for the benefit of strangers she looked at him suspiciously and avoided the question, he could respect that, they were strangers after all.
However by their third date she confessed that she was doing it under her sister-in-law's orders, Lady Angelica wanted to sway as many rural nobles to their side as she could by helping them to accomplish their main goal in the academy.
It worked judging the results so far, the low ranking nobility had backed down her family when they appeared in the academy, but that was something easy for the Barons, they didn't even have to really stand out like Daniel or he himself did, they were just another face in an endless crowd.
He could bet that once the real conflict started they wouldn't cooperate so easily or at all.
Time will tell.
He had followed his intended back to her brother's territory where they threw two parties in a row, one for Lord Nicks wedding who then departed to the main House's territory and the other for Lord Leon's second wedding.
Right now he is sparring with the youngest Bartfort, the adult ones did refuse to be his opponents based on the difference in experience, he tried to not be offended, but it was hard because he is a genius capable of fighting and defeating the full fledged knights of his House.
However it turns out that Coling probably was a genius as well, or at least a very hard worker, they are evenly matched with their technique and stamina being almost equal.
It was refreshing and a little bit disturbing that a boy a year younger than him could match him, but at the same time he was happy because he finally found someone on his level.
So far his partners were either way too strong for him or not strong enough to give him a proper challenge.
The patriarch and his second son were giving them advice with Lord Barcus on his side and Lord Leon on Colin's, it was the most exciting fight he had in over a year!
They have some other people watching other than their seconds, Finley is there too, she isn't the most vocal but he could swear he saw her smiling the couple of times he managed to get one move over her brother.
There are another two girls around fourteen years old, they are very much vocal in their support of Colin, he was introduced to them too, they are Spencer's daughters, their father sought refuge here after dropping a pamphlet depicting the Offrey's corruption.
They were both panting hard when Lady Olivia, Lord Leon's second wife arrived accompanied by a few older women who were doting on her, one of them had quite the resemblance with her, probably her mother.
The older woman often caressed her belly, Livia as family members greeted her and called the match to an end so she could treat their minor injuries.
It was quite convenient to have a woman skilled in Holy Magic for training, with that and her attitude he could see why Lady Angelica allowed her to marry into the family, it wouldn't do to alienate such a convenient asset.
Once she was done with both of them he put his wooden sword into his belt and walked a couple of steps towards his future brother-in-law with his right hand extended, despite his initial misgivings the boy turned out to be quite the fighter, worthy of respect.
Colin happily shook his hand.
He could see them becoming good friends and not just allies bonded through family.
Just then another man came running and told them that a Redgrave ship would be arriving at the harbor soon.