12
The decree for my family’s ruin came swiftly.
When my father failed to produce one hundred thousand silver pieces within a month, the King’s guard sealed our estate.
My parents were thrown out onto the street. I was stripped of my title and expelled from the Prince’s residence, left to await the final verdict on
our family’s fate once our “hidden” wealth was confiscated.
What they didn’t expect was this:
After hours of ransacking the Valerius estate, smashing furniture and tearing up floorboards, they found not a single coin.
My parents and I stood by and watched them destroy our home. The place we had lived for decades was reduced to splinters and rubble. I sighed,
a genuine pang of loss hitting me.
My mother put an arm around me, trying to comfort me.
My inner voice, however, was cheering. [Yes! They’re not going to find a single piece of gold. The King is going to have their heads for this incomp-
etence!]
My mother glanced at me, a flicker of a smile on her lips, and swallowed whatever comforting words she was about to say.
For now, the King hadn’t exiled us. What was the point of exiling a family if you couldn’t get their money?
The official in charge of the raid was furious, ordering his men to smash everything that was left. The crowd of onlookers began to laugh.
“I’ve never seen a seizure like this. They’re turning a perfectly good manor into a ruin.”
“The Valerius family were good people. Others give out charity for a day; they gave out soup all winter. And they always gave gifts to the neighbo-
rhood kids on holidays. You don’t find nobles like that anymore.”
“Maybe that’s just the way of the world. Good people don’t last. I got a silver piece from their daughter when she became princess.”
Prince Alaric, who was overseeing the operation, grew darker and darker. “Find it!” he snarled. “Tear the whole place down to the foundation if you
have to!”
He couldn’t believe it. Cassia was always draped in gold and jewels, yet her family home was apparently empty?
He turned to the crowd. “This family is corrupt! They are traitors! You have all been deceived by them!”
But the crowd’s murmuring didn’t stop.
“What do we care? They didn’t steal from us. They gave us money.”
“I don’t see any of those ‘honorable‘ nobles doing anything for us.”
My parents and I were placed under heavy guard.
That night, a figure slipped into our holding cell and quietly unlocked the door.
Under the escort of Lord Marshal Gideon and a squad of his men, my parents and I were smuggled out of the city.
My father, ever the scholar, was terrified. “It’s a good thing I gave that guard captain a gold coin earlier,” he whispered. “Otherwise, we never would have made it out so quietly.”
My mother and I, however, were giddy with excitement.
“Tomorrow, they’ll find we’ve vanished.”
“Yes! Disappeared into thin air.”
‘They can’t admit they let us escape. They’ll probably announce we were executed in secret.”
“Excellent! When we return, the shock will kill them.”
12:34
The Lord Marshal was silent for the entire journey. I was burning with curiosity. In the story,
managed to flip him?
he was Trista’s devoted backup. How had my brother
My inner gossip columnist was working overtime: [Isn’t he supposed to be pining for Trista? What’s he doing with us?]
My mother leaned close and whispered in my ear, “His goddess got married, and the illusion shattered. Now he’s in love with your brother’s young attendant. When Gideon went to stab Damian in the back, the attendant jumped in the way and took the blade for him. Now the great Lord Mars-
hal is in his groveling–for–forgiveness era.”
I gasped.
That attendant of my brother’s was indeed a handsome, pretty–faced young man. Who knew the Lord Marshal’s trip to the frontier would lead to a
journey of self–discovery?
