章 21: Clans
As the afternoon sun started casting its long shadow on the ground, the tension inside the Exordium Chamber of the Valcrez Palace remained.
"This is something that we shouldn't take lightly," exclaimed Sage, the remaining Exordium in the Wagner Clan. "Yes, she came from that chosen union stated in the Valcrez Book of Chronicles, but we can't just turn a blind eye to the fact that she is cursed."
She shook her head as she continued, "Our King knew well enough the grave importance of this union for our Kingdom. And yet instead, he carelessly took a risk in accepting that cursed Princess!"
Rania, the Queen Dowager, remained quiet as she simply listened. She herself didn't see this coming, and she was honestly disappointed with the outcome. She balled her fists, knowing full well how this incident could potentially endanger his son's position.
She looked at the three women before her.
Originally, there were eleven Exordiums that would usually gather in this meeting. Her sister-in-law, Alexa of the Ichor Clan, was not present seeing as she was the one who accompanied her son to Ebodia.
Her eyes then moved to the six other vacant seats on the round table, and a wave of sadness washed over her as she recalled who they once belonged to. Before, there were six male Exordiums, including her husband Arturo who died twenty-one years ago.
Pioneered by their respective Exordiums, the five major clans, Ichor, Braun, Wagner, Rossi, and Ivanov of Valcrez, held vital and powerful positions inside the inner court.
"A cursed Queen will bring misfortune to our kingdom. What if the Ward Family of Ebodia is not the only one encountering these misfortunate events?" Eva, the last Exordium of the Rossi Clan insisted. "What if another union from another family happens where the sky would cry blood in the future?"
Rania kept her silence as she simply listened to the discussion that unfolded before her. She was also an Exordium of the Ivanov Clan.
She had been married to Arturo, a fellow Exordium from the Ichor Clan who, like her son, bore the Mark of Eternity, for centuries she and her husband ruled as King and Queen. Miraculously, their union bore the current ruler, her reliable son, Nikolai, and a stubborn daughter, Ezme.
"Why not give this couple a chance?" Rania stated with a sigh, "I know my son well, and he will not agree to this without a valid reason. It's too early for us to be this pessimistic."
"Her Majesty the Queen Dowager is right. For more than a century, we've been waiting for such a phenomenon to occur, and it finally happened," Leona of the Braun Clan seconded. "Our King is now married to someone that bore the bloodline of royalty, one who was born from a union that caused the sky to cry blood. We just have to wait for an heir so that our Kingdom will be saved from incoming chaos."
Chaos… Raina let out another sigh. From what she could recall, their kingdom should be able to prevent such an event from happening should they strictly follow the guide written in the Valcrez Book of Chronicles. And they were doing exactly that.
"Who knows? We cannot see the future, and the consequences of our King's decision to marry the cursed Princess instead of the oldest Princess still remains to be seen," Sage scoffed. "In fact, why did he even easily concede to the King of Cordon just because of the Beholden Law?!"
"Hmm… I see no harm in waiting for His Majesty to return and in discussing this further," Raina cut off the conversation with a stern look particularly aimed at Sage. "For now, I trust you all to remain calm and make the necessary preparations to receive the arrival of our new Queen as my son had instructed."
She inwardly sighed once more.
The Wagner Clan had been a pain in their ass for centuries. The Clan was in major opposition to how the Ichor Clan had been the ruler of Valcrez for over a millennium now, and Rania was sure that the Wagner Clan would take this opportunity against her son should it arise.
From there, Rania then discussed a few more instructions she got from her son before quickly ending the meeting. She simply didn't want to waste any more time entertaining the whims of the people before her. She was too old for this. Nikolai should be the one to deal with these things instead of her.
Seeing as everyone in the chamber had already left, Rania headed out as well. Outside, she saw Raul leaning on the nearest wall by the hallway.
"Sage and Eva looked so displeased," he hummed.
Raul was Arturo's firstborn son with one of his favorite human mistresses. Back in the day, Arturo had so many mistresses that she lost count of them by the end of things.
In fact, if there was one thing she hated about her late husband, it was how much of a womanizer he was when he already had her as his Queen. Still, she was relieved to see that her own son Nikolai grew up differently from his father, at least in regard to this aspect.
"Nikolai will have a hard time persuading the court officials on this matter. The last thing our family needs is for him to bring something or someone that is cursed before our people," Raul sniggered. "The Wagner Clan will surely pursue this matter. They've been waiting for centuries for an opportunity to snatch the throne away from the Ichor Clan, and this might just be it."
Rania flinched. Raul was always sniffing around his son's affairs.
She was aware of his greed to rule and be crowned king himself, but his dream was quickly shattered the moment she miraculously conceived of a baby boy who was blessed with the Mark of Eternity.
The said mark was something not to be taken lightly. After all, it was written in the Valcrez Book of Chronicles that only a chosen few were destined to be the rightful ruler or supreme leader of their kind, and the said ruler would bear such a mark.
"You're right. They're waiting for an opportunity, and I do hope that we continue to keep our unity inside the Ichor Clan to prevent that from happening," Rania commented with a meaningful smile.
Raul only shrugged at her words and murmured, "As long as Nikolai won't bring an abomination with him, then I'll be fine with this so-called unity in our Clan, Queen Mother. However, if things deteriorate because of his actions… Well, you do know that I will not turn a blind eye to that, and you should also do the same..."
Raul didn't even bother to hear her reply before he vanished from the hall, leaving Raina seething with her own thoughts.
"That bastard…" she hissed.
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