Age of Adventure

VANHEIM PALACE

VANHEIM COURT RESIDENCE

She looks outside her window and sighed. Her sigh could make all men around her sympathize. This is her ability and her charms.

This woman is none other than Helena. Helena is a Princess. She used to be the Princess of Duvar but now she is the Princess of Vanheim.

Vanheim is a mighty and strong nation. Even she had t admit that. She has seen their tactics, their arms and their people.

They are a proud people and in recent years Vanheim has bared their fangs to the whole Continent

And after the Vetten war, the sleeping lion was awoken and with the taste of blood lingering on its sharp teeth, it began to pounce on its neighbor.

Vanheim is now at a war with another large superpower nation...Niovar. And Helena right now have no allies around her.

Her husband it at the Peak and she did not trust that man.

She trusts only one man of Vanheim. The Chancellor Aero. But she is anxious and nervous now. She couldn’t always be in the defensive

Aero does not yet return from whatever lands he goes. He just up and disappears one-day heading to some distant land without even informing her.

In the absence of the Chancellor there are still big events that is happening. Most shocking was probably the appearance of twin sister Delilah and Morgana.

They both have taken refuge in Vanheim. They are from the now destroyed Queendom. When they arrived they were in a terrible state.

There was blood all over their clothes, they were tired and thirsty when they came upon the Palace gate seeking asylum

Their arrival was deemed a secret matter of national security so there is a gag order around it. Helena visited the sister in the infirmary once.

They were being looked after by the Royal Physician. She talked with them for a little bit and they responded courteously.

They look weak and frail now that Helena had a hard time of ascertaining herself that these two are really the twin Queens of the Queendom.

Helena once visited the Queendom with her brother when she was ten of age and how majestic and domineering they looked at that time

It is a tragic story. A twin sister of a lost kingdom, their family slaughtered, leaving only a castle of ash and dust, blown by the wind of history.

They are Queens of a Queendom ruled by only woman, with woman officials, rejecting man on every level of government and power, yet ironically they are ruined by one man.

Helena smirks bitterly

Lady Aphrodite dislike such arrogance.

Goddess of Love, she reminded herself. Yet when the Goddess of Love is angered not even Death dare deter her from her wrath.

Of course she couldn’t truly understand what they have lost and what they have suffered in their journey here but still she tries to comfort them as beast as she can

She sympathizes with the twins. What harrowing experience must they endure to survive? She also hears about one particular man

The King of the North, Zeus. From what she gathered Zeus is a cruel and a disloyal kind of person, killing anyone who did not agree with him, and betray his own lord and liege and usurp his position.

Though mostly the knowledge about she got about him come from the Bards singing the song in the marketplace, or from the trouper of entertainers that tell the story.

And she is not the only one that Helena got information on. She also got a few information on Aero.

After reading his achievements she has a newfound admiration towards Aero. It is no wonder he was appointed Chancellor.

From his scheme he seats a King on top of the throne, and then winning a war on two sides which leads to the full annexation of Vanheim longtime enemy.

He even drafted the policy that forbids the Vettennian to be treated poorly by the invading soldiers of Vanheim which increases the favorability of Vettennian toward Vanheim.

By now she also knows how important Aero position and the reverence people have for him and the extent of influence that Aero have in this Kingdom.

He stands just below the king in terms of authority, the people loved him and regarded him as a paragon of loyalty and his influence is far reaching, from the Capital City extending to the wilderness of Nairhell.

She heard the story of how he saved the Kingdom from Vetten invasion, reading about the account of people fighting in that battle, releasing Vettennian prisoner, a noble act that cemented his position and image as an enlightened scholar and a divine strategist.

And not only that. He also helps her father creating the Oath, releasing her father from the burden of potentially offending foreign power.

Though truth be told, if Helena knew Aero at that time and know that he is the one that made her lifelong happiness to become some kind of competition she would surely strangle him to death

Other than that. people know and identify him as a proponent of peace and advocate of diplomacy, a saner voice in a world that is so eager to raise their swords and kill each other to death

Because of that he also gains the Four Noble Houses of Karak to swear fealty to Vanheim.

And the most important deed to her is the fact that he saved her from her death in that forest. And since that day she knew him, she had this one crazy thought that fills her waking moment.

Why couldn’t he be the one who wed me? This crazy thought once entered her mind.

Aero is strong, smart and charismatic, brave in battle, all the qualities she ever wants in a man. It is a pity really.

Helena knows what she wants and she is not afraid to chase it.

She doesn’t want a man who is afraid of everything, with so much insecurities and fear.

Like Edward. Hesitating, wondering what this mean what that means.

Neither had she wanted to pleasure such man

She doesn’t want to be the soother, the pleasure woman, or a trophy wife for weak men, incapable men, weak man.

She need someone braver than her, passionate than her, if she is cunning, he need to be more cunning, if she is a bandit, he has to be a bandit leader, if she is a lion, he needs to be a dragon that soars the open sky.

Why?

Because most men could not handle her. Most men would not be able to see her without being weak.

Aphrodite has said that she is perfect. That is what her father once told her.

Beauty without a match. Because of her divine beauty, she entices without meaning to, she comforts men without even meaning too.

Her voice is like heavenly music to their ears. She likes to raise Tartarus but yet the man could not turn her away.

She is dangerous yet it just excites the man more, dreaming of having her, wed her, bed her.

Songs are created in her name, singing of her beauty, of her beautiful eyes, of her beautiful body, of how her voice is the perfect voice.

And the nature of man when he found something so perfect, he would chase around the world for her, trying to gain her favor ruining themselves along the way.

Man cannot handle what is perfect.

It is the nature of mortals to rejoice over the one thing that he can proudly say that he found on his own, with no help from another.

’Beauty is a curse’ she muttered again like a chant.

It’s not the promises of bedding her that makes so many man fall over heel over her, it was the force of her character

The strength of emotion she stirred made any men around her feel alive. Those who have never bene touched by love felt like love is blooming in their heart

And it is a curse. If not for her brother, she would long be violated by his uncle when she was young.

Since then her brother has always bene very protective of her. She never let herself forgets of her disastrous beauty and its effect and power it holds over men.

Her beauty is a curse and at times a blessing. She sighs as she looks at the birds flying freely on the sky

She gathered her determination and said it to herself.

she would find allies in this unforgiving Palace of cold brick, cold words and cold stares.

Promises are words, and words are winds.

And promises in the Court could not be trusted. Aero at least taught her that much. There is only broken promise here, broken oaths.

Yet, she still had to dig deep in this filthy pile of hit and make alliances with the people in the Court.

Aero has his ways. And she has hers. With her own way, she will survive here. She will not depend on her husband.... especially not her husband that she didn’t trust.

Trust no one, his word rang again inside her ears.

Once you took a side you will be doomed to be enemies with the other side. The powerful would swallow you, the weak would bring you down

Any new alliance would lead to new enemy, maybe more dangerous than the last, and the cycle continues.

Eventually she would fall. All his lesson seems to ring in her ears and embedded itself deeply in her mind.

Aero is lucky.

He had a strong presence from the very beginning, gaining the trust of the King. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

The King is dependent on him, the people love and adore him, the military respect him, while the entire Continent feared his scheme.

But she did not have the same kind of condition that Aero had.

She is an outsider, a princess from foreign lands, with a husband who is a Second Prince, not a ruler of a Kingdom, or heir of one, and no one depend on her and as such she couldn’t depend on other people.

She has no one depending on her, the people don’t know her and watch her with cautious eyes, the military regarded her as a frail and beautiful woman, the Continent only knows of her beauty and not of her character.

She knows one thing. Right now she could not pick a side.

She couldn’t afford to pick a side.

She learns this from Aero.

She will not allow herself to lose her head to words of honor or loyalty to the King or great lords, nor would she tries to stop the conflict in the Palace or the court, that would only drag her into the conflict

Let them fight their secret wars, let them exhaust themselves.

Because she will be there when they exhaust themselves.

She will be their mediator, she will be their voice and she will gain power to protected herself from the dark hand that wanted to harm her

She knew that if she commits to someone, to their cause, she will become their tool. Their interest becomes her interest and she would lose all initiative.

She knew from the start that her way is different from Aero.

His situation is different, and even their starting line is different.

Trust no one, his word rang again.

That words seems to rang as she bitterly smiles.

She shakes her head, then make sure she is properly dressed and then she exited the room embracing a new day in the court with a plan

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Not many words to say. I am writing Lord Shadow right now