CHAPTER 39: REASONING OF THE PALACE

"Wasn’t that the serious part? What does that mean?" Luke asked with great curiosity.

"What I did in the Duchy of Wirgo was reported directly to the imperial capital, Your Majesty. When I arrived at the capital, the guards at the city walls let me in without questioning me and didn’t even bother to look at the dozens of horse-drawn carriages behind me." Elvis replied, his smile growing wider with each passing second.

"Of course, I soon found out why... when I was invited to the palace." He added to his own words.

"To the palace?" Luke asked, clearly surprised. Non-nobles were not invited to the palace.

Every servant in the palace came from the Typhoon family and its descendants. Every knight came from the Cestis family and its descendants. Every thinker and ambassador came from the Moneta family and its descendants. Every special guard—also known as the shadows of the imperial family—came directly from the Freley family and its descendants. Wirgo, on the other hand, carried out his primary duties, namely guarding the walls.

In short, no one of non-noble birth was ever admitted to the palace. This was the honour of the Hiera lineage; those who could approach their blood must be those closely related to it.

Just as a dragon subjugates other animals under its command.

Typhoon’s symbol was the crow, Cestis’s was the tiger, Moneta’s was the hawk, Wirgo’s was the wolf, and Freley’s was the swan.

The crow symbolised loyalty, intelligence, diligence, and meticulousness in their work. The Typhoon family, who were servants for Hiera, therefore consisted of servants and assassins throughout the palace.

The tiger symbolised strength, speed, ferocity, loyalty, and trust in the imperial family. The Cestis family, who were knights for Hiera, therefore consisted of knights throughout the palace.

The hawk symbolised money, greed, loyalty, and how they used their greed for Hiera. The Moneta family, who were thinkers and envoys for Hiera, therefore, thinkers and envoys were made up of them and were found throughout the palace. They were number one in foreign affairs.

The wolf symbolised loyalty, lethality, protection, and the impact they could have when they were together. Since the first Hiera, Andromeda Hiera, gave them their orders, they have been protecting the walls for hundreds of thousands of years. Without ever tiring, without ever complaining, and without ever faltering throughout their entire lineage. And that was the Wirgo family.

The swans symbolised elegance, loyalty, and the deadly abilities hidden beneath their elegance, ready to burn cities for Hiera without batting an eyelid. That is why every member of every imperial family had a shadow, a Freley.

Even if Luke didn’t notice, his shadow had followed him after he left the imperial palace. That woman was fierce, deadly, and had been trained by Kevin, the best assassin in the empire, at the request of Luke’s mother.

Luke had never spoken to her because, since he didn’t want to tell her that he was going into exile, to be honest, he didn’t expect a member of the Freley family, who received direct orders from the emperor, to defy the emperor and follow him.

He was wrong.

Whenever Kevin disappeared, it was because he was feeding her, and she would always be by Luke’s side with that, except when he was sleeping or in the shower, no matter where he was.

Hiera’s shadow was Freley.

Luke Ibn Alphonsine Hiera’s shadow was Cilla Freley.

Each house had two different flags. The ones they normally used were the crow, tiger, falcon, wolf, and swan. And then there were the crow, tiger, falcon, wolf, and swan that appeared when war came, facing the dragon on their flags.

It was like Hiera’s normal moon and the star within it transforming into a dragon, directly facing the star in times of war.

Each one was an incredible symbol. It would not be wrong to say they were very beautiful.

Of course, all these topics fit into another file.

What surprised Luke was that only five houses in the empire were directly admitted into the main palace. Even nobles below the rank of duke were not admitted, and imperial balls were held in other palaces, so Elvis’s admission into the palace was what surprised Luke.

"Yes, Your Majesty," Elvis replied with great honour. He was intelligent enough to understand what this meant.

"How?" Luke asked with great curiosity. Kevin was just as surprised as he was. Even Cilla, who was standing secretly in the room, was astonished.

"I was invited directly by Empress Emma. It seems that the reason I could enter everywhere so easily was because of Your Majesty. Rather than being invited, it would be more accurate to say that I was kidnapped. I was interrogated," he replied.

Luke smiled and shook his head.

When Elvis noticed this, he began to explain, "As you heard, sir."

"As soon as I was brought to the palace, I was taken to a meeting room. At first, tea and food were served, and then five empresses, seven princesses, and His Majesty Emperor Alfred the Second entered the room."

"I was shocked; as you can imagine, I didn’t even know how this was possible, or rather, if it was real."

"Neither His Majesty the Emperor, nor the princesses, nor the empresses spoke for a while. Then, the one who spoke was Her Majesty Empress Emma."

When Elvis said these words, Luke’s astonishment increased another notch, his eyes widening in disbelief. How couldn’t they be like that?

"The strangest part for me was that His Majesty Emperor Alfred... how should I put it... Seemed worried? No, wait... he looked a little scared," Elvis added to his own words, and then said, "Of course, Her Majesty Empress Emma explained the reason for this as we were leaving the palace."

"What was the reason?" Luke asked with great curiosity. His eyes were wide but narrowed. A great curiosity and storm of thoughts had taken hold of his mind.

"Apparently, for the past three months, His Majesty Emperor Alfred has been getting beaten up by five empresses. Literally beaten up. You can even see his ear is red from being pulled. Apparently, the reason for this is that your engagement was forcibly broken off, sir," Elvis replied.