"Lady Vanessa!"

She heard many call her name as she rolled across the carpet and onto the polished stone floor. She did her best to slow herself down without hurting herself. It wasn't the first time she ended up rolling across the ground after a defeat, with how much she spun, it was the common ending. She might have been blinded by her own helm but she could tell where was the ground easily enough by the many impacts that quickly a.s.saulted her body so it was easy to maneuver her body accordingly.

She trusted her armor to hold itself together and also trusted its inner layers to prevent her from receiving any meaningful injury from this but being thrown to the ground was still a bit offensive.

Since she had expected her defeat since the start, she wasn't hurt mentally by this ending even if it was somewhat disappointing. Physically however, rolling across the floor in a full-plate after taking a strong hit at the waist was very painful. She wouldn't get any more injury than a few bruises but the consequences on her image would be devastating if she couldn't get up quickly.

Once she had slowed down enough, she extended one arm away from her to end her rolls with her facing down and immediately started pus.h.i.+ng the ground away from herself. She could have stopped herself earlier but interrupting the rolls too abruptly was more dangerous than rolling across the floor.

The armored dress was great but it made it somewhat awkward to get back up after a fall because her knees would get stuck inside. She had to practice a lot in school to get up on her own at a decent pace. It was extremely dangerous to lay down in a fight and being able to get up quickly was imperative. The quickest way for her to get back up was to roll onto her stomach and push the ground with enough strength to throw her back on her feet.

She felt the angle of the world around her s.h.i.+ft as forward returned to its rightful place in front of her. She had to move her feet slightly to keep her balance as she was still very dizzy but managed to stand on her feet.

"Vanessa, are you alright?" She heard the worried voice of her father somewhere from her right.

"I'm totally fine, I'm just a bit dizzy after all that spinning." She said to rea.s.sure everyone.

Many sighs of relief answered her while she lifted up her visor again to see everyone. All of them had been worriedly eyeing her waist but she could already read on their faces that there wasn't even a scratch on it. The armor held just as promised by Emp.

"Sir Clarence! That hit was clearly too much! Be more careful with my daughter!" The duke complained.

"No father, it's fine." She hurriedly defended the knight before he could apologize. "I asked him to not hold back for me because I wanted to test myself. It would be a waste to spar with one of our best and not learn anything from it after all. As you can see, I'm not hurt at all, in fact, he seems to be in a worse state than me."

Clarence had not worn his armor because he wasn't currently in service. Apparently he wore court clothes which was why her dress blades tore through pants instead of clas.h.i.+ng with armor. She had guessed it after she felt the clothes against her blades so she had refrained from just rus.h.i.+ng in.

She still did a great deal of damage on him however, his sleeves were all shredded and his pants torn open at the front by her dress. The tip of his enormous two handed sword was resting on the ground a few feet away from him while he rested his arms.

Her head was spinning and her body was aching from the recent fall but his good clothes were all ripped apart. For her, he lost way more in that spar than she did.

"My lady is right, I should not have spared in those clothes. Even if I had heard about its legend, I never expected the royal sword dance to exude so much pressure. Even with the advantage of experience and reach, I was hard pressed to find any openings at all. I took the only opportunity I found, I must have misjudged the strength behind my strike, I did not think it would hit you so hard. My apologies my lady."

"No need for an apology, you did not misjudge anything, it was the strength of my own spins that sent me reeling back when you hit me. I will admit, most of the spars I loose end up like this." She said with a wry smile, inviting a few laughter from the audience.

"In that case sir Clarence, I will not hold it against you, it was indeed an impressive display from the both of you. I'm sure everyone present was entertained by it."

Claps and calls of agreement irrupted throughout the hall. Duke Boncar waited for it all to quiet down before he followed.

"Daughter, it might sound weird seeing how fast you spun but weren't you moving slowly? I feel like your attacks were much more numerous while you demonstrated the first stage." Her father inquired.

"I noticed so as well, you hesitated after my pants were torn open, you stopped your advance." Clarence added.

"Yes, I had not noticed you weren't wearing your armor before I felt your clothes at the tip of my blades. I feared I might hurt you. Holding back while in the second stage is rather difficult so I could only slow down. I would like to challenge you once more sometime soon, with you wearing armor this time of course."

This did not mean she would have won if he wore armor however, all the knights as well as her father were well aware of that. She wasn't making up excuses to her defeat, spars were always like this. Clarence was leagues stronger than what he showed in that spar. He might not have held back in his use of techniques and combat experience in his attempt to break through her sword dance but he certainly did with his strength and speed.

If he went all out, he would have broken her defense right away and sent her flying with the first strike. It was just like how Emp did not use any of his strength when sparing, truly hitting someone with it would be too dangerous.

Her own strength could not be held back because most of it came from the spins which were an integral part of the technique, that was all she meant.

"It would be my pleasure lady Vanessa." He answered with a short bow. "Might I also compliment you on how you held on to both of your swords as you tumbled? Usually, when I send the younger knights rolling, their swords fly out of their hands and I have to scold them."

Her and her father accepted the compliment with a smile and nod. Holding on to their weapons in any circ.u.mstances was something that was thoroughly driven into their heads form the very start of the combat lessons. A warrior without a weapon was a dead warrior in most cases. She was used to grip her swords strongly, it was all the more important for her since they tended to want to fly on their own after she started spinning.

"I enjoyed this mock fight, it's the first time I was ever launched into the air. I did not expect it and I lost my balance, it was a very original idea." She complimented in return.

She would not be tricked like this again in the future. Now she knew that stepping on the sword of an opponent was a bad idea when she didn't have an overwhelming advantage in strength against them.

"I thought it was impressive that you managed to steady yourself midair. Truly, your performance today is worthy of my praise. Now, if my lord would excuse me, I need to put on some new clothes."

"Of course, you may leave. Thank you for your a.s.sistance in this demonstration of royal sword dance second stage sir Clarence."

The knight bowed to her father and then to her before leaving he great hall under the applause of the the rest of the guests.

"We are blessed today. To finally see it in the flesh after so long, Vanessa my daughter, you fill my heart with pride." Her father said afterwards.

She forced her legs to move somewhat steadily and walked back to her original position in front of the thrones. It would be embarra.s.sing to wobble in front of all those people after all.

Her brother fully agreed with their father, he seemed to have to fight himself to stop from jumping down the throne and rush to pester her about sword dance. He clearly wanted to know all about it. She felt regretful that with his physical disposition, he would probably never be able to work past the first stage.

"Thank you for the praise father. I worked hard to be able to show you this today. I will start studying the third stage as soon as I can." She promised.

"This is already more than I could ever hope for. I'd be the luckiest man in this world if I could witness the third stage of our royal sword dance before I breathe my last. I've dreamed of seeing it since I was a small lad not even fit to hold a sword yet." He confessed with a tender smile.

With the demonstration done, it was time to dive into the hard subject. The words of her father gave her the perfect opening to exploit and with her performance fresh in the minds of everyone, it was now or never. She was ashamed to return his praise in this way but she could not stop anymore. She took a deep breath to slow down her hyperactive heart and placed her first strike.

"The old lord Muracier said almost the same thing, he was hopeful that I would master the whole thing before he died of old age and said he was looking forward to have his family working with a d.u.c.h.ess of the northern grove who mastered the four stages."

The reaction to her words was slightly delayed for everyone. They were all too soaked into the festive mood to catch the sudden s.h.i.+ft in subject and the surprising declaration she voiced.

In an instant, she saw the smile of her father collapse into a frown. A lesser lord would have asked her to repeat, would have said something like "what?", but her father didn't need to, he was smarter than that. He couldn't afford to look like he didn't know what she was implying in front of this whole crowd and her words were more than clear enough for him to grasp her intentions.

His face froze and his eyes coldly stared her down. "Do not do this." He was warning her silently. "Please not this."

With his face changed this way, the rest of the hall swiftly caught on. Everyone froze with a fake smile. They knew a storm was coming even though they hoped nothing would happen. They were all throwing glances at other n.o.bles they knew hoping to get some confirmation or denial. "Did she just say a d.u.c.h.ess?"

Her wed-mother paled even more and collapsed in her seat. She knew Nessa well enough to understand each of her words were carefully planed. A maid servant stepped from behind her seat to take care of her health right away, Nessa didn't worry too much for her.

Meanwhile, her brother seemed to be the only one who didn't yet understand what she was about to do. He had caught nothing abnormal with her words, only a praise from a Muracier. He was beaming until he realized everyone else had tensed up. He looked in turn between the resolute face of his sister and the stern warning eyes of his father, unable to understand what was going on.

"Father," She started, watching him clench his fingers over the armrest of his throne. "I would like to formally request that you let me take the place of heir in my younger brother Philips' stead."

A rumble ran trough the crowd. She had really done it, right there in front of the elite of of the whole dukedom! Thunder rolled across the hall as the n.o.bles all reacted at once. All kinds of calls were made, everything fell into chaos and no coherent sounds could be heard through the sudden cacophony.

The questions they all asked themselves when she first came in all broke loose at once. n.o.body knew anything and none could find someone on which to lean to get answers.

Who did she have in her faction? How long did she plan this for? Who should they side with? Can they get some advantage from this? Which of the siblings should really get the dukedom? How would the others react? All those questions stormed through the minds of everyone present and many were spoken aloud all over the hall.

Just like that, she had fractured the dukedom. Everyone would quickly take a side a push for their chosen Hasting to get the throne hoping to receive rewards from good service. They didn't care that it would be sibling against sibling, now they would do their best to inflame their hearts and pit them against the other. If they wanted favorable treatment, they needed to pick the right side and win decisively.

Nessa knew that some would even be willing to propose poison and cold blooded murder to her or her brother. They did not understand, she wasn't doing it out of greed for the territory, she was doing it all out of love for her frail brother. She just wanted to shoulder the burden herself.

Her brother seemed at a complete loss. He could perfectly understand what she just asked for but he didn't get why.

His eyes had went wide in shock and tears were already forming in the corner. He felt betrayed, that was clear to see. The big sister he trusted and loved so much just said she wanted his place. His mind could not wrap itself around the idea, he could not understand what was happening or how it had come to this.

She felt pained to see him like that but it really was for his own good. She'd speak to him later and explain everything, he was a smart child, he would understand.

His mother was still out of it so she didn't express any reaction. The servant was skillfully cooling her forehead with a wet cloth.

Her father now looked devastated too for entirely different reasons. He had been unlucky and lost many wives and children. Now he was old and felt he needed to hurry to give his last two remaining children a proper place in the world before he joined the ancestors.

Despite many setbacks, he had carefully planned a path for his last son and his last daughter. Nessa just kicked all his efforts away. Knowing how unlucky he was with those things, he believed he would now be forced to watch his two children tear each other apart for the dukedom.

He needed to be firm now and put an end to this all right away. He would not let his line fall apart simply because his daughter was headstrong. He had put too much work in all of this throughout his life to let it all go to waste at the end.

That was his opinion but of course, Nessa planned on going against his resistance. His plans had never accounted for Philips to be so weak, they had never even planned on him to be named heir, they should have had many older brothers in line before him. Philips was only the heir because there were no one else to take the place. But she was here now, he didn't have to take on a task too big for him. She would not let him down.

Her father raised his hand high to have everyone quiet down but it didn't work, they were now too heated. He called for silence three times over, each louder than the last before he started coughing. Still the knights and n.o.bles would not shut up.

Nessa decided to intervene herself, she circulated her internal magu and focused it in her throat, activating a simple self-magic to strengthen her voice.

"Silence!" She ordered loudly enough to bury all the talks.

The n.o.bles closest to her winced from the painfully loud call but everyone quieted down. Quickly, the only sound that remained was the duke coughing into his fist.

"Father, are you alright?" She asked in worry.

"Am I alright?" He asked angrily through many more fits of dry cough.

Nessa knew better than to answer to that. She opted to let him calm down first and speak his mind.

After taking a few deep breaths, he was ready to speak again.

"You will not be the heir." He denied her flatly.

That was the sort of answer she had expected. Now she just had to lead him towards exposing her advantages over her brother.

"Why not? Please explain." She answered.

Her brother opened his mouth to speak but her father sent a hand in front of his face to cut him off.

"Why do you want to be named heir?" He asked bluntly.

Her brow faintly twitched before she controlled her expression properly. She had not expected him to answer with another question.

"Father, do I really have to say it aloud? It's embarra.s.sing for Philips. I have no desire to speak against my brother."

"Embarra.s.sing is it? You should have thought about it before this all then. You started it so now you have to finish it. Why do you want the dukedom and why do you think yourself more worthy of it than your brother?" He insisted with a scowl.

Nessa didn't know what he was planning to do. She had imagined this scene so many times before yet she had never pictured her father willfully jumping in that argument. Did he really want her to badmouth her brother in front of all those people? He wouldn't let this happen unless he was confident in his ability to crush her. She was missing something big, somehow, despite all her planning, something was escaping her.

She tried to test the waters first with something that wouldn't offend her brother.

"Well, first of all, I'm the eldest, the t.i.tle should have been mine to begin with."

She took a pause to wait for his answer but he just gave her a small hand sign to encourage her to speak some more.

"Right of the eldest is it? Well, go on."

Clearly he was waiting for her to say something precise. She felt like she was walking into a trap but she couldn't find what it was. She couldn't see it.

"I know the technique of our ancestor, the royal sword dance, I studied strategy, economics, management and everything else a good lord would need."

"And you think your brother couldn't do all that?"

He should have entered the imperial school on this cycle, just after she left. He was old enough for it now but his health would not let him leave Folcourse, he was stuck here. Private tutors could be brought to teach him but he would never get all the connections made in school and would still never be able to learn to fight properly.

"Sadly, I do not think so. I'm sorry brother but you're too frail for this. I do not want to see him get hurt."

"You do not want to see him get hurt you say yet here you are speaking of his frailty in front of the whole duchy."

"I had no choice." She explained. "If I spoke of this with you in private instead, you would have denied me flatly instead and made sure that I never spoke of this again in front of anyone. I needed witnesses to force you to act."

"I would have been right to deny you. Do you think those are the actions of someone worthy of the Hasting dukedom? To stride in here asking for the t.i.tle, to raise your sword against your own brother?"

"I didn't raise my sword against him! I'm doing this for him." She denied.

The moment she said it, she understood she fell into the trap she was worrying about. She still couldn't see said trap but the glint in the eyes of her father changed. He looked just as calm and irritated as before but, his eyes were like those of a predator who had just caught his meal.

"For him? Then tell me, how is taking the dukedom from his hands beneficial to him?"

She couldn't work out what the trap was but she could not afford to hesitate here. Despite how it might sound degrading for her brother, this was the main point. She couldn't dodge around it.

"He's too frail to hold a territory as unforgiving as the northern grove. Philips would not be able to lead the troops to victory or even leave Folcourse to maintain relations.h.i.+ps with other n.o.bles of the kingdom and empire. He might not even survive his first hunt, the territory would be left in the hands of a child! I fear for his life. It would be in his best interest to leave the burden of our territory to me so that he could remain safe. I could protect our people more efficiently."

Philips seemed very hurt by her words. She really wanted to apologize right away for them but they had to be said.

"But then what would he do?" Her father answered right away.

That question caught her off guard. What did he mean what would he do?

"In that world where you would be d.u.c.h.ess of the northern grove in your brother's stead, what happens to him?"

"He'd remain here where I can keep him safe?" She didn't really understand his question, she did her best to answer but her uncertainty was heard clearly by the rest.

"So he would be prisoner of our palace in Folcourse?"

"No! Of course not. This is not my intention."

"This isn't your intention but you clearly haven't thought things through properly. What does a frail boy do all day cooped up in Folcourse, tell me. Too frail to go out, too frail to fight, will he sit in a room all day and wither? You are too soft Vanessa, you fail to see the whole picture. If he does not become the duke of the northern grove, your brother has nothing else to do. You could be the wife of a great lord worthy of our name or apparently a strong knight to lead our forces against the cursed-bloods, you do not need this position. You could take care of your own."

"It's better to have nothing to do and live than die for nothing." Nessa countered stubbornly. "If he sits on that throne, at best he'll weaken the whole duchy and at worse he will die early."

"It would still be a better life than what you propose!" Her father slammed his fist on his armrest. "Consider this, who would want to marry a frail boy like him?"

"Father!" Nessa exclaimed herself, feeling shocked. Even she felt offended for her brother. "Philips is a cute boy, many woman would love to cuddle him I'm sure, many more would want to attach themselves to our name."

Her brother seemed just as offended by her answer than by the question of her father. Did he not like being called cute anymore?

"A boy but not a man. You said it yourself, he would likely not survive his first hunt. He will remain a child his whole life and marry no one, he will be left alone. If I handed the dukedom to him however, he would enjoy special treatment. Do you not know the rules?"

She did but she had not thought of it before it was pointed out to her. Men were considered children until they spilled blood on their first hunt and a child could not be married. This was the rule everyone knew. However, to insure that n.o.ble lines would not go to waste from an unpredictable accident, there were some exception. If a n.o.ble lord was given his t.i.tle before reaching adulthood, he was allowed to marry before his first hunt to ensure that an heir was born. This was what her father meant, if Philips sat on the throne of Folcourse, he would never have to go on his first hunt and be able to enjoy marriage anyway.

Her father pressed on.

"He would remain and rule from here, be respected and live a true life. He would have children and name some retainers to take command of the battles in his stead. He doesn't need strong arms or a great stamina to manage a territory. You would have him cower behind these walls instead to survive alone while you'd have everything that should have been his."

She felt her will waver. Was her father right? Was she in the wrong?

No! She wasn't wrong! His solution was just as flawed as her own!

"How can you say that father! That would just make him a puppet to everyone else! His wife would end up being the true ruler, only marrying him for power. Other n.o.bles would do whatever they please behind his back because they'd know he wouldn't be able to punish them or retaliate. He'd be mocked as a powerless ruler for his whole life.

Worse, if some other houses decides to take advantage of this and takes measures to replace us as rulers of this dukedom, we wouldn't be able to do a thing to stop it. I'd be the only true ally he'd have but I'd be sent off to marry some man who could use me as a tool to claim the rights over the dukedom. The whole of house Hasting is likely to collapse if he takes your seat.

Even if none of this comes to pa.s.s and his marriage and rule goes well. What if his heirs also inherit his weakness like he did his mother's. I love Clarissa and Philips, they've always been my precious mother and brother but entrusting the future of our house to him is simply madness.

I am sorry father but I am convinced that I'm doing the right thing. Please reconsider and name me heir for the good of our house and the good of Philips himself."

"I will not reconsider. My decision has been made." He said decisively.

She did not give up.

"You are old father, I worry that if you were to die tomorrow the weight of the dukedom would crush my brother and make my world collapse. I cannot let this happen. At least acknowledge that he is not ready yet for it. I should take care of things for him and while I'm away to fight for our domain, he could rule just as you intended. I have no solution for his love life but give me some time to think about it later, the future of our house as a whole is more important than either his marriage or mine."

"Vanessa you do not understand. I have lost enough of my children already. I will not watch the last two tear at each other's throat for a t.i.tle and I will not let the cursed-bloods take one more of you! You will never be d.u.c.h.ess and you will not go fight on our borders! I will not allow it! The royal sword dance is magnificent but I will not risk the life of my precious daughter by blindly trusting in an old technique. You will remain here and behave as the lady I raised you to be! I'll forbid you access to our library if I have to!"

"You would forbid me from learning the royal sword dance?" Vanessa asked, taken aback.

"I will if it stops you from killing yourself in that unending war! Now, as your lord and father, I demand that you forget all this and put an end to this rebellious act."

Nessa didn't really need to think about this, there was no way she would back down. Her father would clearly not change his mind today but he wasn't the only stubborn one.

Aside from them two, the rest of the hall was eerily silent. What was happening here was extremely important for the future of everyone present but none could do anything to change the outcome or at least, not for now. They could only be witness to the clash happening between father and daughter and pay attention. Later, they would scheme and prod to find how to best take advantage of what they were seeing now.

They had listened to the pieces of both her and her father and now they would have to take a side. Hopefully, they would take hers. The greediest and most ambitious would side for her father and brother hoping to manipulate Philips as she suggested would happen while the rest with more honor would side for her to make the dukedom strong again.

"I will not change my mind on this father. I will not give up." She said with her head held high.

"In that case, we are done talking for today. The knights will escort you to your chambers where you will remain until you've seen the errors of your ways. You are forbidden from consulting the old tomes on the sword dance as well."

The knights approached hesitantly towards Nessa but she had no intention of resisting her apparent arrest.

"You will be the one to reconsider first father. My heart is pure and I swear to save this dukedom from decay."

"We'll see." He said with a wave of his hand to send her away.

Philips was still utterly shocked to have heard all that. At no moment in his life before had he felt so humiliated. Both father and sister talking about him like a cripple while he was right there, trying to plan out his life for him not with the best result in mind but the least painful instead.

His mouth just hung open, his lips dry. His eyes empty while his heart felt like it had stopped beating. His mind was all black, he could not think properly.

Nessa gave him a discreet sign, signaling for him to close his mouth and he did right away. It was a reflex to do what his father, mother and sister told him to. Plus, he had to control his image in front of the rest of the n.o.bility... Not that he had any proper image left to his name after that.

"I'm sorry to disappoint you Philips." His sister said as she left the hall, surrounded by ten of his father's best knights and her own two servants.

What had just happened here? Why was he feeling like he was falling in an impossibly deep pit?