"Miss, we're almost arriving at the capital," a maid dressed in black and white uniform spoke as she raised the curtain from the inside of the carriage.

"It's only 5 days away from home, but I already miss Valkoinen," the girl sighed as she ma.s.saged her stiff shoulders from sitting inside the carriage for a long time. It was clear that she does not have any excitement of going to the capital, she rather stayed back at her house in Valkoinen.

Valkoinen was one of the fief in Aur, which located around 90 miles east from the capital. It was a fief that belong to one of n.o.ble family of Aur, the Casteel family.

The Casteel family was not in existence before the 1000 years peace agreement. It only appears centuries later, which was around 5 centuries ago. The turmoil which was started at the capital, even though it did affected the whole kingdom, the n.o.bles which resides far away from the capital were apparently experienced lesser impacts. Hence, the Casteel was still considered as one of the surviving n.o.bles in Aur. In fact, the fief they owned, although small, was in better condition than any other cities in the kingdom during the turmoil.

"Coming to the capital this time, I do wonder how much has changed," the girl yawned as combed her hair using her fingers. "I'm curious, but at the same time, it was a ha.s.sle to think about meeting with those so-called-aristocrats."

"Ah, but I do want to see some old friends, I wonder how they're doing."

"Old friends?" the maid asked curiously, because as far as she knew, her young miss does not have any friends in the capital, especially those young masters and young misses from the other n.o.ble family. The reason was because she basically dislikes them

"Yes! Old friends, the last time I saw them was 5 years ago," the girl smiled widely, anyone could tell from her expression that she really like those old friends of her.

Meanwhile, inside the other carriage, the master of the Casteel family, the Count of Valkoinen, was going through some doc.u.ments while discussing something with the eldest young master of the house.

The previous heads of the Casteel were with the t.i.tle of Duke, which was the highest rank a n.o.ble could have below the royal family. The t.i.tle was given during the reign of the Linh Royal Family, the same royal family who have been ruling over Aur since before the 1000 years peace agreement. However, their family head was demoted into a Count during the reign of the new Royal family, which was the last Royal family of Aur, the Voclain, and their original fief which was near the capital was given to another n.o.ble family with the duke t.i.tle while they were given the small city of Valkoinen instead.

"I don't know what the King is thinking about this time," Count Dale said as he connect his fingers forming a dome and resting his forehead against it, his body slightly bent forward so that his knees supported his elbows.

"I don't know about the King but the prime minister is the descendant of the last royal family of Aur, right? Why he gave the throne to someone else instead of him becoming the new ruler?" the eldest son of the Casteel family commented. "Ah, didn't grandfather said that it was during the reign of the Voclain that our family was 'banished' from the capital?"

"I'm also not sure what exactly happened during that time," Count Dale said. "But thanks to that, our family managed to stand amidst the conflict that happened to our kingdom for the past centuries until now."

"Hmm..." Derrick mumbled quietly. "Just now, what did father said about the king?"

"He said that during the ceremony, he will confer the t.i.tle of duke to our family, to me specifically," Count Dale said.

Derrick raised his eyebrows, it was clear that he did not see that coming from his father. "Not marquis, but duke?" he asked, astonished.

It was known that currently, there were only two n.o.bles in the whole Aur that have the t.i.tle of Duke. It was also those families who have been trying to rule Aur during the last few years after the 'extinction' of the Royal family. They were the Grayson and the Ragsdale family which owned the two largest fief near the capital. It was the Grayson who took over the fief which was once belongs to the Casteel.

Due to the instability in Aur for the past centuries, currently, there were only 8 n.o.ble families which have a t.i.tle throughout Aur. Although there were some other rich families, they only existed later, hence they were not conferred any t.i.tle, since there was no royal member of the throne that could bestow them the t.i.tle. Anyway, these people would be no fail do present in the high cla.s.s social gathering, which happened not less than thrice in a year. Compared to those unt.i.tled rich families, the t.i.tled Casteel held lesser influence, since they were far from the capital, and always absent from those so-called social gathering.

"It was during the Linh reign that our family was of the Duke t.i.tle," Count Dale said. "At that time, the head of the Voclain family was also a duke, to be exact, he was the prime minister of Aur. The Voclain had been serving the Royal family Linh as the prime minister long before the 1000 years peace agreement.

"At that time, the Grayson and the Ragsdale were only conferred with the Count and Baron t.i.tle respectively. During the reign of the Voclain, both of them were conferred with the Duke t.i.tle."

"Father, the n.o.ble families who banished together with the royal families at that time... who are they?" Derrick suddenly asked.

"Why do you want to know?" Count Dale answered with a question.

"That... it was said that they were banished in one night... But now, there is the descendant of the Voclain. What I want to say is that, there is a possibility that there are survivors from the other families as well?" Derrick said with some hesitation.

"When the Voclain took over the throne from the Linh, no, it was more accurate to say that when the Linh gave the throne to the Voclain, the Linh was ent.i.tled with the Duke position, and it was the head of the Silv family who became the prime minister at that time. The only families who have the t.i.tle of Duke at that time were our family, the Linh, the Silv, and the Trivette. Later, our family was demoted to a Count, while the Grayson and the Ragsdale became the new Duke family. During that night, all of these families were annihilated, of course, except the last two," Count Dale narrated the story as how his father told him years before.

"Do you know why Aur was without a definite ruler throughout these years?" suddenly he asked his son.

"Does it have something to do with the law about the royal?"

"Actually I'm also not sure, but there was this legend," Count Dale subconsciously touch the ring on the finger of his left hand.

"The throne chose its ruler." Looking at his son's astonished face, he continued.

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"It has something to do with what our ancestors called as 'magic'."