“How come we are going to the castle and not the palace?” Braydon spoke quietly to Nela as they were walking through the castle towards the great hall. Narabun Castle was a much bigger castle than Cliforge Castle, which was a small outpost by comparison.

“Apparently the duchess regent never stepped foot in the palace, even when the old grand duke was alive. She preferred to stay in the castle, it caused many rumours about the relationship between the two.” Nela filled in any trivia that he might be lacking as they carried on towards the doors of the great hall. The young Grand Duke Shuluk was still staying at the palace, but with much higher security than there was before. Nobody was allowed to see him without his mother’s consent.

“Viscount Fiton has arrived.” One of the door guards announced when they stopped at the door, accompanied by the servant who had led them through the castle. Gerald and Roan had stayed with the carriage and the two soldiers that had escorted them through the city. There was a faint sound of someone speaking on the other side of the doors before they were opened to reveal a great hall that would not feel out of place in some of the largest castles in Fiveria, another testament to the attempt to separate from the empire.

“I am glad to see that you could make the journey, Viscount Fiton.” Sat at the head of the table was a lady who looked like she had seen many things, the faint signs of aging already showing on her face. From all accounts, Braydon was sure that she was only in her early thirties, but it looked like she was nearing a decade older.

“With such a proposition, I would be foolish to not at least hear you out, Lady Shuluk.” Braydon and Nela waked further into the room as the doors once again closed behind them. Upon closer inspection, she appeared to be someone who was very active and lively. From the way she sat, he could tell that she had gone through extensive training, not just in etiquette but in combat too. ‘Fighting a civil war must not do wonders for appearing young it seems.’

“I had hoped as much, you may take a seat. It may be a bit blunt, but I had not expected you to take your wife to a country in the midst of a civil war.” When the lady said this, Braydon felt like crying on the inside. ‘What is with monarchs and assuming that we are a couple?’

“You misunderstand, my lady. I am Nela, daughter of Marquess Burgess, acting as an advisor to Viscount Fiton. As yet, I am not engaged.” Nela stepped in to correct the confusion, something that Braydon was grateful for. He was sure that he could not have handled that in such an eloquent manner, especially not with the person in question being sat next to him.

“At your age? Most ladies would at least have a marriage arranged by now.” Lady Shuluk looked genuinely surprised, obviously not having heard of the events of the last month in Fiveria. Braydon was starting to understand that she was not one for mincing words either, for the better or the worse was yet to be decided.

“There were some complicating circumstances.” Nela obviously did not want to talk about her engagement being annulled right now, letting Lady Shuluk assume what she would from her words. And from the look of pity that she received, she had been misunderstood entirely.

“Lady Shuluk, I am curious about the proposition that you put forward in your letter. How do you suppose that I supply my iron to you. That you sent me a letter, I assume you looked into my circumstances.” When Braydon cut in to get the conversation back on track, Lady Shuluk presumed that she was right, causing her look of pity for Nela to become stronger before she answered his query.

“Of course, I do not expect that you could just send it across the border. I want to receive the iron and I am sure that you want to receive the payment. Much in the way that I sent you a letter, it is much easier to go by water than land.” The negotiations had started. Braydon wanted to see what she would provide to make sure that the trade could happen, while she was trying to see the extent of Braydon’s ability to transport his goods. Transporting goods through southern Fiveria without the consent of one of the southern Dukes was very hard.

“That is something that everyone knows, my lady. But what about the south? The dukes would be just as likely to try and intercept our trade as your rebellious nobles.” Nela was the one who countered, she always seemed to have a reason to refute any argument. Something that Braydon found incredibly useful, but the other side of that coin was that he would never win an argument so long as she was there. Though her point did miss out some details, like the agreements that they had signed with Lani and Duke Burn, not that they needed to be revealed now.

“I can guarantee that once your goods leave Fiverian waters, they will definitely make it to Narabun.” She could probably do more, but then again she was not convinced that they were offering everything either. After all, putting every card on the table was not a great way to do negotiations.

“If you could guarantee that, then why were we attacked by pirates after we left Fiverian waters? The galley that they attacked us in is docked in the port along with our own ship, sans the pirates of course.” Braydon said, it was too good an opportunity to miss. They could definitely use the incident to their advantage. There was not much of a stronger bargaining chip than that, they had been attacked in the territory that she had just claimed that she could keep safe. And it was obvious that Lady Shuluk had not been expecting that counter either.

“There has not been a reported pirate attack in over 10 years, how could there have been one now? I will immediately have ships scouting for any more of them.” This was a serious matter for her, a large amount of the goods used by the capital were from trade overseas, doubly so now that half of the country was controlled by her enemies.

“And what price are you thinking that you would buy my iron?” He decided that he would push on this now, the advantage was his. All the negotiation was just to get the best price at the end of the day. They were both aware of the strategic and political implications already, that was why Braydon was sat in her great hall instead of his own.