“Braydon! Nela! Come join me.” The King stood momentarily when they entered the drawing room, inviting them to sit with him. It was apparent that he had been enjoying the new found respect of nobles that had previously been very indifferent to him. Even if everyone knew that their personal feelings had not changed all that much.

“Long overdue?” Braydon asked, already knowing the answer.

“Indeed it does feel that way, though I am sure that I will tire of it pretty soon. It is not like I can flout my other responsibilities for long either. You would be surprised about the amount of destruction that has happened in the north and northwest. But enough about me, I am sure that you have been more than busy.” Aled smiled. Braydon was glad that he was not suddenly drunk on the newfound power that he had. At least it didn’t seem that way to him.

“Indeed I have, you really surprised me in the ceremony. Every merchant in the city has at least tried to see me, it feels that way at least.” They were both skirting around the main issue and they knew it. Braydon wanted to know the King’s true thoughts on him going against a royal decree secretly. And the King would more than likely want something out of allowing him a reprieve from that same decree.

“Well it is a lucrative business, I am sure that you have it well in hand.” King Aled accepted a cup of tea from a servant that had just entered before directing them to Braydon and Nela.

“I have the merchants well in hand at least. As for the Shuluk side of things, I am friendly with Countess Graham. She is helping me with my personal trade with Shuluk. Though it may take a while before the border is once again passable.” What Braydon truly wanted to know was the King’s stance on the neighbouring Grand Duchy. Or more specifically, which side he would prefer to win. His stance was already clear since he was trading with the regent. But if the King opposed it, even if only in private, it would complicate things.

“This is a conflict started by the empire, yes? Then do you know who is backing the Duchess’s adversaries? A unified opposition doesn’t form so easily or so quickly after all.” Rather than getting at his own position, Aled laid out a question of his own.

“Are you saying that the emperor is behind them?” Braydon did not like the sound of that. It was one thing to back the regent of Shuluk as a bordering lord of another country. It was quite another to stand up to the strongest unified power in the known world.

“Nothing so formal, but he likely has more than nothing to do with the rebels. Have you heard about the increase in piracy in the southern sea recently?” Once Aled mentioned it both Braydon and Nela looked at each other. How could they forget? They had been attacked by Barakh privateers after all.

“We have more than heard of it. More experienced first hand, I now own a galley thanks to those ‘pirates’.” It was not something that he had ever told anyone outside of Lani and the Duchess Regent herself because they got sucked up in the war immediately after visiting Narabun. But that did not mean that they had forgotten about the letter that they had found on the ship that they commandeered.

“Oh? You personally went to Narabun to make that deal? Now there is a surprise. I assume that you found something out about the pirates on the way?” Braydon felt like something important had just been swept under the rug but he was not about to bring it out again before the King did. Rather, he decided to focus on the piracy issue.

“Yes, we found a letter bearing the Imperial seal onboard. A licence to piracy so long as a part of the proceeds went to the empire and that imperial vessels and merchants were left unmolested.” Braydon was more than happy to share since he suspected that the King already knew about it even if he had no solid evidence.

“Then it was as I expected. I am guessing that Alima already knows?” It was more a question that a statement. The King wanted to know if they had told the woman about what they had found out.

“Gave her servant the letter we found on the way out of the door. I may be trading with her but no way do I want to be involved personally in imperial politics. At least not by choice.” Braydon was more than happy being a big fish in a small pond. At least until he had grown big enough to survive in the bigger pond. Something that was more than in the distant future for him.

“Haha, I do not blame you. The empire keeps the most powerful monarchs up at night let alone the nobles under them.” The King laughed but Braydon could only stifle any response. If that was not a reminder not to overstep his bounds then he didn’t know what was.

“Do you not count as one of the most powerful monarchs now that the Dukes are mostly out of the picture?” There was no reason not to give compliments to the King in this situation. It was not like he was lying, Fiveria and Casburland were definitely the most powerful Kingdoms in Ezaes, and Leigh nor Serhesh had monarchs. Being technically correct was the best kind of correct.

“Where did all the irreverence that Cinar had been telling me about go? If we want to keep you from worrying about the Emperor then it would be best that we had a friendly Shuluk in between us. I doubt that that will happen if he is secretly backing the rebels.” Once Aled finally said it Braydon was relieved. Even if he had guessed it from the way the King had spoken about the issue, it was best to have more solid confirmation.

“Let us move onto more pleasant topics. After all the accolades that I have given your father, you still decided to stick around. I am sure that Cinar will be pleased to know that his daughter is growing up fast.” Aled turned to Nela, now ready to talk about less politically charged matters. Though Braydon was not sure if he was any more comfortable about his relationship with Nela being so openly discussed with both of them sitting there.