The day after the whole revelation about the foundation of my family, I looked completely normal with no faults. Any discrepancies in my appearance were scrubbed out thoroughly, someone of my status being shaken would rock the entire capital thoroughly. I didn’t want anyone to know, least of all the people around me, to know of my fragile emotional state right now. Any weakness would attract the other Nobles, and especially the Emperor, like it was a honey trap. My father would most likely tell me this by the time he was about to die, but I simply could not confront him in my current state.

The trip to the Academy was as boring as ever, my hands were shaking involuntarily during the entire trip, subtle but noticeable enough to one with a keen eye. The entire ride inside the car was tense for me, but I kept a poker face at all times and simply didn’t react to anything, like usual. Anyone from the driver, to people in the Academy to the random newspaper boy would be able to gossip about my state, and it would reach far into the complex political web of alliances. The anxiety over the state of my household had reached its peak the moment I walked into my first class 20 minutes early, even if it was irrational I thought that, perhaps, someone knew and was keeping it a secret.

The subtle glances people took at me became amplified in my mind, crazy theories on whether the common man knew started to spin in my head. A feeling of lightheadedness crept into my mind, I looked around for a while more, the anxiety growing in me with each subtle gossip spoken, whether or not it even was about me or my household. The feeling of panic only grew when a few people looked to want to walk up to me, the room in front of me started to look blurry. Sighing a bit, enough to help me with the feeling I had at the moment, but not enough to elicit a response from others.

3 people were walking towards me, their gazes still gnawing at my anxiety but I felt a bit better and would likely be able to converse with them. I kept a poker face throughout the entire ordeal, making sure no one knew of my weakness. I sighed again, feeling better than I was just a few moments ago and prepping myself for the upcoming discussion. Isaac, a Naga male immigrated from Solaria was the first to come over, his presence alerted me of the upcoming topic. His girlfriend was near him, Meyer Barclonso, a passionate member of the Demon race though how they get anything on is beyond me. The Last War engulfed all parts of the world, whether it be the infernal or heavenly, decimating both realms to near sterility. I have no idea as to why, or even how, the Kings of The Infernal Realm, colloquially just known as the 72 Demon Lords, and the Archangels came to an agreement of peace, nor do I really care why. It has been long since the ending of The Last War, and the subsequent peace agreements but grudges between the races still exist to a certain degree, especially the long lived ones. Some have come to terms with it, Meyer still holds a dislike to the race of Angels but wouldn’t exactly be willing to murder one. I do know a demon and Angel couple, though those cases are extraordinarily rare and I only knew one because of my status. The last person near them was a Squidspawn, common creatures hailing from the deep oceans, though their progenitor is unknown, they are a successful species that barely survived the latter half of The Last War. With tentacles on his face, and standing 5ft high, with an oily sheen on his body, Dylan was a common man from the Squidspawn.

As my musing was coming to a close, Isaac came up to me and said “Duchess Lendenburg,” with a noticeable amount of bile in his voice, but I disregarded it and he continued “I assume you know about the missing students, and the missing instructors, your Grace?” I nodded, it was somewhat unexpected, the Solarian and Iabrun tensions seemed more likely knowing his status as an immigrant. I didn’t know where he was going with this, but I still paid attention to them. Dylan didn’t quite seem to want to be here, his little fidgets gave it away, for one usually so calm he seemed very nervous now, but I don’t think it means anything much. Talking to a person who could have total control of your entire life would be very nerve wracking. Meyer seemed disinterested, but her quick glances signified she did care about the upcoming conversation.

Isaac did a nod, and then said “Right, Your Grace, is there any reason why you don’t seem to care all that much?” I could see he had a hard time containing his rage, I knew he lost his step-sister Helena so I tried to be as tactful as possible, “Isaac, I know about your loss during the entire event, and I’m truly sorry for the loss of your sister.” This seemed to cool his anger, just a bit, so I continued “The loss of your sister must have hurt you very deeply, and know that I am here for you.” Next would come the hard part of trying to reason why he was coming for me, “Knowing this loss, I have no idea why you are bringing this bad memory up to me.” The barely under-control anger under Isaac’s surface erupted the moment I finished my sentence.

“You BITCH, it was your family that killed her. Your family was the one that raised her shitty instructors on that day! Your family are murderers and you don’t even know what you did! You’re the one that killed her, and you don’t even have a shred of remorse. No, you don’t even know what you did you BITCH. I fucking hate you.” he screamed at me, attracting the attention of everyone else in the room. Meyer and Dylan already backed off before he went off screaming, smart move on their part because now everyone’s attention was on me instead of the 2 that were with the now understandably sobbing Isaac. Isaac at the moment was sobbing on the floor, his long snake-like body instinctively curling up around him, nearly hiding his entire form. I was put in a tough situation, with everyone looking towards me, anticipating my response. An overly cold response would simply shift public opinion of me to the opposite of where I want.

I started out simply, trying to comfort Isaac a bit, “Look Isaac, I know you are in a difficult time at the moment, and are simply lashing out on whatever gives you any form of relief.”, his whimpering quieted down a bit but I seemed to have come off as overly condescending according to the glares sent my way from others.“Isaac, is there any way to remedy the situation at the moment? I will try to do everything in my power to help you.”, allowing myself to help him would most likely be the best option at the moment, were I to keep denying him, the opinion of me as a coldhearted person who doesn’t care about the loss other people took would spread rapidly. Isaac, on a whole, seems to be doing better, enough that he could finally answer me without choking on his own sobs.

“No-no, excuse me for the outburst, your Grace. It was unbecoming of me to erupt like that in front of you.”, Isaac seems to be trying to apologize, smart if it was any other noble, but dear Lord of Wisdom help me because I still have no idea what to do to even attempt and fix the current situation. “I’m sorry for this, good day your Grace.” With that, Isaac just slinked back to his seat, surprising me and damn near everyone else in the room. I didn’t know what to do, the reason for him even arriving here was unbeknownst to me and him just backing off like nothing happened also made no sense to me. My mind was blank, and I had no time to even formulate a response within an acceptable period of time, if I had to continue the conversation about his dead sister after he already left, it would just be picking out old wounds. Sighing, I simply put my head on my desk and chose to ignore the ordeal, the other students that would likely rip me apart if I were to be cold and callous towards Isaac completely disregarded the incident from their minds. Sometimes, I just did not understand how some people's minds worked. Putting it at the back of my mind, I started to wonder about the Solarian instigators, a topic akin to a thorn in every Noble’s sides.

Interlude

It had been 3 days since the incident with that bitch Arianna, she didn’t seem to notice what my exact plan was, the dolt was sitting there dumbfounded and it was satisfying to watch her fumble around for a response. Dylan and Meyer are both with me now, in my home discussing our findings. “Wouldn’t her nervousness just be because of Solaria and the rising war sentiment from the Emperor?”, my lovely girlfriend asked me. I shook my head, and answered “No, she had a nervous stench since the beginning of the Solarian agitation. This one was new though, different, she is scared of something else. I just have to find out what it is.” This was sure to be very interesting, yes, very interesting if something could scare the Duchess this much. Finding it will be the challenge though, but I will try for my dear sister. She and her noble house will pay.