The next day, Vanessa left without anyone's knowledge. Just feeding her baby last time and giving him a gift. An egg as big as the baby himself.

Zeidan knew something like this would happen so he was not surprised. He just took Zain and some of his warriors and left the mansion.

Their destination was Ravion palace, in Vermilion city, the capital city of his Dukedom. It was surrounded by beautiful buildings, and bustling streets filled with traders, merchants, and people doing their daily chores. The city was protected by huge walls with watch towers with huge crossbows.

The Palace was the most beautiful made by elven artisans with more than a hundred rooms and many grand halls. This was a palace worthy of a Duke. Home of Bane household.

As Zeidan entered the city his eleven most trusted warriors followed behind him. Each one of them had unparalleled strength. They were the most feared force of Zeidan. They all were on special breed mounts for war. Half a metre bigger than the average mounts. Everyone started to bow in respect. Most of them were surprised to see a baby in Zeidan's arm.

He entered the palace as rows of soldiers were standing on both sides with flags of Dukedom held high in the air. When he reached the main entrance, he got off his mount. He went straight to the throne room and sat on his majestic throne with Zain in his arms. It was a big hall with many seats and all types of decorations. It was built specially to stop any sound to leak outside. He ordered called one of his followers and asked him to call his butler and don't let anyone enter the hall.

Soon Zeidan's butler came and bowed to him. The butler was his most trusted aid of him. In his absence, this butler named Morris would take care of things in his stead. He was most reliable when things came to managing territories. He saw the child in his arms but after a few seconds ignored the baby entirely.

"Morris, what's the current situation?"

"Nothing much, my lord. Usual small fights on the border. The bandits in the south of the territory have been wiped out as per your order. Our Dukedom even experienced an increase in collected tax as many people are migrating to our Dukedom from Marquis Renis's territory because of him increasing the taxes."

"Our sources have said he is allying with Duke Ranold. They might be planning to attack us. But that's good our soldiers haven't fought for a while, now. It will be good for us."

"That old coot Ronald is not attacking me, he just wants to use my forces to drain Renis's strength so that he can acquire his lands with less loss. What about our family planes?"

Morris quickly glanced through some papers. The Bane family had only seven planes under them but each one of them was comparable to dozens of secondary planes. These seven planes were almost on their way to becoming a primary plane. But that also made them difficult to conquer.

"Out of seven planes, three are returning big profits which would increase in future. But the other four need more investment, but the treasury couldn't carry this expense. If we increase the taxes maybe..."

"No, we will find another way. What's the situation in the family?"

"Your younger sister, Viscount Mary is expanding lands west of our territory and is currently at war with Viscount Donby. She requested that the lord wouldn't intervene as it's her fight."

"Viscount Donby is nephew of Duke Martin."

"Yes, my lord."

"Send an envoy to Martin with two bottles of the best wine. Tell him that if he tried to help Donby directly or indirectly, then he better get ready for war with me. And also tell him, I won't stop till my enemy is dead or I am dead. Make sure it is word to word."

Morris knew that after this message, Duke Martin wouldn't even dare to lift a finger. It was because war with Duke Zeidan means putting one's head in the jaws of a hungry beast. When Zeidan's father died much thought about using this instability to take over the Dukedom.

Many small nobles joined hands to accomplish this task forming an army of 100,000. Zeidan just had a force of 10,000 but he still fought like no tomorrow. His eleven followers were great generals who used tactics, terrain and formations excellently thus dealing a huge blow to the alliance.

The war came to an end. Resulting territory of a Count and three Marques in his hands. Half of the original 100,000 troops were killed and most were captured and ransomed off. Only a tenth of his army had died in this battle. It was a terrific truth for the world to accept.

"As you wish, my lord. And your younger brother, Marquis Delius is doing his usual things going to parties, noble's charades building up connections but not much is gained. He is now complaining that this job doesn't suit him, he wants to go on conquest or something."

Duke Salis had only three wives each having one child. They all died before Salis. He had other bastard sons and daughters but they didn't have a major place in the family with males serving in the military and women as maids or consorts.

Zeidan's only' brother and sister have always been very close to him. His sister was known as the beauty of Bane. But with beauty, she was also one of the powerhouses of the family. Making her way up to the position of Viscount. The only problem with her was that she was quick-tempered.

As for his brother, he was not much strong. But excellent at dealing with other nobles, and acting as a diplomat but even that was not going well.

"Don't worry about him. He finds a way around the situation. There are very less people capable of managing lands and developing trade in our family. He is the best of them. But that alone isn't enough. We need more talented people for developing our Dukedom."

"I will search for good candidates. As for other elders of families, you know they form a council when you go and destroy it when you're back. Apologies for my words, but they are good for nothing."

These elders came from a different branch of the family to help in taking decisions but Zeidan never considered them. They would just fight over useless things, eat, drink and fuck. They were really good for nothing.

"Keep the one loyal and useful, assassinate the others. Make sure to do it with the most secrecy, over a month slowly one by one. Make it look like a disease or something. People shouldn't even think about it as an assassination."

"It will be done perfectly, my lord."

"Now, what about my kids?"