“Lord Arakan!” the old knight of his house, Lucius, bowed to Arakan before the giant, white gate of Valar. “I regret to inform you that it is not safe for you to return to the house right now.”

Sitting on the back of his horse, Arakan frowned. He had just arrived from the long journey, and hadn’t even entered the City, so what was this?

“Why is it not safe, Lucius? Has something happened?” he asked the older man.

The edges of Lucius’s eyes hardened. “Yes, my lord. Something indeed has happened.” He led Arakan to a secluded space a few dozen yards from the gate before turning to look at him. “The whole Moras house suffered a devastating attack a couple of days after you left. Someone poisoned the food during the celebration feast of your great uncle, sir Uriel’s birthday.”

Arakan’s heart skipped a beat. Even the faces of the guards who escorted him back changed.

“Is- is Mother alright?” Arakan’s voice shook. “And… everyone else? Are they safe?”

“Do not worry, my lord,” Lucius said, his face slightly red as if trying to hold back a chuckle. “Due to the brave sacrifice of a few greedy servants, who had decided on an early, personal feast of their own, even the poison taster survived. But the lack of variety in the food hastily prepared later had given rise to some discontent among the guests.”

Arakan exhaled a breath of relief. “It is no laughing matter,” he admonished Lucius.

“Forgive me, my lord,” Lucius said, bowing. “Throughout the years my sense of humour seemed to have become quite morbid.”

Arakan shook his head. Lucius Ernil had been a knight of their house long before he was born. And had even fought in wars side by side with his father. In essence, his status in house Sergel was somewhat similar to Hubrik’s in the Moras house.

“Anyway, what about the servants who saved our lives?” he asked, not forgetting to emphasise the word ‘saved’.

Lucious’s expression turned serious. “The poison had medium potency, so three of them passed the ordeal relatively safe,” he said. “Only the last one who apparently had a weak body has passed away.”

“Oh...” Arakan felt a bitter taste rising in his mouth. He sighed and said, “It has been years since such an incident took place in the heart of the capital again. At least, the first time after Her Majesty took the throne.”

“That is true, my lord.” Lucious nodded as he ran his eyes over the elevating cityscape along the slope of the Valor mountain. “The whole place is as taught as a fiddlestring ready to snap. Any damn thing could make the whole situation devolve into utter chaos.”

“Anything on the identity of the culprit?” Arakan asked. But instead of answering, Lucius stared at the three guards behind the noble. The guards were no fools. They bowed to the two and turned around, walking away until they were out of earshot. Only then did the old knight turn to face Arakan.

“Nothing concrete, but we have some suspicion. As usual, a few guests arrived somewhat earlier than the others to congratulate sir Uriel and left before the feast could begin. Agreis Scarva was also among them.”

“Lord Agreis?” Arakan frowned. “House Scarva… is a minor house. Would they have such courage?”

“As I said, it is only speculation. And they could have had someone backing them.”

Arakan sighed, looking up at the plumes of cream coloured clouds slowly drifting against the blue sky. “Doing such a thing when there were so many guests. Even if they wanted to discredit the Sergel house, that is going a little too far.” But why shouldn’t I go back to the house? The situation doesn’t seem to warrant such a measure.”

“This state of affairs has left the house in a volatile state. The guests have gotten unusually vocal about the bad management, and some people are also trying to spread rumours deliberately and rile people up. So the house has its hands full trying to deal with the repercussions of the incident,” Lucius said. “And since they lack the evidence to point their fingers at anyone, some people of the house have turned their fingers to people inside the house. Especially you.”

“Me?” Arakan’s eyebrows shot up.

“Yes, you. Your decision to marry the daughter of house Moras who is rumoured to be insane and demanding almost nothing of value in return had already displeased several people in the house, and then this incident.” Lucius shook his head. “Most think house Scarva did such a thing in retaliation. Especially your third uncle, Lord Egregor, and fifth uncle, Lord Vaargo. They have been putting all the blame on you. That is why my lady has told you to stay away from the whole situation until it calms down.”

Arakan turned his head to the right. Gazing at the sails of ships undulating on the gentle waves of river Russet. He had hoped to take care of the matter of the mystical medicine and return as fast as he could, but it seemed that would not be possible now. Curing Sena may somehow be of great import to the land of Clover, but to him, the current affairs of his house were of greater priority.

“Take me home,” he said to Lucius.

“My Arakan, I believe it’s in your best interest to follow my lady’s decision.”

Arakan shook his head. “Since I have decided to accept the position of the head of the house, I can’t avoid the trouble my house encounters,” he said, a note of unquestionable firmness entering his voice as he fixed the old knight with his gaze. “You will take me home.”

Looking at his eyes, Lucius took a deep breath. That air of command! Spoken like a true lord of the House. He lowered his head in a heartfelt bow towards the young noble.

“As you wish, my lord.”

“I think he deserves some punishment,” Vaargo said, slapping his palm onto the surface of the circular table.

“Mind your manners!” Monique snapped at him. “This is the Hall of Meetings, not a brothel.”

Vaargo’s face blackened. “You—”

“Calm down, Brother,” Egregor said, patting his back from the seat beside him. As the youngest of the five brothers, Vaargo’s short-tempered nature often came out in times of pressure. And the current house Sergel was going through such a time. And that was also the reason why he should maintain his calm.

“Now is not the time to push the blame onto people,” Monique said as her eyes landed on the members of house Sergel sitting around the table one by one. “but to find a solution to our predicament. And also to find out who exactly is behind this.”

“Who else but that Scarva house?” Vaargo grumbled on, fire burning in his eyes. “Just a small family, but they had the gall! I really miss the days when we could just set those houses on fire. But we can’t! The queen wants law! If they don’t obey the law, then why should we?”

“Vaargo! Watch what you say.,” a deep voice echoed around the hall, drawing everyone’s eyes towards the elderly man sitting on the seat of honour beside the seat of the head of the house which Morique occupied. A frail, ancient man with a long white beard flowing down to his thin chest, but the strength of a warrior still shone through his scar filled face. Arakan’s great uncle, sir Uriel.

“You are talking about the acting ruler of this queendom. A ruler our house has chosen to support,” he said, sending a glare at Vaargo that chilled him to the bones. “I will not tolerate further disrespectful behaviour towards Her Majesty. Remember that.”

His head lowered, Vaargo sat back and fell silent.

Egregor shook his head at his brother’s predicament and glanced at Morique. “You may say it’s not the time to push blame, but it is exactly that time. The current state of affairs is nothing compared to what could have happened if that poison reached the guests. Our entire house would have been ended by the other families long before anybody thought to search for the true culprit.”

“Yes!” Vaargo glared at Monique with a rekindled intensity. “Your son just had to get involved in this petty squabble, didn’t he? And what do we gain from it? A whole lot of trouble and nothing else. And you say don’t blame him?” He stood up and leaned forward on the table, addressing everyone. “Not only did he not make any demands, he even gifted them a five hundred strong army, along with ten Knights, of which five were from our house. Look at all the other houses who received the proposal. Friendship or not, If he wanted to marry a madwoman, he should have at least demanded something of value.”

“You are right, uncle,” said Fibrows Sergel, Egregor’s son, who was the same age as Arakan. “Our house has become a laughingstock among the city folk due to this incident. In all the balls I have recently attended, every person talking to me would ask about Arban’s ‘mad love’ at least once.”

“See? This is exactly what I mean,” Vaargo said. “At this time, with how tense the capital already is, each step should be taken and with deliberate caution. And he—”

“Caution?” scoffed the Arakan’s aunt, Astrea, the eldest of the Sergel siblings, who sat beside Morique. “You are talking about caution? Who was it that said they wanted to burn down another house just now?”

Vaargo frowned. “I said I wanted to. I didn’t actually do it. But Arakan had already done the deed. And look where that left us. Despite all of that, the boy isn’t even here. He is off enjoying himself in his lover’s house..”

Morique grit her teeth. “He hasn’t gone there simply to enjoy himself. He is carrying out Her Majesty’s task.”

“Her Majesty’s task! A task he asked for himself. I don’t understand what makes him so eager to help that Moras family, despite the trouble he has caused our house.”

Egregor nodded. “Vaargo speakers the truth. This is not the time for him to spend it elsewhere. He should be here and accept the responsibility for what he has brought on us.”

“And how exactly do you want me to accept it, uncle? What do you want me to do?” Each and every person sitting on the tablet turned their heads towards the door. Arakan stood there, taking a look at the people who were present. He had arrived for quite some time now, but instead of entering, he had waited and listened. Thinking of counterarguments to all the points his uncles brought to the table. After all, a bit of preparation goes a long way.

His preparation was more or less done now. Before his uncles could turn the meeting completely against him as they seem to be trying to do, he strode inside. Arriving where his mother was sitting, he paid his respects to her and his granduncle.

Morique stared at him for a moment before turning her disgruntled eyes on Lucius. The old knight sighed, giving a helpless shrug and closing his eyes.

“Oh, so you are here finally!” Vaargo said sarcastically. “How should you take responsibility? Do you even have the courage to take it?”

For a moment, Arakan tilted his head and stared at the uncle who was only half a decade older than him before holding his finger up. “I’ll get back to you shortly.”

“What- what did you say?” Vaargo’s voice was full of incredulity. But instead of answering him, Arakan leaned near Morique and whispered some words to her ears.

Morique’s eyes widened as she turned to look at her son’s eyes. “Are you sure?” She asked.

“Yes, I am,” Arakan gave a brief but determined nod.

Morique sighed. She got up from the head of the house’s chair and backed up, leaving room for Arakan to come and settle on it. Seated on the elevated seat of the house head, Arakan looked down on the people of his house, observed all kinds of changes happening in the faces of people. Surprise, shock, disbelief, outrage, and although it was rare, joy.

“There,” he said, turning towards Vaargo whose eyebrows twisted so much that they distorted his whole face. “Now that I am in my proper seat, tell me, dear uncle, how do you want me to take responsibility?”

“Do you think just taking that seat willy nilly makes you the head of the house?” Egregor’s disgruntled voice drew his attention. “There are proper steps to everything, Arakan.”

“Yes, there are.” Arakan nodded his head. “But drastic situations require drastic measures. Just like right now. Besides, this seat is mine by birthright. Since no one will be able to sit on it permanently as long as l still live, so what does it matter when I take it?” he turned to Uriel. “As the eldest among us, your words weigh more than anyone else’s. Do you have any objections to how I took the seat?”

The old man gave him a measuring look for a moment. Then he shook his head. “No, I don’t.”

“Thank you,” Arakan exhaled a breath he was unaware of holding. But Uriel held up his hands and stopped him.

“I don’t object to how you took your seat, neither do I oppose it,” Uriel said. His old but calm voice spreading through the hall. “As you have said, I am nearly reaching a hundred now. And throughout my life, I have seen people take their seats all sorts of ways. Scrupulous, unscrupulous, with overwhelming support, and overwhelming opposition. How you took your seat hardly matters, but what you do after you have taken it matters a lot. Remember, the seat of the head of the house is not an easy seat to sit on. If you are incompetent, be prepared to lose it.”

“Incompetent?” Vaargo scoffed. “He is the epitome of incompetence. Just look at the mess he had caused.” He leaned forward on the table, staring directly at Arakan. “What were you saying just now? How would you take responsibility? Well, boy, step down from that seat if you want to take responsibility.”

“Vaargo! Watch your mouth!” Monique shot a warning look at the man, but it didn’t faze him at all.

“Why should I?” he said. He raised his finger, shaking it at Arakan. “If someone as incompetent as him could come in and take the seat like that, then anyone among us also could.”

“incompetence you say.” Arakan rubbed his chin thoughtfully. He had thought those uncles of his merely wanted him to cancel the marriage proposal, but it seemed that that might not be their true goal after all. Did they want the seat of the head of the house?

“Tell me, uncle Vaargo, what are these incompetences you speak of?” he asked.

“Are you acting like you don’t know? You know house Scarva has a grudge against house Moras, but you still chose to involve yourself with them. If not for that, do you think a small house like those Scarvas could have the courage to do this to us?”

Arakan raised an eyebrow. “So you are saying we should ignore the plight of one of our closest allies because we are afraid of a small house? My my, uncle, and I always thought of you like the most courageous and headstrong of us.”

“What!” Vaargo sprang to his feet. “What did you just--”

“And as for the matter of them poisoning us, you are absolutely certain they were the ones who did it?”

Vaargo glared at him for a moment before slamming his fist down on the table. “You are damn right, I am.”

“Provide your proof then.”

Vaargo frowned. “Proof?”

“Yes, proof.” Arakan fixed him with his calm and confident gaze. “Accusing someone of a crime without concrete proof against them is just slander. You do know that, don’t you uncle?”

“So what if I slander them? They are the only ones with a reason to do such a thing.”

“They are the only ones?” Arakan shook his head. “Ignoring the fact that they are just a small house who in all practicality shouldn’t have such courage, are you implying all the other nobles of our capital have a heart of gold and would never harm another without a reason? The nobles I know of, seem to be an entirely different breed then.”

Vaargo opened his mouth, but unable to retort, he could only close them and grind his teeth in frustration.

“Vaargo didn’t mean that, dear nephew. Considering the timing of the incident, the Scarva house is the most suspicious,” Egregor stepped into the conversation.

Arakan frowned. Compared to Vaargo, the calm, calculating Egregor was a more difficult opponent to handle. After a moment of consideration, he had his answer. “You are right, uncle Egregor. The timing is the most important factor of this incident. But I don’t see how it relates to me.”

“Doesn’t relate to you?” Vaargo asked, jumping at the chance. “Did you forget it happened right after you accepted the proposal?”

“Ah! You are talking about that timing!” Arakan sounded surprised. “I thought you meant granduncle’s birthday, which would be an ideal chance for any noble house to stir up trouble. And since so many guests from different houses came at the birthday feast, it also gives someone the opportunity to weaken the strength of the capital and create mayhem that the enemies of our queendom could take advantage of.” he narrowed his eyes, staring hard at his two uncles. “Besides, since there is no concrete proof against house Scarva, that argument against me simply doesn’t stand. So I think we should move on from that topic and discuss more important matters.”

The loud peal of claps from beside him seemed jarring against the silence. “Well spoken!” Astrea said, looking at him with approval. “Now that’s the nephew I am so proud of.”

Arakan smiled and dipped his head towards Astrea, but his eyes still remained fixed on Vaargos and Egregor, who stared at each other.

“And what about you marrying that insane Moras girl?” Fibrows said in an irritated voice. “You don’t know how much of a laughingstock our house became because of that.”

Arakan turned to look at his cousin. “She is the future wife of your current head of the house, so I think you would do well to show her some respect.”

“Respectful or not, he asked a valid question,” said Egregor. “Not only did you agree to the proposal without any demands, you even gave away a full cohort of veteran soldiers. Soldiers that may have alleviated much of the pressure from our shoulders.”

“You are absolutely right, brother.” With a brusk nod of his head, Vargos expressed his support. “Generosity has a limit. But a man doesn’t keep the best interest of his house in mind and instead serves others, doesn’t deserve to be seated on the seat of the head of the house.”

“Who told you that I didn’t keep the interest of our house in mind when I agreed to the proposal?” Arakan said. “First of all, the cohort of veterans you speak of wasn’t ours, to begin with. Her Majesty entrusted them to me to hand them over to the Moras house to help them protect the border of our Queendom. So I don’t think we had any right to keep them. And even if we tried, do you think the Valiars, the soldiers devoted only to Her Majesty and no one else, would have agreed? We would be lucky if they didn’t declare our house as traitors. And as for the matter of marriage...” he sighed as he looked at Egregor. “I thought at least you would be able to see the merit to that. Do you truly not see it, or are you pretending not to?”

“Merit?” Vaargos frowned. “What merit? If you only demanded half of what all the other houses asked for…”

“And failed.” Arakan smiled. “They all failed to gain a powerful, long-lasting ally because of their greed and need for instant results. All of them demanded, among other things, command of a portion of the Moras army. A portion of the army which is being used to protect the border. Do you think house Moras would agree to that? That is why I succeeded where all the others failed. I even provided them with a help that is stronger than what any noble house could have managed on their own. Are people laughing at us? Let them. I believe, once the situation settles, the bond between the two houses would only be stronger this way. ”

Except for his two uncles, everyone within the meeting hall carried a look of consideration. Arakan sighed. Once someone had settled on an opinion, it was truly hard to change it.

“If there are no more complaints, then let us discuss the current state of affairs. Namely, the poisoning incident.”

Egregor nodded. “As you say, dear nephew. Tell us what solution you have.”

Arakan contemplated for a while, before asking, “How far has the inquiry progressed?”

“We have managed to find which poison it was,” Astrea said. “Markweed extract. And a high dosage of it. Not enough to kill people, but to those with a weak constitution, it would’ve posed a serious threat.”

“Markweed… is it available in the capital?” Arakan asked.

“It is, but not everywhere. It is colour, odour and tasteless. A proper substance for unscrupulous work. And although it is used in medicine, it is still a highly dangerous substance. So only healers are certified to handle it.”

“But that is not to say it cannot be obtained otherwise,” Morique provided from the seat across Arakan that she now occupied. “Especially if it was a resourceful house, let’s say, a merchant house, they may acquire it through their own sources. All of our guests have the chance to gain it. And because they are powerful people that have status and reputation, trying to investigate them without revealing the incident is proving hard.”

Arakan tilted his head, his eyes carrying a peculiar look. “Then why are we keeping it a secret?” he asked. “Wouldn’t it be far easier to reveal everything and ask for their cooperation?”

That suggestion wasn’t as well-received among the others as Arakan had hoped. Voices of outrage rose among them. Even Monique gave him a disapproving look. Only Uriel seemed to give some consideration to his words.

“Are you mad?” Vaargo glared at him. “You just want to ruin whatever reputation our house has left, don’t you?”

“Calm down,” Arakan raised his voice above the noise, drawing the attention of the disgruntled people sitting around the table. “I did not say these things to ruin our reputation, and I’m not asking to reveal the news to everyone.” He looked at them with firm, unwavering eyes. “But to search for the culprit properly, we would need their cooperation.”

“And even if we reveal the incident to them, why do you think they would cooperate with us?” Egregor asked. “They might spread even more rumours and make the situation worse. We already have our hands full dealing with their disgruntlement, I cannot imagine what would happen if the guests learned they almost became poisoned!”

“They would be outraged, I imagine.”

Egregor narrowed his eyes. “You imagine? We could lose the relationships we developed throughout the years. Don’t you realize the implications of that?”

“I do. But as it is, we are already not pleasing anyone. But I believe, rather than us, most of their outrage might be directed towards whoever is responsible for this act. That might make the investigation easier. Besides, the tension within the capital has almost reached the boiling point. Many are shifting away from Her Majesty’s faction. How many of those relationships would last till the end is yet unsure, so there is no need to worry about it. And about the cooperation,” Arakan smiled. “They might not cooperate with us, but they are bound to cooperate with Her Majesty.”