Three months prior to the arrival of the travelers at Brandt castle Prince Alexander von Adler of the Ostermanian empire sat across a table from the delegation of Kleinkastelburgers. The room that they sat in was opulent. The walls were adorned with priceless paintings and the table that dominated the room was constructed out of the finest Strivalian granite. Naturally, Alexander was not out of place. The prince was a young man of below average height. He had a rather slender frame and a handsome, almost effeminate, face topped with bright orange hair and sprinkled with freckles. He was dressed in an elegant green gambeson adorned with gold accents and matching tights. A brown leather belt was wrapped around his waist, from which hung a one-handed sword with a golden, emerald encrusted hilt topped with a crossguard in the shape of a double headed eagle. On his head the young prince wore a gold circlet with two small emeralds on its ends. The circlet was worn in a manner that put its ends over Alexander’s forehead. The small principality’s delegation consisted of its sovereign, Prince Philip, and a group of five advisors. Alexander clenched his fist below the table as he smiled at his guests and spoke to them with respect and kindness. He wasn’t sure if the foreigners could see through his facade, but after three hours of talking with these people he was all, but overcome with the need to exit the room and wash his hands of them.

Alexander had originally never intended to be here. These sorts of high-level discussions with foreign leaders were usually left to his father, Emperor Alexander, but he was forced to travel to the summer palace in Peschtia to meet with an Osminite1 delegation about their war reparations. The Osminites had been unfortunate enough to get themselves embroiled in another conflict; this time with their eastern neighbors, the Farcini2. To make matters worse, the emperor wanted to use this meeting as an opportunity to insert an Ostermanian nobleman, Baron Oskar von Sanders, into the Osminite army as a military observer and Prince Alexander was tasked with finding someone to manage the nobleman’s barony while he was gone, as he was a widower and his sons were still very young.

“So, it is decided then?” Kramer, the de facto leader of Prince Philip’s advisors, said as Alexander’s mind returned to the conversation.

“Yes…” Alexander replied, “If you agree to provide free passage through your territory and logistical support to the empire’s army if a war were to break out between the empire and either the Kingdom of Metrovingia or any of the Alemanian states then I will agree reduce all tariffs placed on Kleinkastelburgish goods by fifty percent.”

“Excellent,” Kramer said as he smiled a wide, snake-like smile. He then turned to one of the men sitting next to Alexander; a scribe. “When do you think you can have that in writing?” he asked.

“Actually, I already have two copies of the treaty ready to be signed,” The scribe answered.

“I had my scribes write up several templates ahead of time. Once that was done all they needed to do was fill in the blanks,” Alexander explained.

“I see,” Kramer said to himself. Alexander’s reason to do this was partially to make it easier for him to attend to other matters, partially so that he would be a good host by not wasting his guests’ time, and partially because he had accurately predicted that it was in his best interest to have the delegation leave as soon as possible. Both copies of the document were written on parchment in Metrovingian, the vehicular language of the continent. A scribe then proceeded to hand one copy of the treaty and a quill to Alexander and Kramer. Alexander then picked up his quill and read the document over once more. As Alexander looked at his document he wondered if he was making the right decision. He was sent into this meeting with the expectation that he would be reducing the tariffs on Kleinkastelburgish by three-fourths in exchange for only allowing the empire’s army to pass through Kleinkastelburg if there was a war. It was only through his skill in negotiations that he got as good of a deal that he did. The empire was in a better position to wage war against its neighbors and Philip’s advisors, all of whom were very wealthy and powerful merchants, could now sell goods in the empire while keeping more of the profits. The deal benefited all individuals in the room except for one. This individual became the center of attention as the eyes of Philip’s advisors, Alexander, and Alexander’s entourage turned to a young man sitting criss-cross in a distant corner of the room.

He had dirty blonde hair and a pair of unfocused hazel eyes, but his most notable feature was an absence of flesh on part of the upper right-hand corner of his mouth. It was not unlike a cleft lip, only further away from his nose and more in the shape of a semi-circle rather than a corridor from one’s mouth to one’s nose. This abnormal lip made it so that the man’s crooked teeth were always partially visible, even when he had closed his mouth. The man, who was slightly younger than Alexander, spent the entirety of the meeting playing with a pair of toy soldiers on the floor; careful to remain silent as the others worked out a deal.

“Boy!” Kramer snapped. Suddenly the young man, who had previously been hunched over, snapped his back upright as though an electrical current had just been sent through his body.

“Y-yes?” The young man said, struggling to get the words out of his mouth.

“Come here!” Kramer ordered. The boy quickly got up and walked to Kramer. Kramer then took the document and the quill and put them in front of the young man. As the young man got closer to Alexander more of his physical features became visible. He had a bruise around his right eye and he was abnormally short and thin, so much so that his skin clung to the bones in his face, giving him a somewhat skeleton-like appearance. He was so thin that Alexander couldn’t help, but wonder if the man was malnourished.

“Sign this,” Kramer demanded as he put the quill into his hand. As he did this Alexander could see that there was a ring of purple bruises on the man’s wrist. This was not unlike the injuries that could be found on the wrists of prisoners that were restrained with metal cuffs. Alexander had never received any formal training in the field of forensics or medicine, but it was clear to him exactly what was happening to this man, Philip, the reigning Kleinkastelburgish prince.

“What are you waiting for?” Kramer snapped as Prince Philip stood there in a state of fear and confusion. After a brief, but tense moment, Philip spoke up.

“...My daddy told me not to sign anything without having it read to me…” the reigning prince replied while not making eye contact with Kramer. Kramer sighed.

“Your father isn’t here anymore. Just sign it,” Kramer ordered. Philip continued to hesitate.

Kramer then leaned down while lifting Philip up by his ear. Then, in a voice barely louder than a whisper, he spoke into Philip’s ear

“If you don’t do it then I’ll make sure that your wife hears about this.”

Once Philip heard this he quickly scribbled his name at the bottom of the document. Alexander then began to sign his copy of the treaty. The two copies of the treaty were then swapped and signed again so that both copies had the signatures of the two parties involved. The documents then had the wax seals of both the Ostermanian Empire and the Principality of Kleinkastelburg placed on them. With that having been done, the Kleinkastelburgish delegation left the room with the intent of retiring to their guest house. As they were leaving Philip accidentally dropped one of his toy soldiers. Without thinking Alexander bent over, picked it up, and held it towards him; expecting him to take it. Philip stood there petrified as he stared at Alexander, who was holding the toy out in front of him. After a few seconds Philip grabbed the toy and quickly returned to the rest of the delegation like a frightened child.

Alexander left the meeting room and walked through the palace to his study. As he walked a tall, muscular young man with blonde hair and a boyishly handsome face followed behind him closely. A large two-handed sword hung from the blonde-haired man’s back. Neither man said anything until the door shut behind them as they entered Alexander’s study. The study was only slightly less opulent than the room that Alexander met with the Kleinkastelburgish delegation in and a great deal smaller. It contained a large, ornate desk, a cushioned chair, and floor-to-ceiling bookshelf that contained many large books, most of which contained information on the empire’s finances, laws, noble families, geography, and history.

“Is something bothering you, your highness?” The blonde-haired man asked. Alexander sighed.

“Siegfried3, I told you that you don’t have to call me that when nobody else is around,” Alexander said to his bodyguard, Siegfried Lowe.

“My apologies, your highness…” Siegfried blurted out moments before realizing what he had said and reflexively smacking the palm of his hand against his forehead.

“I’m sorry, Alex. It’s very hard to stop myself from doing that,” Siegfried apologized.

“It’s okay, Siegfried…” Alexander sighed as he slumped into his chair and began to sift through a small stack of documents on his desk. Eventually he gave up and just stared at an empty space on his desk.

“Did I do the right thing in there?” Alexander asked, still looking at that spot on his desk. A look of confusion appeared on Siegfried’s face.

“What do you mean? Of course you did the right thing. You got a much better deal out of those vultures than anyone anticipated. I’m sure your father will be very pleased when he returns from Peschtia,” He replied. The last part of Siegfried’s statement was optimistic to a point nearing dishonesty, but Siegfried decided to include it in an attempt to make his master feel better. Alexander looked up to him, his face still bearing a tired and downtrodden expression.

“I mean with regards to the foreign prince,” Alexander replied.

“What about him?”

“Siegfried, that man was clearly being exploited by his ‘advisors’. You saw the marks on him just as clearly as I did.”

“And what difference does it make to you? You completed your task and did a great service to the empire,” Siegfried argued.

“But I did so while endorsing the abuse and exploitation of a mentally enfeebled young man by a gang of morally bankrupt goblins,” Alexander retorted. Siegfried sighed.

“Alex, you can only do so much with the resources at your disposal. And if you were to wake up tomorrow to news that your father had abdicated (or, God-forbid, died) and that you were the new emperor, what could you do? Invade Kleinkastelburg and overthrow its government? I mean you could, but would the political ramifications of such an action, as well as the cost in lives and gold, be worth it? Is the rendering of justice to a single mentally enfeebled young man worth all of that?” Seigfried argued. Alexander buried his head in his hands and sighed.

“I can’t just ignore this…” Alexander argued before getting broken off by his bodyguard.

“No, you can and you should. Your purpose is to eventually rule the empire and continue the von Adler line. You can’t just go around trying to rescue every imbecile and inval…” Siegfried said, stopping himself before he could finish the word ‘invalid’. Alexander stared at him with a look that was one part anger and five parts disappointment.

“...I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have gone there. She isn’t relevant here and I shouldn’t have brought her up. I apologize,” Siegfried said with a look of genuine shame on his face.

“It’s okay, Siegfried. I know you didn’t mean any harm,” Alexander replied. Alexander then got up and walked to a window that overlooked the palace grounds.

“This isn’t just about imbeciles and invalids, Siegfried. I understand the position I’ve been born into and I’ve made my peace with it. My father will die one day and I will become emperor. I can’t choose to keep the crown off my head, but I can choose what to do once I wear it,” Alexander explained.

“What do you mean?” Siegfried asked, prompting Alexander to turn back to his friend.

“I don’t want to be the same sort of ruler that my father is. I want to rule an empire that isn’t just powerful, but also a place where people want to live. I want to create a realm where honest people are proud to be my subjects, where the strong protect the weak instead of prey on them, where nobody is reduced to being nothing more than somebody else’s tool. If I’m going to build such an empire then there must be consistency between my beliefs and my actions. If I can’t do that then anything I build will be constructed upon a foundation of hypocrisy and will be destined for failure. Am I not correct, Seigfried?” Alexander proclaimed.

“I don’t know, Alex. It seems that you’re being rather philosophical right now and, since I’ve never heard of anyone using philosophy to kill another person, I can’t say the subject is something I’m very knowledgeable about,” Siegfried replied, causing the young prince to smirk. This was followed by an awkward pause in the conversation, which was only broken when Siegfried decided to speak up.

“But in all seriousness, I think your intentions are noble, but you can’t let your ideals get in between you and ruling the empire.”

“Well, sounds like an excellent way to end up like my father… or von Steinmann...” Alexander quietly thought aloud while failing to notice that his tone changed from muttering to a low and quiet growl during the last three words of his sentence.

“No, that’s not what I mean,” Siegfried shot back. “All of your intentions will amount to nothing if you lack the ability to act on them. If you don’t put the stability and prosperity of the empire first then you will never be able to change anything. It’s like what my father said: On a battlefield, an enemy combatant who hates you with every fiber of his being, but is unarmed and untrained is much less of a threat than a well-armed and well-trained enemy who just wants to survive the battle.”

“So, my only choice is to tolerate these sorts of disgusting farces for the time being?” Alexander asked.

“I’m afraid so, your highness,” Siegfried replied before wincing and smacking his forehead with the palm of his hand once again.

“Still, all of this should have never happened. Philip should have never been given the crown and Agrippina of all people should have never been married off to him. That would have been better for both of them...” Alexander lamented as a maid walked in with two cups of tea on a tray.

“Your tea is complete, your tallness,” Cili4, the maid announced. She was a rather short teenage girl with dark brown hair and brown eyes. She was a Peschtian and had trouble with the Alemanian language, but this was overlooked by the staff at the imperial palace thanks to her abnormally good work ethic and austere beauty. She had only started working at the imperial palace a few months ago.

“Thank you, Cili,” Alexander said as he took the two cups and handed one to Siegfired. It was at that moment that Alexander realized that he forgot something. He had no idea where his sister Agrippina was. He had expected her to be hanging around his meeting with Philip, but she was nowhere to be seen.

“Siegfried, did you happen to see Agrippina while we were walking to my study?” Alexander asked. Siegfried shook his head.

“Your tallness, I think I may have gazed this woman you seek,” Cili said. Alexander turned to her.”

“Oh. Where did you see her?” Alexander asked. Alexander continued this mentally by thinking ‘I hope she isn’t trying to ‘borrow’ from the treasury again…’

“I think she was near the old star-gazer tower, the one that Mrs. Brinkerhoff told me not to loiter near. I was told to take some food and wine and bring it to Eszti5, who was waiting for it at the foot of the tower,” Cili explained as a look of dread formed on Alexander’s face. Without saying anything else, Alexander and Siegfried set down their tea cups and swiftly exited the room. The bewildered Cili could do nothing, but watch as the two young men made a beeline for the tallest tower in the palace.