Chapter Text
The Crimson War, a moment when Emperor Edelgard launched her campaign against the Church of Seiros, hellbent on returning the lands of the Kingdom of Faerghus and the Leicester Alliance back to the Adrestian Empire. Despite lasting for almost 6 years, the war felt like an eternity.
For a year, the army of the Kingdom of Faerghus, later joined by the forces of Leicester and Almyra, fought tiredlessly against the Nation of Eagles…. And came out as winners.
Not even a week had passed since the Flame Emperor chose death in her own palace and passed the torch to King Dimitri, who some people already began to call “Savior King” instead of “Boar Prince”. Only being officially crowned and married three days ago, it was already expected that Dimitri would be the one carrying the fate of the continent of Fódlan on his shoulders.
And now, this Savior King, surrounded by most of his trusted allies, was standing and looking at the map of a continent that once was separated by red, blue and yellow. Now, these separations were already far behind.
No more Leicester Alliance. No more Adrestian Empire.
The map showed a very bad picture. Most of the markings of noble houses in the current land of the Adrestian Empire were gone, with only the County of Hevring, County of Varley, Duchy of Gerth and Duchy of Aegir, whose duke was now under arrest, having their eldest lines remaining.
The rest of lands belonging to the houses, including the mighty House Hresvelg, who were ruling Fódlan since the whole foundation of the Adrestian Empire by Wilhelm I, were unceremoniously crossed over on the paper maps.
Rubbing his head, Dimitri tried to look serious. He was definitely not panicking, but wanted his people to believe that everything was under a far greater control than it was in reality.
Formerly his classmates, now his generals, understood their king without words. Sylvain Gautier was himself looking at the map, wondering “what are we going to do now?”
“Ahem,” Dimitri attracted attention to himself and everyone in the room who were making any kind of sound got quiet. The king walked behind the table and hung the map back on the wall.
“As you all know, the war is over. And along with the war, there was a whole era of separation inside the continent of Fódlan. Sadly, there were much more losses in both the commoners and nobility than we might have imagined. As of now, Fódlan is in ruins.”
Then, a stunning, tired-looking woman, who somehow still held fire in her eyes and moved with confidence, went up to her king and joined in the speech.
“Sadly kids, not even Faerghus is calm right now. Everyone is trying to relocate there, as the rest of the lands are flooded with bandits. We are trying to provide enough resources, luckily it is a warm period of time.”
A pause went. A couple years ago a professor, now the officially named successor of the Church of Seiros and new Queen of Faerghus Byleth, looked over her ‘students’. She knew those faces they were making, even if they are now fully grown up. They looked like three-days-notice was given on the 30 pages homework, when none of it was even remotely finished.
Well, the current situation was very similar to this. But now, the lives of people are at stake.
Quietly nodding to his partner, Dimitri continued:
“All those three days we were busy with the stabilization of Faerghus as our current base of operations. Thank you all for your efforts.”
…Not even a clap was heard in the air. The generals were silent, with Annette Dominic writing everything down even when listening.
“I believe we have stabilized the walls enough. Although the problem has not started to be remotely solved - as you just heard, there is not enough food for every person that might look for a roof in Faerghian lands.”
Felix Fraldarius, the current Shield of Faerghus raised his hand.
“Word is given to Duke Fraldarius.”
“Thank you, my King. To ease up the pressure, I offer to begin with the Leicester lands that our friend Duke Riegan was “so kind” to dump onto us. I can organize a group of people and we can easily clean off that dirt from it, and use their troops to crush any Adrestian resistance.”
Half of the group, including Byleth, rolled their eyes. Typical Felix - would prefer to be fighting instead of being locked in the office and three tons of paper on the desk.
“Is it really necessary, Felix?” Another one of the Duke’s childhood friends, Ingrid Brandl Galatea, raised her confident voice.
“I don’t think you need to go there by yourself. This is not our land or our people - to them, we and His Majesty are throne usurpers.”
"With all due respect, Ingrid, let me finish. As for the bandits' situation, unfortunately, we have no ways militarily speaking to deal with them decisively, even if we brought all our troops from Adrestia, it would barely be enough, and after so much conflict, Faerghus cannot handle new battles." Felix's scowl reflected everyone's mood.
Fhirdiad has been seriously damaged, and the need for continuation of the war meant that it couldn't be rebuilt like it should have, and it still was arguably the least damaged part of the region.
"Thankfully," Mercedes started her own speech and everyone got quiet again. "We have an asset - the uncontested Archbishop of the Faith as our Queen, I think our Professor could manage to resolve the situation in Faerghus, perhaps even in some parts of Adrestia, with little to no bloodshed with her words."
Of course Mercedes would propose something like this. Byleth didn’t know how to react to such bold claims - after all, “making peace” was not what she was best at.
And she definitely had no idea how to act from the position of an Archbishop.
"What do you expect me to do exactly Mercedes? Give a sermon to our enemies?" The new named head of the Church scoffed, "I don't see how it's going to work."
Mercedes' expression soured on such distrust in her words, but she still continued, now sounding a bit more serious.
"I propose a choice - absolution for the sins of all those who cease their vile actions, surrender all ill-gotten gains and swear allegiance, and excommunication and order of execution for anyone who refuses to comply, I believe this is our only way, may the Goddess forgive us."
Unlike Mercedes, Byleth was not a person of “all forgiveness”. But to say that her idea was entirely bad would have been an insult.
She was now not just a warrior, a general, but also a representative of a true holy way. Therefore, the Queen could not ignore a potentially good solution to at least a bit of the problem.
“I agree with general Mercedes.”
Byleth turned to her former student and smiled at her. Looks like most of the Blue Lions, as they sometimes continued to call themselves, were also satisfied with this response, only Felix as usual seemed moody.
While the two ladies and Annette, who joined them, were discussing the plans for their “holy” campaign, Dimitri called his knights to the other side with the intention of giving out individual orders.
“I put my trust in you, Ingrid. There is no one faster than your pegasus in our Kingdom.”
“Thank you for your trust in me, Your Majesty. You can be sure, I will to deliver your orders to them as fast as possible.”
“Now, both of those guys can be absolutely sure that no one would leave them in a supposed “peace”. I hope their response to us would be better than Duke Aegir’s,” with his usual brashness, Sylvain chuckled, while letting Ingrid slightly lean onto him - both of the nobles were tired to death.
Dimitri breathed in. He himself wanted to be done with this process as soon as possible - he had big plans for upcoming weeks and didn’t want to lose a second.
“As you are happy with the arrangements - good. Ingrid will go to the Adrestian Varley lands and then Hevring, Sylvain will soon return to the North - your presence is too critical there.”
“Yes, my King,” the red haired general who looked like he would stir up trouble at any second obediently bowed.
“Also, Felix. I agree on your first “visit” to the bandits of Adrestia. Choose the best people you know and you better come in one piece.”
The two friends shook each other’s hands. The King already turned to Dedue, but to his surprise, his most loyal soldier stood on one knee in front of him, lowering his head.
“Your Majesty. I ask you to allow me to stay by your side, at least for now,” the silver-haired man with a deep voice and heart of gold said.
“Fhirdiad is still not stable enough for me to leave Your Majesty and Her Grace alone.”
Byleth held her slight laughter but as always was full of deep respect for Dedue, both as a soldier, as a student and as the stoic wall to protect his King. Dimitri also looked pretty happy - lucky for him, at least one of his friends would stay…
***
The meeting was concluded and all of the Blue Lions were set to go on their missions. For now, their main objective was to get Countess Varley and Count Hevring as their helpers for the Adrestian lands.
So, the fortress-like palace was about to encounter a bit of a tough problem - how to get the people of the country they helped to destroy on their side?
That was what was worrying Dimitri and he was waiting for Ingrid to arrive with good news and later welcome Bernadetta von Varley and Linhardt von Hevring on his territory.
“I-I am honored to have been summoned, your Majesties, and hope to be of service to the Crown.” said Bernadetta von Varley, recently made Countess of her respective house.
She was visibly shaken over being called over so suddenly. After all, this woman barely kept a head on her shoulders after the war ended.
"Please relax Bernadetta, we have no intentions to try and defame you. My hope is that we could begin those debates with no ill-will towards each other," Dimitri calmed down the Varley heiress, trying to smile at her, but she only started to panic more.
As of now, the Countess did not look her best - the remains from Crimson War, which took form in severe burns all over her body reminded everyone in this room what price each person paid for the victory.
“I hope you will feel better in the near future, Countess Varley.”
“Thank you, my Queen,” Bernadetta lowered her head in respect to Byleth, who she still remembered as a clumsy professor from the Officers Academy.
“Though I am surprised to see that you and Count Hevring arrived together, considering the differences of your houses location.”
The sudden and brash reply of Byleth, which she said with a small smirk on her face, caused Bernadetta to blush crimson. While the young Lady Varley tried to stammer some words in her defense, Lindhart intervened, clearly forcing himself to look upright and fully attentive.
“Well my Queen, it is why we decided to come directly here instead of sending you a message,” The Count coughed.
“It is our intent to marry, but for that, we need to talk of the relationship between the Crown and our lands. Also, how to hopefully pacify what is happening inside Adrestia.”
Even if the tone of his voice was monotone, his usually casual attitude could not hide his full nervousness. Hearing his words, Byleth crossed her arms, with a clear distrust in her face.
“Do you refer to the remains of the Imperial army that are said to roam in the old Bergliez lands?”
“Yes, though they have been made bandits, they are numerous and they are armed well. My worry is they might attempt something if we cannot crush them fast enough.”
Lindhart's expression was grim and from what Byleth remembered both from the time at the academy and the war, it wasn't a good sign. Once again, it reminded the royal couple of any potential fate to the houses of people who were now kneeling in front of them. Both heirs of Counties were feeling uncomfortable around them and Byleth knew it.
Both of those people were spared during the war by Dimitri himself. And what surprised a lot of Adrestians, allowed to keep their territory and titles all in full.
Although, Bernadetta’s situation was a unique one - she was the first one to willingly surrender to Dimitri’s power and led her troops away from Emperor Edelgard’s aid. So later, she was granted individual mercy as a direct ‘thank you’ for the support of House Blaiddyd during the Crimson War and was acknowledged as a legitimate heir of house Varley after the previous Count’s death on the battlefield.
This had made Bernadetta the most trusted of the Adrestians… But also the most hated Adrestian from said region's perspective.
Up until now, Byleth was questioning why Linhardt had followed her and surrendered himself. But, since the confession of possible marriage, everything fell into place.
Attracting attention once again and not raising his head, Linhardt continued:
“Your Majesty, these rogues have been threatening Varley lands, it seems to be their wish to pillage the lands, and Varley troops are not enough to crush them decisively.”
“It is my request that the troops that occupy Hevring lands go help my betrothed's holdings' defense, I am willing to stay here as a hostage to assure my people's good will in the meantime.”
Dimitri carefully listened to his offer and took a couple of steps forward, putting his arm on his wife’s shoulder.
“Are your people truly that loyal to you, Count Hevring? Edelgard was well loved, and unlike Bernadetta, you do not have personal gratitude from us, that could justify your actions to the eyes of your people.”
However, Lindhart merely shrugged.
“Edelgard loved talking of how her war was a war for the people, but ultimately, the lords cared far more for her projects of conquest than the people ever did. While my people loved Edelgard, the taxes were far from pleasing, and in the name of stability I paid the ransom demanded for my troops' release, which endeared me enough to the population.”
Following that, he gave a sign to his servants, who brought large piles of papers.
“As a sign of my sincere desire to serve the Crown, I brought for your Majesties all the informations I have on the internal matters of Adrestia, the officials, the laws introduced by Edelgard and the old ones kept despite her reforms, and the resources that each regions can produce, including in which quantities.”
Dimitri was so shocked he didn't even realize he was slightly gasping until Byleth touched his hand, while she addressed the Count, “Tell me my lord, how much troops could you muster should it be allowed?” She asked, looking at him suspiciously.
“I believe five thousand, my Queen,” he answered as his tiredness looked more and more obvious despite his best efforts, “That is after taking into account the state of my forces and the remaining wealth of my lands, is there a reason for such a question?”
Byleth stood right in front of Linhardt and looked at him with seriousness in her eyes.
“I would prefer to keep the territories of Adrestia to the services of the Crown. It would have been a crime to let go of it and let it fall into anarchy. Right now, the Varley lands of Adrestia should be given priority.”
“As I understood Your Majesty’s words-”
Count Hevring couldn’t even finish talking, as Byleth was quick to interrupt him.
“Based on your claims, I approve of the expedition towards the Varley lands and cleaning them from bandits. Both you and Countess Varley will stay here - Her Ladyship has not recovered enough to be fighting alongside other fighters. And your knowledge, Count Hevring, is way too valuable to us to risk you so carelessly”.
Dimitri slightly smiled when Bernadetta breathed out in relief and clasped her arms around her fiance’s left arm, as a sign of protectiveness over him.
The King was touched by the courageousness of the couple and started talking to them in a much more understandable tone:
“If the campaign proves to be a success, you will be married and will be granted permission to move back to your houses, completely safe. I sincerely hold hope in my heart hat uniting with the two of you would be a good first start to get the lands of Adrestia in proper order.”
Byleth waited until Dimitri finished and raised her arm to put in her own words.
“Th-his is a h-honor for us, m-my King. But we offer to d-do something d-different - I really want to lead my army b-by m-myself.”
Despite the small stuttering, Bernadetta spoke confidently and with determination in her eyes, which surprised everyone in the room. Her betrothed was also quick to support her.
“If only you would allow, I would like to accompany Bernadetta. My desire is to fight side by side with your people, my King, my Queen.”
Both bowed and Dimitri tried his hardest to keep his mouth closed and his face serious. He saw that those people were really willing to pay off for what their nation had ruined.
“Beloved?”
Byleth kept quiet and thought a bit only for the show. Deep inside, she couldn’t be more proud of Linhardt and Bernadetta, holding off a smirk.
“...I agree with this initiative. This is very courageous of you, Countess Varley, Count Hevring”.
Linhardt held Bernadetta from fainting. He couldn’t believe his own eyes when his usually fearful future wife would act so bravely. Looks like Bernadetta also did not expect this from herself.
The Queen, looking satisfied with this deal, crossed her arms and looked over at the map.
“The planning of this expedition would take a week. So, get settled and Count Hevring - please stay here for a more efficient strategy.”
“As you wish, my Queen.”
Kneeling again, Bernadetta left and without losing time, Dimitri called in Dedue for military advice, closed all doors, windows and lit only a couple of candles to make the map visible.
The strategy was being discussed for a whole day. Even the breaks that the generals and the royalty took were less than 2 hours of sleep.
And, after a couple of days, it was finally decided what to do.
Byleth, as a Queen, would be the one leading the operation, with Linhardt and Bernadetta serving as a backup. Of course, initially, Dimitri was not keen on his wife putting herself in danger by striking a wasp’s nest such as bandits from Adrestia.
But he also understood that Byleth was a warmaster first and the Queen second. With her joining the fight directly, this strike would be gaining a lot of legitimacy.
Meanwhile, Bernadetta begged to be an active military general in this campaign: “I s-swear, my b-burns are not s-so bad! I c-can handle my bow…” - she kept and kept pleading, showing that her skill with bows did not get dulled out.
Finally, her request had been honored and she, along with her fiance and the Queen were marching down to stop the lunacy of bandits and prevent the destruction of what remained from destroyed house Bergliez as the military leaders.
***
Initially, what was planned to be a 2 months long campaign, got cleared in only three weeks, thanks to the monstrous forces of the newfound United Fódlan, as they sometimes called the continent.
Right now, the only remaining piece to clean was Gronder Field - a historic and personal place for the Queen. This was the exact place where the infamous ‘Bloodshed of Three’ battle occurred and where she, Byleth, had to personally stop the future King from going feral on his former classmates.
Now, she was doing what she knew the best - continuing to fight alongside her people, like a simple general will.
‘I would not allow any more blood of my people to be spilled on this land. Not now, not again. Not ever’ - this is what Byleth promised herself, while fiercely dancing with her abnormal sword in a soup of deranged bandits, who all wanted the Queen’s head as a trophy.
Bernadetta was standing over the hill, with a bow in her arms and her army behind.
“Horrible. Truly horrible, but this is our price to pay for peace,” she thought, while continuing to command her soldiers to support the Queen’s doings.
“Take as many hostages as you can! This is a direct order from Her Majesty!”
Behind the battleship, Linhardt was heading a group of mages who specialized in healing, pouring all they had to save every unfortunate life that was wounded. Each second Linhardt was worried sick about his fiancee, who at any time could be admitted as one of his patients, but he knew that he had to hold it.
It was his decision to be strong and prove his loyalty. And no fear of blood or any possible fate for Bernadetta could change that. He knew that deep inside, his betrothed was a strong woman and Count Hevring admired her for that.
“We got another healthy battalion, Bern!”
“Th-thank you Lin, accepting them right now!”
Both the battalions of Varley and the healers of Hevring were crazily valuable assets to Byleth. Even though she was a truly one woman army, she still needed solid support. And at that moment, Byleth prayed to Sothis those two people were on her side fully willingly.
This battle of Gronder continued for over some time, until the last bandit that refused to surrender fell from the Queen’s sword and a loud horn was heard across the field. The battle was officially over.
The new Archbishop raised her sword, then roughly put it on the ground and started speaking loudly.
“Everyone who was lucky to keep their heads on their shoulders - listen!”
Bernadetta and Linhardt were standing by the right and left side of their Queen, for now representing her vassals. Byleth was exhausted from battle, but continued to speak with passion in each of her words.
Her soldiers tied the remaining bandits and threw them on the ground under lances. Some of those people recognized the Count and Countess as people from Adrestia and started throwing curse words at them.
“You traitors! Dirty, disgusting traitors! How could you do that - lay yourselves under that filthy, insane Faerghian, all to save your lives?!”
Bernadetta gulped. Those were possibly her people and she could only imagine what it looked like to them. She couldn’t even accuse them of lying, as they were right to some degree.
Quickly noticing that his fiancee is feeling pressured and uncomfortable, Linhardt reacted immediately, by sending a small fireball to attract attention.
“Silence! Her Majesty, the Holy Archbishop Byleth is talking!” Linhardt tried to appear stoic and serious, all to be there and support already beginning to panic Bernadetta. Right now it didn’t even matter that the Count himself felt horribly guilty over this whole ordeal.
He saw that the bandits at least got quiet and respectfully bowed. “Your Majesty, please continue.”
Crossing her arms and slightly smiling, the beautiful woman turned to the bandits of Adrestia and resumed her speech to the defeated people:
“Today, mercy was granted for you. Who remains here is to not get a tip of their hair touched, but you will have to pay for the crimes you committed.”
“Listen here, savages! The person who ordered your lives to be kept was no other than Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd, the new King of Fódlan, who agreed to rebuild your country after defeating its army in an honest battle!”
“Liar! You killed our Emperor, you-”
The bandit was interrupted by a lance aimed at him before he could say anything offensive to the Queen's face. She just brushed it off - while working as a mercenary, she heard much harder insults aimed either at her or her father.
“Do you know what place this is?” Suddenly, Byleth’s voice turned a bit more serious. “This is Gronder Field. Once a fertile land, a place for training of students’ military skills, but most importantly the breadbasket of Fódlan! It was also the location where one of the most bloody battles in the Crimson War had occurred. And today, history repeated itself again.”
The upcoming speech of Byleth was not aimed at dirty thugs who shoot her glares of hatred. But for her army and people who are willing to listen - mostly, it was for Linhardt and Bernadetta.
“Our short-lived fighting is a start of the rebuilding of Adrestia, as we have gotten rid of the plague that was poisoning the lands of Bergliez and Varley. It ended today, on this exact spot, where endless floods of blood had been spilled.”
She breathed in. This was somewhat nostalgic to her - Byleth felt like she was once again back to the Officers Academy, giving her Lions the speech before practices. But now, it was all different and she must follow those changes with a proudly raised head.
“In the name of the Church and the Crown, I, Byleth Blaiddyd, wife of King Dimitri and Head of the Faith, declare Gronder Field a Holy Site, where none but civilians shall be allowed, and where any violence will be treated as the gravest of sins! Let it be known across all of Fódlan!”
With those words, the Archbishop picked up one of the bandit’s swords that was laying on the ground and broke it with her two hands. Gasps of people terrified from the Queen’s strength followed.
“You won't be needing this anymore,” Byleth slightly grinned under her arm that was covering her face. “Put those people under arrest, and later transport them to the nearest prison.”
“Yes, Your Majesty!” Soldiers had led away growling bandits, while Byleth was watching this process with crossed arms.
Now, she was left alone with some guards, Linhardt and Bernadetta, who approached her and fell on their knees. Byleth, looking at this, finally in those 3 weeks of endless fighting actually smiled.
“Get up you two. You fought well and I acknowledge your strength.”
“It’s our honor to hear this from you, my Queen.”
Slightly covering from the sun with her hand, Byleth looked over the place that she now desclared holy. After 5 years of numerous battles happening here and rivers of blood streaming down the ground, Gronder Field really became a shell of its former self, looking burnt to the core.
“This place brings back memories…” Linhardt helped Bernadetta get up and now all of them three were looking over the Gronder Field, with the Countess Varley remembering that while fighting there, she was still on Edelgard’s side and realizing she barely crawled out there alive.
Memories of fire peeling off her skin made chills run down her spine and she quickly leaned on her fiance, trying not to tremble.
Byleth, appearing reassuring, smiled at both of them.
“It’s all okay. Today, a new day has officially begun. Also - I congratulate you on your upcoming wedding,” the Queen sarcastically chuckled, unceremoniously putting arms behind her head and walked away with her vassals in tow.
“L-Lin. What will happen to us n-now?” Bernadetta was whispering, gripping Linhardt’s arm tight.
The man exhaled and while looking at the Queen's back, also whispered:
“I don’t know. All I know is that I made a correct decision to not take you and desert the battlefield. So, now we truly have a chance.”
In the military camp, Byleth and Linhardt were working on the battle reports for Dimitri. Despite that they were massively outnumbered on paper, even the Count himself was surprised how little of human lives were lost in those three weeks from their side.
“I truly am astounded, Your Majesty.”
“If it wasn’t for your troops of healers, I don’t know how many of those alive people would be on their way to greet Goddess Sothis. You've been a tremendous support and really proved your use,” Byleth put her pint of beer away and studied the young Crestologist’s face.
“I’m glad I could be useful to you, my Queen. Thank you so much for your trust.”
Of course, she wouldn’t be trusting him immediately, but she just couldn’t not acknowledge the use this duo will bring her and Dimitri.
She was incorrect in thinking that Linhardt hasn't changed since the Officers Academy, where this brat would be sleeping during lessons or fall unconscious from a drop of blood. It was during moments like this, that Byleth was glad that she didn’t take Black Eagles.
And while Linhardt was focused on the report, Byleth was writing a letter to her dear husband…
***
- - -
Open up only for puppy eyes.
My love, when you receive this, I want you to get the fantastic news first - we had successfully gotten rid of the problem such as the bandits!
Countess Varley and Count Hevring were a massive help during the revolts. Actually, their army was the one who cleaned everything up. I was just waving my sword around as usual.
When we come back and the two will get married, I propose to award them with the title of a Dukedom. The lands of Hevring and Varley United together are exactly the size of one and they have proven their loyalty to you.
I also have many things to share with you! Too much that even a crumb wouldn’t fit into this letter. So, as of now, we are moving towards Fhirdiad and soon, see each other again.
Your adored walking disaster,
Byleth
- - -
The news that Dimitri received really brightened his overall depressing day.
What truly interested him was actually the section about Linhardt and Bernadetta. It was such a relief that this pair did not take advantage of the mercy granted on them and actually proved their worth to him.
“Dukedom titles, huh. I would definitely consider this…”
“But Adrestia… What a pain you are,” Dimitri was thinking, leaning over his chair and looking at the ceiling.
News from his wife were interesting - the former Adrestian Empire’s territories were massive and as this situation with banditis showed, at this moment, Dimitri physically lacked the resources to hold it together.
This started to be annoying. Of course, Dimitri never expected an utopia to appear out of thin air, but the territories had to start being managed and there were three wasted weeks down the drain already.
“It can’t continue like this - I cannot allow Beloved to put herself in danger like this again. I must convince them to work with me,” the King, suddenly even to himself, got up from his seat and took his way to the Fhirdiad Undergrounds.
Those were the places chaining in the people of noble birth, who had committed heinous crimes against the Crown of Faerghus and were awaiting trial.
Dimitri knew about this firsthand, as only 5-something years ago, he himself was unfairly thrown into one of those cells over a false accusation. Somewhat, this place brought back a bit of his hidden memories.
And right now, those Undergrounds were keeping another, almost equally important figure inside.
After the Crimson War had ended, the current Duke of Aegir and the Prime Minister of the Adrestian Empire, Ferdinand von Aegir, willingly turned himself in, as by his words it would have been the “ act of a true nobleman”.
Truly, Dimitri needed this man’s skills in how to deal with the Adrestian lands. This was exactly why he was still going around with a head attached to his shoulders.
Finally, Dimitri found Ferdinand’s cell. The Duke was silently sitting in a cramped room, which usually served as prisons for nobility. Inside, Dimitri scoffed: for those five years he was on the run, he had a misfortune of living in much worse places than this supposed ‘prison’.
He coughed, crossed his arms and attracted the man’s attention:
“My greetings to you, Duke Aegir. I hope you are ready to talk at least now - as I came here with a proposition to you.”