Chapter 10 - The Evenhart Family Castle

  Nearly a week had passed as we tinued our journey on the road. We stopped occasionally to rest a. The little phoenix liked to stay close to me, while Hugo sat at a distance, but I noticed he kept his sword out of its sheath, ready in case the phoenix decided to attack.

  The little bird shared food with me, ign what my mother offered and refusing to respond wheried to talk to it. I expihat I had unicated with the phoenix and it would respond with ‘yes’ and ‘no’ by nodding its head, but it wouldn’t respond to anything in front of them. It seemed like it wao hide its intelligence from the two of them.

  I tried to tell it that it could trust them when we were alone, but it would shake its head ‘no’. I had to share my food with it si wouldn’t accept what Hugo or my mother served. The solution was for them to increase the portions on my pte ahe phoenix ily.

  We found out that it loves to eat meat.

  Just like my mother's pnts… another scary thing apanying me.

  Fortunately, my mother’s pnts could survive by eating just one mouse a month, so we didn’t worry too much. I learhat to keep these pnts active, my mother had to pour mana into them as a form of nourishment. She would infuse her mana into the water and then water the pnts. I knew she did this, but seeing her expin the process was iing. It seems she had a small stock of ivorous pnt seeds saved for emergencies; she used them in the past. She might have retired as a soldier, but she still preferred to keep her killer pnts active.

  Hugo told me that those little pnts she had with us were nothing pared to what she could create if she really put in the effort. I looked at those things and shivered, imagining an evil version of them.

  I learhat there are also different types of magic. My mother was a ‘summoype and could create those things, besides having the rare element of ‘pnt’.

  The phoenix and I started sleeping close to each other; it didn’t trust the other two mud rexed more near me. This was good si kept me warm.

  Our routine was repetitive, but we became more alert. We stopped at some rivers to bathe, and Hugo knew a few spots where he could fish to avoid vilges or towns. After what happeo him, we couldn’t risk separating again.

  I kneere deeper into Evenhart territory when I started feeling a bit colder. There were many forests with darker green and lots of pirees. The Evenhart Duchy is a bit chilly, even having a part he sea. My mother told me that sometimes it even snows, and that part of the sea was something unknown and no one dared to explore it.

  The temperature in Evenhart Duchy is always a bit cold; you wear clothes and bundle up well without feeling too warm. It’s cold, but bearable. Acc to my mother, we’ll have to stay there until the heir situation is resolved. She said my aunt wants to avoid an internal war among the nobles of our territory. It wasn’t just my father and uncle who died, but many leaders of the most loyal families, which left a small hole in the bance of power.

  The most loyal soldiers lost their lives in the war to repel the invasion of the ti. My mother told me they had to stop the Human Empire and the Theocracy from invading a part of our tihat ects to theirs. If this small frontier fell, it would affect all the tries on our ti sihe Human Empire would have free access to us by nd. This battle was known as the ‘War of the Red Frontier,’ with ‘Red’ referring to the amount of death in that small area. Somehow, the old humans mao terbahe mages but were defeated, and one of the main emperors of the Human Empire’s union died.

  The term they used was 'Evenhart Manor Territory.' The garden of this manor looked like a pce that could fit aire city. It was a vast region with several hectares of nd, forests, and mountains. My mother told me that the entire forest I could see was sidered arden.’ The territory housed the Evenhart Manor, and oher side was the main city called ‘Evenhart.’ My st name gave the pce its name. I realized that being ao a Duchy was a big deal, just from the fact that the main city bore my surname.

  We ehrough the back of this ‘small plot.’ This back part had hectares of nd and forests, but there was a giant stone wall that covered the entire region. My mother expihat this wall ced by the founding mages of Evenhart. She couldn’t expin much more since I would have to hear the teags of our ‘Queen’ in person. That was all she said, and it was enough to make me curious.

  What does she mean by Queen? Aren’t we a Duchy?

  We were approag, and I was looking around. There were many people with armor and even staffs walkihe entrao the other nd that covered the manor.

  “STOP! Who allowed you to access this road?” asked a soldier, pointing his spear.

  I noticed many armed men approag the carriage. The little red bird was studying them through the window.

  “Who do you think, idiots? The wall guards, you imbeciles!” Hugo said, pulling back his hood.

  “Oh! Lord Hugo!” the soldier made a reverent apology.

  “I don’t have time for this nonsense, I’m in a hurry and have something for Lady Margaery.”

  “Y-yes sir!” they ran to operao the manrounds. The pce was surrounded by a metal grate wall.

  My heart started beating very fast as we got closer; I was getting nervous.

  “It’s going to be alright, I’m here with you,” my mother said, pulling me closer to her.

  She knows me just by looking at me…

  “I don’t know how to behave there…” I said, looking down in embarrassment.

  My mother let out a small ugh.

  “her do I,” she replied, ughing.

  As we arrived at the ‘manor,’ my eyes widened.

  “Manor?”

  Where is this a manor? This is a damn castle!

  There was a gigantic stone fortress, and we were entering it through aone wall that surrouhe fortress. The pce looked like a massive stone castle mixed with a fortress. I was impressed by the number of armed people going about their tasks, and there even seemed to be a vilge further in the back, oher side of the fortress. I saw men training in the courtyard with bows and arrows, women training with swords, and even people practig target shooting with water and fire magic. There was a real army here going about their activities.

  “Wele to Evenhart Manor,” said Hugo, opening the carriage door for me.

  Evenhart Manor is this entire fortress? What the fuck… I thought it was just a noble family.

  I was a bit nervous, and my mother took my hand as we walked, following Hugo. The little phoenix was on my shoulder, the pce.

  Now I uood ere safe in the manor. Who would dare to invade a fortress? This pce has yers of defense and a bunch of armed people.

  Some people passed by, staring at my mother ahey started whispering among themselves and then bowed before moving away to leave us in peace.

  As we reached the entrance of that castle, the door opened, and I was more nervous than ever.

  Soldiers opehe door for us and showed us the way. The entrance was a gigantic luxurious hall with various objects that I was sure were worth the entire vilge where I grew up. There were se animals mounted on the walls.

  “They're in a meeting, Lady Katherine,” Hugo said to us.

  “Great, we arrived at a good time,” my mother said sarcastically.The soldiers let us walk down the corridor, and I didn’t dare let go of my mother’s hand; I was too nervous about the grandeur of the pce. Some maids passed by us and bowed. Hugo just nodded and tinued on his way.

  We arrived at a rge door with two guards standing in front of it.

  “Are all the Legacies inside?” Hugo asked one of them.

  “Yes, sir! After your letter arrived, Lady Margaery gathered them, and they’ve been having these meetings all week,” one of them replied.Hugo sighed.

  “We just wao rex a bit… but there’s no way around it,” he said, and the men opehe door.

  “e on, young master and Lady Katherine,” Hugo said, aered the grand hall.

  I grew even more nervous at what I saw.

  The pce was a rge room with a giant red carpet leading further i the end, there seemed to be a ‘staircase,’ like three long, rge steps c the final part of the room. At the top was a great stohrone, and oeps below sat some people.

  As soon as we entered and the door behind us closed, everyone fell silent and stared at us.

  Gods… I’m nervous.

  The little phoenix had goo sleep inside my coat, warming me, but with how nervous I was, I couldn’t feel any cold even if it wasn’t keeping me warm.

  Sitting on that stohrone was a woman.

  Hugo went ahead, and we followed him a bit behind. I looked at my mother, and she just stared at the woman oohrone while holding my hand.

  Hugo k on the ground and looked at the woman sitting ohrone.

  “Lady Margaery, I brought them as I described iter. There weren’t many ‘problems,’ just a small i with me.”

  As roached, I tried to follow Hugo’s example and kneel.

  “Stop!” the woman said, raising her hand to me. “You are family.”

  I felt nervous, and everyone looked at me.

  “Is this our little Evenhart?” a blonde woman asked, ughing at me.

  “It’s been a long time since I’ve seen you, Katherine,” a bck-haired woman said to my mother.

  “Silehe woman ohrone said, and everyone fell quiet.

  My mother approached with me.

  “Margaery,” my mother said, nodding her head.

  The woman ohrone looked at her, then at me.

  “It’s been five years since I st saw you, and as soon as we meet again, you call me ‘Margaery’? I thought we were friends,” she said, ughing.

  “Margie…” my mother corrected herself.

  The woma out a ugh.

  “So this is our little prince?” she said, looking at me.

  I felt like I was being stared down by a lion. Even though I had been a General in another life, being in that child’s body made me feel embarrassed.

  “Everyone, leave! I want to spend some time with my family,” the people in the room got up from the steps, sighing.

  “ we go to our rooms?” one woman asked.

  “No. Wait outside and don’t even think about having dinner without us. We have much to discuss afterward,” she anded.

  They agreed ahe hall. Hugo bid us farewell a as well. Once everyone was out, the door was closed.

  The woman ohroook a deep breath.

  “This is exhausting,” she said, stepping down from the stohrone and walking toward us.

  As she desded, she stopped in front of us.

  “I missed you, Katie,” she said, hugging my mother.

  “I missed you too, but you know I didn’t want to e back to this pce,” my mother said, returning the hug.

  Margaery looked at her.

  “I uand. I didn’t want t you back either, but if we hadn’t acted… it would have been worse.”

  After that, she looked at me and k down to my level.

  “So you are my nephew. Nathan is your name?”

  “Yes…” I responded, unsure how to behave in front of this figure of authority.

  “It’s okay to aally with me. Remember, I’m your aunt. Sometimes I have to be strict or tough with others, but uand that it’s my job.”

  When she finished saying this, she gave me a strong hug.