Cassion was overworked. Ever since his father fell sick, he had to put up with almost all the work the Duke would do normally. How did the Duke get sick? One can only wonder... He managed all of the funds, paperwork, resources, everything. The dude was only seventeen! Why did his father put these huge responsibilities on him before he fell into the totally not caused by poison coma? It was unclear. At least Arion was in charge of the knights and other military stuff, Cassion didn't really understand that kind of thing other than the strategy behind all of it.

  Cassion was more of a magic guy than a "swinging a sword around" guy, unlike his brother. He never really had the talent for swordsmanship but he did inherit the talent for magic his mother possessed. Everyday like clockwork, Cassion got up at ungodly times just to skip breakfast and immediately headed to his office to start working on whatever needed to be done that day. Sometimes it was preparation for a deal the Duchy was about to sign with a trading company, other times it was just the regular paperwork for approving the budgets for various parts of the estate. Either way, he never got a break. Unless his brother forced him out of the office to take a mandatory one.

  Today was one of those times. Arion basically dragged his brother outside the building for a "break". Arion's idea of a break was more like a really dangerous sparring session, so Cassion didn't really get that much quiet time. After the totally noncompetitive match of what looked like a fire tornado to outsiders, Cassion finally got a break from both the paperwork and the strenuous exercise. He and his brother would just hang out and talk about what they did that day.

  Arion would explain what training he tortured the knights with that day and what the "little lady" did when she came to visit him. Cassion didn't really know what he meant by that so he just nodded along with whatever he was saying about whoever that was. Then Arion would start talking about how the sandwiches were good that day and asked his Cassion if he had received his. Cassion just assumed that the mysterious R gave both of them baked goods. So he just went along with whatever his brother was saying again. After his mandatory break, Cassion would either go back to the office or check up on the affairs in the estate, walking around making sure everything was in order. It was getting closer and closer to vault check day and Cassion was nervous.

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  Vault check day was when the person in charge of the Duchy would go into the forest and check on the state of the items locked up to make sure they won't explode or something. The next check wasn't for another four or five years but Cassion was stressed. What if his father didn't wake up before then, would he have to do it on his own? What if one of his mother's objects wasn't stable? Would the country be okay? Because of his lack of ability, would he doom the entire continent? What about the weapons? What if he found out that one was stolen? Thousands of lives would be in danger! Five years wasn't that long! It would come faster than a blink of an eye. Would he be okay dealing with such an important duty? Would his family be okay? Would his people be okay?

  Duke Vissier was visiting the Theomor estate a few months earlier. No one seemed to notice his presence in the chaos that the servants were living in. He made his way to the East side of the Duchy, his feet crunching upon the gravel. After a few minutes of walking, his destination was made clear. A house. It was as grand and rich as the main house that the Duke had visited plenty of times, even though it was half the size. The house gave a sense of foreboding, something he was used to. He rang the bell and almost immediately a maid appeared and led him into a room.

  Here were two couches placed to face each other with a table in between them. There were several decorations in the room that a normal person might have been frightened by. Dark and mysterious tomes were stacked on each and every shelf. Skulls of almost every animal decorated the walls and the only light that filled the room were from small candles on every surface. On the couch was a woman dressed in black.

  Duke Vissier sat down on the couch across from the woman in black. He poured the tea on the table for himself and waited for the woman to speak.