Chapter 54: Glory & Shame

The United Empire, unlike all the heroic or bloody tales of the rise of great empires,

the ruler of this empire was originally merely the lord of a small kingdom caught between two hostile empires that had been slaughtering and destroying one another. The king seized the opportunity to prosper amidst the chaos and, behind the scenes, swallow up vast territories

Without anyone realising it, and after decades of mutual and relentless destruction, once the war had ended, there remained on the map not two great empires ruling the continent, with a modest kingdom lying between them,

but rather an united empire under the banner of the Nordkaiser House

But then again, however cunning and brilliant the king might have been, in the end he was still human, with limited abilities and a finite lifespan

And to swallow up two great empires, he naturally had to make some concessions if he did not want his own house to be reduced to ashes as well.

So, in the north and west, within the Empire of Belosevera, he supported a weak and young prince who was the last survivor of the Korvekar imperial house;

the king had taken him in and hidden him, He supported, guided and protected the boy until the prince ascended the throne; in return, he demanded the Prince’s loyalty, which the king—whom the prince regarded as his mentor and father—granted. Thus arose the Grand Duchy of Korvekar from the ruins of the fallen Empire of Belosevera

In the south and west, however, matters were simpler, with even more severe destruction and no one remaining of the ruling dynasty; yet the situation was, in a way, more complicated following the divisions and the dominance of the clans.

Although the Prince of Korvekar was of imperial descent and possessed legitimacy, a strong case and even the support of his people, he was merely a child whom the King was able to deceive through a combination of intimidation and inducement; it was an easy matter.

However, in the south and west, within the Empire of Aurevalla, there was no such useful tool.

Firstly, because the King wished to occupy the lands without war; he therefore needed someone who was a native of those lands and, at the same time, possessed a certain honour and high standing, so that the people of Aurevalla would rally around him without any significant resistance, whilst at the same time being subservient to him and gullible.

Therefore, the king turned to one of the great, fallen clans in the south, supported their heir, and presented him as the lord of those lands in exchange for a pledge of allegiance. Thus was born the Grand Duchy of Dravarius, named after that heir,

and King of Nordkaiser proclaimed the establishment of his empire, declaring himself the First Emperor of the United Empire.

Ivar stood on the balcony, gazing coldly out at the courtyard of the palace, without the slightest regard for the fact that it was already evening, where a luxurious royal carriage was parked. The First Princess, Lieselotte, alighted with the help of her knight; it seemed she had come to discuss the matter of her marriage to him—a rumour that Roxana had secretly spread and which Korvekar had never denied.

what a mess... He looked calmly at her knight as he helped her alight; she touched his arm and he reached his other hand behind her back. He wasn’t sure whether he’d touched her back or not. Perhaps he should kill him quietly? However understanding he might be, he had been brought up to believe that a man must not overstep his bounds with ladies, nor touch them unless they were blood relatives, or his wife or fiancée.

Naturally, witnessing this intimate interaction between his so-called fiancée and a male knight walking around her... he simply felt a sense of unease, disgust and an affront to his dignity.

But he tried to swallow this discomfort, reminding himself that they were not in Korvekar.

He then forced his thoughts back to analysing history, to forget the hideous scene he had just witnessed

.

.

.

In any case... historically speaking, it was not a mistake on the part of the Nordkaiser house to seize the opportunity to swallow up two fallen empires in order to raise its own standing; rather, its greatest failure was that, even after generations, it had been unable to make these two great powers forget their origins...

And the fact that it had always been inferior to them—as Korvekar had literally told him during the reign of the Third Grand Duke, when the rebellion had subsided and the two sides were negotiating a treaty—meant that the Nordkaiser would not be worthy of having the descendants of Korvekar bow before it unless they ruled for two thousand years without falling.

Thus, from childhood, all the children of Korvekar are carefully taught never to bow, not even before Lord of Nordkaiser and his Emperor.

Well, as for an illegitimate dynasty such as the Nordkaisers, who have ruled as puppets for six centuries since their accession to the throne, it is only natural that a venerable royal house such as Korvekar—which has ruled the North and the West for as long as 1,700 years and is recorded in the history books as the only dynasty in history to have ruled a vast empire such as the Belosevera Empire from its very inception to its fall without itself collapsing—

and even their origins, dating back a millennium and a half, were recorded as a royal house that had reigned for more than five centuries; before that, there was no history, as if history had begun with the Korvekar themselves.

As for the Grand Duchy of Dravarius, although they were not a royal dynasty with roots and a history as ancient as that of the Korvekar, they were one of the most venerable southern clans. Their clan was known as the Invictarii Clan at that time, and they were a clan of warriors who rode horses and roamed the Southern Black Desert

Their warriors have always been considered among the strongest on the entire continent, and they remain so to this day; indeed, not even the Korvekar Knights can match them in fair combat.

Their downfall, and the fact that the King of Nordkaiser was able to subdue them, was due to misfortune: a deadly plague swept through their clan, wiping out more than 80 per cent of the clan’s members, leading to their downfall at the very time their empire, Aurevalla, collapsed. Consequently, they had no chance of survival, particularly as their clan leader and all his heirs died of the plague; the sole survivor was the clan leader’s illegitimate child, before King of Nordkaiser offered to save what remained of his clan, even if it meant bowing their heads to a buffoon like King of Nordkaiser.

Well... everyone can surely see the problem now.

Although Nordkaiser exploited the downfall of the two most powerful forces to expand its territory, it naturally failed to control powers such as Dravarius—formerly the fanatically tribal Invictarii clan

—and Korvekar, proud of its glory as a royal lineage stretching back over two millennia.

And in less than a century – indeed, by the third generation alone – the Nordkaiser family had effectively become nothing more than a puppet between Korvekar and Dravarius. 𝘧𝓇ℯℴ𝓂

As for why these two powers have not simply declared independence even after six centuries, despite looking down on the Nordkaiser royal family and treating it as a puppet?

Quite simply... even now, these two powers have been unable to regain their strength following that downfall six hundred years ago, because the danger has not yet disappeared.

So... are these two powers merely ungrateful, then? Actually, no.

Because if they were to let their guard down even slightly, or if they were to make even the slightest concession, the tragedy that occurred six centuries ago would be repeated; and even an ignorant clown like Nordkaiser house, who lives in a rose-tinted fantasy world, would find itself in ruins without even understanding how it happened.

Well, at least that’s what his teacher told him, without explaining who the enemy was or the cause and effect.

All he knows is that the last two wars Korvekar fought in recent decades are connected to all those secrets... that’s what he surmised.

And as for what happened ten years ago, although Ivar never got the full story, all he knew was that his mother and younger brother had suddenly disappeared from the palace one night – although it was claimed they’d been kidnapped, he knew that wasn’t the case, partly because he’d witnessed some of the events that he hadn’t even told his father about

In any case, his father at the time flew into a rage and was so enraged that he even threatened the Nordkaiser family and some mysterious figures who would sneak into the castle every night in an attempt to calm him down; but his father was furious and warned them that if they dared to interfere any further, he would burn everything down, and that they should not dare to provoke him any further.