Marrying For Twisted Love In a Fantasy Novel

Chapter 25

The sound of glass shattering echoed through the quiet mansion. In a rage, the Duke hurled books from his desk at Ronald. Anything that reached his grasp was thrown at Ronald's direction. His eyes were blazing with madness. It was only when he felt blood from his hand drip unto the floor, that he paused his rampage.

The butler remained quiet at the back, wanting to avoid getting injured by the angry Duke. After thirty years of working in the Belv manor, it was the second time the butler had witnessed the Duke's violent fit of anger. Usually, his master upheld a calm demeanour and it was on rare occasions like these that he let his emotions show in such an unreserved way.

But it was expected. From the very moment the Duke hurried inside, with Ronald at his back, and began questioning the butler about Ronald's silence on the refinery, he knew an ugly scene would unfold. Quickly, the butler had summarized the situation to the Duke and handed him the reports hidden by Ronald along with the warning left behind at the burnt site.

Upon confirming everything from the documents, the Duke began to angrily wreck his office and hurled all forms of abuses at his son, who could only watch in silent fear.

The Duke stared at his bleeding hand for a second, before clenching it into a fist.  The pain brought him back to reality for a moment. He realized that the damage had been done and no matter how much he wrecked, his investment had gone down the drain.

Still, all these thoughts couldn't suppress his bubbling anger. In order to stop himself from doing more damage, he turned around, crossed the hallway and went to his room.

With shaking hands, he searched through a container on a desk in his room, then picked up his long pipe then lit it. It was only then that his thoughts began to get organized.

Ronald and the the butler, who weakly followed him into his room, were harshly dismissed.

"Get out. Leave me for now"

Not wasting a minute, the two disappeared from the door. The Duke then relaxed on his bed, smoking the pipe while thinking. He looked outside and saw the night had gone by and it was almost the break of dawn.

Plans for the rebellion circulated in his mind. In a matter of months, the Belv Duchy would finally rewrite it's position in history as the Imperial family's dog.

The foolish Emperor had taken the bait and had fallen right into his carefully laid trap by including Paisley Deor into the Crown Princess selection. Furthermore, the stupid Emperor was even going as far as personally supporting Paisley as a candidate.

Watching the Emperor put personal feelings before matters concerning the Empire's rule, Duke Belv felt bitter that such a simple person had eluded his schemes for years. In fact, the Imperial lineage all seemed unwise, considering the actions of each member occupying such a mighty position. And he was sure the unknown Crown Prince Nathaniel would be no different. Probably, the boy would be the least of his problems.

Although the Crown Prince's military prowess was renowned these past years, physical strength could do so little in the face of fierce political threats posed in imperial courts which required cunningness and impeccable wits to survive. In short, brains were more desirable than brawns.

So the Duke imagined it would be easy to make a puppet out of Crown Prince Nathaniel once he made his debut. And with Paisley Deor, they'd finish them off completely.

That would be the fate of the distant future. In the meantime, there were some operations the Duke had to carry out in the South. The first of many plans was for Adrianna Deor to marry his son. According to the magic guild he was affiliated with for the past few years, their experiments and research had led them to find that the first child born to a power inheritor in this era, would wield a very strong magical power.