Red Fort Margraviate,
Silas couldn't sleep at all. He also missed Draven the moment he tried to sleep. Draven became a part of his life in these few days...
Every soldier, general, and even Aleric was now in deep sleep... they had fought against the beasts all day yesterday, and just a few hours ago their war had stopped.
Silas walked on the streets of the Red Fort, looking at the children playing with each other... even human children played with the children from Tiger Village.
He smiled. What a beautiful scenery ! Beastmen and humans could get along too... but due to the nobles and Emperors of both imperiums, they were at odds with each other.
He sighed, then took a few steps when he noticed someone — a guy helping the old villagers even at this time in the morning when everyone was sleeping.
His tiger ears and tail were continuously twitching and swinging like a cat's.
Silas chuckled. Torin immediately looked back when he saw Silas coming toward him. "You didn't sleep yet?"
Torin answered while bowing toward him, "I didn't do many things yesterday, so I'm not as sleepy as the others..."
Silas immediately helped him up with his hands and made him stand up again. "Torin! You're my brother's savior. Don't do that again..."
Torin said, "But..."
Before he could say anything, he saw Silas take out a medicine and give it to the old beastman he was helping before. "Grandpa! Take this pill... your injuries will get well soon."
The old man hesitated, when Torin nodded from behind... he took the pill. He was injured when the soldiers attacked their village at Tiger Village... even after taking medicine, his old body hadn't healed completely yet.
He put the pill in his mouth, but in the next second his injuries healed with a golden light... even his complexion and skin became new again... he became as young as a middle-aged person.
He looked at Silas and almost cried. Silas took out a bag full of the same medicine and gave it to the elder. "Can you help me give these medicines to the others from your village?"
The old man nodded his head immediately and took the bag from Silas... then went toward their area.
Torin asked, "My... my lord..."
"Silas! You can use my name as it is..." Silas stated while looking at him.
Torin stared hard at Silas. His eyes started watering again... from the moment he met Aleric and his family, they had helped them in many ways.
Silas sighed, put a hand on Torin's shoulder, and said, "Torin! Don't cry, or else my brother would kill me if he found out... I was the reason you cried just now."
Torin felt confused. Why would Aleric kill him if he found out...
But Silas didn't say anything and disappeared down the road.
Silas chuckled to himself.
***
On the other side, after the forces of the Valerius family returned to their family, the whole Imperium shook again.
Envoy after envoy reached every corner of the Imperium and gave them the invitation to the ceremony of the youngest child of House Valerius.
As one of the three Archduke houses, the invitation alone put pressure on the nobles... they needed to attend the banquet no matter what!
But then shocking news swept through the Imperium again... House Valerius hadn't sent any invitation to the Emperor or his family at all.
The situation turned grim. How would they attend the banquet when the Emperor himself was not invited...
Emperor Caelum gritted his teeth when he received the news... he almost shook the whole castle with his Level 90 aura. But he couldn't do anything to that family at all, not until he was absolutely sure of taking it down.
***
Theros Margraviate,
Margrave Theros Argentine sat on his throne when the envoy from the Valerius Archduchy entered the main hall.
He immediately straightened when he saw the silver seal of the Valerius family on the envoy's dress.
The envoy announced,
"The Valerius Archduchy invites Margrave Theros Argentine to attend the 19th year ceremony of Count Silas Valerius.
On the day after tomorrow, young Count Silas will take his ceremonial oath on Valerius ancestral land, and on the same day he will take the next Archduke position... and will be titled as Duke Silas.
Archduke Cassian Valerius wants you to attend the banquet and enjoy it..."
Theros felt cold. He wanted to kill the envoy at this moment. Although he was a subordinate, he was a spy of the demons . He was the one who orchestrated the black-clothed people's attack on the Archduchy.
He said with a smiling face, "I'll attend the banquet... please enjoy your stay here as much as you want... someone..."
Before he could say more, the envoy said again, "No need, Margrave! I'll leave because I need to go to other places to invite the guests..."
Margrave Theros nodded, and the envoy left without saying anything more.
Theros clenched his fists. He was also going to attend the ceremony... he wanted to see the person who was going to inherit the position of next Archduke. Although he was wary of Aleric before, now he was more wary of this person who was ill all of his life and suddenly got healed... or was this person acting all this time...
***
On the same day, the two other Archduchies also received the news of Silas's 19-year ceremony.
Inside a dark room, a beautiful woman was sitting. She looked like a queen. She was the Archduchess of Sylveria — Silas's maternal grandmother.
The Sylveria Archduchy, controlled by her, was one of the most powerful mage forces on this planet.
A letter was in her hand. She smiled. "Silas! That child will be the next Archduke? Huh! What is that damn son-in-law of mine thinking?"
Her silvery eyes shook as she looked toward the direction of Valerius Castle. "I need to attend this meeting no matter what! I want to see that child again..."
She missed her grandchild so much, and even her daughter. She had met them many years ago, and from then onward she had never set foot in the Valerius family again.
She didn't like Cassian at all... although she was still middle-aged, she had never left her position as Archduchess when that old fool of the Valerius family gave his son the Archduke position and went missing.
Cassian got the position because his father wanted him to have it. And she didn't like them because of it.
She gritted her teeth. "I won't let my grandchild suffer because of you!"
***
On another dark castle,
An old man was seated on his throne... his hands on the letter from the Valerius family. "So the Valerius family is going to arrange the next Archduke alongside the ceremony?"
He released his aura and the whole castle shook. "Have they gone nuts! That ceremony is sacred for our three families and they are taking it as a joke?"
He released his aura again, when another old figure entered the hall and chuckled, "Why are you so agitated, old man! Have you gone insane? Then why don't you let your son inherit the position like mine...?"
The first old man sneered, "So that they could make an idiotic decision like yours?"
The new old man frowned. "What do you mean by that?"
The man on the throne threw the letter at the old man, and he caught it then read it, then read it again... he also gritted his teeth. "What does he mean by it! I knew he disowned Aleric, but Silas! That sick child? How could he be going to inherit the position...?"
Yes, he was the paternal grandfather of Silas and Aleric, the Valerius King Lucian Valerius.
Everyone thought he was dead, but he was actually in this place... this was the Blackwood family. And the old man on the throne was the Patriarch of the Blackwood family, his brother-in-law.
Silas's paternal grandmother got angry at her husband and came back to her family, and that's how he also followed her... even in these years he couldn't convince her to go back at all.
He sighed, "Let's attend the ceremony! Only then will we know what he thinks, that he took this decision..."
Archduke Blackwood spoke, "Actually, Silas is not sick anymore. I got news before that he got healthy suddenly... and now he's attending Argent Spire Academy right now.
And even a few days ago, he used his own force to defeat the Imperium's plan and even took over two of the free dukes' forces as his own."
Lucian felt dumbfounded. He knew Silas as a sick child. "When did he change that much? Is it possible that he...?"
Archduke Blackwood's face also changed. "We'll know when we see the ceremony this time!"
Lucian also nodded... both going to attend the ceremony in time.
***
At Valerius archduchy,
While the whole Luminus Imperium was in turmoil what should they do , if they attend the Valerius ceremony and disrespect the Emperor, or skip it and anger the Archduchy. The Valerius lands were already in festival...
It started at dawn in Valeris City. Bells from the White Spire rang thirteen times, and every house hung the silver-wolf banner. Commoners, not servants, cleaned the streets themselves. For them the festival of Valerius Family is a Festival for them also.
Children tied blue ribbons on lantern posts, old women wove garlands of moon-blossom, a flower that only blooms in Valerius soil.
In the market, the stewards opened the granaries. No coin was taken that day it is all free to everyone. Bakers baked wolf-head bread, butchers gave free cuts, and vintners rolled out barrels of icewine aged since Silas's birth. "For the Young Lord's health," they toasted...
Soldiers back from Red Fort , they didn't rest. They polished their armors until it mirrored the sky, then helped farmers carry tables into the main square. Mages from the Archduchy drew light-runes in the air using their wands, making floating silver wolves run between rooftops at night...
Maids sewed Silas's ducal cloak with thread spun from star-silk. Even beastmen from Tiger Village came, bringing drums made of ironwood.
There wasn't a single beggar in the streets — the Valerius family had given every homeless family a room in the city. "If the Young Master becomes Duke, no one will sleep hungry," an elder said.
Although the valerius family always take care of the commoners but still these beggers came from outside the archduchy...and archduchy gave them home and food and even help them to find suitable works...
By sunset, the whole archduchy glowed. The festival of the valerius family started with a beautiful music played by the musicians....
By noon the next day, the roads to Valerius territory were full.
One by one, the great houses entered...