IGIWS FIRST DRAFT: Ch.381 Alaric's Losing his Mind

Back in the Divalo Manor, right after Alaric's debacle, when Rya demonstrating a small piece of her true power, in front of him and the Ladies of the Court. The Duke felt a since of hopelessness that he's never experienced before. Not even the time when he thought he was going to be executed by his younger brother, King Cyndre, did he feel such dread. For the first time, Alaric was truly afraid. Afraid of being found out that he was plotting to kill Quinus. Afraid that Rya could easily destroy him if she ever wanted. He thought he was playing her and the nobility when in reality, Rya wasn't phased by his schemes. Even after his best attempt at humiliating her, Rya was unfazed. She was even more confident when she came back to the party. She knew of his plans and she could forcibly stop him whenever she wants. She was merely toying with him this entire time and she wished to simply gain full control of the Kingdom's nobility and citizens with her natural wit and charisma alone. How was he so blind to the fact that she could kill him at anytime? Even after she killed some of his best mercenaries who were guarding his hidden vaults within Baron Alastair's lands, and stole large amounts of his secret wealth, Rya seemed to not use it to ruin him, yet. With such power, she could bring the Northern of Agon to its knees, and yet she has done nothing but play with them. And he didn't like that. Not one bit. She was an enigma.

No longer was she alone, or feared by most of the Kingdom because of her race. No longer was she a helpless outsider in the Kingdom. Alaric had a front-row seat at the spectacle of Rya becoming the most powerful person on Tertius. She had gained the respect and loyalty of the nobles, the people of the capital, the King's Army, the Queen, the King, and even caught the eye of the Crown Prince. And she did it all within months of finding out about her. The only thing that would make matters worse is if she was pregnant with his nephew's child. Not even that pathetic excuse of a man, Marquess Duval Wrightwood, wouldn't be able to convince the House of Lords to decline her marriage to Quinus if that happened.

And the more he thinks about her, the more he feels that she's just toying with him and his plans for revenge. Like this was nothing but a trivial matter for her. And the fact that his network spies and assassins that his personal butler had trained to get control of the Kingdom have been slowly going quite must be her doing. He wanted to wipe her from existence and make sure no one would ever remember her. But how does one defeat such a monster.

Alaric had a lot to think about, and his list of enemies was growing. Rya, the Queen, the worthless Duval, and practically the entire House of Lords were against him now. Even his idiot younger brother, the King, was all too eager to marry off his son to this whore. Alaric knew he had to act fast or else he would lose all of his advantages in the upcoming war, and his chance to gain revenge on those who wronged him would be lost.

And so, he was sitting in his study that looked out to the courtyard where all the Ladies of the Court were leaving. They seemed to be buzzing around Rianna or Rya as they firmly took over the court. And the Queen was at the center of it all.

He couldn't hear what they were saying, but it didn't take a genius to figure it out. They were talking about the Crown Prince and the Dark Elf Princess. How they were going to support—no! Force Quinus to get married to Rya and ruin his plans for revenge. The thought made his stomach turn as he watched them leave. And once there wasn't anyone left, he slowly turned around and sat in the leathery chair at his desk. And looked up to see a portrait of his late mother, Lillian Revelia Meredydd, the former Queen of the Fiafyr Kingdom, who died about a decade ago in her homeland across the Azure Sea. She left the Kingdom after his father passed on and she couldn't stand Duval when he was the one to gain control of the House of Lords. With Duval becoming the new Prime Minister he swiftly made a measure that permanently made Cyndre the King if Alaric and Cyndre only took on one wife and no Mistresses. She couldn't understand why her older and smarter son even agreed to this in the first place. It wasn't until Alaric told her his original plans on how he was going to get his son the throne, was when she realized that Alaric had a soft spot for his bother. She feared that this would be the end of his legacy if Cyndre's wife gave birth to a boy.

Alaric assured her that Cyndre's line will end with him and as long as Marcus was to become the next King was all that mattered. Lillian couldn't help but feel like this was a huge mistake, but she did what she could to help her oldest son, before leaving the Kingdom and back to her homeland in the Wasser Continent, which was east across the sea.

Once Cyndre became the King, her influence had faded and her favorite son was demoted to a Duke of the Divalo Domain and was forced to take his mother's maiden name. And all of this was because Alaric had her silver gray eyes was an insult to her and her son.

She couldn't understand why her husband had agreed to this or why Alaric would have allowed it to happen. But it was clear to her that Alaric and his son were the ones who should have been the rulers of the Fiafyr Kingdom, not her carefree go-lucky younger son, Cyndre and his line. But the gods were not on Alaric's side and the Goddess of Balance refused to hear her prayers. So, she left the Agon Continent and hoped that Alaric knew what he was doing. Her health took a turn for the worst when news about Alaric's failed assassination attempt on Quinus' life had been thwarted and captured. Somehow Alaric wasn't executed and the punishment was a fine and losing any claim to the throne, instead of losing his head. Lillian died not knowing why and it frustrated her. But she knew her son was the most intelligent man in the Kingdom, and if she didn't trust him, then the future of the Fiafyr Kingdom was lost. She passed before all the events that led to Marcus's death and the rise of Quinus and the Dark Elf.

And Alaric sat there staring at his mother's portrait as if she was staring back at him with disappointment. The look on her face was the look she had given him when he told her about his plans to get the throne back to their line.

'Stop looking at me with that stare!' Alaric thought.

< What state, Alaric? A stare of disappointment, or a stare of shame? > The voice of his mother echoed through his mind.

'A stare of failure.' He replied. 'A failure of the worst kind.'

< I raised you better than this! Didn't I tell you that you should have raised an army to claim what was yours! Didn't I tell you that being direct was the best option! But did you listen to me, NO! You let your feelings for your weak minded brother get the better of you! >

'You're dead, mother. You have no say in what happens in this world.'

< You're the Duke, not the King. And it's all your fault that your only heir is dead! And to top it off, you didn't know that your five daughters were mages? With Elite level Mana Veins? And you traded them common goods? How is it that you have become dumber over the years!? You deserve this, Alaric. If I was alive, I'd disown you. >

His hands clenched and he threw the wine glass at the portrait, which splattered the wall behind it and shattered on the floor.

"DON'T YOU DARE QUESTION ME! QUESTION ME INTELLIGENCE, YOU COWARD!" the Duke roared at the painting of his mother. Belial just walked in as he saw his Lord glaring at the portrait. He slowly backed out of the study and closed the door.

< Coward you say? No, Alaric... I'm a realist. Scheming behind your enemies backs instead of confronting them head on is what cowards do. If anything, you are the coward... I hope you can make peace with throwing away everything I have done for you. You had five daughters that could have been forces to be reckoned with and could have control the kingdom through magical might and prestige. However, you treated them as nothing more than objects to be sold to the highest bidder. You turned them against their own family line and into the arms of your brother Cyndre... I guess I was wrong about him. Cyndre does nothing but twiddle his thumbs and he's a better king than you could ever be, Alaric... Such wasted potential. > His mother's voice was gone as Alaric stared at the portrait in silence like a mad man.

It took him a few minutes to realize what he was doing and took a deep breath to calmed himself down. He had been on edge for weeks now and now he's having an argument with his dead mother. He was slowly losing his grip on reality and he was sane enough to know it.

The Duke sat back down in his chair with a thud and pulled out the cubed artifact from his pocket and set it down on his desk. The runes on all six sides were glowing an eerie green light as he fed the artifact enough of his mana to power the secondary effects of the Sorcerer Slayer to last the rest of the day. The mana disruption field had an area of effect that encompassed most of the manor and it was the only protection he truly had against the dark elf. But in reality, it was nothing more than a annoying flashlight.

'It this what I've been whittled down to?' he thought, as the artifact pulsed with life. He was reduced to a paranoid, angry old man. But his pride wouldn't allow him to admit that.

Belial opened the door and entered the room once his Lord's temper tantrum ended. "My lord, Duchess Leandra wishes to speak to you," Belial said to his Lord, as he kept eyeing the painting and broken wine glass.

Alaric waved his hand for Belial to show in the Duchess. Belial bowed and left to fetch the Duchess, who was right outside the doors. Belial stepped aside to let Leandra in, and she walked into the study. She gave Alaric a look of contempt and disdain when she saw the mess her husband had made.

She's wanted to have some space to reflect on what happened during their daughter's coming-of-age party and the chaos that had ensued. However, Baroness Evelina Dravenhart along with a few other Minor Noblewomen who still support her came into the drawing room. This only made Leandra more upset as her coalition took a major hit after the party. She lost more than 75% of her support, and now she's down to a handful of Minor Noble Houses and the Baroness. Her standing in the Court has been reduced to a laughingstock and her husband's schemes were to blame. But she didn't do herself any favors either. Especially, when Rianna told the entire Court that Leandra poisoned her with Sterilith Bloom.

They both performed horribly and the Queen and Dark Elf used their mistakes to their advantage. If they didn't do something, then all maybe lost.

"I see you redecorated your—"

"Now isn't the time for your snide remarks,

Leandra," Duke Alaric said in a dour tone.

Leandra crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes at her husband. She wanted to lash out at him, but now wasn't the time to fight.

"Are you telling me that the great Alaric Revelia is running scared from that dark elf bitch?" Leandra said sarcastically.

Glared at Leandra that would have made anyone else in the Kingdom tremble in fear, but Leandra had become immune to her husband's death glare after his pathetic attempts to intimidate Rya. The dark elf showed the Duchess that she was the more dominant figure in the Court. Something that she wasn't ready to accept.

"Again, Leandra. Now is not the time," Alaric said in the same tone as before. He was trying to control his anger, and he didn't want to lash out at his wife.

"And do what? To wait here to roll over and die? Where is the man I married who knew how to get things done without relying on others to do things for him? The one who was the most feared man in the Court. The one who defies fate itself! No! You're an incompetent and pathetic excuse of a man," she said in anger. Leandra didn't know why she said that to Alaric, but she was furious. Her plans were ruined and her family's standing has dropped. She had to do something, but the only one who could help her was the man who started this mess.

Duke Alaric slammed his fist into his desk and stood up. He glared at his wife with a look that could kill. Leandra's eyes widened and she backed away from him. She had never seen him so angry before. Alaric's gaze was cold and deadly. His face was red with rage and his voice was low and dangerous.

"I'm still that man, Leandra," Duke Alaric said in a dangerous tone. "But that little whore is slowly straggling me! Our legal coffers are running dry and the black market finances are held up in one location that we can't easily access without bringing suspicious on us! I don't have the political power to destroy her, Duval is losing his position in the House of Lords, the Court is on her side, the Mage's Guild loves her, the church won't stop praising her name, while that redheaded zealot has helped her humiliate me, and I don't have the FUCKING power to FUCKING KILL HER! ALL I HAVE IS A FEW MOVES LEFT, LEANDRA!" Alaric yelled.

He slammed his fist into his desk again, causing a crack in the wood.

Leandra wanted to slap him, but that wouldn't do anything. She wanted to scream at him but that wouldn't do anything. The only thing that she could do is stand there and let Alaric vent his frustrations.

"Alaric, we need to get out of here," she said softly.

"And where would you like to go, Leandra?" Alaric said in a defeated voice. "We're trapped in the Kingdom until the Holy Alliance makes their move and even if they do and we start the uprising, that whore will send her earth minions to cull us like sheep! We're not going to make it out of this alive, Leandra. So tell me, what would you like to do now?!"

Leandra didn't know what to say. She didn't know how to respond. She didn't know how to fix this. She didn't know what to do. She looked down at the ground and was about to cry when the door opened to Alaric's study. And there, standing in the door frame was the Foreign Redhead Princess looking at the two of them.