Chapter 6:
A “Fun” School Trip
WHEN THE SCHOOL TRIP was almost upon them, some bad news reached Julius. Sadly, the one delivering it was his betrothed, Angelica Rapha Redgrave.
As a duke’s daughter, Angelica had grown up around Julius. She had lustrous, shining blonde hair, carefully braided and pinned up on her head. Her crimson eyes were particularly piercing, which reflected her strong will. She’d been raised like a princess in her house, and had received a cutting-edge education to prepare her to be the nation’s next queen. She was a breathtaking woman and would one day be Julius’s wife.
Yet, for all the history between them, Julius found Angelica insufferable.
Angelica was brief and curt in delivering the news. “Father has arranged for you to join the discussions, Your Highness.”
The date of the discussions was written clearly at the top of an ostentatious document. Julius’s fingers tightened at its edges, wrinkling the entire page. Anyone else would’ve been surprised to see him react so emotionally, but only because they wouldn’t know that the date selected for the meeting seemed too purposeful to Julius.
“Duke Redgrave is awfully sadistic to schedule discussions that coincide with the school trip,” said Julius. “No, let me guess. You chose this date, didn’t you, Angelica?”
She frowned at him. “Please consider the situation instead of throwing accusations, Your Highness. Houses Offrey and Lafan have both fallen, and their noble titles have been revoked. That will cause great unrest within the aristocracy. As for the date…” she hesitated, then said, “I can only ask for your understanding.”
Up until their demise, the Offreys had been the source of a great many horrifying rumors. The Lafans hadn’t been much better; they’d abandoned their duties as a noble house, resorting to complete debauchery until they lost in battle. The Roseblades were the ones who’d carried out the capture of the Lafans and Offreys, but Leon Bartfort and his family had been the real masterminds behind it.
To protect the crown’s authority, the palace claimed responsibility for stripping both houses of their titles and land. The Roseblades and Bartforts were content to let them do so, since they still benefited greatly in the process.
Julius hated such behind-the-scenes power plays.
“The administration itself was at fault for overlooking the Offreys’ misdeeds for so long. Now that someone else has stepped in to deal with them, they’re just scrambling to save face,” he said sardonically. “Isn’t that right? And the Roseblades played the game well. They’ve reaped all the benefits, while they’ve left the hard work of cleaning up afterward to the palace.”
Angelica’s face fell. “I passed the message along. I’ll excuse myself now,” she said, quickly striding out.
Jilk stood behind Julius at a slight angle. His face betrayed no emotion, but there was a thread of annoyance in his voice as he said, “She very likely found out our plans for the school trip.”
“I feel badly about what we did to Chris,” Julius replied, his expression clouding. “Especially now that all of our efforts were in vain.”
They were alluding to the groups their year had been split into for the school trip. The groups determined during a student’s first year remained fixed for the next two until graduation. Julius’s guilt was over the fact that Chris Fia Arclight had originally been placed in the same group as Olivia.
“Indeed.” Jilk sighed. “It’s incredibly unfortunate. In order to be assigned to Olivia’s group, we went to all the trouble of speaking to a teacher we had connections with…and now this.”
They’d gone to so much trouble rigging things in their favor only to be thwarted in the end, prevented from going on the trip. It had all been wasted effort.
“And those machinations nudged Chris into a different group. You didn’t orchestrate that intentionally, did you?” Julius gave Jilk a pointed look. “I never told you to go that far.”
Jilk recoiled. “I’d never do something like that. I admit that he and Miss Olivia seem awfully close, but I wouldn’t stoop to the point of intervening between them.”
“We can say it wasn’t our intention. But that doesn’t matter much, given the results. We hardly look innocent,” Julius said, self-derision in his voice.
“Yes. I suppose you have a point there.”
They at least agreed that they really didn’t have a leg to stand on in this matter; they were guilty.
“Chris probably has no idea what we did,” Julius continued. “Still, we’ll have to take action later to make it up to him.”
“I’ll prepare him something by way of apology,” Jilk assured the prince, then changed the subject. “That aside, Miss Angelica is proving quite the problem.”
Jilk and Julius shared a suspicion that Angelica had orchestrated all these discussions to get in the way of their quality time with Olivia.
Julius shook his head. “I honestly never thought she’d go this far. She sacrificed her own participation in the trip to stay here at the palace for these discussions.”
It was ironic that these meetings were innocuously termed “discussions,” when in reality they were part of the ongoing faction war between the aristocrats. This latest incident had affected the power dynamic, and Julius and Jilk rightly suspected that Duke Redgrave was moving to counterbalance the shift that had been created.
Jilk stared at the door Angelica had disappeared through earlier. “She’s a very passionate woman. Her greatest fault is not recognizing when that zeal goes too far.”
“Passionate, hm…?” A momentary silence passed between them. At last, Julius sighed. “And…? How are things shaping up within the palace?”
“Duke Redgrave is openly praising the Roseblades and Bartforts for the roles they played. He claims they set a shining example by upholding the noble code of conduct.”
Julius stared at Jilk, surprised. “Duke Redgrave is praising them? Even though they were responsible for this whole debacle?”
“Yes. After all, the Offreys were part of Marquess Frampton’s faction.”
The Redgrave faction directly opposed the Framptons. By taking down the Offreys, the Roseblades and Bartforts had dealt Marquess Frampton a devastating blow, indirectly benefiting Duke Redgrave and his house.
A shadow fell over Julius’s face. “More infighting between factions?”
“I very much doubt that Duke Redgrave is truly pleased with how much the Roseblades and Bartforts have profited from this. That said, he’s at least grateful that it disadvantaged his rival.” Jilk let out a long sigh. “The politics of it all are unpleasant, to say the least.”
In the political realm, today’s friend could become tomorrow’s enemy. Constant infighting and vying for superiority were part and parcel of life in Holfort’s aristocracy. Julius detested it. He stared up at the ceiling, pressing a fist to his forehead. Nothing matters more to them than whether their faction comes out on top. I really hate the society the adults have cultivated.
“The Roseblades and Bartforts really stuck their noses where they didn’t belong,” said Julius. “Let me guess—they’re still participating in the school trip, aren’t they?”
“It seems so.” Jilk shrugged as he delivered the unfortunate news.
“I suspected as much.”
The ones who’d caused this whole mess could still enjoy the trip. It really got under Julius’s skin.