Chương 142: Chapter 163: The Scamp

Junia, the ducal heir to Pinking, lowered herself to the settee next to her husband, taking his hand.

"Forgive us if this is presumptuous, Lady Natalie, but we would like to discuss your inheritance." I glanced from her to Millstrong, the ducal prince of Greifir, who was sitting next to his own wife on a padded love seat at the other side of the mantled fireplace. They were positioning themselves to help put me at ease. He offered a half-grimace of chagrin.

"I would understand if you would rather have a companion or relation with you for this, lest it seem we are ambushing you. But we felt it important that you know the stakes of this conversation before you decide the scope of our party." Settling my skirt around me, I took a seat in a comfortable-looking club chair.

"I am genuinely grateful that you chose to do it in this order. No, I think I would be most comfortable having this discussion just among us." I glanced at the guards standing by the door. If Millstrong was comfortable trusting in the silence and discretion of his guards, so was I. Crossing my legs before me and crossing my hands over my knee, I leaned back.

"I am intrigued to hear your thoughts on this matter," I invited the two of them to speak first. Millstrong took a glance from Junia and nodded.

"A year ago we all would have said that it's a settled matter," he said, with what felt like a rehearsed speech.

"Your brother was your father's only son. And the eldest. And he had a less complicated personal history," he said, and took a pause for all of us to share meaningful glances, acknowledging the conspicuous euphemism for "Nathan doesn't have a prison record". The Greifir man cleared his throat to end that moment.

"And, Meadowtam has rather parochial rules about inheritance, being one of the few duchies left that only passes titles to sons. So, when your parents had one son and one daughter, and no more children after, we had spent over a decade now thinking that there would be no question of the future of Harigold leadership." He clasped his hands between his knees and shot a look over to Junia. She smirked.

"I've had only brief conversations with your brother, and so I've had to gather what indirect information I can from those he does speak with. And the largest impression is that he too believes this is a settled issue with no possibility of deviation. That perhaps he is not aware of the role that the High Council plays in approving birthright succession. Which, I will grant, is a minor role. The Council is largely toothless, save for its ability to pressure the Court of the High Council.

Honestly, the Council does little of import, it is largely an outlet for the disagreements between houses and factions. But the court? Ah, that is different." She resettled her handhold on her husband's palm.

"It is possible that your brother has not considered that a challenge of succession is settled in the courts of the same strata. At the ducal level, that means the High Court. A venue you have already contended in."

"I have," I admitted ruefully.

"And I was ill-prepared for it. I took as given that the performance in court would ultimately determine the outcome. In truth, it only determined the rationale for the outcome. The true work was done in the Council, which I neglected."

"You did," Junia said patiently.

"And you are unlikely to repeat such a blunder." Millstrong leaned forward to indicate he had something to say.

"My colleague here is a fan of yours, Lady Natalie. She admires your gumption and pragmatism. I prefer to rule on matters of character and virtue. She may be a supporter of leaders who can get things done, I consider myself a supporter of leaders who have the best path forward." He paused, and smiled just a little slyly.

"Which also puts me in support of your bid, Lady Natalie. Are we correct in interpreting your actions as a precursor to such a bid?"

"You are," I acknowledged easily.

"I am only recently arrived to ambition, but I find I like the taste of it. All my life I had assumed my path was cast, that I would marry off as a pawn or a collateral and Nathan would inherit. This has never sat well with me, but I was resigned to that role in the name of duty. However, I find that if the interests of the duchy of Meadowtam and its people are in conflict with the traditions of the Harigold family, I feel the call of duty more strongly from the people than from the traditions.

The past may be honorable, but it does not bleed." He leaned back as if relieved.

"The Greifir are known as a house hidebound to tradition and history. Most overlook that our tradition is one of service, our history is one of sacrifice. We see your lands suffering, and we ask ourselves which heir will serve the people, defend them, nurse them to health."

"A question?" I spoke up.

"The pageantry on the ballroom, you incited me to rage and then called me back. What was that in service to?" Junia tapped the side of her nose.

"That was my plan, my lady. A little sophistry. I wanted the harpies and muckrakers to see him give offense and have to beg you back. It would portray the rest of our announcements in a favorable light. Let the gossips speculate what it was he said and what we said in this chambers- if we come out of this room supporting your aspirations after pleading your indulgence, the only interpretation is good for you.

And, regrettably, you are quite well-known for being unable to color your truth (which speaks to your virtue as far as we are concerned), but it requires that if we were to create this perception in the onlookers, we would need to catch you by surprise." My eyes narrowed.

"That is rather complex." Then again, Pinking is known to be rather convoluted.

"But necessary," she said.

"If we smiled to everyone with polite eyes, and spoke in chambers, and came out to announce that you were our favorite, it would be assumed you had campaigned for the station. Bribed us, perhaps. Or threatened really, your reputation is versatile. However, if Millstrong and I are seen to pursue you for this role, it casts a different light over the whole proceeding. It shifts the perception from you as a power-hungry social climber to one of you as a talented heir with broad-based appeal.

All for the price of a minute's worth of theater." I turned to Millstrong and narrowed my eyes again.

"I had thought Greifir more stoic and squared-away than to play that sort of games." Honestly, my read on that house had always been that they were humorless, stiff-necked sticklers. Lawful-good but occasionally brushing against lawful-stupid, so driven by their honor that they were a hazard to themselves and their allies. Millstrong gave a dry, rueful smile.

"In a churchyard, yes. On a field of battle, without question. In a ballroom?... Well, Lady Natalie, let it not be said this was my first time making an ass of myself in conversation with a lady, nor my first time craving forgiveness. Doing so with intent aforehand is a new experience." I shifted my gaze to Junia.

"Your idea. Are you a bad influence?"

"I am a pragmatic influence who is aware of the nature of this battlefield terrain," she said with a smirk, settling back against her husband, who so far had barely murmured in his own voice.

"Pinking," I sighed, rolling my eyes. The mad House. The unpredictable, the fickle. The mysterious ones that know too much. Too wise, too well-informed. Too carefree and too self-assured. Even when they're smiling to your face, you feel like they're smiling behind your back. Like they know a secret you're not supposed to know and they're all too amused to keep to themselves. Not the worst ally the Harigold family could have among the Development faction. But not the best either.

"Pinking," she echoed, smiling all the way to her eyes. She knows her family's reputation. Hell, she is right now deliberately feeding into that reputation. Even her husband seems amused right now.

"I am honored," I said carefully, "but I do want to make sure I do not agree too quickly. You must be aware that I come with some baggage, er, history with connotations."

"And that would absolutely bother the leadership of Eyellon, or Nhullit, or Aumerje," Millstrong acknowledged.

"But you will find that my people are very accepting of heroic violence done in a good cause. As the family legend says, we are the reason that the Vendetta Defense is allowed to the High Court." Junia accepted a highball glass from one of the servers.

"And of course everyone knows that my House is the first ones to abandon propriety on a whim. So why do we care?" Her tone was overly flippant. She was hiding plans and machinations in that smile. But if she's willing to fall back on we're just like this, what can you do? then there's not much I can say to rattle her.

"So, you're not put off by the fact that I've killed before, I see that," I said.

"Now that I understand why you are not discouraged, may I ask what it is that recommended me over my brother?"

"Mostly the fact that you are trying," Millstrong said. He glanced over at his wife, and then his son.

"You are putting forth the effort and initiative. You study hard, you meet people, you have cultivated contacts at all levels-" Junia interrupted.

"That's the one that really fascinates me. Sure, you're on speaking terms with every duke and duchess, and a nasty-looks-from-across-the- room terms with the royals. Your friends are mostly counts and countesses. But you are on planning committees with dames and knights. You immediately engaged with me when you thought I was a baroness. You are on a first-name basis with some of the most impoverished backwoods peasants I could have imagined-""In Zhudten?" I asked, to clarify.

"Precisely. You won't attend church with a noble, you recently gave up a full month of weekends to sit and just converse with the people of Broghton, which is a city in Hearster that is administered by Eyellon and funded by Pinking. You have no stake there. You walk into adventurer taverns, dray-horse stables, legal offices and ballrooms with the same comfort. When my associate Millstrong says you cultivated contacts at all levels, I have to emphasize how impressive that really is."

"You earned a law degree so you could interact with the courts," Millstrong said, picking up where he left off.

"You've gone out in the field, you've engaged the arts. You're a hero among your classmates, and almost everywhere else you've ever been!" Where I come from earning a law degree is impressive because it's hard. Here, it's considered impressive just because the process is so stupid. Like graduating clown college: maybe it's impressive that you did, but don't bring it up in every context, feel me? Junia nodded.

"Meanwhile, your brother barely attends social events at all. He honestly appears far more interested in matchmaking than he is in learning the duties of a ruler." She quirked a grin at me.

"And, if I may say so, it's interesting and refreshing to see that you two seem to have reversed the typical dynamic that would be expected of you. Normally a girl of your station and age would be shown around like an exhibit ahead of an auction, while he would be pushed to earn accolades for achievement." And that train of thought put a whammy on me, for sure. Has Nathan stepped back to a more passive role that would have been reserved for me? Is this an effect of him being raised as a twin and not an only child?

Or as a result of having me for a twin? Butterfly effect from the difference in our upbringing? Or is it part of the game mechanics leaking in, like there's only room for one Harigold heir to be pursuing the plotline. Or the goddess just messing with stuff. Or- fuck, is it just because I straight up stole his part in the story? Is that the reason he doesn't want to step up to the hero's role? I've based a lot of assumptions for many years on the understanding that he's still the protagonist, the hero of the story.

I can still look at him and see the [Protagonist] tag on him. But what if he just... isn't? That's a lot to think about. Come back to it later.

"Hah, I'll confess I was surprised that you've approached me with this. I was planning to try to arrange conference with both your houses in a few months. I had thought to campaign for your support." Millstrong snapped off a hearty laugh.

"Lady Natalie, I had been under the impression that these past months was your campaign for our support."

"Well, I did want to make a strong showing. I wanted to have a catalog of reasons to support my bid. But I was not going to bring it to anyone's attention for some time yet." Junia smiled indulgently.

"Ah. Then you have underestimated our attention. You have already attracted enough of it, and the more attention we put upon your activities, the more attention seemed warranted." I cocked my head to the side.

"Did you mean for that to sound just a little ominous? It sort of came out that way." Her husband Dawe favored me a small smile.

"I promise you she did that on purpose. She's a scamp, is my Junia!" This man is going to be a duke. He uses 'scamp' unironically. Amazing.

"Not to mention," Millstrong said, "that you have been extremely industrious these past several weeks, building up a base of support among the other houses. Ours most of all, but also currying some favor and doling out some favors among several others. So it was becoming increasingly obvious that you were building towards a very large move, and raising your profile.

Your allegations against the Freckentops, which they have mishandled at every turn, has made you a cause célèbre, and in that wake you are behaving much like a senator who does not like their poll numbers." Democracy has never really caught on here, but it's not unheard-of. I think three of the duchies have some sort of senate, with varying degrees of influence or authority.

In fact, about the most influential expression of any democracy here is the High Council, in that it gathers representatives of each of the Great Houses and lets them argue about anything that isn't important without ever accomplishing anything. Other than to give orders to the High Court. Or, to put it more plainly: the only thing that ever gets decided by popular vote is the outcome of major court decisions. Everything else is fiat decree, but justice is a popularity contest.

"I suppose," I admitted, "that is pretty much what it would look like. I may have misunderstood the perception I was generating with these actions and their pace. I fancy myself a fast learner, but I need to frequently remind myself that I am very new to all this, others have been watching these gyrations far longer than I have, and learning by rote will never teach you perspective and balance."

"I thought that might be the case," Millstrong said.

"To those of us that watch this occupation with interest, you certainly seem to be bustling hard, thrusting yourself at every opportunity for advancement, clawing for every inch of advantage, and driving straight towards a clearly marked finish line: to be declared your parents' heir. No disrespect intended, Lady Natalie, but your actions have all shared earmarks that are easily interpreted.

In fact, I should think that most of the people you will encounter in the tour of society have already seen what your goal is. Well, all save one."

"Save who?" I asked, pursing my lips slightly.

"Your brother," Junia chuckled.

"Likely the only person who commands invitations at his level that has less experience here than you do. He plays at this occupation as a hobby." I sighed ruefully.

"When I first came here I deeply wanted that for myself. I said to myself 'why should I let myself be caught up in gaudy displays of status and influence?' It sounded exhausting and pointless. I seemed like a complete waste of everyone's time. Took me very little time to realize that if you're not on top of the wheel, you're underneath the wheel, and once it is rolling over you it is very hard to get back on top. Over and over things were just going wrong for me, and I could not figure out why at first.

But when I pushed for answers, it was the same answer each time."

"The Houses," Junia said.

"The Houses," I acknowledged.

"I've gotten my chance to get out from under the wheel. I don't think I'll get lucky like that again." Millstrong hesitated.

"And you're copacetic if your brother goes, as you say, under the wheels?"

"Not at all," I said.

"But I can only rescue one of us. And," I hesitated, "if I don't choose myself, then I fear he will fall and fail on his own. And then we will be hand-in-hand in misery. I cannot force him to succeed, I control only my own life." And that fucking hurts to say. I've only recently decided to accept this. The hard truth is that I'm not playing the game any more. I can't direct him. I can't choose his future for him. I only have one chance to save this world, I am not the backup plan if he fails.

And it fucking hurts to sit here with these near-strangers and admit that if I have to, I would choose myself over Nathan. And I entered this world determined to never choose that. Things were less complicated when this was a game.