---

"Damned villagers... fuck."

"..."

"Ehh..."

"..."

"I hope the same thing doesn't happen....yet...again" - muttered Sir Derek Astranion, riding his faithful mare Tilly across the beaten dirt roads.

All the knight could hear was the sound of his horse's hooves breaking the gloomy silence of the surrounding coniferous forests.

"Hopefully it won't end up like last time...."

"...But they will never change , right?" - thought the tall knight as he carefully observed his surroundings, whether or not something strange was happening , near him. He had once let his caution go, one time too many.

"I wouldn't want to maim the peasants again for trying to cheat the Baron , though..." - he said.

"Whatever... they are not my peasants.... it's not my problem, if they're gone I won't lose anything."

"Last village and taxes for this season settled. Gods help me." - he added.

"Then the same way back..." Thought the knight, wondering what to do next.

"Ehh..How much longer...." he sighed once again while inhaling the cool forest air.

The tranquil atmosphere and the myriad of free time made his thoughts return to the past once again. The rays of the rising sun shone through the treetops as he began to recall the sad past.

"Derek how did you do it that you ended up in such a place?" He asked himself for the second time still regretting.

"You, a proud son of the House of Astanion, named after the great and merciful Goddess of the Moon, ended up serving some baron. On top of that, you have to collect taxes from the commoners, without being able to practice and try to be even better than before. What a downfall of a man."

"Instead of advancing in the hierarchy, you have to spend several weeks on horseback traveling from village to village, sleeping in roadside inns and tiring of the villagers, trying to take from them and extort even the smallest copper coin. Don't they fucking learn from their mistakes?"

"I understand that the baron is not respected.... though I don't blame them."

"I would have behaved the same way myself.... well, it's almost the edge of rebellion."

"..."

"So Derek, how did you do it"

"..."

"Instead of defending the border he sends me away.... could it be that the Baron has dropped on his head by sending away his strongest knight, as he does not seem sane looking at his previous decision.... "

"In the flesh he certainly isn't. " thought Derek frustrated by his helplessness.

"Damn fat man , probably even with this belly , his wife can not satisfy in bed. Children are probably not even his , the stable boy must have a good time with the baroness."

"His wife can't even take her eyes off that farmhand, since she's probably is disgusted by the fat man's chubby appearance." - cursed Derek loudly, once again insulting the hated pig, not even caring anymore that someone might hear him. Fortunately for him, he was in a place where there should not be a living soul.

"Ehh..." sighed Derek as he calmed his grumbling emotions. He knew that anger would not lead him to anything good.

"I should have listened to my mother when she told me to fight for the position of head of the house. She may have been a woman but still she had a head on her shoulders." He thought without stopping to regret the mistakes of his youth.

"At least my father ... was a decent man..., he allowed all three of us to run for the position of prince and even as the third son from a different mother I had the chance to rule the family lands."

"..."

"But no... I had to be stubborn and practice sword fighting instead of learning politics, land management, ethics and all the rest that my father wanted to force into my head. I had to be wiser."

"I didn't even care about gaining connections with other nobles , what was on my mind at the time that I rejected supporters who wanted to support me on the path of succession?"

"I was stupid , but at least now I am not. I'm not."

...

"And here I am, the proud son of a former prince, one of the best knights of the kingdom .... wearing a parody of knightly armor with an inferior wooden shield and a worn-out iron sword, serving some parochial baron. HEH."

"How far have I fallen?" Asked Derek himself without expecting an answer to the obvious question.

"..."

"At least the fat man, he didn't skimp on the horse, the fucking miser."

"Right Tilly?" Asked Derek his faithful steed , gently stroking her neck.

At his touch the horse only roared joyfully and did not stop advancing through the forest.

"I was young and foolish , naive to think that I could achieve something by the strength of my own body alone, without the support of family and friends, but .

"I think, that's why I survived the purge. I survived because I was not corrupt, they had nothing on me..."

"..."

"Ehh..."

"Who would expect such behavior from the calm and noble William, it only took the death of his father for the calm and composed William to turn into a ruthless murderer. Poor Henry, it didn't have to end like this."

"Everyone could go their own way and lead a good life , right?"

"..."

"Who am I trying to fool, of course it had to end like this."

"Even I survived only because I posed no threat to the new prince, I had no contacts, no friends, nothing and no one to back up my claim to the title."

" While Henry , had everything I can only dream of now and much more. He was in a constant race with William over who would become the next prince and inherit his father's inheritance in full."

" Sadly, Henry, as the second son, had a much harder time and, as expected in the end, lost the race through one minor stumble." Thought a frustrated Derek.

"Woman..."

"..."

"Maybe if Henry had won, it wouldn't have ended for me the way it does now?"

"..."

"William became the new Prince of the North, and Henry died in an accident a few days after William was named the new prince. The accident..."

" Obviously everyone knew that it was not an accident even Henry expected it and did not even run away, he wanted to die with dignity as the son of a prince and not like some rat stabbed in bed.

"I... I don't know if I would have acted that way in his place."

"..."

"No regrets, one death is better than the alternative of civil war." whispered the knight, accepting the gravity of the former situation.

"Brother fights brother , vassals choose the side that will give them the most benefit. Probably even I would have to choose a side which brother to support."

"What if we fought like this , destroying our ancestral lands that are not famous for their fertility, lands, palaces, villages, killing innocents in the process. Then the other princes would just wait until we were the weakest, least ready and then attack. Further destroying the peace of the kingdom."

"At some point, even the royal family would have to step in to stop the madness , which could lead to a revolt by the nobility. One war leading to another and another."

"An endless circle of hatred," he thought horrified with the specter of endless civil war before his eyes.

"Yes one death sounds better than the senseless death of thousands of innocents."

"Yes , Henry had to die...for the greater good.... had to, had to..."

"..."

"Just why did that bastard William have to direct his anger at me as well?"

"After all, I didn't do anything to him."

"I just wanted to quietly serve the kingdom as one of the order's knights, and then find some pretty woman who would give me an heir. Eventually I would leave the service just looking at the development of my descendants."

"Oh what a great life it would be."

"Did I want too much?"

"..."

"But no, that bastard must have taken everything from me, my mother, my future, my beloved..., and he didn't even spare my favorite armor and sword!" shouted the knight, losing all composure by now, his huge amount of mana began to spill over, testifying to his immense anger.

Feeling the threat of death sitting on its back, the horse will stand as if bolted to the ground, unwilling to interrupt its rider's thoughts, thereby suffering his undisguised fury.

"I had to run like a dog with my tail tucked, as far from his reach as possible!" Shouted Derek even hissing, pouring out his undisguised hatred for his older brother.

"Maybe even now Baron Isembert is doing his bidding behind my back, making life difficult for me, just to please the new Prince of the North."

"Hrrrr..." Derek began to growl like an animal , inhaling the cold air between his teeth

"..."

"The only reason the fat man is still alive is that thanks to him I have a permanent roof over my head and don't have to look behind my back to see if someone is trying to murder me. I will never go back to those days, never."

"Only three more seasons Derek.... just three and you will be freed from all the agony, all the suffering you will be able to showcase your skills in the best environment for that." Thought the knight already calmly looking to the future.

"Because even a person as powerful as the prince of the north will not stop what is to come," he added.

"War."