Aida couldn’t believe the words that came out of her mouth. What was she thinking?! She felt so embarrassed that she swore she would jump off the balcony. She didn’t even know why she did it! It was the alcohol, she tried to rationalise it. 

 

She thought about that moment when Edmund sat next to her, having dinner together... it felt really nice, and she felt really special. She had never felt like this before, and she didn’t understand it. Was this how nobles swept young maidens off their feet?

 

She sat in the hot tub, and wondered... was this perhaps an infatuation? 

 

A maid waited for her. She has gotten used to having maids around. "Would you know if the Count is uh...." Aida couldn't continue it. She wanted to know if he had his sexual needs catered for, but somehow the words couldn’t come out. Was the alcohol still in her body? Why was she having these kinds of thoughts? 

 

Little did she know that Edmund’s poison had seeped into her body so lightly. 

 

"He has a night maid to serve his needs, Lady Aida. But, I am sure he would be glad to have you warm his bed." The maid said frankly with a smile. “All you need to do is knock on his door.”

 

Aida blushed. 

 

The maid resisted a laugh at Aida’s blush. "Nobility is well known for their infidelity, Lady Aida. Is it something you mind?" 

 

Aida paused.  She thought about it, and blushed some more. What right did she have to dictate who the Count can spend his time with? Even if she was his wife, that would not happen in this world. "Or... not?"

 

The maid just chuckled, as  she helped Aida out of the tub and into clean  comfortable clothes. Aida spent an hour tossing in the bed, embarrassed.

 

-

 

Edmund went to bed after his romp with Beatrica. He still had energy, but for now, his lust was sated.

 

The next day, he woke up and summoned his council, who was already there, waiting for him.

 

“Your decision, Count?”

 

“I believe the situation in the Kenarias estate is unstable, and I think we may have an opportunity soon enough. The present state will collapse, either to internal conflict, or a rebellion.” Edmund answered frankly. The population is overtaxed, and eventually they will revolt. It was a matter of time. If a revolution occurred, the Kenarias’ defenses wouldn't last. In fact, he saw the criminal elements changing side if that happened. 

 

It was common for criminals to take advantage of shifting support on the ground. 

 

“Get our army ready. We may have a rebellion to put out soon. There is something I want in the Estates." 

 

He was sure some of this news would spread, and it would trigger a gold rush.

 

Edmund smiled, and the meeting ended. 

 

He then transformed, as demons with shapeshifting powers often do, and moved into the forests. There, he summoned lesser demons by the hundreds. 

 

He commanded the lesser demons to visit the population, the citizens of the Kenarias land, and place a basket of food in front of all their doorsteps. In that same basket was a letter, written in common tongue, inciting them to a rebellion. 

-

 

Within days, the Kenarias province was a mess. Agents and criminal elements snuck into the land, searching for something, a clue. The populace, who found food and strength in the basket, and a letter that bonded them, started to rise up in places. It made the paranoid lord even more paranoid. 

 

The criminal elements were conflicted. Do they side with the Lord? Or do they let the rebellion happen?

 

Already, the Count’s armies were prepared for an unrest, his forces stationed at the doorstep. 

 

Count Edmund sent out a notice to his own internal people, “It is not my intention to meddle in the affairs of another land, but if the unrest and crime they generate spill over to my own, it is often my duty to control it. For now, the army will keep the border secure.”

 

The same notice drove the paranoid lord wild. “That greedy piece of shit of a Count!” He rode to war, he summoned his guards and his forces. 

 

But the Lord Kenarias’s guards were exhausted, his forces’ will poisoned by the letters the demons left on their doorsteps. Lord Kenarias did not deserve to rule. 

 

So, when Lord Kenarias and his horse rode towards an army of protestors, the guard hardly stopped them. The protestors pelted the Lord with stone and rock, and his enchantments gave way after the barrage.

 

He died when the angry rioters managed to get him off his horse, and pulled him to the ground. He hacked and cut so many with his sword, but doing so only drove the rioters wild. Their anger was immense, and his guards only watched.

 

Dead. Lord Kenarias was dead within a week of the riots. 

 

Instantly, the criminal elements sprung to action, attempting to seize the estate of Lord Kenarias. 

 

It went exactly as Edmund predicted. He summoned his cavalry, a large 1,000 strong force with very high morale and good equipment. “We ride to the home of Lord Kenarias. We will protect Lady Erenia from the rioters. Our mission is to retrieve Lady Erenia, her entire entourage and transport her back here.”

 

Lady Erenia was surrounded by Edmund’s loyalists, secret forces that snuck into the estate prior to the riots. They had protected the Lady and her servants, escorting them to a safe house in a forest nearby. 

 

The rioters had raided the mansion, and took the treasures that were left behind. By now the rioter’s anger was already partly sated with Lord Kenarias’s disgraceful death. It was the power-hungry and greedy that aimed for the estate of the Lord.

 

“I hope my men treated you gently, Lady Erenia.” 

 

“They were as gentle as is expected for soldiers.” Erenia responded bluntly. “You have a hand behind this?”

 

Edmund smiled. “Perhaps your husband just did not enjoy having an army right on his doorstep. ”

 

Erenia sighed, she was no longer handcuffed. “So what now?”

 

“For now, the riots will continue for weeks. It is best you and your group come with me, back to my lands. You can file a royal petition to assume the position as head of the family once you are assured of your safety. As it is, even your guards are in the criminals’ pockets.”

 

She just sighed again, but there was something beautiful about the way she sighed. She just exuded class and refinement. A well trained lady of the royal courts. He bowed slightly and extended his hand.

 

“Come, Lady Erenia, your carriage awaits.”