"Do you want to change your fate, my lady? Or do you want to understand it?"
As the question hung in the air, heavy and suffocating in the silence of my room. I looked at Adel as her face was illuminated by the dim light of the moon.
I was confused by her words. To me, they sounded like the same path to survival.
"Is there a difference between them?" I asked her. "If I don't change the ending of the book, surely I will die… If I just understand it, isn't that just accepting the inevitable? Isn't that just watching myself walk towards my own death?"
I looked down at the red book on the table as my hands clenched into fists.
"I tried to change it with the orphanage… I tried to save Bo's daughter… and the result was ashes," I whispered as the guilt resurfaced in my chest. "If changing it leads to this retaliation, and understanding it leads to death, what choice do I have?"
Adel just shook her head slowly. "No, my lady. They are vastly different."
She took a step closer to the desk, and her gaze shifted to the book.
"To change fate is to fight the flow with your bare hands. Imagine a river, to change fate, it means you fight the river's current with your bare hands," Adel began to explain with her steady and calm voice. "It is what you did with the four children and the orphanage. You saw the result written in this book, and you tried to erase it by force. You acted blindly, only seeing the end you wanted to avoid."
She paused for a moment and looked back at me.
"That is changing it. You fight the outcome, and as Gennaia told you, the current fight back. It creates retaliation. You tried to break the dam without knowing where the water would go."
"Then what is understanding it?"
"To understand fate is to study the map of the river, my lady," Adel replied. "It is not looking at the ending, but looking at the flow of it. If you understand the flow, you do not need to fight the current. You navigate it. You use the flow to go where you want, without the river realising you had altered its course."
She placed a finger on the cover of my book.
"You do not stop the event. You just need to redirect it. You do not destroy the plot. You just need to steal it."
I looked at Adel as the weight of her words settled over me.
"So, you are saying… instead of trying to stop the orphanage… I should have understood who was running it first? I should have used the flow against them?"
"Precisely," Adel answered. "Changing fate is an act of desperation. However, understanding fate is an act of strategy. So, which path will you choose, my lady?"
I took a deep breath. "I want to understand it…"
"Then we must study the next event immediately," Adel said. "What is the next event from the book?"
"The Hunting Gathering…"
"We need to know about the information about this gathering."
I sat at my desk and opened the red book to the date of Hunting Gathering, 761 NE-08-17. I read the entry carefully.
The Hunting Gathering. The Royal Family and the Eight Dukes assemble. The Crown Prince enters the forest and returns with the Grand Prize—a White Stag.
I continue reading with my eyes narrowed at the text that dictated my own future.
In front of the court and the Dukes, the Crown Prince does not present the prize to her mother, the Queen, or his betrothed, Aurelia. He awards his hunting prize to 'Her'. Using this shock to capture the court's attention. 'She' uses the moment to speak with the Duchess of the North, Valerie Valerius, influencing her to support her cause against the house of Aurelius.
I closed the book and looked up at Adel with a cold realisation washing over me.
"This is the flow," I said. "In the book, the Crown Prince will give his catch to 'She' or the Main Character. This act humiliates me or the 'Villainess', and gives the Main Character the political leverage she needs to influence the Duchess."
"And the identity of this 'Main Character'?" Adel asked.
"Unknown," I replied. "The book never names her. It simply uses the pronoun only."
"If we do not know who she is, we cannot stop her directly," Adel noted. "Wait, my lady!" Adel suddenly interjected, "Did you just say this Main Character wants to influence the Duchess? It's not Lady Eliana, right?"
"I believe not; the book just states the Duchess of the North, Valerie Valerius…"
"Valerie Valerius… I believe we need Lady Octavi in this matter, as the Valarius gens is a lineage of warriors unlike any other. Lady Octavi, as your tutor, would know their customs best."
"Then bring her here," I said.
"Is it really okay to bring here the aftermath of the duel, my lady?" Adel asked, her voice low.
She wasn't talking about the physical injuries. She was talking about pride. In the Grandeur Sparring, Lady Octavi, a Knight of the White Order, had lost to Milo. To the public, it looked like a shocking upset. However, I knew the truth. My mother had whispered to Lady Octavi right before the match. She had ordered Octavi to lose, to hide the true strength of the Aurelius family and to let the Blue Order Royal Guard (Milo) take the spotlight.
Octavi may have swallowed her knightly honour for the sake of my family's political safety.
"It must be hard for her," I replied. "If she can sacrifice her pride for my mother, I need to know if she will lend her wisdom to me." As I remembered, Lady Octavi was the first person with whom I had shared my secret; she swore fealty and loyalty to protect me at that time.
"As you wish, my lady."
Adel went out of the room. Moments later, the door opened. Lady Octavi stepped in. She was dressed in her formal attire at this time, as the moon was bright, everyone took a rest, and she wore her formal attire. Her face wore a mask of perfect, stoic calm. However, I could sense a stiffness in her shoulders that wasn't there before, the weight of public defeat.
"Adel tells me you wish to discuss the North, my lady," Lady Octavi said and bowed to me.
"I wish to discuss its ruler," I corrected. "Duchess Valerie Valerius."
Lady Octavi's expression tightened instantly. "On what occasion does my lady want to discuss about Duchess Valerie?"
"On occasion, saving my own life…" I said with a steely tone.
Lady Octavi took a deep breath and swallowed hard before responding, "Is this about the book you had shared with me, my lady? A book about your own death?"
"Yes…as you already know about the situation, could you please help discuss Duchess Valerie?"
She walked slowly towards me and my desk, "The Iron Maiden of the North…She is… a difficult subject, my lady."
"A difficult subject? Why?"
"Because she is the only anomaly among the Eight Dukes," Lady Octavi explained as she was in front of me. "The Duchy of Valerius operates under Matriarchal Law, different from the Kingdom's Law. It is the only territory in the kingdom where titles, land, and absolute command pass solely to daughters…"
"Why can this duchy pass the Matriarchal Law, as the Kingdom doesn't adopt that law?
"Because the kingdom couldn't contain her. Duchess Valerie is a force to be reckoned with, her power and influence extending beyond the traditional boundaries of the kingdom. It's like your family, my lady. As the kingdom couldn't control the duke or duchess, the kingdom just let them have their own way…"
She paused for a moment. "However, the problem of why the Kingdom couldn't control her isn't just her, but the army…"
"The army?"
"Men in the North are not rulers; they are the Phalanx. The Northern army. They are bred for one thing only: Battle. They are the most disciplined force in the kingdom because their mothers raise them with discipline and strict training from a young age. Their loyalty to the duchess is unwavering, making it difficult for the kingdom to challenge her authority. They do not fear death; they only fear dishonour."
"And Duchess Valerie commands them?"
"She is the Apex," Lady Octavi corrected. "Imagine a group of predators; she is the apex of it. She is just sitting and waiting as the others search and battle for food. However, she got to eat first and half of that food. She doesn't need to order them, as they already know what she wants. She is known as 'Cold Blood' because she never shows emotion in court. She despises the capital. She is anti-social, refuses to attend balls, and only attends the Hunt because it is the one event that involves battle and skill." She continued, "I believe she doesn't attend the Grandeur Sparring…"
"I see…You have described her as a monstrous being… However, what about Lady Eliana? She is also known for her warrior capability. Is she not the same?"
Lady Octavi shook her head. "They are as different as ice and fire, my lady. If Valerie's domain is a wall of iron shields, then Romgardia's domain is a storm of axes."
"A storm?"
"The Valerians are disciplined. They fight as one unit, the Phalanx. They do not fear death because they are trained to see it as a duty. But the Romgardians…They do not fear death because they seek it. They are wild, ferocious, and loud. They believe that a warrior's worth is measured by how many enemies they take with them to the grave. They are Berserkers."
"So, Lady Eliana is the leader of these… Berserkers?"
"She is the strongest among them. In Romgardia, they do not follow a bloodline of matriarchs like Valerius. They follow the one who strikes the hardest or the strongest. Lady Eliana leads her court alone because no man has been able to defeat her. To them, battle is not like a duty, but it's like a celebration."
"I see...."