Lucien sat quietly with Kun, listening as the conversation turned toward House Vale and everything that had happened recently.
"House Vale really has suffered a great deal," Lucien said after a moment. "They were already a small Aristocratic house, and then the old emperor of the Arcana Empire forced them into that situation. I doubt they ever imagined that surviving would eventually place them against so many of the great nobles."
Kun shook his head. "It wasn't that House Vale didn't understand the consequences. They simply had no other choice. If they had accepted what the old emperor demanded, they would have died. What the old emperor underestimated was the strength and pride of the old Aristocratic houses."
Lucien sighed quietly.
