Gutian Territory, in the East of the Golden Valley Kingdom.
Count Baltsar swirled the fine, amber-colored wine in his glass, thoroughly pleased with himself as he basked in the fawning laughter around him.
He was in the brightly lit banquet hall of a lavish manor, a place of boisterous laughter and clamor, as if sealed off from the outside world.
Inside the hall, many pretty commoner girls with terrified eyes were forced into ill-fitting, magnificent dresses, trembling as they served the nobles food and wine.
They had not been chosen for their beauty, but had been reduced to tools for the nobles to flaunt their power and satisfy their twisted desire for dominance.
Baltsar watched a girl nervously spill a few drops of wine. He chuckled softly, showing no anger.
This feeling of superiority, of holding the power of life and death over others, was an essential spice for the banquet.
