Road To The Crown

"I don"t care about her being or not under the governor protection. Just like you said, sir brother, she is no longer under his care, meaning that her family word is the one thing that should matter! And since they promised her to me, should I take your attempts at winning her fancy as a personal attack on my dignity?"

This guy really didn"t know where to give up! But well, the fun was only starting, so it would be hard to expect him to just give away his chance at stealing the Pilzno from her just like that. With Ropian and Pilzno under him at the same time, he would be able to undermine the effort of my great ancestors of establis.h.i.+ng Tarnow as the main trade hub for the area, and not only steal the profits from the tariffs that made up most of my family income, but also turn into the powerhouse of the region!

"I don"t care about your dignity, nor your face or anything else. All I care for is my fiancee… And you better stop caressing the handle of your sabre. Did you forget that you are here as my guest? Don"t make me lose my own face by spilling the blood of guest after treating him to a feast!"

Even though attacking one"s guest after offering him food and drinks - a tradition that evolved from offering one"s bread and salt in an act of hospitality - if he were to do as much as show even a hint of clear disrespect towards me, killing him and then forcefully claiming his possessions as reparations would be all within my rights!

While it was regretful that I could scan him to check his status and compare it with mine so that I could gauge whether my innate abilities would allow me to best him at a duel, being the host gave me the right to refuse his challenge and simply swarm him with my companions and militia in he was to attempt making as much as single move on me!

"I didn"t come here to pick up a fight, just to pick up my fiancee. I still hope that sir brother won"t make it any more troublesome than it has to be. After all, since her family already promised her to me, even if you were to take her by force, without their blessing you won"t get anywhere!"

Regretfully, despite my clear provocation, this guy somehow managed to keep his calm and even respond with a smile to my bait. Despite how little of value did this letter potentially presented, he still acted as if could change the outcome of this meeting!

But what would be the point of just refusing him outright? I had to make it clear that I wouldn"t give Elia up, and use this mediation falling apart as casus beli to accuse her step-family of trying to poach her lands from her.

With no way to connect the bandits" attack to them, my best bet would be baiting the envoy into spilling the beans in the open while various people could serve as witnesses to his emotional testimony, but just a single look in Peter"s clear eyes told me that continuing to bait him wouldn"t get me anywhere.

"Since you are soo keen on using the promise that"s supposed to be in this letter, break it seal and allow one of my servants to read it so that we can know that you are not trying to lie your way in the first place!"

No matter whether this letter of the promise was legit or not, my request only aimed to flare him up. In both cases, he was bound to refuse to hand it over, as that would mean losing his only leverage in the discussion if I were to s.n.a.t.c.h the letter from his hands through the help of my servants.

"Give it to your people? In your dreams… sir brother!"

Just like I expected, his refusal to my request came right away. But little did he know, that by doing so, he stepped right into my trap! Actually, I wasn"t even bothered by the potential content of that letter, as I was only going to use to make the incoming reb.u.t.tal sting even more than it would if I were to just chase him away right away!

"Are you going to base all of your claims on a piece of paper that you do not dare to even unveil? If you are worried about my people s.n.a.t.c.hing it away, you can always just open it and read it aloud while letting them confirm whether your words truly adhere to the words of the letter."

Just like in swordfight, one could use brute strength to force his way, but more advanced level included all sorts of tricks and tactics. While it was possible to overwhelm someone"s skill with a raw strength while swinging the swords against each other, in the sophisticated society of Commonwealth"s n.o.bility, right trap formulated with words could decide the outcome of real wars!

With the ancestors of this body from over one hundred years ago, where they managed to convince the pope to side with the Crown instead of Teutonic order after nearly two years of debate and reclaim the lands stolen by the crusaders - at least, on paper, before the combined might of Poland, Lithuania, Rhuthernia and Tatars brough down the flower of European knights that flocked into the ranks of Teutons who defied the papal decision and enforced the ruling of the holy sea! (Holy sea refers to the papal throne, and means the head of the curia of the catholic church - the pope as the figure, not as a specific person)

"Well, I think that"s a fair way to settle this."

Seeing how I was forced to back from my first proposition and offer one closer to Peter"s ideal, I could see him breaking the wax seal on top of the roller paper while unskilfully trying to hide his smirk.

What a simple person… It almost feels wrong to do him like that!

s.n.a.t.c.hing the paper from his hands never was my intention! No matter what was written in there, unless I would be willing to respect it, it held as much meaning as French King ordering the Ming"s Emperor to acknowledge monkeys as the new kind of cats!

Not like current France or anyone except for a selected, adventurous few and some merchant in the European continent knew about the existence of this former Chinese government!

By proposing a solution that this guy would never agree to and then making concessions, I made him do exactly what I wanted. Gain hope that I would actually respect the content of the letter, and slap his own face by reading it out loud!

"We, the head of the Pekta house…"

Starting off with the introduction, Peter almost made me choke on my liquor. Only thanks to the swift pat on my back from Elia I managed to recover before succ.u.mbing to the death from suffocation.

Addressing themselves in plural form? That was the privilege of the King and other Kings alone! Not even the princess from the ancient households dared to do this in this day and age! If anyone wanting to rack favours from the new King were to learn about this fact, the entire family would be swiftly lead to ruin!

"... to share the ethernal bond of marriage between the son of Ropian land and the daughter of the Plizno city…"

After clearing my throat and actually bothering to listen to the remaining content dictated by Peter out loud, I couldn"t help but let the greed get to my mind. If I could get my hands on this letter, finis.h.i.+ng her step-family off would be just a walk in the park! Just by delivering it to the governor with my pledge to remove them from the city they were unlawfully occupying in the name of my fake fiance, I could force literally anyone who would dare to stand against this flow of events into obedience, just by flaunting the governor"s name!

But as much as I wanted to just get my servants to s.n.a.t.c.h it from his hands, just like him caressing the handle of his sabre, stealing the sealed letter from the hands of other n.o.ble and a guest of the house at that, could potentially lead to insanely dire ostracism that would put a stop to almost all my plans for the future!

Unless I would find a way for him to give up this letter willingly in my hands, I had to refrain from taking any action!

"Signed, Melea Pekta."

While most of the n.o.bles preferred to use their full t.i.tular form while signing important doc.u.ments, I could see where that crafty woman was coming from. WIth how she was married into the blood, her claims to the riches of her departed husband were incredibly weak, considering how pure-blooded descendant of his was still alive and kicking!

"So, in other words, no matter what kind of relations.h.i.+p you think you have, this girl is my fiancee, and if you dare to keep her from my company any longer, I will consider it as a direct insult to my face!"

Oh boy! That was the second time this poor fellow mentioned something about insulting and his face. Was this just a coincidence, or his silly attempt to add the weight to his words seeing how he was just a mere guest in my home who actually dared to make demands without proper support of an army besieging my town and castle or even the support of someone actually more powerful than me!

Taking a look at the girl sitting on my side, I couldn"t help but smile as I responded.

"It seems I don"t have any other choice then!"

As soon as I said those words, Elia"s hands trembled, with her face instantly turning towards me, as she looked at me with her beautiful, blue eyes open as wide as the gates of Malbor after it was sold to Crown by the mercenaries hired and unpaid by the Teutonic Order.

"Since there is no way to gain her family approval for our marriage as they already promised her to you…"

Sending a small smile right to Elia"s face in order to calm her down, I stopped mid-sentence just to take a small sip of my liquid honey to wet my throat, or rather - to build some tension for more dramatic effect.

"... I will have to give up any claims to all the lands owned directly by the family of her step-mother. While it pains my heart to surrender this entire, big village housing whole sixteen families that de-jure and de-facto belongs to my sweetheart"s step-mom, along with the dowry that I will inevitably miss without their approval, I think the fact that as soon as our engagement will be turned into a fully-fledged marriage under the hands of a friend of mine, bishop of Krakowian Cathedral, uniting Tarnow and Pilzno under our shared rule will help to calm my pained heart!"