Age of Heroes (Age of Heroes Chronicles)

Chapter 272: Till we meet again (1)

Arial was in his room after returning, playing around with Helia and her daughter when the announcer announces outside his room that there is something important. 

Arial got up and he clothed himself and leaves the room. He walks to the Council room and quickly open the door and take his seat.

'An extraordinary message has arrived from King Edward the Saint,' Oliver said in excitement when he arrived at the council room.

'Ah this' he muttered under his breath. 

Helia has explained to him last night after the feast of what King Edward has sent for her before Arial departure to the Dark Lands.

The king of Vangua, Edward the Saint as he now is known throughout the Continent, sent a letter with an invitation and a gift to him.

And both is very burdening.

Invitation to his throne a gift that is rarely ever given, the nomination to the throne of Vangua.

That is what Edward had given him. The qualification to counted for the throne of Vangua.

Arial sighed but he took the letter and see that it has been opened by Lord Oliver. Arial narrowed his eyes but he did not say anything

It is his job to check dubious letter and Oliver must have his reason for doing this. Arial experiences with poison makes him extremely wary. 

He opens it and read the letter and he is still shocked. Even though the content has been relayed to him, the shock still comes.

Edward is promising the throne to him. And with the letter he entrusted the cousin of Orleans to prove the integrity of his promise. 

While at the time Arial is not here in the court, his wife reading the letter decides to house the cousins of the Orleans in the castle dungeon. 

They are treated with honors and their well-being is cared for. 

But Arial if he is at the time presented with the same choice, he would have declined but what is done, is done. 

Arial almost get angry at his wife, but he understands his wife ambition for him. She wanted him to be a King and now from the South an offer for such position is handed to him. 

It is not like Arial is an idiot. 

Edward must have promise his throne to many other people and his position

And as Edward has no heir, no wonder people will salivate on his offer and will do anything in their power to appease and please the Vangua King. 

Arial has no intention to do so. It is more of a practical matter instead of the matter of ambition. 

But his wife insists him to attend to the letter and to take the offer seriously.

In this case, Arial believe, Edward had an ulterior motive, for Edward is only too glad to rid himself of members of the overweening Orleans family. 

They may be friends but even friends betray each other. And Edward while he does not possess strength like Arial, his cunningness is not to be underestimated.

'HAHAHA' Arial laughed when he thinks of all this matter.

And his council members just stare at their lord, not understanding. Many in his council only wait for him to make a decision.

It may seem perplexing that the Vanguan king should promise his crown to a foreign prince with apparently little connection to Vangua and whose origins hardly bore scrutiny. 

But there had long been an affinity between Vangua and Arrandy. 

For a start, there was their geographical proximity, which made it a politic of great importance for the rulers of each domain to maintain a close interest in the other. 

The two lands or to be more precise, the two rulers of this prosperous region, also shared a similar heritage, as both of these men, Edward and Arial respectively is Caelum and probably which is why Edward care more about Arial, than his vassals who are mostly Anglais-Raxons and who have incessantly try to denigrate his rule more than once.

Edward the Saint had also spent much of his troubled rule in Arrandy, together with his lords and loyal Knights. 

They had been cared for by Arial and the lords of Arrandy, but mostly Arial. Arial still remembers those days vividly.

He was young and brave, and the King was awed by him

Arial prominently play a part in securing the King safety during his stay. And unlike others, he truly treated the exile King like a true King.

As a result, Edward had grown to be with strongly pro-Caelum sympathies and admiration for his kinsmen. 

An exiled Caelum King and the Duke of Caelum blood that shelters him

After becoming king, Edward married lady Amelie, daughter of Lord Jean of House of Orleans, but they were childless. 

This is why people readily believe Edward promise. And why his wife push very strongly on this front.

It was said that Edward refused to consummate the marriage but Arial believe this is because of his antipathy toward the Orleans family. 

Edward suspicion onto the Orleans family in their role in the death of his father might also play a part in his decision.josei

And there are many things Arial has done to aid his brother in arm to gain Edward pleasure and grace though unintentionally. 

For their relationship is like a sworn brother, all those months spending time together, talking to each other and debating about the matters of the world.

Arial also know the power players in Vangua. The two houses, Orleans and Merovich is in a path of war.

In order to counter their influence, Edward had begun to build up a faction of Caelum retainers at court. 

It is no secret that there is resentment between Orleans and Merovich.

In the days preceding Arial wedding, before that event, a most changing event happen in Vangua lands, as both of these powerful family burst into open conflict. 

Edward sent Lady Amelie to a nunnery with all her rights as Queen revoked. The effect to the kingdom was startling. 

It might even plunge the country to a civil war.

It was this that cast the Vanguan succession into doubt and prompted Edward to name Arial his heir.

In his letter Edward asserts that Arial is well worthy, a young man of high spirit who had reached power by strength of character and of a pure Caelum heritage like him which greatly enhance Edward opinion on Arial compared to his Anglais-Raxons lords who always conspire to kill him.

But the reason why the Vanguan throne is now a possibility for Arial to grab is because of his marriage. 

While Arial knows that Helia come from a line of noble families he never truly understands the enormous influence or renown he has achieved by marrying Helia into his family.

While Arial Vermont claim to the throne is rather distant, if not an improbability, his wife's is not. 

Helia bloodline was far more closely linked to the Vanguan crown, and the fact that she could claim her descent from many of the great houses in Vangua made her an important asset to Arial in pursuing her and now his, ambitions.

After all, while Arrandy is prosperous, his war with the Orcs prompts him to believe that the Human Continent will never be truly safe until the continent is truly stable. 

And with the North beginning battle with each other to claim lands and wealth, he did not have to worry about the northern border

and as Vangua seems to be in a brink of a war, Arial begin setting his design on the Vanguan throne. 

And the fact that Helia want it, is enough justification for him, to take the throne as a gift for his wife, for he still feels guilty on what he had done in the Dark Lands. 

But that doesn't mean he could forget Velamina either. 

But sometimes ignorance is bliss. Telling her would not be for her good. It would be for his selfishness. 

To alleviate guilt. So Arial endure it. This guilt is his. He will suffer it as his punishment.

'Lord Oliver please sent Lord Leander to Caen castle to confirm his promise on me.' 

Oliver who has already read the letter nodded. 

If Edward is true to his words and truly intent to promise the crown to him, he needs to confirm it. 

The reason why Arial is not able to personally visit the King is because there are still many pressing matters in the region and he just got back from the Dark Lands. 

Pressing concerns that need his immediate attention and he must not leave the region too often.