Chapter 54 - Archduke Evenhart

  “Rich? I hadn’t even thought about it. Don’t we already have enough wealth in the Duchy? Why would we want more money?”

  Margaery let out a small ugh.

  “You really haven’t given this much thought, have you?” she asked.

  “No… I’d rather fet about it,” I said, filling my wine gss.

  She ughed again.

  “An Elven Archduke mahe wealth of all the Duchies in the Elven Kingdom. The guy earned a cut from everything the kingdom sold because he was the intermediary between the Duchies and the Royal Family. And on top of that, he art of a race that lived for turies, pletely dedicated to his work. When I mentioned wealth, Katie, I meant real wealth. I’m talking about iing all the businesses and properties of an Elven Archduke who had ied everything from his aors. We’re talking about unique mineral mines, valuable properties, nds, kes with rare fish, and a lot more…”

  “The fortune of our duchy is also substantial,” I said.

  “We’re rich, but we’re just one duchy. The Elven Archduke possessed the wealth of aire kingdom.”

  Margaery went on listing everything we could potentially i, and my head started to ache from listening to it all. She thought about these things because of her responsibilities to the territory.

  “There’s something else you haven’t realized…” she said.

  “What?”

  “If the Archduke has died… who will take over his duties?” she asked with a grin.

  I froze as the implication hit me.

  “They’ll probably appoint someoo act temporarily, but eventually… the role will have to return to a member of the royal family. Guess who could i the position of being the seost important person in that kingdom after the king?” she said.

  “Nathan…” I murmured in shock.

  “Now you see why Lady Adrihna insisted on secrecy? We o follow her adviot that I was ever against it. We’re still rec from a major issue, and until my nephew is ready, I at least o sort things out. But now, he has even more responsibilities. As members of the royal family, you should be protected around the cloot that you weren’t already, but if this gets out… things could get plicated. This situation has to remain a secret between us two.”

  I nodded in agreement.

  “Are you sure we should keep this hidden from the Royal Family of this Kingdom? I don’t like them either, but this is a diplomatic matter beyond our trol,” I said.

  “If Lady Adrihna says the Elven Royal Family requested to keep their new heirs hidden until they’re a bit older, I’ll gdly follow her suggestion. There are also diplomatic ws regarding your existence. Unless you want to inform them and be forced to move to that Elven Kingdom and take on responsibilities soohan expected.”

  “Of course not. I want to keep my son as far away from these things as possible.”

  I sat down in the armchair, pced my hand on my face, and took a deep breath.

  What did I do to deserve all this? All I wanted was to stay in that little house ihos vilge…

  “It’s okay, Katie. You and my nephew don’t o worry. No one will find out, and we’ll keep it fidential. If this gets out… we’ll have something much worse to deal with.”

  I looked at her with a fused expression.

  “What do you mean, something much worse?”

  The way Margaery said that felt ominous.

  "Aside from all the potential ws being vioted sihat high elf was royalty and decided to start a family in another kingdom, which is sidered a diplomatic crime... What do you think would happen if they found out there’s an ‘easily accessible’ member of the Elven royal family who’s o years old?"

  “No... You 't be saying what I think you're saying.”

  She let out a ugh.

  “I absolutely am, my dear friend. There would be a mad scramble among the nobility to marry Nathan, and I wouldn’t be surprised if even our human king tried te a marriage between someone from the royal family and Nathan te a powerful alliaween kingdoms, even if it meant bending a few rules,” she said, ughing.

  “Stop, Margie... stop speg... I’m getting a headache.”

  “My job is to think ahead for you, and I’m telling you, imagine if they found out a potential Archduke, just eight years old, is living in this kingdom? Someone from the royal family would jump at the arry their child to him and secure an alliah your other Elveives.”

  I’m in serious trouble...

  “Nathan already has a fiancée... I hought that might actually save me from some kind of e war over him.”

  She ughed.

  “The king of this kingdom has three wives, and the Founding Emperor had at least a hundred. Do you think a single e would stop them? Haha, I mao calm down the lower nobility, but for the higher nobility, it’s on to have more than one wife…”

  “Margie…”

  “Get ready to handle tless marriage proposals ohis gets out,” she said, ughing.

  “We’ll keep it secret!”

  “Of course, we will. That’s one of the reasons Lady Adrihna asked for discretion. The future of the Archduke’s heir affects them too, which is why they don’t want the vultures cirg.”

  “And how do we keep the vultures away?” I asked, desperate.

  “The same way we kept ours at bay in the past. There would have to be some sort of marriage with a high-ranking noble from the Elven kingdom to silence everyone, especially the people in this human kingdom.”

  I thought about her words.

  “Marry Nathan to an elf? I don’t want that! I don’t want to put my son into another arranged e just to marry off to some random elf to shut the other nobles up…”

  “Some random elf? You’re thinking too small, Katie. It wouldn’t be just any elf; it would have to be oh enough power to silence even the opposition in that kingdom.”

  I gave her a fused look.

  “I don’t get it... so who would he have to marry?”

  She ughed.

  “If I thought of uniting the two branches of the Evenhart family in a never-before-seen union... what do you think the members of the Elven royal family would e up with?” she said, ughing while sipping her wine.

  “You ’t be suggesting that…”

  “I doubt it would happen. It would have to be a crazy sario, but like I said, my job is to think ahead for you, especially in crazy sarios that might arise.”

  She ignored me a back to her drink.

  “Margie, don’t dodge the question. If that crazy sario were to happen... who would they marry Nathan to!?”

  She shrugged.

  “Just some random elf...” she said, turning her face away.

  “WHO!?” I asked, irritated.

  “The princess of the Elven Kingdom.”