"Who is this?" Asked Tiber, pointing at a regal-looking woman carved into marble. The statue looked relatively new.
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Xuana smiled shyly at him. "Hm? Oh her...that's Delphine Ego-Westerling, the final archduchess of the West, she died in 60 EH."
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Tiberius Rostov had never been anywhere quite like Umbracrest. Curiosity and his mother forcing him had led the young heir apparent to the West of Empyrea, a place he was becoming increasingly fond of despite his concerns about the war reaching him there.
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"What happened to her?" He pondered aloud, not expecting an immediate answer.
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"Jumped out a window after her daughter had a stro- Hey, you asked!" The Gräfin turned Grand Duchess replied, giggling at his expression of complete and utter shock.
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The remaining handful of Rostovs had watched the rapid rise of Xuana Hessen in awe. Majorie had demanded he return a married man, seeing the powerful - and immensely wealthy - Hessens as a means to restore the family to its former glory. The normally rebellious youngest member had only agreed because he had been enchanted by the shy yet playful young woman.
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"I suppose I had better show you to your new home. My father is very eager to finally meet the famous Tiber Rostov..." She trailed off, her smoky eyes locking on to his own.
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"I'm either extremely lucky or dead." He thought sadly, wondering if this was all a mistake.
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Aunax Hessen was sat on a large couch in the main living room, pouring a deep amber liquid from a bottle into a fine glass. The man was infamous not only for his ruthlessness in politics but for his discipline. A tabloid called the Craft o' Man had run an article on his weekday routine, which Tiber had looked out and wrote down on a piece of paper to ask the man when he met him.
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It ran like this:
5:00 AM - 5:30 AM: Workout
5:30 AM - 6:00 AM: Meditation
6:00 AM - 6:30 AM: Ice Bath
7:00 AM AM: Family breakfast
9:00 AM - 10:00 AM: consultation with advisors
10:00 AM - 11:00 AM: Review biotechnology research proposals
12:30 PM - 1:30 PM: Lunch with influential contacts
2:00 PM - 3:00 PM: Leisure
3:00 PM - 4:00 PM: Any phone calls
4:00 PM - 5:00 PM: Planning
5:00 PM - 6:00 PM: Evening fitness session (fencing
7:00 PM - 8:00 PM: Dinner with family
8:00 PM - 9:00 PM: Policy discussion with key stakeholders in biotechnology
9:00 PM - 9:30 PM: Reflective evening walk
9:30 PM - 10:30 PM: Final strategy session in the study
10:30 PM - 11:00 PM: Reading
11:00 PM: Sleep
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Needless to say, Aunax and his steel-coloured handlebarmoustachee more than lived up to his fearsome reputation in the flesh. Tiber would later shudder and swear that the Chairman`s eyes looked directly through him as if he wasn't there.
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"You must be Rector Tiberius Rostov, you certainly caught Xuana`s attention...can you catch mine?" He said, rising to grasp Tiber`s right hand. The Margrave of Mestae and by Rissau had a firm, bone-crushing grip that Rostov successfully managed not to wince through.
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He sat down again with an approving nod to himself.
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"Daughter, you may leave us. Don't worry, I just want to talk. He'd already be dead if I wanted it." He said, waving his only child away dismissively.
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Tiber gulped nervously, simultaneously fighting his strong impulse to leap out of his seat and sprint out manor.
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"I am Au-" He began
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"I know who you are, sir, everyone does." He interjected politely.
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"Then you'll know that I brought you here for a reason. To put it simply, you will do what I ask of you, or you will die. This...arrangement will have benefits for you as well. Firstly, you will be allowed to court her. Your family are desperate to avoid dying out, I seek my only child's happiness, Xauna wants to be a mother - and soon will be thanks to you." He spoke the words in a low growl dripping with scorn.
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"Wait what?" He stammered, confused.
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"Oh for the love of- she's pregnant ROSTOV!" He snapped aggressively, evidently not pleased by this.
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"I...I see. What is it you want from me?" He asked timidly, his voice - stripped of its usual confidence - sounding meek and hollow in the large room.
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"You are to marry Xuana, she will NOT be taking your name. You will be a good husband and will do everything she wants you to do for her. You will help raise the Hessen-Rostovs - of which there are to be at least three. More importantly, you will play the part I give you in my plans in return for being let in on them." He ordered.
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Tiberius Rostov mentally weighed his options: he could refuse to do whatever Aunax wanted from him, but would probably spend the rest of his life looking back over his shoulders in terror. Alternatively, he could say yes and get what he came for: a wife...and the financial support of Margrave Hessen. He stood to gain everything and lose everything.
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The choice was obvious.
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"Fine, what must I do?" The Rector conceded, his mind churning up ideas as to what dreadful task might be given to him as some sort of sadistic test.
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Anuax closed his grey eyes. The (metaphorical) cogs in his head must have been turning at lightning speed.
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"Did you hear about Varo De Napton?" He asked cheerfully, the threatening tone gone now that he had what he wanted. Bizarrely, the Hessen patriarch seemed like a fatherly old man all of a sudden. The man who would commit grave crimes to secure his daughter`s future turned out to have a rather big heart.
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"You poisoned him, didn't you? No chance those papers were telling the truth about him having a heart attack..."
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"Heh. I could get used to having you around. It was Xuana who did that for me, she's a clever one." He chuckled heartily, like he might if Tiber had told him a joke rather than accused him of murder.
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"I'll do whatever it is you want, but I want to know why before you tell me what it is," Tiberius demanded despite being in no position to do so.
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"So that she can live and her children can live without those arrogant De Naptons sticking their noses into everything. So that the Biotechnological Commission of Umbracrest can do its work without interrupted, attempted intervention, and without having to tiptoe around the likes of Herzog Varo!"
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"You know what? Fair enough, we have plenty of that in Narciss. The House of Geldmäckecontrolsls all the big companies and throws economic tantrums whenever the Crown acts in a way they don't like. They aren't as powerful as the De Naptons, though." He agreed, bitterly recalling a time when Carlot zu Geldmäcker had led him on and only to coldly cast him aside out of pure spite. That minor house was disliked for valid reasons.
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"I admire your open mindedness on this. People have badly hurt Xuana in the past, probably out of jealousy. I know what they say about her, how they ostracise her at events for being unwilling to bend to their will. She told me about how you spoke to her and danced, and joked. Kindness does not mean weakness, but I will give you an easier task because of it: go to Château Narca and persuade His Grace, the high but not-so-mighty Archcount-Khagan Urlic, to make Greater Biogi an Erzherzogtum - an Archduchy for your Northeastern vernacular - and bestow the title of Erzherzogin on Xuana Hessen and Erzherzog by proxy on you." His changed from rage to admiration to determination as he went along. Anuax hadn't managed to hold his role as Chairman of the BCU for so long by being a weak orator.
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"Go to Narciss, speak to a friend, get titled...much easier than I expected," Tiber replied calmly, his anxiety soothed for now.
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"Oho! I had better give you another then! When you return, you will directed to the Grand-General of the Western Army Group, Rector Nikolai Augereau. Operation Tempest is his magnum opus, if the planned attack on Rein, Holiyr, and Dassau is successful it will expose Ecclesia and possibly knock the Theocratic Confederacy out of the War so that we can turn our attention to Vorantis, a much larger threat. However, it might also inspire a counterattack. Archmage Dacamini of the Order of the Dragoon is planning something big..."
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Rostov eagerly waited for the Chairman to continue. He was beginning to respect Anuax Hessen for his will of iron, and his calculating intelligence, but he respected the man`s sheer grit most of all. A draconian leader behind the curtain, for a dangerous performance during deadly times.
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"You are to quietly remove an obstacle in Augereau`s path: one Margravine Sophia De Napton."
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"You want me to get rid of her?"
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"Yes. But before you talk to Urlic and clear the Grand-General`s path, you will marry Xuana Hessen and create the House of Hessen-Rostov. Vizegräfin Xeina Hessen-Archaea of Eukaro is currently with Seebhom Massaena, but will be there to help you bump off De Napton when the time comes, is that clear?"
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"Crystal, sir. I have a question about something unrelated, though."
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"You want to ask me about the cold. I will tell you when you have done what I ask. Now go away; whiskey doesn't drink itself and Xuana has something to show you."
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Rostov got out while he still could.
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