妻子的秘密

Adel rose to her feet and turned to look at the last judge with cold eyes, and pointed her finger at him. “Fast forward.”

“Ahh!? What are you doing to me!?” The old judge’s body began to shrivel up, and in a matter of seconds, his body turned into a pile of dust on the floor.

Adel’s cold eyes softened when she turned back and looked at her father. “Father, I will carry part of your burden so you can still be considered a good king.”

“You! Adel this…” King Gravos’s words got caught in his throat. Seconds later, another figure suddenly landed in front of him and stood at his side.

“Father, we shall sit this out.” Lance placed his hand on his father’s shoulder and spoke in a soft voice. King Gravos looked at his son and then at his daughter.

“I never wanted it to end like this. But what was said just now is right. These nobles have amassed their own people under them. But I can not allow my daughter to shoulder the burden of this massacre alone….”  King Gravos took a deep breath as he waved his hand, causing a golden magic circle to appear in the air. “By my name King William Gravos, I hereby declare all nobles appearing before you as traitors to this king and hereby announce that they and their families will be purged from this kingdom! No survivors!”

King Gravos’s voice echoed through the hall, causing every noble there that had decided to stand up and revolt faces to pale. I don’t know what the magic circle was for, but I can only guess the king had some secret force besides the black and white knights.

With these words, the purge began. On the day of my thirteen birthday, the streets of the capital of the Kingdom of Gravos flowed with blood. I wonder if this would have happened if they had not threatened those close to me. But they had to try to start an uprising. With Diablo’s help, each noble that was corrupt was slain. No innocent noble or their families were hurt during this purge.

This day would become known as The Great Change. A day when the kingdom of Gravos officially became a kingdom that worked for its people….

—

Six months have passed since that day. During this time, I did not stop going to the academy. After all, I was still very green when it came to many things. So I was trying to learn everything possible from my classes and the books in the library. But on this particular day, I had been summoned to the castle. “Faith, are you ready?” A voice called out to me as the door to my room opened.

“That dress looks good on you!” Adel’s cheerful voice filled my ear. But I couldn’t help but frown. Dresses were just so airy!

“I still prefer my armor….” I couldn’t hide the discomfort in my voice.

“Just put up with it for now. You are to be honored today for your part in the fall of the corrupt nobles.” Adel said as she hugged my arm. She really does not change.  I still wonder what choice I would have made if my ancient will had not taken over. But I guess even though the meaning of purge still leaves a sour taste in my mouth, the outcome seems to have allowed the kingdom to become a much better place. Luckily when the purge happened, anyone who was under the age of twenty that had not committed crimes had their memories erased and were allowed to live. They had to have their memories erased in order to keep them from taking revenge. When I found this out, I immediately offered my company to take them in. So that they could live a reformed and new life. Now, some of the mothers who worked for me were acting as teachers to help them relearn everything.

“Let’s go.”

I was not the only one going to the castle today. Everyone in my team was going. They all stood out and were willing to stain their hands in blood in order to make this kingdom a place people could all live happily. While I am sure down the road, more people would end up becoming corrupt, the number of people allowed to become nobles has dropped, and they are not allowed to handle the finances of the kingdom. It is all done by a heavily guarded new government office. To become a noble, even if your father has a noble title, you now had to work hard to have enough merits to take over the title. If you did not have the merits and your father passed away, you would be automatically demoted to commoner.

This new system was put into place in order to keep the younger generation from turning corrupt due to thinking they were better than others because they could inherit their titles. They now had to work hard just like everyone else.

From what I know, the school reform is also being put into place. Schools were now being built all over the kingdom, and nobles who had minor offenses but confessed to their crimes after the purge were now going to be used as teachers as punishment. From what I understand, each month, an investigator would also arrive and test all the students to make sure that the noble was doing their job. These investigators were also going to be under a strict blood seal contract that made it impossible to be bought out.

When we arrived at the castle, I stepped out of the carriage. My white dress swayed in the breeze. It was a formal dress for occasions like this that Adel had specially made for me. Pure white with a dash of light blue on the trim. The dress at least stopped at my ankles, allowing me to still walk. However, dress shoes are still hard to walk in.

With Adel hanging from my arm I walked forward one step at a time towards the throne room of the castle.