Claude exhaled a slow stream of smoke into the night sky before he continued. "I was a fool. I sincerely believed that if I swallowed my pride and kissed the rings of those devils, they would let us be. I tried so relentlessly to earn their hollow noble titles, compromising my very nature just to settle on the quiet seashore, hoping to simply exist beside the only woman I ever needed."
His grip on the cigar tightened. "I broke my own back trying to make them see me as a worthy man. But the aristocracy does not look down and see men. They only saw a wretched peasant with the audacity to steal their most prized political pawn."
He let out a humorless chuckle. "I wanted to force their respect, so I foolishly obeyed the very same rules you just rejected tonight. I built an unstoppable merchant chain, carving my way into their elite circles through sheer skill and sacrifices. But power without a crown only breeds envy. And my climb surrounded me with deadly enemies on every side."
