Since the day was already nearing its end when Rexford arrived at the library, he and Delilah decided to go out to have dinner together.
As much as modern media portrayed noble families as being similar to modern day homes where members of the family gather to eat together. The reality was far from the truth, at least in this world.
Due to the many responsibilities that the Emperor had, eating a meal with the family was rare and for the most part, eating a meal was both a ceremonial activity and a means of sustenance. As such, the Emperor usually ate by himself.
The Empress also had her own room for meals and so did the children of the imperial family.
That said, it was not all too rare for the Empress and Emperor to call upon their children or for each other. Of course, such calls could be rejected, a privilege afforded to members of the imperial family.
Because of that though, Rexford had ended up eating meals wherever he wished. This led to him meeting many people and it was not rare to see him eating a meal at a cheap inn somewhere in the capital.
Tonight though, his companion was Delilah so the two had ended up eating together in the Library dining hall, of course, due to their status, a partition was quickly set up allowing them to "eat in peace".
"Does it bother you?"
Delilah asked when she noticed Rexford eyeing the partition.
"I know I should be used to it but…"
"I hear you eat meals together with your maids, sometimes dine together with commoners. I could understand why you'd feel uncomfortable but think of this partition as something to bring peace of mind to the servants in the hall not us"
Rexford was well aware of the traditions but even before awakening, Rexford was already the type who strayed away from the norm.
He spent years casually dining and talking with others, in fact, this may be the first time that he was eating together with Delilah.
"Well, they aren't my people after all"
Of course, not everyone could talk and act casually around Rexford, before his awakening, Rexford had clearly set boundaries between him and those who could not match his temperament…
"Yeah, for us, having people who could be trusted is quite rare isn't it?"
Delilah responded to Rexford as she showed a tired expression, it was obvious that even someone like her would have troubles related to people.
No, it was precisely because of her position that she would have such issues in regard to people.
"Well, so long as I could get one or two people who understand me I'm fine~"
Rexford didn't want to pursue the topic any further, the last thing he wanted to get involved with was politics and Delilah was very obviously dragging him into such a conversation.
"Like always, running away won't solve problems you know"
The witch of knowledge sighed in response to Rexford's usual tactics.
There were many kinds of people in the world, Delilah had a personal vendetta against hypocrites but on the other end, she had a soft spot for people like Rexford. He may be a liar and he may be quite perverted, but he maintains his integrity.
He owns up to his mistakes and sticks to his principles- unfortunately, one of those principles is his abject distaste for politics and dealing with nobility.
"..."
Unfortunately, Rexford simply retained silence as he waited for his meal.
"Haa… you know, there are some disquieting rumors going about lately"
"..."
"Well, you might have already heard about it, but it seems that the crown prince is meeting with some dangerous nobles"
"..."
"Apparently, it has something to do with the peace talks"
"..."
"A marriage alliance is needed and the crown princess of the humans would be sent-"
"WHAT?!"
*smirk*
Rexford did his best to remain silent, he avoided talking but the more Delilah said, the more worried he got.
Until the alliance part, he was still able to maintain his calm. After all, his eldest brother was quite the schemer and dealing with nobles was his bread and butter. Hell, the plan involving Delilah was cooked up by that dear brother of his, a "favor" for his youngest brother he "loved so much" is what he claimed it was.
'That bastard… he's planning something bad again!'
Rexford was not oblivious to the issues of the empire, the peace treaty was something that many nobles were quite angry about.
The reasons were numerous but one of the biggest problems was the deal of "Peace through Love" which was nothing more than a large-scale marriage alliance between the various kingdoms and the Empire.
The lack of noble male blood was a problem that had become an open secret and this issue was something that did not only plague the Empire but the surrounding kingdoms as well.
While the Empire had trouble with it due to the "Blood Supremacy" ideology, nations like the human kingdom and dwarf kingdoms were closer to a meritocracy led by a monarch.
The princes and princesses of the kingdoms were protected, this gave them ample substitutes.
In this case, the human kingdom had quite the surplus of male heirs. There were 12 royal children and only two of them were daughters. The rest were princes and were quite skilled, they were also of age for marriage and the offers to marry "Unwed Matriarchs of Noble Families" had been forwarded.
Rexford did not know whether it was part of a secret plan to undermine the imperial family or something else but many of the nobles, the men especially, objected to it.
The war had taken the lives of many high ranking nobles and their heirs, mostly because the higher ones rank the higher one's position in the command structure.
Aside from Delilah, there were three more Duchy's all with female heads.
The Martell House led by Ortrun Martel, a duchy in the east which followed a rather, "Asia coded" cultural heritage.
The Albertson House led by Elise Albertson, a powerful Human noble family that guarded the north.
Finally the Surati House led by Ratna Surati, a family of sirens who had taken to land centuries ago. They guarded the south and were the vanguard against the invasion of the Human-Dwarf Coalition during the wars.
All four Duchy's had lost their head and male heirs, the remaining female heirs had all been forced to take hold of power but-
Most of them were currently living in the capital.
In order to protect the noble bloodlines, the Imperial family had called for many of the heirs to the capital but most- no, all of the men except for Rexford headed for war.
Even the crown prince and second prince had rushed to the battlefield.
There was even a famous episode, a tale of the crown prince nearly dying up in the north!
'No… that tale…'
Recalling the infamous tale of the Crown Prince's survival, Rexford finally remembered a crucial bit of information-
"The Crown- my brother… Rutherford… did he send a proposal to the Elves?"
The south had been the battlefield dominated by the humans and dwarves, the Empire did not border any nation to its north and east as it dominated the continent's coast at those parts.
The only areas that were bordered by other nations were the south and the west.
Rutherford Diabolus went to lead the war to the west, the south is where most of the nobles rushed towards while the two princes were left to defend the west with the imperial army alone.
But in a cruel twist of fate, the western theatre had ended quickly, Rutherford had been trapped but instead of being killed, he found a way to make a deal with the elves. He brokered a ceasefire which allowed him to send more men to fortify the south.
Yet, despite his grand achievement, rumors spoke of an illicit relationship between the thousand year old priestess of the elves and Rutherford.
It is said that the two fought, but for multiple days and nights, yet somehow, the battles at night were less impactful than those fought during the day.
Many believe that Rutherford and the elven priestess did more than just exchange blows during that affair-
'No, they did exchange blows, just not the one people normally think of'
Rexford recalled how Rutherford had changed after his expedition to the west.
It was not the kind one would experience after a war.
His eldest brother had become a veteran, but of a different experience than what one would expect.
Everything though was mere speculation, even Regulus, the second prince did not see or feel anything wrong with the battle and the meeting that followed. Everything went smoothly but Regulus only saw it as his brother's expertise rather than some unverified rumor about relationships.
"There was no indication of such action, but he did reject the proposal to wed the first princess of the humans, his official stance is 'I am to wed the woman of my choosing' apparently, the male noble heirs all support him"
"..."
Noble heirs from low ranking families, mostly of the ranks from viscount to baron. Some were even knights that had a generational title.
These low ranking noblemen had only one obvious goal though…
"The noblemen want to rise up the ranks by marrying higher ranking noblewomen"
"And there are noblewomen who support them, wishing to be rid of the responsibility of handling a territory"
"... that's a recipe for chaos and disaster"
The reason why viscounts and barons were not killed during the war was because of the power their title gave them.
Counts, Earls, Marquess and Dukes, these four titles held control over vast swaths of land. When one reaches these ranks, they are called "Landowning nobles", nobility who have the right over lands and who are responsible for its governance.
Under them are the various viscounts and barons, lower nobles who are vast in number but are given hereditary titles so that their children could be trained to become "loyal retainers".
Landowning nobles could not manage their own lands alone after all.
Thinking of it in such a way, people would think that a lower noble retainer who served under a high ranking noble should be more reliable to marry into the high ranking noble house. After all, they would be well aware of the noble houses' various duties.
But reality was not that simple.
Becoming a landowning Noble does not turn one into a "landlord" but turns one into a retainer under the Emperor.
The biggest issue around the inheritance problem was the fact that the Imperial family had been passing down the "Titan blood" to the high ranking noble families through many generations.
Titan's have "human-like" appearances but have abilities that some would consider as being on the level of a "demi-god".
In fact, the culture of "chasing a human appearance" originated from the lower ranking nobles. They tried to obtain a "human form" through breeding with humans but only the high ranking nobles were aware of the fact that many of the high ranking noble bloodlines had a faint yet distinct connection with the imperial family.
It is the reason why the "humanoid" form of high ranking nobles were stable.
An example was a certain centaur noble who was the product of human breeding, the man had the lower half of a horse, only the back legs and kept an upright near human form.
The man looked like a horse version of "satyrs" from earth, but such a form brought with it various problems.
A horse's body was naturally developed for four legs, the noble with only half of those legs showed strength and pride but Rexford was aware that he was also suffering from various issues in terms of mobility. Specifically, as he grew older, his legs got weaker due to stress and various injuries incurred over the years.
In comparison, the Surati family of dukes, descended from sirens, after obtaining the imperial blood were able to have complete humanoid forms.
But, despite having human forms, they were capable of breathing underwater even without their gills and had legs instead of fish tails. Moreover, they retained most of their siren abilities but were all enhanced.
They did lose some, such as their swimming ability, a product of their fish tail but it was a small price to pay for the power they got in exchange.
The high ranking nobles retained their bloodline purity not out of pride but out of necessity. The greatest strength of the Empire was in the families who dominated through sheer might, races who achieved near divine ability due to the sharing of bloodline.
If a lower noble were to marry into such a family, the chance of losing that divine strength was a danger not only to the family but also the empire as a whole.
It was also the reason why the Emperor had rejected the proposal of the human nations for an engagement to the various noble houses.
"The target of the humans is obvious… though, which families are supporting Rutherford?"
He didn't want to talk about such topics but this one was quite close to him, it involved not only his brothers but his fate as well.
"... The beastmen, sanguine and empusa families…"
"That… fuck"
Hearing who was supporting his brother, Rexford already knew what his dear eldest brother was planning and it was NOT to his benefit.