Age of Heroes

COURTYARD

In the courtyard a pair of silhouette can be seen looking at each other, obscured by the peeking eyes of the other nobles, while the sound of the feast, horns and trumpets, singing and dancing can be heard in the background. 

The moon gives a little light to this pair speaking in whispering tones, fearing anyone could hear the subject of their conversation. 

The man and woman look at each other, a palpable tension between them. 

Then the man speaks while approaching the girl

'So how is it?' Kyle asks as he is on the courtyard holding Helia hand. Quickly Helia grab her hand away. 

'DON'T DO THAT! I have warned you on taking such liberties with me, didn't I?'

'Liberties? Fine' Kyle said while slowly releasing his grip 

'But I want to inquire you of an important matter that involves the both of us. Your feelings? Is it a lie?'

She closed her eyes and take a deep breath before heaving it and then she said

'I was lonely at the time' Helia said her eyes darted off at the Grand Hall and her eyes seem to be transfixed in a figure of a man, happily holding a baby and playing with the baby.

She sighed again and her eyes is full of guilt and shame

'I was lonely and I was missing him. Missing my husband, grieving for my father death. You were there. You caught me at a disadvantage moment. I was vulnerable and weak….and extremely, inexorably lonely. I don't know what he is thinking about. He leaves me and I could only hear news from some traveling caravan and wandering mercenaries that come to the land. I wonder, if he even loved me'

And she sighed again, looking at Arial figure in the distance.

That was always the question in her mind. Did he really love her? Or was she just another plan in Arial many plans?

She shakes her head and then she continues

'And when you confess your feelings to me, I wavered. But when I found out I was pregnant I have maintained my distance with you haven't I? When I realized what it is that I'm doing, I stopped didn't I?'

He then said

'We trade love words. We whisper in the dark. We hugged. We kissed.'

'I…yes…we did that. And it was a mistake. It was good that we did not go further' Helia said, as her feet is walking away from the courtyard. 

Kyle grabbed her by her waist and pull her close to him. He makes sure that Helia look him in his eyes.

She was startled and she was flushed with anger. Then he said

'It was not a mistake to me.'

'It is to me, Kyle! You want to betray your friend? Take away his wife and the mother of his daughter? I was ashamed, Kyle. To look my husband in the eye. How despicably have I acted!' She said controlling her voices fearing any one would listen and find out what they are talking about.

'The sense of shame is severe and choking me'

And slowly Kyle loosed his grip on Helia waist.

Kyle take a deep breath and then he said.

'Then you would at least give me the opportunity for me to present my side of the story Helia, since you are so determined to make me out as such an unhonourable man in your eyes'

Helia was silent and then he continued

'I…I…would not have confess if you have not led me on, Helia. I would not have confessed if your only excuse is you are missing him. You are not truly happy in this marriage, at least this is my sincere opinion. You are a noble daughter and have lived like nobility of the greatest lineage but you are also in a way free'

He looks at her and he says what is in his heart. He knew he should have hold on to her when they were in the Academy, but at that time he was too young. He was young and so was she. 

Love is a lot like fortune.

Once you missed it, it is hard to gain it back again.

He continued 

'If not, you would not have chosen to be a Knight and enjoying every moment of it. Arial may believe that you are his perfect wife, handling state matters with perfect calmness and intelligence, a perfect wife that complement his ambition and objectives but I know you'

'I watch you most intently all these years. You are in a way disappointed in him aren't you? You are still a maiden maybe not in body but in mind. You thought that you would live in perfect bliss with Arial, singing love song and he only seeing you in his eyes and in his heart

'I know that you love the songs of love to be sung to you, and you want your lover to be always close to you, not to guard you from your enemies, which you could manage just fine, but to guard your heart, a steady hand to hold yours and to be always with you. You could care less about diamonds, gemstones, riches or gold'

'You want a kind soul. You want to fall asleep, and wake, knowing your heart is safe. You want to love, and be loved. This, I know about you. And it is also what I want for you' 

'I thought Arial could give you that. I thought that with him by your side, you will have all of that. But, maybe I was wrong. Maybe, I was never right in the beginning. a few weeks after you are married he is gone, almost like he was running away from you. And I know you fear that it will be always be like this. You lean on me because you want someone to be there for you. A steady hand. A kind soul. And I can be there for you. I can be that man Helia…if you let me. One word is all I need. One word….and IU will take you away from this castle. We could go anywhere we want in this world. If it's with you, I would not mind leaving all my wealth, all my title as long as you are with me'

Helia then stared hard at Kyle. 

She then remembers the misunderstanding of the past between them, the crossed path between her and him and she had to wonder….in another world, if they did not misunderstand each other at that time, would they be together now?

And not like this. Being two worlds apart. 

Sometimes, she thought of the matter of the past. If she did not misunderstand him that night, years ago in the Academy, if she had taken the time to listen to him, if she had taken the time to seek her own feeling, would her husband now, be Kyle?

She shakes the thought of her mind

She is Arial wife now. She chose him. And she did not regret it. So, she shakes her head and said bitterly. No memory of the past could reverse what had happened.

Things had happened. And things had passed. Now, there is only now. And now, she is no longer Kyle's. But she is Arial's.

'Kyle, you are my friend. His friend. His closest friend, almost like a brother to him. And we have been in many journeys together. 

True, my life with him, it was not what I expected. True, I was disappointed and forlorn in the time of his absence but seeing his face now and the way he held me, the way he cares for his daughter, my daughter, my doubt if there is ever, is dispel. 

She smiles bitterly and then she continued

'It may not be blissful all the time, surely my fantasy and delusions have deluded me before, but as long as I am with him, then I think that hardly matters. So forget about the kiss, the hugs and the words we shared in secret and don't pursue me again. And don't you dare tell this to him. I would not let him know that both of his friends, even because of a lapse in judgment betray him most horribly. I will repent for it by being a woman that is fit to stand beside him, to give him prestige and renown, and you, Kyle be loyal and repent and aid him in his endeavor. I will forget this conversation ever happen.' 

And for a moment they share a glance and then the moment passed and Helia walk away from the courtyard joining his husband on the Great Hall. 

Kyle looks at the fading figure of Helia walking away to the great hall. He looked at the stars, and he said in the deepest regret any man could ever display 

"I have done wrong to both of my friends. But I could not forget, no matter what methods I employed, to rip apart the memory of her lips against mine" and with that he sighed. 

And he too leaves the courtyard with heavy heart. The wind rustles across the leaves and the branches sway left and right. 

Then from the shadows, one man appears. 

The man sighed and his eyebrows creased.

'Sheesh. So that is how it is. No wonder the Duchess always favor him those first few months and rely so heavily on him after her father death.'

And then he sighs again

The man sits on one of the stone chairs on the courtyard and ponders the implication of those two conversation.

Clearly in his eyes, the duchess has done no grave wrong but the matters of the hearts are always the most complicated. 

Even he, who has a wife and as smart and cunning as he is, he still does not understand the complexity of a woman heart. 

Plots and intrigues are easy. 

There are signs. Subtle but it exists. But a woman heart? Changing like the winds. Could he blame the duchess? 

Even he notices at the court of how she misses her husband and with the death of her father without a doubt that put her guard down. 

Her husband is not in the court at the time and the pressure might have forced her to open up, to lean on the shoulder of a trusted friend.

And while Count Kyle is the Duke closest friend, it is not such an absurd notion that he would fall in love with the duke wife. 

After all, it is famous that the House of Lethe, Althea and Vermont have their history together at the Academy. 

But to say that they are completely faultless, is not the case either. 

Whatever the Duke faults, oaths in marriage is vowed in front of God and not to mention that it is his own friend that try to betray him in trying to steal his wife away. 

Where is the honor in that? Though, it is funny that honor comes out of this man mouth.

The man from the shadows could see the desperation and hunger in the Count eyes, looking at the Duchess. 

And while it is fortunate that nothing more than a kiss is exchanged between both of them, even such acts could be construed as a betrayal. 

The duchess on his husband. The Count on his closest friend and his vassal lord. 

The man in the shadow sighed. He taps his finger on the stone table and contemplated.

What should he do with this information? Should he tell the Duke and hope for the best? 

Hope that the Duke understands? Or will the Duke execute them if he believes he has been betrayed? 

But to execute someone because they have kissed would be too excessive.….and from his opinion, the Duchess is still very much in love with the Duke. 

A momentary lapse in judgment. Should he let them go from his clutches? The man in the shadows is a formidable man. 

He knows everything that is going on the castle and the region and outside it. 

He knows the sweet words exchange between the Count sister and the Count of Ayeux, West countless of time and how that West Palais tries so hard to court Lady Lisa until the woman fell in love with her.

He knew about that one lord who visited brothels while maintaining an image of fidelity to his wife and he knows of some treasurer who embezzle the gold of their guilds.

There is no affair, or secret safe from him, excluding his lord, the Duke who always guarded his secret close to his heart.

There is no secret that cannot be penetrated; no secret can be kept from him. 

Society to him is a masked ball, where everyone hides their character only to reveal it by hiding it.

However, a dilemma occurred for the man in the shadows. 

The Duke is his lord, his benevolent lord and has treated him most honorably and most lovingly. 

Should he hide this from his lord and spare him from the truth or should he explain it in a way that will make the duke understand? 

The loneliness of his wife. The grief she must have endured alone as she suffered from pregnancy pains and her father death. 

He sighed. All great men are unpredictable and he truly does not know what the Duke would do. 

This man also had a heart and sine he had bene in the court, he knows how much pressure the Duchess had to endure from the judging eyes of Duke courtiers and from the problems she had to solve every day.

And at this time, the man in the shadows wanted to put the blame in the Count. 

The duchess was weak and helpless, shaken in mind and nerve, with the loneliness and grief. It was to take her at a disadvantage to obtrude love upon her at such times. 

Worse still, she is already taken.

Was it honorable, for such a man who claim to be loyal to his friend and lord, should take such advantage of such lady?

And this time the man in the shadows look at the stars. 

'If only stars could tell stories but it can't. I decided' and with that determination he got up from his seat and walk away joining the other in the feast.

The wind still blows and the moonlight seems especially sad for tonight. 

One the tallest branch of the tree, a raven look at that spot and then with its shrill cry it flew into the night sky.

*************************************************************************

This is the chapter that have divided the readers in RR. Some people called this NTR, while I called this realistic portrayal of young unfulfilled love, mistakes and happenings in life.

Helia is not some virtuous saint, and Arial is not some celibate monk. They have flaws and they have desires and propensity to make mistakes, to be tempted.

I on the other hand believes if they got through this, their relationship will be stonger. And that is what I called development of the story. but when I was writing this in RR I was bombarded by many suggestion and ideas that did not go in line with how I planned the story. Most of them wanted Helia to die in a couple fo chapter when it shoudl have ben clear that is just ridiculous in terms of the story progression.

of coruse, i understand if some people could not stomach a kiss and a mistake from a woman, when no one seems to have a problem with Ariak fucking an Elf in the grassy plains.

Anyway, this is the dividing lines and just like before, I just need to leave this to you all to judge the story.

I am expecting a drop in readers which make any writers heart ache

But I also know that there would be people that stay and for those who stay, I could only promise that I would write the story of how it was supposed to be written and it would progress how it should have progressed.