A Legend

"What the hell are you saying, Agnes," the maid screamed. Even though she was supposed to silently wait at the door, she too could not contain her astonishment, "an Archduke, really Agnes, an Archduke?"

My grandfather gripped his chest, as If it hurt and said, "surely you have to be a bit more believable than this."

"It's the truth. Since I've entered I have only spoken the truth. Which is really impressive if you think about it."

Really, the one time I didn't lie, and nobody believed me. I felt wronged.

"There's no way that is the truth," the maid replied, her face turning desperate, "why don't you say he appointed you as the next king, at least that would have been funny."

"Eh, why not? Aren't you being a bit pessimistic?"

"Agnes, this has nothing to do with pessimistic," grandfather gasped for air, "since you don't understand, I will explain this to you."

"Okay."

I wasn't really asking for that, but since you are offering, why not.

He straightened his robe, "an Archduke is a king if there was no king. It is the highest position you could gain, without possessing any royal blood. Unlike other titles, an Archduke cannot be inherited. As they carry a responsibility too great for an ordinary human to hold. The title is a symbol of heroes. A legend. Only those with outstanding achievements can earn that title," he lifted four of his fingers, "do you know what this number represents?"

"I shook my head, "no I do not."

"That is the number of Archdukes currently living in our country," he fell into his chair, "can you believe it, the amount of Archdukes is less than the children of the king," he added, "the youngest, by the way, is 28. That person is the youngest in history, beating the record by 16 years."

Why the hell did I get such a title?

Even I was a bit shocked by his announcement, shown by the fact that I raised my eyebrows.

Naturally, he saw my reaction and said, "are you telling me you are worthy of such an honor?"

"But I swear that is the case."

He knitted his brows, "alright, then surely you must have a letter of some sorts. Similar to the king, an archduke receives a coronation, so you definitely have some evidence to back your claims."

"I did indeed receive a letter," I then struck out my tongue and shrugged my shoulders, "but I lost it."

The room turned silent. Neither my grandpa nor the maid said anything.

His breathing turned unstable, and he muttered, "you lost it, you say?"

"Now, now, it's not good for your blood pressure to get worked up like that. I told you to listen to my story, didn't I?"

he slammed the desk and shouted, "I don't have a speck of interest left in your little fairytale."

"Really? But You might now the truth then."

"Agnes, you should really step back on this one," the maid advised.

I paid it no heed and continued talking, "I don't want to leave you on the edge of your seat, so I'm going to keep it short. I met the king and we talked. At first, he too was reproachful to meet me, but after I told him the reason for the annulment, he quickly changed his mind."

"What exactly did you do," he asked with incredulity.

"Well, as a duke of this country, you should know that we are living in interesting times. Famine, war, civil unrest, they were all weighing heavily on us. Now, like typical nobles, we could twirl our thumbs and wait for our eventual downfall, but the king wouldn't like that," I said, "so I simply gave him a proposal, if you will."

My grandfather couldn't believe what he was hearing, "you, a fifteen year old, a woman, gave him a proposal? Surely you jest."

"Sigh, how many times do I have to repeat myself. It's the truth," I rubbed my temple, "think about it, these points, how would you solve them?"

"I already know that there is no real solution," the man answered, "it is just our luck, that we had to face these problems at the same time. A single country would face a crisis due to only one of these challenges, but with all three," he paused, "it's a real dilemma."

The maid interjected, "it cannot be that bad, right," she flailed her arms around, "have we not as a country seen worse? What would we be, if we fall due to such basic obstacles? How could we have the cheek to greet our ancestors?"

"Hey, are you really a maid, why do you know so much," I questioned her, but was ignored.

The old man answered with a question, "Vera, do you know why a country collapses?"

Oh, her name was Vera.

"It's not because of wars or invasion. Those are just consequences. A country's death is always because of itself. It does not go out with pride, but like a small flame, it distinguishes without anyone noticing. That is how a country ultimately dies."

The maid was skeptical but listened attentively, "So what exactly are the reasons?"

"When the aristocracy switch from protection to pure exploitation and prepare to abandon their posts, is when you know the country is done for. The standard of living declines, the citizens are hit by extreme poverty and there are higher crime rates. And when that happens, you lose territory and authority," he looked pained, "but why would the nobility do that? It's because the cannot see a bright future for themselves, that they resort to instant gratification, instead of long term gain."

The maid fell back, "that can't be," she muttered.

"Oh,but it can. And it is exactly our time, where the prospects are looking bleak. Whether we could overcome them or not is of no importance, if we implode before we can."

I abruptly interjected, "don't paint the future so dark, the country will repair itself eventually. It's the king who is scared for his reputation. He doesn't want to go down in history as the incompetent ruler, that's all."

"Inexcusable," he shouted with great fervor, "the king is the country and will never be shaken. His majesty is invaluable and absolute."

"Don't worry, I saw his majesty, he won't be that easily shaken. But who cares about the king and the country. We are talking about me right now."

"Who cares about the king, you say," he repeated in a daze.

"You mentioned that a single country could not solve these problems. I agree. So does the king. Which is why I gave him an opportunity to seek help from somewhere else."

"It can't be," my grandfather suddenly jumped up, causing the chair he sat on to fall. A dull thump shook the ground, surprising the maid, "is there a possibility that there was a country willing to lend help?"

I laughed, "I heard the princess of Erdsburg was quite infatuated with the third prince. If we take into consideration that the famine struck the neighborhood countries as well, it would be safe to assume that they are also in a precarious situation. Was it not a perfect coincidence that the children were free?"

His mouth opened wide enough to stuff an apple in, "I see now, by taking yourself out of the picture, you effectively created the perfect opportunity for a political marriage. Not only will it help with the current situation, it might even be beneficial in the long run. However, if you even harbored thoughts about breaking the engagement off, it would be a humiliation for the royal family, so you made the prince annul it himself. That is a novel way of thinking."

As expected of my grandfather. He filled the holes by himself. Even though it was far from the truth. As far as I know, the prince just didn't like me. Overthinking really was one of the greatest faults for smart people.

My silence was taken as an agreement.

The maid was still not convinced, "surely that can't be it, what you did may be impressive, but they did not yield any results, yet. Even then, I don't know if they were worthy of an an Archduke title."

"You don't understand do you? He gave me the title not because of my deeds, but because of the consequences. What do you think will happen when I return, after my engagement had been annulled," I used my thumb to pretend like I slit my throat, "the only halo that could protect me from a Duke, is by being an Archduke, that is why his majesty gave me that title."

They both were left speechless. I gave them some time to digest what they heard.

Only after a long time did my grandfather regain his voice, "have you been planning this the whole time? It lines up too perfectly. With all due respect, I fail to see any reason for you to help his majesty," he gulped, "if so, that would mean you tricked your household, royalty, the country, dare I say the world, by yourself. You played a game with so little chance of success, but so many risks, are you not scared to fail?"

I tilted my head, "well, I made it, didn't I?"

He continued, sweat trickled down his forehead, "you may have helped the country, but what about your family? It was our chance to bind us to the royal family. What you have done, is akin to betrayal."

"Yes, so what," I grinned, "I am an Archduke now, what are you going to do about it?"

The only way to convince my grandfather was by telling the truth. There was no reason to make up any lies, as me gaining being an Archduke was the truth in itself. If I recount what had happened on that day, he too should understand how and why I had been bestowed that tiltle.

And if he believed me, that meant I didn't have to fear him either. At least that is what the king assured me.

His knees lost his strength and was it not for him using the desk for support, he may have fallen down. He held his head, hiding his face, making his expression unreadable. An uncomfortable stillness resided within the room. The air turned tepid, as no one dared to move a single muscle.

Suddenly, his shoulders began shaking and out of nowhere, and he began to giggle. The giggle grew louder until it ultimately turned into a deep laugh. A laugh loud enough to overwhelm the whole room, pushing the silence far away. It felt like he laughed for minutes, I couldn't actually tell. It just felt very long.

In the end, he threw both of his hands in the air, revealing his smile. The tension in his face had left completely and he appeared relaxed.

"I concede, there's nothing I can do," he said and laughed again.

This time it was me who was at a loss for words. From all the reactions, it was happiness that I expected the least. And who could really blame me for that, seeing the situation right now.

"That you can show such an expression means you may still have blood flowing through your veins," he chuckled.

"It's a surprise, to say the least."

"Did you expect I would be angry," he asked.

"Uhm, yes. Are you not," I replied in a quizzical voice.

"No, I am. Very much so," he humphed, "so much that I want to choke you."

"Nice, that's something I'm more used to."

He lifted his finger, "I'm joking, I don't really mind."

I tilted my head, "Ccould you explain, I am a bit lost."

"I wanted to see you a bit longer in this state, but I suppose that won't be happening," he glanced at the maid who was just listening, "since someone else is also dying to know."

The maid flinched and let out an awkward smile.

"If you think about it, we didn't lose anything at all. No, in fact we even gained more," he stretched his hands out, "I mean, you won't leave this household right? There's no way you could. It's your home. You have a title but no name or land, so where would you sleep, how would you eat, who would finance your clothes? So you turning into an Archduke is akin to the D'Anele household being promoted to an Archduke too," he laughed heartily.

"Are you not mad at me for separating from the prince?"

"Not at all. Well, it would be unfortunate, if that was all that happened, but if I had to choose, I'd rather have an Archduke than let you marry the prince. I still cannot fathom it, a living legend in our own family," he stared at me like I was an invaluable treasure, his eyes glimmering, "it's not like your child would have had any chance to succeed the throne. And in these times, who knows whether we could really use these ties as an advantage. Truth be told, I think they would even be a burden. An excuse to ask us for help."

I was a bit creeped out by his enthusiasm, but he did raise a valid point. More than anything, the king too should know that an Archduke title had more worth than marrying the prince. If not, it wouldn't be much of a reward.

"You did a marvelous job, Agnes," he said with in a giddy tone, "I still need to confirm your claims, but I really believe you, so I hope you don't mind if we do not announce your title to the household yet."

"It's alright. The king said that we should keep it a secret anyways, ah-" I said, but stopped short, for my eyes fell upon the maid, "whoops."

The maid swiftly replied, "I won't tell anyone, I promise."

"I do hope you know how to keep secrets," I told her and placed my index finger on my mouth, "because I hate people who break promises."

She nodded vigorously.

"That reminds me," the old man began and put the pen he had just picked up away, "what's the deal between you and that maid named Celestia?"

"Eh," I blurted out.

"I mean, I do not have any right to judge you anymore, since your status is higher than even mine," he continued, "but should I be worried?"

Why is he talking about this. What is he implying. No, more than anything, how did he know.

I shot a vindictive gaze at the maid again, who just quietly stared into the distance, trying to pretend that she didn't hear anything.