Chapter 7: King Lu

So it came to be that Lu Da set off for the capital with his daughter and of course Lu Bu had to follow. They set off with twenty guards and Lady Lu remained in the Lu family compound to manage the main family's affairs in her husbands absence. The trip to the Three Rose Kingdom's capital was two weeks ride at a leisurely pace, and Lu Da was in no hurry to arrive.

The royal Lu family and main Lu family branches had a strained relationship over the years. The royal family, as most humans in power would, completely focused on their own development and over the years had made light of their ancestors teachings. This included plundering the main family treasury for their own needs, leaving the main family out of many major decisions for the kingdom, and completely disregarding the main family elders decisions for the main family. They exerted complete control over the main family to the point where some main family members saw themselves the same as branch family members.

Lu Da was born a prince and was main in line to the throne, he was to be married off to a woman of the Emperors bloodline and ascend to become the current king some ten years ago. Fate had different things in store though, on a trip to the main family he met Lady Lu. They were assigned a mission to eliminate beasts deep into the Knoll forest together and through some accidents ended up braving the dangers of the forest alone together. They had been lost in the forest for some months to the point where they were presumed dead, and yet they emerged from the forest some months later, hand in hand.

This newfound love came with many issues for the young lovers. The first being Lu Da's position as crown prince. As the heir apparent he had pursued love with a main family member instead of the Emperors descendant, this could be seen as insulting the Emperor himself! Lady Lu's position in the main family was not low either as she was kin of one of its protectors. While that gave her some leverage in her nuptials it definitely did not give her the right to marry into the royal family. So in fear of losing his love Lu Da renounced his right to the throne and married into the main family. his brother Lu Ru then became the new crown prince and a little later ascended to king.

At first this experience brought the two brothers closer together. Lu Ru knew he had gained his position out of Lu Da's sacrifice and pushed for him to become the main family's clan leader behind the scenes. With Lady Lu's position in the main family and his brothers own pedigree this wasn't hard to achieve for Lu Ru. The main family council even saw this as an opportunity to curb the royal family's overbearing attitude and bridge the gap between the bloodlines. So in an attempt to change this situation Lu Da was appointed as the new clan head, he was young, talented at war, and also had the royal bloodline. More than that he had his brother's support, the kings support was no small thing for previous clan heads, now having his brother could definitely be no small boon.

For a time this was true the two brother's had unconditional support for one another and all seemed well. That was until Lu Ru met his wife, Yazhu Yan, she was a great beauty, princess, and highly doted on by the Emperor, in other words, spoiled, spoiled as hell. While even the Emperor would not change the fact she had to marry into one of the kingdoms for her, she made the best of it by choosing her ideal candidate, a right never given to a princess before. This ideal man for her was Lu Da, definitely not his brother Lu Ru. After finding out the change that had been made she was furious. In her entire life she had never been so much as disregarded by a man, she was a beauty that drew all eyes, she was a princess of the Empire so her status was above never below, she was Yazhu Yan!

The die had been cast though and she had to marry into the The Three Rose Kingdom whether she liked it or not. Had it not been for her position, she would have just had him killed but the war against demon beasts needed fighters, especially strong ones, so to execute a warrior was a great taboo on the Ares continent. Even criminals were rarely executed and instead made cannon fodder to be used against the beasts. So instead she immediately began to take measures to target Lu Da and humiliate him as much as humanly possible. Unfortunately her new husband Lu Ru still held affection for his brother and their fights as husband and wife were no secret in the capital. This ongoing fight made the two brothers distance from one another so they could placate Yazhu Yan. If it wasn't an absolute emergency Lu Da would avoid the capital at all costs.

In the carriage Lu Da could only hope his brother King Lu would be able to find a way to do him this favor. The forceful awakening of the spiritual root was a benefit the royal family gained due to the Emperor. Should Yazhu Yan make trouble he would not only have made the trip for nothing he would even have to be around this crazy woman he hated. Hate wasn't single sided among the two, Yazhu Yan often disparaged his wife and Lu Da in his anger even considered assassinating her himself on more than one occasion. Lu Da was mild mannered, and while he had lost his dashing figure to his gluttony over the years, he had the airs of a valiant warrior and kind father. His reputation in the military praised him as honorable, generous, and honest, a great leader with no equal. This did not mean he wasn't ruthless it only meant he would show you a sincere smile before he killed you.

Meanwhile in the capital King Lu was having a headache as well, he had received news his brother was hoping to awaken his nieces soul root. He would be happy to do so but his wife had also received word. The squabble that would ensue was already annoying him, he had no desire to deal with his wife. In all honesty she was only his wife in name, the troubles she caused him over her attachment to his brother were too many to count. He had already taken a concubine and had children and yet he had never so much as touched his wife. This was a source of great humiliation among the royal court and an open secret.

Yet very few people dared to comment on it as while King Lu had a soft spot for his brother his compassion did not extend elsewhere. Those who spoke of this great shame where deployed to the front lines in droves. These men were not even warriors, they were scholars, to send them to war was a joke! As such many killed themselves to avoid the beasts maws. King Lu was a king and maintained the dignity of one at all costs, cruelty be damned.