A Well-Masked Ambition

"Ok, you can leave," Leonard said quietly. The raven gave a respectful bow, then disappeared into thin air, leaving only a faint shimmer where he had once stood as his magic dispersed through the air. Leonard stood motionless for a moment, staring at the empty space. He could feel it in his bones, his father was already near.

It had been inevitable. The news of the divorce would have traveled fast, and Leonard knew better than anyone how his father would react. The man was a force of nature when he wanted to be. Leonard could almost trace the path his father took back to the capital, teleportation gates, backchannels, and maybe even some of his own dark methods. Leonard had sent ravens to sabotage him, to slow him down, to buy time, but deep down, he knew. No trap, no interference, would stop the old Duke from returning exactly when he planned.

His father never failed to seize control of a situation. As the former Duke and the iron-fisted head of the Valerion family, he wasn't just feared for his political might. He was a strategist, a manipulator, a predator who had honed his instincts over decades of blood and power plays. He didn't just hold power, he devoured it.

Leonard had learned that the hard way. Growing up under his father's shadow meant constant vigilance. Every word, every lesson was a veiled threat or a subtle test. And so Leonard had spent years studying him, dissecting his patterns like a scholar obsessed with a dangerous beast. He memorized how the man thought, how he maneuvered, how he struck. There was no other choice.

His father, the former Duke and head of the Valerion family, wasn't just powerful and well-connected, he was relentless. Once he set his mind to something, nothing stopped him. He didn't care about the cost, or how many enemies he made. Leonard had studied him for years, knowing that the only way to defeat him was to predict his every move. "Know your friends well, but your enemies better." Leonard had lived by that.

Because Leonard wasn't just fighting for a title or his pride. He was fighting for survival. For freedom.

His father's refusal to pass down true authority was always cloaked in excuses. "You're not ready," he would say. Or, "You must first prove yourself." But Leonard had seen through it. The truth was simpler: the Duke would never willingly relinquish power. If not for the imperial decree and the Archduke's pressure, Leonard wouldn't even be the next Duke. His father clung to power like a drowning man clings to the air.

But there were darker secrets beneath the surface. Leonard had uncovered them over the years, quietly piecing them together until they formed a picture that chilled him. The illegal experiments. The forbidden research. His father was chasing immortality itself.

And not just for the sake of avoiding death. No, he craved dominion. The imperial throne, the highest seat in the land, had always been his hidden ambition. Leonard knew it now with grim certainty. His father, the man who played the perfect loyalist, who wore humility like armor, was ready to burn the empire if it meant ruling over its ashes.

Leonard clenched his fists at the thought. How many lives had already been spent to fuel that ambition? How many more before someone stopped him?

Leonard had realized long ago that to his father, everyone was a pawn to be sacrificed when necessary. The man wore many masks, playing the loyal servant to the Emperor and Archduke. The emperor and the archduke only tried to control him because they feared his ambition may cause disorganization in the empire not because they suspected treason.

The imperial family remained blind, deceived by the Duke's masterful performance. He was the Emperor's so-called hound, obedient and humble, the model of loyalty. The Valerions had long been known as the empire's most steadfast supporters. No one questioned it. No one doubted it.

Neither had Leonard, not at first.

He still remembered the day that illusion shattered. He had been just a boy, a few weeks after receiving Aetherion's blessing, newly named the head of the Magic Tower which he had not told anyone including his father. Eager to test an invisibility spell, and maybe to indulge in a harmless prank, he had slipped into his father's private study. What he overheard that day would forever mark him. Plans whispered in the dark, ambitions unspoken in public. Treason.

It was the first time Leonard realized his father saw him as nothing more than a pawn. Just another piece to move, sacrifice, and replace. That bitter truth had burned a hole in him ever since.

Worse still, Vivian had become part of that twisted game. His marriage had been arranged, a convenient union to further his father's schemes. Leonard could endure many things, but watching the woman he loved reduced to a bargaining chip in his father's endless pursuit of power, he could not forgive that.

The divorce wasn't just about freeing himself from a loveless marriage as he had claimed. It was about removing leverage, breaking one more link in the chain his father had wrapped around them both.

Now, with the divorce finalized, the game could begin in earnest. Leonard would take back the dukedom and expose his father for the traitor he was. But the path was dangerous.

If he allied openly with the imperial family, he might protect the Valerion name from total ruin, but not from punishment. Stripping the Duke of power wouldn't come without consequences. Yet if Leonard moved in secret, without the empire's hand guiding him, he could control the narrative. He could be the man who crushed the rebellion, not the one who merely uncovered it. The rewards would be far greater.

But so would the risks.

He exhaled, rubbing his temples. How many times had he run through this scenario? Calculated the moves? Weighed the losses? Even now, with everything so carefully planned, the outcome was still uncertain.

But one thing was clear: win or lose, Vivian would be safe. He had made sure of it. And if the worst happened, if his father triumphed, Leonard still had a backup plan to keep the dukedom out of the old man's grip forever and expose him.

A slight smirk crossed his face. His father always underestimated him. That would be his greatest mistake.

Leonard shook himself free from the thoughts spiraling in his head. Not now. Not while Vivian was still here. Their time together was almost at an end, and he would savor what little they had left.

He picked up the tray of food and quietly made his way toward the bedroom where she waited. For a few days longer, at least, they could pretend the world outside didn't exist.