Episode-786
Chapter : 1571
"While Liam was building his kingdom, the Altamira family had consolidated their power. They had purged every single noble from their lands. Overseers, Wardens, tax collectors—dead, every last one of them. They had built fortifications along the river. They had created a government based not on bloodline, but on hatred of the outsider. They declared themselves the 'Sovereign State of Altamira.'"
Jasmin looked at the map. "So they just... opted out?"
"They seceded from history," Lloyd said. "Liam was in a difficult position. He had just fought a war to end tyranny. He couldn't very well march his army into Tiamat and conquer them. That would make him the very thing he had just destroyed. He would be the new Emperor, crushing the free people. It would destroy the moral foundation of his new Kingdom."
"So he let them go?"
"He didn't have a choice," Lloyd said. "His army was exhausted. Malachi's army was battered. And the Altamirans were dug in like ticks. If Liam had invaded Tiamat, it would have been a bloodbath that lasted another ten years. And he probably would have won. But you can't conquer a people who are willing to burn their own fields rather than let you have them."
Lloyd sighed and sat down in the chair, stretching his legs. "So, there was a stalemate. A messy, awkward silence fell over the continent. On one side, you had the new Kingdom of Bethelham, trying to figure out how to be a country. On the other side, you had the Sovereign State of Altamira, bristling with pikes and suspicion. They weren't at war, exactly. But they definitely weren't friends."
"It sounds lonely," Jasmin said. "For them. Being alone against a Kingdom."
"Paranoia is a lonely business," Lloyd agreed. "The Altamira leaders built their entire identity around victimhood and vengeance. They taught their children that everyone outside their borders was a monster. They taught them that the Ferrums were demons who ate babies and the Austins were witches who stole souls. They needed that fear. It was the glue that held their new state together. Without an external enemy, the different factions in Tiamat might have turned on each other. So, the Altamira family made sure the hatred never died."
Lloyd looked at Jasmin seriously. "You have to understand the psychology, Jasmin. They didn't see themselves as rebels anymore. They saw themselves as the last survivors of an apocalypse. To them, Bethelham wasn't a new start. It was just Babylon with a new coat of paint. They looked at Liam, and they saw an Austin noble. They looked at Malachi, and they saw a Ferrum warlord. They didn't care about the politics. They just saw the bloodlines."
He rubbed his temples. "And that brings us to the tragedy of the peace talks. Because Liam... Liam was an optimist. He really believed he could fix it. He believed that if he just sat down with them, looked them in the eye, and explained that the bad days were over, they would understand. He thought reason could overcome trauma."
"He was wrong?"
"He was tragically, beautifully wrong," Lloyd said. "He didn't understand that you can't reason with a wound that is still bleeding. He sent envoys. He sent gifts. He sent letters proposing a grand alliance, a unification of the continent where everyone would be equal. He wanted to bring them into the fold. He wanted to share the prosperity."
Lloyd let out a humorless chuckle. "The Altamirans accepted the meeting. They agreed to send a delegation to the neutral ground—the same hunting lodge where Liam and Malachi had made their pact. They said they were open to peace. They said they were ready to talk about the future."
"That sounds good," Jasmin said hopefully.
"It sounds like a trap," Lloyd said darkly. "Or worse. It sounds like a demand. The Altamirans didn't come to negotiate terms of trade or borders. They came to settle a score. They came with a bill for two hundred years of slavery, and they expected it to be paid in full."
He leaned forward, his eyes locking with hers. "Liam went to that meeting thinking he was going to shake hands and build a new world. He didn't know he was walking into an ultimatum that would doom the continent to a hundred years of cold war. He didn't know that the price of peace was going to be the head of his best friend."
Lloyd paused, letting the weight of the moment hang in the dusty air of the archives.
Chapter : 1572
"The Sovereign State of Altamira was born in fire, Jasmin. And fire doesn't know how to build. It only knows how to burn. When they sat down at that table, they weren't looking for a treaty. They were looking for an execution."
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Lloyd pulled another book from the stack. This one was thinner, bound in blue velvet that had faded to a dusty grey. It was the personal journal of King Liam's royal scribe. Lloyd opened it carefully; the spine cracked with a sound like dry knuckles popping.
"The meeting took place three months after the fall of the capital," Lloyd narrated. "The location was symbolic. The Hunting Lodge of Grey Pine. The same place where the Rebellion began. Liam thought it was poetic. He thought it showed that the circle was closing."
"Who was there?" Jasmin asked.
"King Liam, obviously," Lloyd said. "And Arch Duke Malachi. They went together, as brothers. They brought a small honor guard, mostly for show. They wanted to project trust. On the other side... the Altamiran delegation. It was led by the first Sovereign of Altamira, a man named Vorian Altamira. He was a former mine foreman who had killed his Overseer with a rock and then led a guerilla war for three years. He wasn't a noble. He was a killer with a cause."
Lloyd pointed to a passage in the journal. "The scribe describes the atmosphere. 'The air was cold, but the silence was colder. The Altamiran men did not wear silk or velvet. They wore the roughspun wool of the fields and armor scavenged from dead knights. They did not bow. They did not smile. They looked at the King as a wolf looks at a deer.'"
"That doesn't sound promising," Jasmin murmured.
"It wasn't," Lloyd said. "Liam tried. He gave a speech. He talked about a new era. He talked about how the tyrants were dead. He talked about how the Garcia and Throne families had been wiped from the earth, and how justice had been served. He offered Altamira a place in the new Kingdom as a semi-autonomous region. They would keep their lands, they would govern themselves, but they would be part of the trade network and military alliance of Bethelham."
"It was a generous offer," Lloyd commented. "In the old days, a conquering king would have just demanded submission. Liam was offering partnership. He put a treaty on the table. It promised grain subsidies, protection from bandits, and recognition of their rights."
Lloyd turned the page. "Vorian Altamira listened to the whole speech without blinking. He didn't look at the treaty. He just stared at Malachi. The entire time, his eyes never left Malachi Ferrum's face."
"Because he was a Ferrum," Jasmin guessed.
"Because he was the Ferrum," Lloyd corrected. "To Vorian, Malachi wasn't the hero who ended the war. He was the son of the Emperor. He was the man who had led the 'pacification' campaigns in his youth. Malachi had blood on his hands. Literal blood. He had burned villages in Tiamat before he turned traitor. Vorian remembered. He probably knew the names of the people Malachi had killed."
Lloyd mimed pushing a paper across a table. "When Liam finished speaking, Vorian finally moved. He pushed the treaty back across the table. He didn't read it. He said, 'We do not want your grain. We have our own. We do not want your protection. We have our own spears. And we do not want your alliance. Not with monsters.'"
"He called the King a monster?" Jasmin asked, shocked.
"No," Lloyd said. "He pointed at Malachi. He said, 'You speak of justice, King Liam. You say the tyrants are dead. You say the Garcias and the Thrones are gone. But the biggest monster of them all is sitting at your right hand. The Ferrum beast still breathes. The Ferrum banner still flies. You have not ended the Empire; you have just changed the name.'"
Lloyd’s voice grew hard. "Vorian laid it out very simply. He acknowledged that Liam might be a good man. He acknowledged that the Austins had been punished. But to the people of Tiamat, the Ferrums were the devil. They were the physical manifestation of their suffering. And as long as a Ferrum held power, as long as a Ferrum lived, there could be no peace."
"That's... unfair," Jasmin said. "Malachi saved them. He ended the war."