Chapter 21: Second Mana Heart
Ater Grim left, Empress Alexia stood at the window for a long time. The garden below was empty save for a few gardeners tending to the flowers, but she wasn't really looking at them. Her mind was elsewhere.
"Just like Caius," she murmured to herself, a small smile playing on her lips. "The same boldness. The same disregard for rules."
She walked back to her desk. Opened a hidden drawer to reveal a worned out painting. A man with skicked back hair and a cocky smile. Caius van Ambrose in his prime.
"You would be proud of your great-grandson," she said to the image. "He has your spirit. Your arrogance too."
All the stories she'd heard about Caius over the years - his battles, his conquests, his legendary sword techniques - they had shaped her understanding of what made House Ambrose special. And now, she saw those same qualities emerging in young Grim.
"But will he be enough?" she asked the empty room. "Will he grow strong enough, fast enough?"
She put the sketch away and picked up a report from her desk. It detailed strange activities at the southern border. Non stop rain for a week. And loud rumblings through the southern hills.
"We need you, Grim van Ambrose," she whispered. "More than you know."
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