Chapter 7: What Are Your Intentions?
’Tillian Valentine?!’
Aideen felt shivers running down her spine as that name registered in her mind like a bad omen. Such a strong reaction to that name was not baseless.
While Aideen never had the chance to meet Tillian Valentine directly, she, like everyone else in Geraldion, had heard a handful of rumors about the man.
The last living member of the Valentine family, which had ruled over the kingdom before Aideen’s father, Euris Ruan, started the rebellion, obliterating the Valentines and capturing the throne.
The princess found herself at a loss on how to react upon discovering that she now resided within Duke Tillian’s castle. The circulating rumors about the duke were anything but positive, causing genuine fear to grip her.
"Being sent up North to live with Duke Valentine feels like stepping into a horror tale, the kind people use to send shivers down children’s spines. Even Count Crueder used to wield it as a threat, warning me that this would be my fate if I dared to disobey him. Now, here I am..."
The phantom of madness had haunted the Valentine family ever since the rebellion. It was widely acknowledged that insanity formed the core motivation for Euris Ruan’s desire to eliminate them. He, in fact, spread rumors suggesting a mysterious curse afflicted every male member of the Valentine family, driving them mad upon reaching the age of twenty-five.
The fear of being governed by a deranged monarch permeated society, making the prospect of a mad king a nightmare no one wished to endure.
’What was the name my brothers used to call him? Mad Dog, was it?’