Lady of House Alba

Prologue

The crying girl found comfort in the old lady's arms.

"Mama Juana, why is Mother mad at me again?"

"I'm sorry, Elena, it's because your grandmother didn't educate your father properly."

The Earl vented his anger to his wife, and the Countess followed suit and vented on their 8-year-old daughter. It had been the same way even since Elena was old enough to walk.

Although it was also understandable that after ten years her son was frustrated by the lack of a legitimate heir to the House Valverde, it still didn't justify his reactions towards his wife, who had just suffered another miscarriage, or their only daughter.

"Mother said it's my fault."

She should have been born a boy. Because Elena was born, she'd made her mother barren and her father desperate as years went by.

"Things were not always like this. Your father is just worried about the future of our family if there's not a son in this house."

Elena frowned and looked down. She didn't understand. When they were in the capital in the past summer, they met the Baroness of Pietro, and she heard she was the only daughter of her house who inherited the title. So why was it so bad that she was born a girl?

Her father, too, had once tried to teach her. That attempt did not end well because Elena had been slow to learn, but she'd worked hard since then, hoping he'd give her another chance.

"Mama, girls can also inherit titles, can't they? The Baroness of Pietro said so, that if I am capable the Emperor can let me succeed Father, so I'm studying hard."

"That's true. But Elena, those are the Empire's rules that do not follow the traditions of Vallas. Today we do as the Emperor commands, but it doesn't mean it's right."

In the South, they still tried to do things the way God had commanded them to, but saying that kind of thing could be considered treason, so the old lady had to lower down her voice as she spoke those words.

"Why? I can study hard, I'll learn everything there is to know."

"It's not that simple. Men and women have different duties, we've been made different. You shouldn't have to think about succeeding your father, my girl. It's a pity you couldn't see how things used to be in my times."

Elena was just eight, she was born after the Saints disappeared and the Raeden Empire conquered the continent. Because of the same reason, she would never understand the Earl's worries and resentment.

Just twenty years ago, Vallas was an independent kingdom, the southern garden of the continent, and House Valverde was the most outstanding of the noble families in the region. Yet when the war started, the three oldest sons were the first to die against the enemy, and only the fourth and youngest, Enmanuel, managed to survive.

As the wife of the former Earl and the old madam of House Valverde, Juana knew better than anyone the reasons why accepting this new Raeden Empire was so difficult. The new ruler, Renan the First, ordered all the temples to be turned into government facilities, and the worship of God was reduced to the insides of the walls of the family house. All the centuries-long traditions were ignored, and the former glory of the House Valverde had never been recovered.

If only the circumstances were different, if Vallas was what it had been once upon a time... If things were like before, Elena should be the pampered young lady of the house, being educated in the temple, and with suitors already asking for her hand in the front door.

"Mama Juana, how was it before I was born?"

When Elena was sad, she liked to hear these stories the most. In this regard, the girl was very peculiar too, the fascination these stories awoke in her was never seen in other kids, who just learned to accommodate to the new world or resent it.

"There was a time when the civilization was limited to the Sacred Diamond Islands in the West. No one knew when exactly it happened, only it was around one thousand years ago, sailors from the islands arrived on the continent and founded the kingdoms of Vallas, in the South, Eir and Raeden, in the North. Eir and Vallas were protected by the Saints, blessed priests chosen by God since birth."

"What happened to the Saints?"

"With the passing of the centuries, fewer Saints were born, eventually there was no one left. Perhaps that was God's punishment for people becoming too greedy and immoral."

"Immoral how?"

"You'll learn when you are older."

"Raeden didn't follow the Saints?"

"No. The people from Raeden were sorcerers who used forbidden magic and denied our God. They always had problems with the Kingdom of Eir, but nobody could have known, one day Raeden attacked Eir and started a war."

The Raeden sorcerers were pushed to infertile land and their numbers couldn't be compared to the inhabitants of the other two kingdoms. It was a surprise when they started to win battle after battle. The most inventive narrators from Eir talked about the commander of the armies having a monster at her disposal, but that was a ridiculous story that tried to explain what could not be explained.

Eir had fallen in less than a year, but Vallas endured more. One by one the sons of the House Valverde went to fight the enemy, until only the youngest, Elena's father, was left to take care of the family. And in order to take care of the family, and save what could be saved, he'd kneeled and pledged loyalty to the Raeden Empire when the Great Sorceress, the Grand Duchess of Alba, opened the gates of the Imperial Palace.

It was a sad thing that Elena had to live in such a world.

"It's of no use for you to hear about this. Now, you stopped crying, go and change your clothes before it's time for dinner."

Elena nodded and ran towards her own bedroom. The marble floor was slippery as the maids had just finished cleaning, which she noticed too late as she stumbled, trying to grab something to avoid falling. In the end, her knees and hands still met the floor.

"Ouch."

The child bit her lips. Her skirt was ripped off and her knees were bleeding. The wound brought a stinging pain, but she was more concerned about her mother, who would surely scold her again for being careless and not ladylike at all.

She grabbed the folds of her skirt in an attempt to cover her tattered clothes, wishing the scratches could just disappear, and exhaled deeply before standing up again.

"What are you doing, Elena?"

Elena turned around to see her mother, and instantly lowered her gaze.

"I'll wash and get ready for dinner."

The countess sighed but surprisingly this wasn't followed by another reprimand. Maybe she wasn't angry anymore? Elena peeked at her mother, but the icy expression was still there, just like the bruise on her right cheek.

"Very well. Hurry up, your Father will be back soon."

As Elena looked down, she saw her knees were perfectly fine, as if nothing had happened at all.