Page 51 of The Fifth Life of Alicia
Not that I was going to tell Bella she was right.
Annie and Bella got to work. Annie massaged my hand while Bella washed my hair, and I let my eyes settle shut as they pampered me.
This was one part of this life I could get behind.
I did not miss washing or drying my own hair, and the hair I had now was infinitely thicker and longer than mine had been in my past life.
“Forgive my impudence, but is a marriage to the Grand Duke really this disastrous that you must forlornly take to your bed, my lady?” Annie asked, massaging my fingers. “I would have thought him one of, if not the, most eligible bachelor in the empire. He is rather handsome and quite powerful.”
“He’s also quite fearsome, if the rumours are to be believed,” I replied.
“But you danced together at the ball.”
“I hardly had a choice. To reject his offer would be a slight against the Imperial Family.” I sighed. “Don’t misunderstand—he’s a perfectly suitable marriage partner, but he’s one I do not desire for myself. I don’t believe we are compatible in any way.”
“I’m not sure, my lady,” Bella said, massaging my scalp. “Does anyone really know anything for sure about the Grand Duke? All we have are rumours. Given that the nobles are split into two factions between the princes, there’s every chance those rumours might have been exaggerated.”
No, Bella.
I’ve read this book.
They’re not all exaggerated at all.
“I heard he cut off a servant’s hands after they were caught stealing from the kitchen in Stein Castle,” Annie said, moving to the other side of the tub for my other hand. “And that he beheaded one of his aides in His Highness’ own bedroom after they were found to have been spying on him for the Empress.”
Yeah.
The second one was true, at least according to the book.
Maybe I was a little cuckoo in the head, but I thought it was a relatively reasonable reaction. Although I might have chosen a room without a carpet.
Blood was a pig to get out of fabric.
Huh. Maybe we were somewhat compatible after all.
“Then perhaps his aide shouldn’t have been spying,” I replied blithely.
“It would serve as quite the deterrent for others, my lady.” Bella rinsed my hair. “That said, Stein is quite beautiful. The winters can be harsh, and I believe there’s snow on the ground there even now as we enter spring, but the community in the local towns and villages are unlike any other.”
“How do you know so much about Stein, Miss Bella?” Annie asked, looking at her with awe.
“Ah, my cousin is married to a young lord there.”
Wait.
Bella’s family were all commoners. How did her cousin marry nobility?
“A lord?” I asked. “What’s the societal structure there?”
“I never thought my useless knowledge about the place would come in so handy, my lady.” Bella giggled. “It’s quite simple. Despite officially being a part of the empire, the province is self-governing with its own knightage, so the Grand Duke and Duchess are essentially the King and Queen in all but name. Because of it, the Grand Duke has the power to grant a selection of noble titles to residents of Stein.”
Right. It’d been a self-governing duchy before the Great War, and that was one of the reasons it’d been granted to Kalon in the first place. The Empress thought it might deter him and his supporters from challenging Torin for the throne if he had what was essentially his own kingdom.
The residents of Stein had surrendered after the then-duke attempted to run away, and Kalon had shown them all mercy, especially since several nobles had turned to the empire’s side beforehand and helped his army get to the castle. The residents hadn’t been too upset to be swallowed into the empire as long as they maintained their autonomy, and I’d heard that the previous duke and his nobles had almost driven the province to ruin with high taxation—something Kalon had immediately changed upon assuming his role.
“It’s a larger place than you think, so the Grand Duke formed a council to manage it and gave each member either a barony or a simple lordship assigned to an area for them to watch over. For example, there’s extremely fertile land to the southeast on the river, so there are now two young lords who manage the farmland either side of it. Their families have been working that land for years, so it wasn’t a great change.”
He’d essentially granted a whole bunch of fiefdoms.
