Even when close to an hour had passed Dario still hadn't returned. Amelia kept herself distracted from the gnawing concern in the pit of her stomach through conversation with Paul, only occationally being reminded of the worried look that the butler had worn before and glancing at the clock.
She had no desire to join the celebration and it seemed like Paul didn't either. Although he never said so she assumed it was because of Olivia and the servant who still hadn't left despite the many who had sporadically stumbled passed them in the corridor to retire for the night.
After Amelia had turned down Paul's offer to escort her back to her room he had instead decided to stay there with her. Now they were seated on the floor underneath the window that they'd left slightly ajar as to keep the brisk winter air flowing in.
Since she and Paul didn't have much to talk about the conversation mostly revolved around Dario. Paul told her of his leadership in the midst of war, although she was convinced that the heroic picture he painted was far from how gruesome reality had really been.
Through their conversation Amelia realized how little she truly knew of the civil war. She had learned some of the initial conflict from her teacher when she was younger but it became evident to her that vital details had been left out.
From what she knew it had begun when the previous king first became ill and the crown prince perished in a hunting accident not soon after. Left behind had only been prince Wilfred who had yet to come of age as well as his uncle, the duke of a southern region not far from the capital. By vote of the previous king's council the duke had been appointed as the young prince's proxy, elected to lead the country until Wilfred became an adult. Only he had not agreed to leave his position as promised on Wilfred's eighteen's birthay.
"Why didn't the council object when Duke Fontaine didn't step down?" Amelia pondered.
She had asked the same question to her teacher years prior and recieved a smack across her knuckles for interrupting the lesson. She had understood then that this was a taboo topic and hadn't brought it up since.
Even though Paul tried to hide it Amelia could tell that he was taken off guard by her ignorance, or maybe even naivety.
"His forces made up more than half of the royal guard. And he hadn't done anything grave enough to warrant the nobles objections under such circumstances. They didn't want things to become... complicated."
"Then what changed?"
Pauls expression soured.
"Fontaine wanted to expand our northern border further into Croivane to secure the lands minerals and strengthen our autonomy. Most of the aristocracy supported this since it would ultimatly fill their pockets, if not right away then at least eventually. Some even argued that it would benefit the rural commoners through added labour in areas where proper work was sparce."
"That's right... he wanted to decrease our import from Trentove and procure an unrestricted weaponsproduction" Amelia remembered and Paul confirmed her words to be true with a hum.
"But the situtation at the border was already unstable. If we were to claim new land and push the northerns back even further there would be a full scale war. There was barely enough food for the commoners to last through the winter as it was, even considering the aid from our southern territories. Imagine then if a war was to take place there. Most of those locals who fought would surely lose their lives and those who didn't would starve. Not to mention how the entire country would be affected if the area's wheat cultivation came to a halt."
Paul sighed, then met her eyes with a serious look.
"So to answer you question; the council didn't have a reason to care until the civil unrest became too difficult to handle. Only then did some of the noble houses acknowladge our king's claim to the throne. Of course by then he had already recruited an army of his own through mercenaries and labourers, so they didn't take a considerable risk by doing so at that point."
Amelia rested her face in the palms of her hands and followed an intoxicated trio of maids with her gaze as they passed by. She thought of how king Wilfred must be a decent ruler at least by a royal's standards, even if he'd only viewed his feats as a convinient way to take back power from his uncle. Without him the outcome would have surely been more grim.
The madam, Amelias stepmother had only ever praised Fontaine's vision of a self substaining and powerful empire and demoaned that such valuable land was in the hands of savages who had no use for it. Not once had she ever mentioned the possible consequenses or loss of human life in such a persuit.
This had in fact been the general opinion of the entire houshold and the thought of this left a bitter taste in Amelias mouth.
As to forget this she changed the topic.
"Then how did you end up fighting for our king?"
"If I'm being honest it was mostly for selfish reasons. Since my family was well off and had the ability to relocate if the need would arise we didn't have much of a reason to involve ourselves initially. Then my brothers and I were drafted by the royal guard, Fontaines forces. My younger brothers were only thirteen and eleven years old at the time so I couldn't let them go. So I left my family a note and took off during the night. It was the only thing I could think of since family members are exempt from fighting each others on different sides in the event of a civil war."
"You're a good brother" she smiled faintly, momentarily thinking of her own brother who hadn't viewed her as much more than a pebble under his shoe.
"How many siblings do you have" she asked.
"Five. Three younger brothers and two sisters, one older and one younger."
"I imagine it suits you, being an older brother I mean."
"And how is that" Paul inquired.
Amelia thought of his treatment of her the night that they first met.
"You just seem like the type" she answered instead.
She leaned her back against the wall and fought her heavy eyelids from closing. Each time they did it felt as though her body was falling.
"Well, that's enough" Paul said as he picked himself up with some strain.
"You should get to bed."
He held his hand out in front of her and for a moment she only looked at it.
"I'll escort you" he followed.
With a firm pull he helped Amelia to her feet. The moment she stood her thighs and behind that had gone numb after sitting for so long began to sting like they were being pierced by needles.
Amelia stumbled only slightly, but as on instinct Paul swiftly steadied her body with his hand on her waist.
"You alright" he asked.
"Yes. I have just been sitting for too long" she admitted.
"Heh, I get that too" Paul laughed."Is it fine to stand?"
Amelia shifted her weight to one leg, then the other, and although it still burned the pain was fading into mere discomfort.
"Yes, it's alright."
Even after her confirmation Paul didn't let go right away. He even hovered his arm behind her as they started walking.
'He is just like I imagine a big brother to be' she thought to herself with an amused smile on her lips.
"What do you think you're doing Sir?"
Amelia hadn't seen Dario coming given her preoccupation and she visibly jumped in surprise as she spotted him in ahead of them.
"My Lord." Paul greeted him.
"I was escorting miss Ainsworth back to her chambers"
As Darios face was illummimated by candlelight Amelia noticed how tired he looked. It was as if he had been gone an entire night and not for less than an hour.
"And is this how you imagine a proper way of escorting a lady to be" Dario asked, shifting his tired eyes towards Paul's hand hovering behind Amelia's back.
When she realized what he was referring to she chuckled, ready to clarify the situation. But Dario's behavior made her pause.
With his hand on Paul's shoulder and face menacingly close Dario breathed through gritted teeth:
"You're dismissed. And don't bother showing your face to me if you value your position. "