Shards of the Broken Heart

It was a beautiful day as the birds chirped outside the windowsill. A maid came inside the room and, without raising her eyes from the floor, went to the window and parted the curtains. Afterwards, she exited the room in the same manner she had entered before.

The morning sunrays peered through the window unhindered and fell on the faces of a man and a woman sleeping on the bed. The warm morning rays dispelled the sleepiness of the man, resulting in his eyes fluttering open.

He turned his head to the woman and kissed her on the cheek after gazing at her tenderly for a while. The dampness of his affection roused up the woman from her fleeting slumber. She rubbed her eyes and greeted.

“Good morning, my love.”

“Morning, wifey. The weather is nice today and quite welcoming for the return of my sister. It would be better if you could get up so that I could prepare for her welcoming. Otherwise, due to your tempting body, it would do no good to consume my energy so early in the morning.”

Alessa smiled seductively and gave Lucius a deep kiss before getting up from the bed and leaving for the bathroom, all the while swaying her juicy nude bums. Lucius looked downwards at his raging ‘son’ and then towards the seductress before smiling wryly.

He wrapped a robe around his waist and went in the direction of another bathroom to freshen up.

Today was very eventful due to the return of the victorious army led by his gallant younger sister. Lucius smilingly entered the bathroom, looking forward to seeing his sister after a long time.

But inside the other bathroom, the seductive smile of Alessa had faded into a grim expression.

Alessa’s maiden family had been a subordinate of the Levant family for a few generations. Although a subsidiary family, they didn’t have much to do except to offer the regular tributes.

But after Archbishop Levant had taken over his position as family head, the members of Alessa’s maiden family were ordered to act as spies in various governmental offices. And she was one such spy in the House of Vance, introduced through an arranged marriage.

From the very start, her objective was to use her womanly charms and seduce Lucius into submission. But he was a tough nut to crack and didn’t give into her seduction. So, she had to play the long game.

And within the last few decades of their marriage, Lucius and Alessa had found solace in each other’s hearts. She had inadvertently fallen in love with this Marquis Lucius Vance.

Now faced with the deadlock of her love towards her husband and her piety towards her maiden family, she had chosen to follow her original mission to the end. Today, she had to plant evidence she got a few days ago to incriminate Lucius.

She had decided that after the completion of her assignment, she would join her husband for the rest of her years serving in the prison together.

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Lucius was running around in the great hall, checking every nook and cranny for any errors in the decoration. Today was the day as his adorable sister was returning after a long time. He had already gotten the news that Ifrid had entered the royal hall after returning the army to the barracks. And he was quite flustered to make her homecoming as memorable as possible for his dear sister.

In all of the empire except his late parents, only he could praise Ifrid as adorable and lovely. Whereas the rest of the empire always cowered whenever they saw the valiant War Goddess famed for being able to slaughter her enemies without batting her eyelids.

In the middle of his instructions to the servants, one guard came running to him and reported swiftly after a sharp salute.

“Marquis, the Inquisition is here. They have forcefully entered the outer premises and are on their way here.”

Lucius raised his eyebrow in slight annoyance. He clearly wanted to kick inquisitors, who were interrupting the preparation for his sister's return, out of his residence. But they were under the authority of the Palace of Valour, a separate indomitable entity in the empire supporting the royal family.

Although the Palace of Valour is a religious organisation, they were not under the jurisdiction of the Emperor and had as much as authority in the empire as the Emperor, if not less. And the Inquisition was a special task force under them to root out the ‘heretics’ that were a threat to the general populace and their religious order.

And him being a high-rank official, he had come in touch with the Inquisition quite many times. Generally, they don’t need any permission to enter, but today being a special day, he had prohibited anyone from entering the residence.

To fulfil the requests of the Inquisition and shoo them away as fast as possible, Lucius walked briskly in the direction of the outer premises only to get obstructed by the Inquisition’s entry into the celebratory hall.

Each of them was covered in white chainmail, with an insignia of two red broadswords on the breastplate. The leader stepped forward to meet Lucius, whereas the others swept around him as if they were encircling him.

Lucius felt that something was amiss and motioned his servants to retaliate if anything went awry. And he was correct as the leader of the Inquisition squad revealed his intentions.

“Ifrid Vance, suspected to be a part of and colluding with the witches, is arrested by the Inquisition. As a possible accomplice, Lucius Vance is to be brought back to the Palace of Valour for further interrogation. The whole estate is to be searched and investigated for further clues.

Please cooperate with the procedure as we have the authority to kill anyone obstructing without mercy.”

As soon as Ifrid was mentioned to be arrested, Lucius stopped his servants from retaliating as his sister was in the Inquisition’s hand.

If his sister, the War Goddess, was caught by the Inquisition, then it was given that the Emperor had given his tacit approval. And he could do nothing more as the Marquis Vance, as he had lost the shelter of the Emperor. He could only save his sister as an average citizen of the empire.

He dejectedly put his hands forward to be chained and bound, and uttered powerlessly.

“Lead the way.”

In his dejection and worry for his sister, Lucius had overlooked the absence of his wife in the hall.

After his arrest, Lucius was brought to the dungeon under the main chapel of ‘Palace of Valour’. He was kept inside the cellar for a week without any food and water before bringing him out to the court of the Inquisition for interrogation.

And it was there he saw his sister Ifrid for the first time after many months, looking frail and untidy, bounded by chains and weights.

“Ifrid!”