Prologue

March 3rd, only 2 weeks left until my coming-of-age ceremony at Lavister Hall. This is supposed to be a life changing event for me but I had different plans for this event. Thinking about all this stuff, I leaned on my desk and let out a yawn.

“You are slacking again?” the door opens, a girl with plain golden hair enters holding a tray.

“What about it?” I replied while stretching my hands above my head.

“You should make a good use of that useless brain of yours” she had a smirk on her face.

“Look Fina, I am not in the mood for your nonsense right now”.

“It must be him again” She giggled. “He sure knows how to get on your nerves”.

“It’s not like you are in a position to talk about that” I glared, still haven’t moved an inch from my place.

“You seem to be on the edge even more than usual, is everything alright?”

“You know how I hate to wait when there is some important stuff to do” I stood and walked towards the sofa where Fina was busy pouring some coffee for me. “I asked that man to pick me up at 9am, we had an expedition in the town and it’s already past noon”. I was basically growling at this point. No joke, I was genuinely irritated with his usual behavior, being late every single time especially when there is important stuff to do, does he not realize the weight of our situation? “Sigh” this is all I can do at the moment.

“Hey, no need to be so irritated, here have some Marocchino”

I took a sip…….Delicious. The mix of cocoa and espresso works in the most holy way. This is my favorite drink for a reason.

“Felt any better?”

I nodded. She sure knows how to put me back on the track. Well what else do you expect from your fiancée who had lived with you for 3 years. It was forced onto us due to political reasons and obviously neither of us were fine with this arrangement but things changed us for the better as time passed, 3 years is more than enough to understand someone. Fina is one of the sadistic types who knows where to hit with her words which often resulted in me snapping at times. She has a pretty good idea of how to handle a “HOT HEADED ME” in 3 years………probably more than my own family in 18 years.

“You seem to be in some deep thoughts, my lord”

There it it……

“I was wondering…….” I had my left hand on the chin while holding the coffee in the right “give me a straight-forward answer Fina, you really sure you want to join us on this whole mess?”

“Like I said…”

“It’s no joke” I interrupted her “there is no coming back from this, you know that right? I want to absolutely make sure you won’t regret your decision”.

Fina went silent.

“Think about your family first, you have a little brother that you need to protect when things breakout, we are all basically outcasts in one way or other with no one to care about.”

“I don’t care about my family…” she raises her voices to overcome mine “they are all scumbag, even my brother, so it’s not my responsibility to worry about them”.

“And you won’t tell me the reason?”

She nodded

I released a sigh, drank the rest of the coffee and leaned completely on the sofa.

Man, it’s really comfortable.

I was staring at the ceiling in complete silence, Fina didn’t spoke either and few minutes passed by without any of us saying a word.

“So, you want to follow us till the very end and won’t regret your decision in case of any failure?”

“Yes”

“That’s pretty bold of you say” I scratched my head “very well, I will allow you to accompany us”

“Why would I need your approval?”

There she goes again…. all I did was glare back at her which sparked things even further because she was obviously holding her laugh, what the heck is wrong with this girl.

“I mean, I can always count on Angelo or Marisa”

“Don’t bring that man’s name in this conversation, it’s all his fault that I am this irritated today, I think I am going to give him a nice beating in order to set the example, I will definitely take out my anger on him without holding back. Fina, you are free to join us, you have been pretty annoying lately, you might need a taste of my bat” I lost it and she did too. She was laughing out loud this time.

“I don’t know why but it’s always hilarious to see you get worked up over such trivial matters” she was still laughing, just then someone knocked at the door.

“It’s me, Lucia. Mr. Giuseppe is here for you”

I stood up, seeing upon my facial expression, Fina asked in the politest way “are you really going to beat him…”

“You can tag along if you want confirmation” I replied in an irritated tone

“of course not, spare me with that kindness of yours” she replied with a smile while sweating.

I shrugged my shoulders and headed out.

“May lord have mercy on that poor boy” Fina muttered as she raised her hand in a Praying gesture.

I closed the door and went downstairs alongside Lucia. I was looking at the architecture of my own mansion which was beautifully crafted. They say that the building existed since the era of void, my great grandfather renovated this building and it’s been like that ever since with some few changes here and there. It would be sad for this building to fall but it needs to happen, no I will make sure it happens for the sake of myself and for the people of this country. I won’t let my loved ones, who are completely irrelevant to all this stuff, get hurt on my behalf, not Lucia or Bernard. Just wait father for the ceremony to start, you will get to see what your son is capable of.

Thinking all such stuff, I went straight to the storeroom, picked up my wooden bat and went outside, there waiting was the man himself, Angelo Giuseppe, waving towards me with a cheerful smile. I had a big smile on my face as well but for a completely different reason.

“Angelo, my man, you might be the first one to be sacrificed in my process of making Utopia”