bookpub Chapter 576 The Intruding of Royalty - Part 4
Chapter 576 The Intruding of Royalty - Part 4
He'd assumed – likely wrongly – that the trial would have been an easy affair, given the evidence in his favour. But he hadn't accounted for the politicking. No matter how long he spent in the noble courts, he would likely never be able to keep up with such politicking. He still didn't understand quite why they moved so strongly against him.
He knew it was because of his 'father', because Dominus Patrick had been so strongly disliked... but was he disliked to this degree? What had been done to Dominus that they feared retaliation from his son so strongly? And just who was it that feared it? Who were these enemies?
It was likely the High King... That was the feeling that Oliver held in his heart. No one had said it to him explicitly, but given that Dominus himself had proclaimed numerous times, and what the people here seemed to be inferring, it could be no other... but still, the question remained, why? And was it really the High King that sent those assassins after Oliver?
If he was to assume it was the High King, then how did he stand any chance at all of winning this trial? No matter what, the highest authority in the country was that one man. Even Asabel's testimony would pale in comparison. He was a weak house in the colosseum with giants. No one had any reason to risk that position to save him from his fate. Not even Asabel.
She spoke up regardless. "I wish to speak now, not of the trial and the crimes that Oliver Patrick was convicted of, but what I believe him to be capable of."
Lancelot did a good job of keeping a neutral expression as he stood next to his Lady, a few steps lower down on the stand, but it was quite clear that he too had no idea what was going on.
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I must make the choices that I feel to be right for my rule, regardless of what ire I know it will invite from my father, and from even the High King himself," Asabel continued, her speech speeding up, as she seemed to realize all the consequences of her decision.
"From this day forth, the Asabel Pendragon faction shall lay its claim to my inheritance. In accordance with the old laws, and the new, I lay claim to the Quarter Lands, and the Quarter Title that has been due to me since birth, and until the day that my father abdicates his position, and leaves the rest of our family lands to me," Asabel continued. "It is not a decision that I make lightly.
I do not fracture the Pendragon house willingly. I am aware of the strife that will ripple through the Kingdom to see the Pendragon house divided, but I can no longer turn my eyes away from that which I believe to be right. Today my hand is forced, and action must be taken."
The nobles were reaching a fervour pitch. Another branch of royalty, declared right here, in the Hall of Ministers, on the very day that they had expected the death of the last of the Patricks, there came this!
An event of the most blasphemous sort. A tradition that was outlawed in everything but name. The tradition of the Quarter Inheritance. Just as her own father had done, when he believed his brother Arthur to be pursuing the wrong path, she laid claim to a quarter of all that the Pendragons owned, giving rise to a Pendragon Branch beneath the first, but not subordinate to it.
An entity that could grow of its own accord, and usurp the Main House, should it ever acquire the power to do so.
It was expected of royalty – and nobility at that – that when they came of age, they would form a faction of their own. That was intended for political purposes, so that they could be centres of power within their own right, and have their own proper positions at court, in order to assist the current head of their houses. Such a thing was done quietly, without Quarter Inheriting.