A Name For A Crown

The Division

Chapter Six — The Division

The doors of the council chamber opened before Viktoria reached them.

She stopped.

For a moment, she simply looked at the people waiting inside.

Twenty-three members had gathered around the enormous table again.

But this time, the atmosphere was different.

Nobody was pretending the meeting was about mourning.

They were here to decide the future of the Draven Empire.

Viktoria walked inside.

Her heels echoed against the marble floor as every pair of eyes followed her.

She didn't look toward her father's seat.

She didn't look at Leonard.

She didn't look at Daniel.

Instead, she walked directly toward the chair that had once belonged to her grandfather.

The same chair she had occupied the night before.

She pulled it out.

And sat.

Alexander Moretti entered behind her and closed the doors.

The room fell silent.

An older council member cleared his throat.

"Lady Viktoria."

She looked at him.

"Yes?"

"We appreciate that you have come."

"I was invited."

The man shifted slightly.

"Of course."

Viktoria folded her hands on the table.

"Then let's begin."

Across the table, Marcus watched her.

His expression remained unreadable.

Viktoria noticed.

She had spent twenty years studying people.

She knew when someone was hiding something.

And tonight, everyone in the room was hiding something.

The council chairman placed a document in front of him.

"The council has reviewed the succession situation."

Viktoria's eyes moved to the document.

"And?"

The chairman hesitated.

"The council recognizes your grandfather's designation."

A few people exchanged glances.

Viktoria leaned back.

"Good."

"But there are concerns."

Her expression didn't change.

"What concerns?"

The chairman looked around the table before answering.

"The Draven Empire is too large to be placed entirely under the authority of one person who has not yet held the position."

Viktoria's eyes narrowed.

"I have been trained for this position since I was sixteen."

"Yes."

"I have worked inside the organization."

"Yes."

"I understand the businesses, the territories, the alliances, and the council."

"We know."

"Then what exactly is the concern?"

Silence.

Finally, another council member spoke.

"Your age."

Viktoria stared at him.

"I'm twenty."

"Exactly."

She almost laughed.

"That's your argument?"

"No one is questioning your intelligence."

"You're questioning my age."

"We are questioning whether twenty years is enough experience to control an empire of this size."

Viktoria looked around the table.

"Then why did nobody question my age while my grandfather was alive?"

No one answered.

She nodded slowly.

"That's what I thought."

Marcus finally spoke.

"Viktoria."

She turned toward him.

"What?"

"This isn't personal."

Her eyes remained on him.

"You should know better than to say that."

A few council members looked away.

Marcus continued.

"The empire cannot afford instability."

"Then don't create it."

His jaw tightened.

"We are trying to prevent it."

"No," Viktoria said calmly.

"You're trying to control it."

The room became tense.

The chairman raised a hand.

"Enough."

Viktoria turned toward him.

"Then tell me the real reason I'm here."

The chairman looked down at the document in front of him.

Then he pushed it forward.

"The council has reached a proposal."

Viktoria didn't touch it.

"What proposal?"

The chairman took a breath.

"The Draven Empire will be divided."

Silence.

Viktoria stared at him.

"Divided?"

"Yes."

"Into what?"

"Two territories."

Her fingers slowly tightened against the edge of the table.

The chairman continued.

"One territory will remain under your authority."

Viktoria said nothing.

"And the other will be placed under your father's authority."

The room seemed to grow colder.

Marcus remained still.

Viktoria looked at him.

Then back at the council.

"You're giving my father half the empire."

"We are recognizing both legitimate claims."

"My father is not the designated successor."

"He is the current head of the family."

"And I am my grandfather's chosen heir."

"Which is why you will receive one half."

Viktoria stared at the chairman.

"One half."

"Yes."

She slowly stood.

Nobody moved.

"My grandfather spent twenty years preparing me to inherit the Draven Empire."

Her voice remained calm.

"And now, after his death, you have decided that everything he built for me should be divided because you believe I'm too young."

No one answered.

Viktoria looked around the room.

"Who proposed this?"

The chairman remained silent.

She looked at Marcus.

He didn't answer either.

Her eyes returned to the council.

"Who?"

An older member finally spoke.

"The proposal was discussed collectively."

"That's not what I asked."

Silence.

Viktoria smiled faintly.

"Of course."

She picked up the document.

Her eyes moved across the pages.

The empire had been divided geographically.

Territories.

Businesses.

Financial interests.

Security divisions.

Trade routes.

Each section had been carefully assigned.

It wasn't an emotional decision.

It had been planned.

Viktoria turned another page.

Then another.

Her expression became colder.

"You prepared this before tonight."

The chairman didn't deny it.

"Yes."

"Before the meeting?"

"Yes."

"And before asking me whether I agreed?"

"This is not a matter that can be decided by one person."

Viktoria looked up.

"Exactly."

She placed the document back on the table.

"Which is why I want everyone here to understand something."

Nobody spoke.

"I will not recognize this division as the rightful end of the succession."

Marcus leaned forward.

"You don't have to recognize it."

Viktoria looked at him.

"Then what do you expect me to do?"

"Govern your territory."

"While you govern yours?"

"Yes."

"And what happens after that?"

Marcus didn't answer.

Viktoria smiled without humor.

"Exactly."

The chairman spoke again.

"The arrangement is intended to maintain stability."

"No."

Viktoria turned toward him.

"It is intended to delay the succession."

The chairman's expression hardened.

"You are still very young."

"I'm twenty."

"Which, in the history of this empire, is young."

"And my father is old enough to rule?"

Marcus's eyes sharpened.

The council remained silent.

Viktoria continued.

"Then say what you actually mean."

Nobody moved.

"You trust him more than you trust me."

One of the council members finally spoke.

"We trust experience."

Viktoria nodded.

"Then let me give you something to remember."

She placed both hands on the table.

"My grandfather didn't choose me because he thought I was experienced."

She paused.

"He chose me because he believed I could become the person this empire needed."

The room was silent.

"And you are proving that you never believed him."

Marcus stood.

"Viktoria."

She turned toward him.

"Sit down."

His expression changed.

A murmur moved through the room.

Marcus stared at his daughter.

"You don't speak to me like that."

"Then don't speak to me as though you're already my equal."

The room went completely silent.

Viktoria knew the words would have consequences.

She didn't care.

Her father had spent years treating her like an inconvenience.

Tonight, the council had placed half an empire between them.

She wasn't going to pretend it didn't matter.

The chairman looked between them.

"The decision has been made."

Viktoria's gaze returned to him.

"Then you should understand something."

"What?"

"I will govern the territory you've given me."

She paused.

"But I will never forget that it was supposed to be mine."

Marcus stared at her.

The chairman nodded slowly.

"Then we have an agreement."

"No."

Viktoria picked up the document.

"You have a decision."

She looked around the table.

"I have a response."

Nobody spoke.

She turned and walked toward the door.

Then stopped.

Without looking back, she said,

"Divide the map if you want."

Her hand rested on the door.

"But you cannot divide what my grandfather intended me to become."

Then she walked out.

---

The corridor was empty.

Viktoria continued walking until the doors of the council chamber disappeared behind her.

Only then did she stop.

Alexander was waiting several steps away.

"You knew," she said.

He didn't pretend otherwise.

"I suspected."

"Did you know they had prepared the division?"

"No."

Viktoria looked down at the document in her hand.

"They were ready."

"Yes."

She stared at the pages.

The empire.

Her grandfather's empire.

Divided between her and her father.

She had expected opposition.

She had expected her brothers to challenge her.

She had even expected Marcus to make a move.

But this was different.

They hadn't taken the crown from her.

They had done something more complicated.

They had given her half of it.

"Alexander."

"Yes?"

"Who benefits most from this?"

He didn't answer immediately.

"Your father."

Viktoria nodded.

"And the council."

"Probably."

She looked toward the corridor leading to her grandfather's office.

Then she remembered the cabinet.

The locked compartment.

The nameless file.

She had found it yesterday.

She still hadn't opened it.

Her grandfather had spent his final hours trying to tell her something about her mother.

About the Wells family.

About Elias Wells.

And now the council had divided the empire before she could even understand why her grandfather had hidden so much from her.

Viktoria closed her eyes for a moment.

Then opened them.

"Bring the file."

Alexander frowned.

"Which file?"

"The one from my grandfather's cabinet."

His expression changed.

"You found something?"

"Yes."

"What does it contain?"

"I don't know."

She looked toward the office.

"That's the problem."

---

The office was exactly as she had left it.

The desk.

The chair.

The books.

The quiet.

Viktoria walked toward the cabinet.

She opened it.

The nameless folder was still there.

She reached for it.

For a moment, she simply held it.

There was no name on the cover.

Only a date.

She looked at it again.

Her grandfather had hidden it from everyone.

Even her father.

Especially her father.

She carried it to the desk and sat down.

Alexander remained near the door.

Viktoria placed the folder in front of her.

"Leave me."

Alexander hesitated.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

He nodded and walked out.

The door closed.

Viktoria stared at the folder.

For twenty years, she had believed she knew the Draven Empire.

She knew its history.

Its territories.

Its businesses.

Its alliances.

Its enemies.

She knew the names of the people who had served her grandfather.

She knew the rules that governed succession.

She had been trained to inherit everything.

Yet her grandfather had left behind a folder she had never known existed.

A folder he had intended to show her the morning he died.

Viktoria slowly opened it.

The first page was not about money.

It wasn't about business.

It wasn't even about succession.

It was about the history of the Draven Empire.

A history that looked nothing like the one she had been taught.

Viktoria's eyes moved across the first page.

Then stopped.

Her expression changed.

She turned to the next page.

Then another.

There were records.

Old agreements.

Names she recognized.

Names she didn't.

Territories that had once belonged to the empire.

Territories that had disappeared from every modern record.

And at the bottom of one page was a name she had seen before.

Wells.

Viktoria froze.

Her grandfather had known.

Whatever had happened to her mother was connected to the Draven Empire.

And Elias Wells was somehow part of it.

She turned another page.

Outside the office, footsteps passed in the hallway.

Viktoria didn't notice.

Her attention remained fixed on the folder.

For the first time since her grandfather's death, the succession war was no longer the only thing she was fighting.

The council had divided the empire.

Her father now controlled half.

Her brothers were waiting.

And somewhere inside the history of the Draven Empire was the truth her grandfather had died trying to give her.

Viktoria closed the folder.

Not because she was finished.

Because she needed to think.

She looked toward the window.

The city stretched beyond the estate.

Half of it now belonged to her.

The other half belonged to her father.

But Viktoria had never wanted half.

She wanted what her grandfather had promised her.

The crown.

And now she was beginning to understand that the crown was only one piece of the story.

She touched the silver crown around her neck.

Then looked back at the folder.

"Why did you hide this from me, Grandfather?"

There was no answer.

Only silence.

And a secret that had been waiting for twenty years.