The Titan Empire: The Game of Power

Volume 2, Chapter 1

Sashay. Netagapo. Miss Anru was the daughter of the sister of the Duke of Anru, and this sister of the Duke married a son of the house of Netagapo, according to the usual arrangement of the family. The two were happily married, but this was soon shattered in the war.

The Bohemians launched a large-scale attack on the Netagabo family's territory, and Sasha's father died in the fierce battle, and Sasha's mother chose to kill herself shortly afterward because she could not bear the great grief. Sasha. Netagabo. Anru was orphaned - at the age of four.

The Duke of Anru brought his sister's little daughter to Narcissus County, and he took over from the family of Netagapo the duty of rearing and teaching the young lady, when Ossigne. Anru. Morissette's mother had just died, and the two children were the perfect companions.

It's not clear if the Duke did this on purpose, but if the answer is yes, then I'm afraid the Duke knows his youngest son better than anyone else. Oscar's meeting with Sasha is definitely not as accidental as it seems.

Oscar was precocious, vowing not to let anyone break the crystal girl after he first saw her, so young, so needy. He had begun caring for the four-year-old girl when he was five years old. All the care and affection that his mother used to have for him was used by Oscar for Sasha, it was not a game of playing house or pure imitation, the teenager gave the girl all the love he had received in his childhood intact, it was a transfer of one of the deepest emotions that a teenager can have.

The mother who loved Oscar the most in the world left him, and he became withdrawn after this but did not despair because of it. The boy of the Anru family is a warrior by nature, and the strength and stubbornness in the teenager's bones becomes even more prominent. He will never accept pity or emotional charity from others, but his mother's tenderness and kindness are unforgettable to Oscar.

His mother's fragile body and beautiful face had long inspired the precocious boy's desire to protect her, but she died before Oskar could reach adulthood. Sasha's appearance brings Oskar's desire to a head. Sasha becomes a symbol in a way, she becomes a substitute for the princess, Oskar does not allow anyone to touch her, and he transfers to Sasha all the complex and unnamable feelings that a boy has for his mother. To outsiders Sasha sometimes seems more like Oskar's f*******n child, and they even suspect that Oskar is somewhat of a p*****t.

Sasha instantly fell in love with the huge ice bear sofa when she entered her brother's room, she exaggeratedly pounced on it, touching it left, pinching it right, and finally she chose the most comfortable position to lie down on it, with a happy purr coming out of her mouth.

"Kitty! How does it feel? I'm very confident in my appreciation of furniture brother." Oscar looked at his sister with a smile.

"That's for sure! Is this the legendary ice bear? So cute and soft fur, I wish I could see them alive." Sasha stroked the couch still somewhat unsatisfied.

"No! Dear Sasha, if you ever have the chance to see a real ice bear then be sure to run away at the first opportunity, these adult ice bears are nearly three meters tall and they are even able to deal with a small squad of soldiers on their own." Oscar had read a horrifying description of the Ice Bears in one of his adventure journals.

"Oh! We could keep them in a big icehouse! Then I'll feed them carrots every day so they'll slowly become as tame as the bunnies! Before long I'll be able to play with them all together." Sasha clearly wasn't giving up.

Oscar kind of wanted to go crazy after hearing Sasha's words. He remembered being told that his sister had wisdom beyond all her peers, but the questions she was asking were clearly more amusing.

"Sasha! Just so you know! The Ice Bear is an exceptionally ferocious beast that will simply ignore your carrots, much less play with you, and I don't really have an explanation as to why the Ice Bear can't accept your 'good intentions', but I do know that nature has its laws, and the Ice Bear has its pride." Oscar seriously corrected his sister, he knew that there were people in the Dark World who specialized in rare beasts, and this little one in front of him had been a troublemaker since she was a child, building an ice warehouse and raising a few ice bears like that was something she could definitely do.

Sasha also became serious after hearing her brother's words, her innocence was lost in her gaze, and that sudden glow of wisdom lifted Oscar's heart and mind.

"Brother! I'm glad that you know this clearly, so what if the person who wants to tame the ice bear is His Majesty the King? Would the ice bear give up its pride for the fact that it was a supreme monarch who handed it the carrot?"

Oscar was shocked! He was utterly shocked by his sister! Oscar's mind was unusually quick, "Icehouse, His Majesty, Ice Bear, Taming, Carrot, Pride!" These words instantly wove an unusually broad picture in Oscar's mind. Having been at the very center of royal and family struggles himself, he almost immediately guessed those thoughts of Alpha III, that Anru was an ice bank that could be compared to an ice field, that he was the ice bear, that the carrot was like a Prince's Laurel on his head, and that His Majesty the King would use domestication to remove the wildness of the ice bear to the point of completely obliterating the pride of the bear's existence on the ice field.

Sasha's words inspired Oskar; the young Prince had never been a fool, and even his wisdom had been praised by the mobsters who specialized in strategy. Oscar finally realized that there was a fatal problem with his way of thinking, that is, he had developed the habit of thinking of everything starting with his own interests in Domolga, and he had been detached from his family for too long!

Little Oscar's selfishness wasn't wrong, if it wasn't for his selfishness, he would have turned into a shovelful of dust in Domolga. But Sasha was different, Sasha being an Anru. Netagabo, it was her habit to put the family's interests first, it was obvious that Oscar had ignored the family's reaction when thinking about the problem, Lord Father would not be happy to see a member of the family of a higher rank than his, that would mean a loss of power.

There were some traces of sweat on the young Prince's forehead, Sasha gently wiped him with a handkerchief, Oscar grabbed the hands.

Sasha saw a determined gleam in his brother's eyes.

"Sasha, you know that I would never betray you, much less the family, I was born in Daffodil County, and the freshest carrot's are no match for the daffodils that bloom in all seasons."

Sasha nodded with effort, she knew her brother would answer that way, she still knew him.

"My father-sama had told me about you when I was leaving, would you like to hear about it brother?"

Oscar wondered a little why the Duke had not spoken of these things with his lady instead of choosing this little girl.

Sasha waved her hand, catching the attention of Oscar who was deep in thought. "Can you please show me some respect! When father dragged me to talk for over an hour in that big study of his, ah! Brother you don't know, and he smoked! Totally oblivious to the fact that he was talking to a young lady, and besides it was just a poison to me, for God's sake! You don't know how strong the smell of that cigar of father's is ......"

"Sasha!" Oscar interrupted his sister's chatter, knowing that she still hadn't gotten over the problem of talking off topic; the bright little one had a strong jump in her thinking that Oscar as a child was quite a bit too much for.

"Sasha, get serious, will you? You know I'm not interested in father's cigars!"

Sashay. Netagapo. Miss Anru played the rascal, and as soon as she heard her brother's words she sat up quickly and straightened herself, with one small snow-white hand spread out in front of Oscar's face.

"Foretell the aftermath, bring the prize!" Sasha looked cute as hell.

Oscar shook his head and laughed bitterly, he couldn't remember when Sasha had picked up this habit. Once upon a time he would always give Sasha little prizes when she managed to read a short text aloud, and then the sweetened little girl began to ask him for credit for all sorts of things, and Oscar would always have some weird little thing with him, like a snail without a shell or a colorful volcano of rocks, which he would always be able to change into joy and happiness in his sister's longing gaze. He never let Sasha down, not before, and even less now.

Little Oskar was ready to face such a situation as the present when he knew that he was about to be reunited with his sister, and he demonstrated a little magic trick in front of her, which was the original purpose of the blindfold trick he had learned from the con man Ritchie, in order to show such a trick in front of his sister.

He reached his left hand into his arms and Sasha's eyes went wide, but she was immediately disappointed that there was nothing in Oscar's spread out hand. Knowing that his brother never refused to give away a prize, young Sasha searched Oscar's chubby little hand carefully, but there was indeed nothing there.

Sasha's expression was just too much, and as much as Oscar wanted to enjoy it for a little while longer, he knew that the little princess was going to freak out at any moment, and that wasn't going to be fun.

"Sasha dear, don't move! Don't move, okay?" Oscar rubbed Sasha's fiery red hair. "Little princess! My little princess, why don't you go look in the mirror? Brother's prize has appeared on your body!"

"Ah! Yes?" Sashay was always the little girl who grew up in front of Oscar's brother. She didn't notice that her brother had moved in her hair! Sashay jumped off the couch as she ran to her bedroom screaming, "Mirror! Mirror! Mirror!"

"Wow......," Oscar said with great satisfaction at the exaggerated exclamations coming from the bedroom. The girl ran back to her brother in a whirlwind, she straightened her skirt and straightened her hair, her face finally displaying her best smile.

"Brother! Am I beautiful?" Sashay excitedly expected an affirmative answer.

Oscar was confused, his sister was no longer that little girl. She had delicate skin, a waist as slim as silk, she was even perfectly developed, and the graceful curves of her body didn't resemble a fourteen year old girl at all.

Sashay. Netagabo. Ms. Anru was proud. She surveyed herself in the mirror, valuing her body even more after her adoptive father had informed her that she would marry her brother Oscar when she came of age, as was the family custom, and she had even been a little impatient to be with him the moment she met him.

Oscar did not realize that his sister's identity had changed in nature. He gazed almost reverently at the girl who was as pure and beautiful as Narcissus. A turquoise dragonfly rested in the girl's hair, and that was Oscar's prize. The dragonfly is not real, it is only a handicraft that can be faked to be real.

The dragonfly was looking at the fiery red hair in front of her with a pair of sapphire eyes. Oscar believed that no one in the Western Continent had ever seen such a large turquoise dragonfly. It was a rare species from the far eastern continent. But that was not where the value of this dragonfly really lay. Its body was carved from a block of jade, and the ripples of the jade were perfectly combined with the dragonfly's posture. Although the dragonfly was only a finger long, the history of art in the Western Continent had never seen such a tiny and delicate piece of carving. The wisdom and craftsmanship of the Oriental people was undoubtedly incomparable to the artists and craftsmen of the Western Continent.

The girl was infused with bravado by the fiery red hair color, and the dragonfly's ethereal stop added a bit of dignity and serenity. The two were such a perfect unity.

"Beautiful! Beautiful! I can't describe it! Truly! Please don't embarrass me any further, little princess! I simply can't find words in the human world that can describe you! It seems I will have to pray to the God of Light, only he can tell me how to praise your beauty."

Sashay. Netagapo. Anru gladly accepted her brother's praise, realizing that he was more talkative than ever. After a quick kiss she climbed on top of the Ice Bear, she had never been so shy in front of her brother, he had bathed her when she was little, but now she was blushing at his words. Sasha didn't like the way she felt, she needed to hide her sudden shyness. Little Miss didn't realize that her feelings for her brother had soured long ago.

"Fine! The prize is received and Lord Father's intentions will be known!" Sasha looked with satisfaction at Oscar, who had been immersed in his seduction and had become somewhat dumbfounded at the sudden words.

Oscar was a little dumbfounded, he hadn't reacted yet. His sister was quick to run off on tangents, but when did even tangents become this quick?

Sasha's gaze was once again filled with that flash of intelligence, and Oscar was really a bit puzzled as to how in the world was this girl's true colors.

"Actually, what my father-sama talked about to me was nothing but two things, one was why he had to use that extremely passive strategy against that His Majesty the Emperor, and the other was some of his speculations and opinions about your future."

Oscar thought of his father, that majestic Lord Duke, and he did wonder how many of those points he viewed his father on would be correct. The teenager stretched his neck.

Sasha was no longer the rambunctious imp at this point. Her voice was dry and strong, like those of a famous politician.

"What father-sama did was actually a choice of last resort, father had thought about it over and over again on the day you were initially arrested, and he thought that rescuing you at that time would definitely not pay off."

Oscar couldn't help but grunt coldly at this, and the temperature in the parlor dropped with it.

Sasha felt the change in her brother keenly, she was surprised by Oscar's aura, it was like nothing she had ever seen before, she just felt on the verge of being frozen by the sudden chill.

"Brother! Don't get angry, okay? I know this will make you very angry, but please don't blame father, you don't believe that he loves you deeply, that I have always known, but you should always realize that father doesn't mean you any harm at all, he has never hurt you, haven't you noticed that?"

Oscar knew what Sasha was saying was true, but he still cared for his father after all, and he couldn't stand the idea of his father comparing gains and losses to his ten years of imprisonment.

Sasha knew she had to go on, she hoped her brother could read that deep love for his father, at one point she herself had hated the adoptive father who had given her dearest brother to the Department of Justice, she had even forced herself not to speak even a word to him.

Yet she couldn't help believing in the Lord Duke when she clearly recognized those truths contained therein; he had never been anything but loving to Oscar and his mother, and it was just that there was no way to judge the rightness or wrongness of things.

The Duke had never owed the Princess anything, it was His Majesty the Emperor who had forcibly broken up a couple who had made a promise against her sister's wishes, and there was no one who could argue with that Supreme Being. The female members of the royal family were born victims of political marriages, the lucky ones would work hard to make themselves fall in love with that husband, while the miserable ones, like Oscar's mother, gnawed at the heart torn apart by the disillusionment of love until their deaths.

The duke was in love with this beautiful princess who was more than ten years younger than himself, and if not, the duke would not have agreed to this marriage. Compared to the emperor's might, the duke of that year was equally imposing. The Duke remembers the first time he met Mika Alpha. Alpha. When he first met Mika Alpha Morissette, he didn't know that this beautiful girl walking through the palace gardens was the imperial sister of the Titan Emperor, and he had overstepped his bounds by asking the Emperor about the girl's origins.

The Emperor did not answer him, he had decided everything when he saw the possessive gleam in the Duke's eyes, and perhaps the surprise of the betrothal would be more than enough to make the Duke grateful to himself.

After consulting a number of royal fathers the Emperor announced his decision, the Duke's reaction was expected, although the Duke had already learned of the girl's identity from other sources, it did not affect his favorable impression of His Majesty.

The Duke was obviously overwhelmed by the surprise, he had not even considered whether Her Highness had already given her heart to another person, the Duke was in his prime, although he already had three wives, he still had a position as a proper wife hanging in the balance, the Duke felt that Her Highness was undoubtedly the most suitable person for the job.

Although the Duke knew that this was part of politics, he did not think too much about it, the Anru family had married several princesses of the Morrissette dynasty, and everyone knew that did not change anything. So the Duke could hardly wait to marry the Princess back in her beautiful home town, and it wasn't until the two had a real chance to be alone on the road that he realized he was headlong into an iceberg.

The Duke finally begins to reflect when he realizes that the Princess has no love for him at all, and it is at this point that he also learns that the Princess has had a lover, a Paladin who was long ago dispatched by the King to the northern frontier of the Empire.

Dortmund. Dortmund. Never one to give up easily, Netagabo began his quest for the princess with great confidence. Strangely enough, the princess was already his wife, but the duke was not eager to exercise his husband's rights, hoping that his love would be reciprocated by the princess.

Mika. Mika Alpha. Morissette was not a proper princess because she did not know her role in the dynasty, in the royal family. She was the favorite of all, and she never thought she would be the instrument of a marriage. How ridiculously naive! The princess naively thought that his emperor brother had broken up her and her lover only because the handsome paladin was a major, while her husband was a marshal.

The Princess is pathetic, her purity and fidelity to love ended up killing her, but she is not at fault, is it a mistake to be faithful to love? The Duke is not at fault either, but is it a mistake to fall hopelessly in love with someone? The princess knew that her husband favored him more than any of his wives, and that he was a good man, a good man. But this did not make the princess fall in love with him, and her heart could not hold anything else but the lover who had gone to the frontier.

The royal family's secret letters make the princess desperate, they desperately need her to produce a boy for the House of Anru, the princess is naughty, but she is more than a little cowardly, she finally went to the duke's bed after the fifth letter from the family urging.

The Duke, who is presumably knowledgeable about the contents of these letters, sees this as a great opportunity, and once there is a physical tie, then the relationship is likely to develop into love.

But things didn't turn out the way the Duke thought they would, and the Princess refused his "invitation" once she was sure she was pregnant. Mika was deeply ashamed of herself for having conceived a child for a man she didn't love, but she was deeply moved by the child when she nearly died in childbirth. He was innocent, he was guileless, and most importantly she had given him life. She names him, she breastfeeds him, and she clings to him for a life she is already on the verge of breaking.

Oscar knew from the time he could understand that his mother was different from other people's mothers, that his mother was more beautiful than any mother, that his mother was weaker than any mother, that his mother loved her child more than any mother. Oscar fervently wished that he could change into one of those brave warriors of the family, so that he could protect his mother.

The teenager hated and resisted anything that could threaten his mother, which naturally included his father. He wouldn't even let his father into his mother's room when she died, knowing that the guy would bring her down for a long time every time he came. A five year old boy who didn't know the true meaning of death, he slept in the same bed with his mother's body until she was buried.

At his wit's end in the face of an enraged Emperor the Duke is even less able to argue, the Duke believes it was his wishful thinking that killed the Princess who clearly didn't know any worldly sense, he chooses to avoid it, he keeps the Emperor's damage to a minimum. Until Oscar, far away from the imperial capital, committed the so-called "Titan's first court case".

The Duke rushed to Turin, thinking it was a small matter, but when he saw the Emperor's teeth and claws, he realized there was no way to improve the situation. He repeatedly hinted to the emperor about the child's birth, but he was so excited by his sister's untimely death that he forgot about it. His Majesty's ministers were interfering, and the Duke's pleas for help in Turin were met with walls on almost every side. He considered using the army to forcibly take the child out of Turin, but that would be labeled as a felony of treason by the Crown, and that was unacceptable to both himself and his family. Though he knew the Emperor might not do anything about it, if he widened the rift to an irreparable level, then Anru would be plunged into an abyss with his back against the wall.

The Duke sacrificed this child, and he could do nothing but let this young son take the blame. He wept bitterly at the Princess's grave, and he paid the worst price for his wishful mistake when his son was imprisoned in the darkness of Domolga.

The Duke was bedraggled for the safety of his youngest son, and for the first time in his life he engaged in bribery, and the target was the warden of Domolga Prison, and he followed the warden's advice, and his youngest son was imprisoned in that most horrific of all watery dungeons, where the King of Killers of the Western Continent was secretly imprisoned, and where no one could survive the assassins of the King of Killers, and likewise no one could kill in the presence of the King of Killers. "I hope little Oscar won't be struck down by the horrors of the water dungeon, it's for your own good after all!" That was all the Duke could do as a silent prayer after wiping away his tears.

The power of the Ministry of Justice was overwhelming in Domolga Prison, the Duke would not allow his son to be imprisoned for years in a place that did not see sunlight all year round and was dark and damp, that was simply not an environment that a child could adapt to survive in. Then once little Oscar appeared in the public of the prison, the danger came with him, and the hatred of that Minister of State for him would devour him completely. The Duke needs strong assistance, and then the only people in Domolga who can barely stand up to the Ministry of Justice are the bigwigs.

The Duke began to have secret dealings with the forces represented by these bigwigs, and he even did many immoral things against his conscience, but for the sake of his little son, for the sake of the blood of the Princess who had sacrificed her health, the Duke did not hesitate before the criminals, for whom the power of the House of Annelou was always at hand, and the bigwigs of the prisons took the responsibility of protecting and nurturing the little Oskar. The Duke knows that he can't take care of everything, and that the child must still rely on his own strength to survive.

The Duke knows that his youngest son was nearly blinded, he also knows that an assassin nearly decapitated him, he also knows that a knight fought a duel with him, and that every bath of blood for little Oskar touches the heartbeat of the Duke from afar.

He screamed and jumped in his study with excitement when he learned that his youngest son had won the throne of the Dark World! His son was grown up, powerful and terrifying! The Duke as a father finally smiled happily that day several years later.

Oscar was very thankful that his tear ducts had been destroyed by the damn poison doctor. He had never cried his nose in front of his sister, so thankful! This little guy would have proclaimed it loud enough for the world to know if he had seen himself in tears.

Oscar understood everything, he didn't realize that his mother and himself had caused his father such pain, he only knew that what Sasha said was true, and what his father said was even more true, and that his father's purpose in relaying these words through Sasha was to expect him to accept it all without any pressure. In the entire family, the teenager was only completely relaxed when facing Sasha.

The teenager accepted it. He was strong, precocious, and stubborn, but he understood things better. A father is a father after all, and if he became a father himself he would not be able to do better than the Duke. The boy stopped his tearless crying, and all his emotion turned into pride that he was Dortmund. He was Dortmund Anru. He was the fourth son of the Duke of Dortmund Anru Netagabo, and he was the pride that his father had poured countless efforts into creating.

Sashay watched her brother carefully, she wasn't sure how much he was actually listening.