Ruby's plan was simple, even moreso because the blunt and emotionally exposed man Henri proved himself to be time and time again, was at the center of it. The young lord has not been shy about displaying his possessive jealousy regarding his new, ivory wife.
He had been a man ill-suited for both the Dance and all other matters of the heart, so fate was cruel to him to have ever given the boy a place of power. Ruby had but to infer the slightest breeze of infidelity to cause the man to abandon reason for an unyielding thirst for retribution.
And thus the conductor begins to mark time.
Upon the death of his wife, the rural lord Lucius of House Lot, distant cousin to House Archne, had made it to the city of Eirdred to honor his wife and keep contact with his brethren.
The Unification Treaties signed generations ago with the Heilthian Scholar Emperor Ferl had bequeathed the lands that now made up the Eirdred Province to the 11 families of the city, but this was done at the cost of the autonomy of the plainsland and mountain peoples who never swore allegiance to Eirdred. Jealously guarding their prize, however, the 11 families quickly laid claim to parcels of choice territories which soon became a dumping ground for the second sons and daughters of a nobility trapped in the confines of city walls.
Rural lords eventually developed their own houses, but they often maintained close contact with the city lords that birthed them. The House Rienfield had dutifully performed upkeep on its relationship with House Archne from father to daughter, mother to son, so Lot's visit to Henri was not unexpected. His encounter with the young bride of Archne, on the other hand, was a most enjoyable diversion.
He almost pitied his cousin, a brash, naive man with a woman so painfully cunning and self aware, but the taste of forbidden fruit was simply too sweet. Indeed, the woman was to be savored all the more when she revealed to Lot her intentions to make their affair known to her husband, to provoke him into stupidity.
The orchestral prelude begins.
Over a period of months, Ruby had planted the seeds of jealousy and inadequacy in the mind of her lord-husband. She sent her personal chef, the private and perfectly reserved Cedric, on long journeys to Castle Reinfeld, harboring notes laced with confessions of obsession and deeds of the night.
Cedric was a quiet man, yet somehow Henri was able to happen upon one of these notes - an experiment in human behavior that resulted in precisely the reaction Ruby had been looking for. In a fit of rage he confronted the Lady Genevieve and her messenger as they discussed his next trip. Spittle gleaming on his lips, he spat out accusations and berated Ruby and without her coaxing, would have murdered the chef that night. Cedric's death would have been a disastrous outcome but for Ruby - maintaining her victim at a consistent level of anger was not an easy task. For her rescue effort she received more than a few bruises and was forced to cross boundaries of the flesh she had clung to for years.
But it was worth the effort. Henri responded like clockwork.
The next morning Lady Genevieve had solicited the services of an obscure, but well recommended group of foreign mercenaries who, in spite of their skill, would not be missed. Sending Cedric to Reinfeld Castle one last time would be his death sentence, but it could not be avoided.
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