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COWARDLY FLAMES 12th of The First Seed, in the year 88 of our lord 12th Of The First Seed, in the year Within our own Court, a Assassin had slipped through with ill intentions of harming Balians Princess Augustina. We were hosting a ball within our Court room, everything was fine people were dancing and enjoying themselves. As the room emptied, more and more and the princess was more visible since there were no longer crowds of people blocking her. The Assassin had took their chance getting on a balcony that had looked over the court room. Yelling out absurd things, "AVE ORENIA, ALL HAIL KING FREDRICK". They then proceeded to load A arrow into the crossbow, shooting our princess before she had the opportunity to get down and duck the arrow. The mystery Person in question then decided to light themself ablaze and jump from the balcony onto the court rooms floor. Splattering their blood across he floors. Who would've thought the Assassin had been this cowardly that only shooting one person, and then ending their life before anyone else could was their last solution. We have no clue as to who had the person been, their body is charred and we cannot figure out whom it is. This event was obviously planned for some time we'd assume. We shall be more weary of our Guests within Balian after this dreadful event.. Signed, The Rose of Darkwood, Lady Seraphina Katiana Darkwood

Dear Hera de Rosius, It all began when I was a young girl and my parents had passed away. My grandfather Otis was hardly within his right mind enough to watch over me and my sister anymore, so the responsibility fell upon my step-grandmother, Louise, who tried her best to take care of Elara and I. The day I found my grandfather dead in the roses at the Chateau, everything had changed. The Chateau we once loved and cherished was burnt down at the hands of my step-grandmother Louise. Elara was sure to tell me every little detail she could remember, but I couldn’t help but stare blankly at the thought of the only father figure I really ever had dying in the bushes. Perhaps it was madness that struck her, my darling Aunt Hera, for I had never met a woman quite as strange. The biological daughter of my grandfather Otis and his first wife, my biological grandmother, Claude. At the time, the family was small and consisted of my grandfather, my grandmother, my aunt Hera, my aunt Elodie, my cousin Maria, my cousin Sir Philip, and a few others who had come and gone over the years. So, you might be wondering to yourself, where does this lead? It leads to the family dwindling in numbers significantly. With my grandfather dead and my grandmother driven to madness, that left me, Elara, Hera, and the few cousins. Though Cousin Maria and Cousin Philip never came around anymore so then it became just me, Elara, and my Aunt Hera. With such a small family, you could immediately assume why it became the niece of Hera who was in line to inherit the barony and as much as she’ll deny that ever to be the truth, it was all we could really do. I took up the mantle as someone with no other options does, I immersed myself in study, becoming a true baroness for the family that I had owed my life to. I attended social season, I attended session after session of being tutored in some boring subject like math, or Auvergnian, or etiquette, things I never much cared for as a girl. Perhaps her feelings changed when I changed. A girl once dedicated entirely to her study and pursuing the man she admired from social season, now a shell of her former self. During the season, I met a wonderful man whom I later married, my husband Kristofer de Rosius (nee Vuiller), and I thought that fighting for his affections would be the least of my worries. In my years as a practicing medic, I have gotten myself into danger countless times, however this one was the worst, I left social season to get a breath of fresh air when what I assumed was a LARGE man in armor shouted for help. Being a medic, of course it was my duty to assist him. Little did I know it was a stray atronach of some sort with the intention of attacking me. I don’t know what his orders could’ve possibly been but they could not have been anything pretty, this much is certain. He dragged me to some sort of cave, which I later found to likely have been in Lubba’s Keep, and promptly tortured me until I was down two forearms. Obviously, you can imagine what that would do to a person, and when I somehow found myself back on the streets of Providence, a man named Lucius Wick (whom I later realized was not only the adopted cousin of my suitor, but also the biological child of my cousin Maria) - assisted me in traveling to Du Loc to replace my arms with clay that later turned to flesh. Maybe it was the trauma of what had happened to me that changed how my aunt viewed me, maybe it made her think me weak or pathetic, but it seemed from that point onward we were closer. Though they do say the old proverb “Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.” So perhaps that is how she viewed me. Despite what happened to me, I tried to pretend nothing was wrong. I waited a year for those clay arms to finally become flesh and I carried on with life as if nothing had changed. I put on a brave face for my sister, Elara, who had also once been the victim of a kidnapping. Speaking of kidnappings, perhaps it was the time we had been attacked by Haense that I realized my aunt Hera lost all the care she had for her dear nieces. Haense came knocking up to Vuillermoz, where our Choneanceau stood over the city of Vuiller. Hera told us to run, as fast as we could and my husband faced the horde head on with bravery. I had my twin girls with me, Diane and Eryane, and so I did what was advised and I ran with my sister Elara. We were captured by men on horse-back and Hera was nowhere in sight. We stayed in Haense for hours, silently waiting for the rescue that would never come because no one knew we were gone. It was the mercy of the Haenseni by which we survived, not the grace of my aunt who fled and forgot us in the throes of our enemy. During this incident, we decided to show our thanks for their mercy by offering my sister Elara’s hand. I admit it was a desperate bid to get them to truly let us go, but one I do not regret making now as Elara is truly happy with her husband and family in Haense. And perhaps it was THAT that made Hera hate us so much, but no matter what happened I still tried to do what was best for the de Rosius family as a whole, as her heir, the only one she ever had until that stupid civil war. What you fail to understand, and perhaps what might make me a terrible person is that I didn’t get to choose which side of the war I wanted to be on. Hera didn’t speak to me about decisions, hadn’t told me what we were doing, so I chose my husband’s side of the war. I figured out why she waited for my decision first as of recently, I met my cousin Emir, a boy who would’ve been either just born before that war began or just after it. She knew she wasn’t going to have me be her heir by this point, she knew I never could be because bastards or not (which I had no way of knowing if they were by this point) they still held more of a claim to that damned Barony than her niece. Let it be known that the House de Rosius of Valens (named after our founder Valent de Rosius) always stayed true to her traditions and always tried to follow what my grandparents believed in, even if in the end it is believed we betrayed our kin, it was not our kin who we betrayed, but our kin who betrayed us. Let it be known that even now some of her children realize our legitimacy when they hear our story. There are always two sides to every story and I know now it is far too late to hear hers, but before our name is soured forevermore in the eyes of our REAL family members, let it be known. Hera de Rosius betrayed her kin, left us behind to possibly die, and she was a woman of the most wicked kind. We have stayed true to ourselves throughout it all, Aunt Hera, and now that you are gone, I hope you can say you stayed true to yourself, though I doubt that’s truly the case. You are the only person in this esteemed household, other than Cousin Maria, whose morals are less than ideal, to have given birth outside of wedlock. The only person who left their family behind in times of trouble. Dead or alive, I no longer care, Hera. Your children are always welcome at my home, to eat amongst my own as they are family to me, but you Hera. You are nothing but dust now. Sincerely, The Baroness of Valens (as much as I knew it pained you to hear) Chloe Giselle de Rosius