Not a kingdom. [ He concedes, tilting his head to the side. ]
A duchy. My father was Archduke, a stand-in for Joshua, the rightful heir as the Phoenix. [ There's no bitterness there, despite Clive clearly being the elder brother. Maybe when he was very, very, young there had been a time where he'd been sad about never being given the chance to inherit the title, but if there had been he can't remember it. Joshua had been born, the Phoenix had awakened in him, and had chosen that day to be his protector. Byron had given him the chance to take Rosaria back as the Archduke, and Clive hadn't wanted it then, either. ] We were an independent nation regardless, rulers and nobility in our own right. My father ruled as kind as the world would allow him, which drove my mother up the wall and is why she orchestrated his downfall. She wanted to take the Phoenix with her, but our Mistress had other ideas.
[ But Geralt doesn't need all that history. At least, not today. ]
I became an outlaw to honor the memory of someone dear to me.
no subject
A duchy. My father was Archduke, a stand-in for Joshua, the rightful heir as the Phoenix. [ There's no bitterness there, despite Clive clearly being the elder brother. Maybe when he was very, very, young there had been a time where he'd been sad about never being given the chance to inherit the title, but if there had been he can't remember it. Joshua had been born, the Phoenix had awakened in him, and had chosen that day to be his protector. Byron had given him the chance to take Rosaria back as the Archduke, and Clive hadn't wanted it then, either. ] We were an independent nation regardless, rulers and nobility in our own right. My father ruled as kind as the world would allow him, which drove my mother up the wall and is why she orchestrated his downfall. She wanted to take the Phoenix with her, but our Mistress had other ideas.
[ But Geralt doesn't need all that history. At least, not today. ]
I became an outlaw to honor the memory of someone dear to me.