he was the best commander the army had had for at least four hundred years, yet despite this, Darius' grandfather never accepted his son's decision and on his deathbed decided to disinherit him.
After his father's death, Darius did not keep in touch with the rest of his family - flesh and blood aristocrats. They, too, wanted nothing to do with him, leading an idyllic life for the fortune that fell to them. This was at least until Darius was promoted to colonel of the Azure Guard and offered the position of military advisor to the Grand Master. Then the whole family suddenly remembered his existence. His cousins unexpectedly needed his advice, invitations to family celebrations began to appear, his aunts wanted to matchmake him and his uncles asked if he would take one of his young cousins, who were just entering the world of magic and beginning to learn, under his wing.
They were surprised when Darius refused invitations and all requests, had no time for meetings and had no interest in the proposals put forward. Despite the lack of any interest, they did not stop bothering him until the day he personally presented his position to them. He said briefly and succinctly that they themselves had thrown his father out of the family and he intended to have nothing to do with them. Since then, he had had no contact with them, instead maintaining a close relationship with his mother's family-one of the larger merchant families with whom he shared the ability to aptly invest his money and increase his wealth.
He wondered how Draco would react to seeing the estate he was to live in. The estate included a palace, a garrison of Bleists' private troops and training fields. He had never wondered why his father had remodelled the whole complex in such a way and always set his sights on employing private units, but after his death Darius decided to run everything the same way. The thought that there was someone nearby who could always help him was heartening and he wondered if his father just
