4 May – 12 January, Astral Year 91–92.
The Betrothal and Its Singular Conditions.
After their first private discourse, Vito Vilozyver became the very first man to breach the wall of prejudice that Aelaera von Escheinsen, elder cousin to Aelyzabeth, had so long maintained. With her gift of discernment, she searched him thoroughly, only to discover that the young man harboured neither lust for power nor avarice for wealth, but rather revered the being and the ideals of Aelyzabeth herself.
When pressed with the question, "Why do you desire Alisu?", Vito answered with disarming candour:"Because she is the most handsome."
That simple yet genuine reply provoked from Aelaera a laughter she had never known, and with mirth she declared:"You have passed the trial."
Two days thereafter, Aelyzabeth sent Vito an invitation to tea. The letter was replete with courtly phrasing, suffused with concern for his aunt, and concluded with assurance that Aelaera had already reported him to be "different from the others."
What seemed but a gentle conversation culminated in a decision of immense gravity: matrimony. Yet Aelyzabeth, ever singular, devised five terms that left the elders of both houses aghast — though in the end, they yielded, for they knew such was her immutable nature:
Both parties would retain their original family names.
Their children should bear both names, Thors–Vilozyver, in equal measure.
Property would remain separate, save where united for the benefit of heirs.
Vito might take three additional wives, but adultery and secret liaisons were forbidden.
Neither spouse might trespass into the private life of the other.
Thus was the marriage solemnized in quietude, witnessed only by kin and closest friends. Though the world found the terms eccentric, to Aelyzabeth, they were the very essence of "balanced liberty," where ideals and love might coexist.
The Experiment of Hope.
Upon conceiving her first child, Aelyzabeth divined at once that it would be a daughter. Haunted by memories of her own childhood afflictions — the ravages of diseased lungs and unending suffering — she swore her child should never endure the same fate.
Thus, she commenced a forbidden enterprise: the Genetic Womb Project. In many realms it was proscribed, yet by reason of her rank and influence, she could pursue it unchallenged. Her aims were bold:
To excise all genes bound to hereditary disease and infirmity.
To strengthen the code of vigour, that the body might endure beyond the common lot.
To shape aesthetic features — skin, form, and beauty — in harmony with her ideal.
Though conceived in nature's course, she sought to master every element with science, to forge an heir "perfected" and destined to be the new hope of House Thors.
An Irremediable Loss.
On the twelfth day of January, Astral Year 92, the child was born prematurely. She was named Anya Vilozyver, fair of skin, white of hair, with green eyes mirroring her parents. Yet the dream collapsed: Anya suffered a grievous malformation of the lungs and perished upon her very first breath.
Aelyzabeth's anguished cry in the birthing chamber resounded throughout the manor, as though her soul were torn asunder. Vito, striving to remain steadfast, found himself powerless to console his broken wife.
Worse still, suspicion consumed Aelyzabeth's heart. She became convinced that her cunning elder sister, Margaret, had contrived the tragedy to usurp the right of birthing the next Thors heir. In her grief, she composed a small yet searing book entitled "Margaret Has Slain My Daughter" — a work of accusation, pain, and hatred, absent of proof, yet brimming with the raw wound of her spirit.
The Alteration of the House.
Ten days later, Margaret herself delivered her first son, Ben Karlstanley, bearing the surname of her wealthy Earth-born husband, Sam Karlstanley. Strong and vigorous, the child was hailed by the clan as the "new hope of Thors' bloodline."
By the statutes of the House, inheritance fell now upon Margaret and her descendants. Aelyzabeth, bereft of her daughter, was left only with desolation and anguish.
But for her, this was no mere matter of wealth or property — it was the loss of dignity, of love, of proof that she could not protect her own flesh and blood.
The Path of Wrath.
The death of Anya carved an unhealed wound. Aelyzabeth was transformed utterly — from the maiden who had once spoken of hope and of futures, into a woman consumed by fury and suspicion.
She swore an oath unto herself:"If this land has taken my child, then I shall take this land from all who made me suffer."
Thus began her descent upon a path of no return — a path stained with blood, enflamed with hatred, and crowned by revolution.
Thus ends Chapter B-IX.