The Orb of Wrath (The Merchant's Destiny Book 1) by Nic Weissman Page A

who was fully dressed in black. "A widow", he thought.
    After waiting for over half an hour, Thost began to remember how he had gotten there. A few years ago he lived in a palace, had hundreds of servants, ran a county with professionalism and intelligence, and had the appreciation of most of his subjects. As a count, he managed a huge budget and tried to do it reasonably with good planning for the well-being of the territory. A few thousand militia soldiers followed his orders, apart from the Royal Army unit, which was established there. He had a huge amount of land that his vassals tilled and a fishing fleet. Also, he had good friends in all areas: the Army, the other counties and the Central Administration. At least that's what he had believed.
    But everything changed radically in an intense, crazy and embarrassing month of April. The accusation had come suddenly taking him by complete surprise. ¡Conspiracy against the Crown! How could they dare to commit such slander? He, who had always defended the Crown and had so often prefixed the Kingdom interests before the ones of his county!
    The process had happened abnormally fast. He did not have many options to defend himself. Now, with hindsight, he understood that various de facto powers had had to align to make things happen as they did. The King was traveling, and only had access to him at the end of the process when the committee had already decided. He had hoped to have the support of the counts of Bor, Norvik and Terentias. But only Norvik count defended him openly. The Bor count was involved at that time in a small scandal, and the Terentias count had accumulated too much debt, especially with the Industrial Association. Neither was at his best, or in a position of strength, and did not want to risk it by defending him.  As permanent members of the Committee, their voices were very important. It would have been almost impossible for such a drastic decision like that to have gone ahead with three counts against it; even if the other four, and most of the other members, were in favor. But with only the support of one count, and a surprisingly belligerent atmosphere against him, he had no chance.
    The evidence presented had been incredible. It was as if someone had been accumulating a dossier and documenting all errors at a detailed level for years. Then, presenting it all together mixed with some very serious lies, and linking it to a somewhat bizarre way, had filed a case against him which looked solid.
    But the last straw had been that letter. A love letter to the Queen with his handwriting! Only that it was not for the Queen! He was courting at the time a lady called Aredelind. His wife had died shortly after the birth of his son many years ago and, after a long period of mourning, he had had multiple partners. It was perfectly legitimate for a widower as he to woo a marriageable maiden. Actually, he had been looking for someone who could fill the huge gap that Abremine had left, without success. The fact is that chance determined that the last of his conquests had the same name as the Queen. Then, somehow, his enemies seized the letter and added a royal stamp, as if it had been addressed to the Queen herself.
    All the experts authenticated his handwriting. And when he spoke of the maid, her trail had disappeared. No one was able to find her. And even in the hacienda where he visited her a few times, they said he had never stayed there a woman with that description. It had been a nightmare.
    As a result of this, he lost his home and his wealth, he was banished from his land and could never return to it, and lost his title. But what hurt him most was losing his name. The Oroden house had directed the Borydos County for twenty generations, and with him, that legacy had disappeared. He and his family had lost the right to use "Oroden" in their documents and thereby the rights to a name; in the kingdom of Bor only the nobility, and a few men, were entitled to have it. He