The Carolingian Court

Synopsis

**Synopsis**

In the twilight of Charlemagne’s dream, the Carolingian Empire fractures under the weight of a father’s love and three sons’ ambition. While Louis the Pious clings to a crumbling throne and his heirs—Lothar, Pepin, and Louis the German—wage open war across Gaul and Germania, a shadow moves through the chaos: Prince Drogo, the emperor’s youngest surviving son, a boy dismissed as a lazy, pleasure-seeking laggard. But his languid smile hides a mind sharper than any sword, and his apparent indolence is a masterwork of survival.

As armies clash at Fontenoy and oaths are broken at Strasbourg, Drogo plays the fool among kings, feeding secrets to rebels and whispers to loyalists, bending the tide of history without ever lifting a blade. He seeks not a crown but a purpose: to save his father’s soul, to spare his brothers’ blood, and to carve a quiet corner of the world where a clever man may finally rest. Yet when the Treaty of Verdun looms, Drogo must choose—remain a ghost in the tapestry, or seize the one thread that could unravel everything.

**Main characters**

- **Prince Drogo**: The youngest son of Louis the Pious, feigning sloth to conceal a strategic genius. - **Louis the Pious**: The aging, devout emperor, torn between piety and paternal duty. - **Lothar I**: The eldest son, proud and imperial, who sees Drogo as a harmless fool. - **Judith of Bavaria**: Louis’s sharp-eyed second wife, who suspects Drogo’s game and seeks her own son’s legacy. - **Bernard of Septimania**: A wary courtier and warrior, Drogo’s reluctant ally in the shadows.