Love
Richard lives with a university dropout, Alec, whom he suspects to be from a noble family. Their love is shown when Alec constantly starts chaos and violence knowing that his lover would come to his defense every time. Richard is the greatest swordsman around. Richard kills a man who had threatened Alec as a warning for anyone in Riverside who dared to mess with him. Richard also proves his love when Alec is kidnapped. He goes after Lord Horn, who had given the order. Alec reciprocates this love when he confronts Lord Ferris at the council meeting when Richard is arrested. He exonerates Richard of those crimes and abandons his dukedom to return to Riverside with Richard. Their love stands firm amidst all chaos and trials.
Political scheming
The aristocratic class engages in a lot of plotting to climb the ladders. The Duchess of Tremontaine is the mastermind although she puts on a façade of only being interested in throwing the best parties. She lures men into her bed and manipulates them to achieve her mission. She hires Richard to murder two swordsmen at Lord Horn’s garden party. She used Lord Ferris as a project to get rid of Lord Basil who was in charge of the High Council. Lord Ferris hires Richard to kill Basil to get Basil’s position as the Crescent Chancellor. The Duchess schemes in a perfect way leaving no room for suspicion at all. Even in the end, when Richard is arrested for killing Lord Horn, the blame comes back to Lord Ferris even though it is known that he did not act on his own. Lord Ferris has to take responsibility for the death of Lord Horn to protect the truth about Lord Basil’s death from coming out. Alec reveals himself as the duchess’ grandson which leaves the readers wondering if their relationship with Richard was part of the Duchess’ plot. Lord Horn also plots to kill Michael because he had rejected Horn publicly. This shows how scheming was done for even petty reasons as long as the reason makes sense to the schemer.
The exploitation of the lower class
There are two classes depicted. The poor live in Riverside while the rich aristocrats occupy the hill. The aristocrats are known for hosting high-end parties and even invite swordsmen like Richard for their amusements. The aristocrats take advantage of the poor as noticed by Lord Basil and that is what gets him killed. Basil is killed by Richard who is from Riverside on Lord Ferris's orders. Ironically, Richard is used to kill the only person who was concerned about how the poor were being exploited. This manipulation of the poor is evidenced through Richard. He is the one that gets hired to do all their killings that pit one against the other. In the case of Lord Horn, he is even blackmailed through the abduction of Alec when he refuses to kill Michael. It is like they have no choice other than to accept. The aristocrats walk free as seen when Richard is the only one that gets arrested even though he was tasked to kill. The poor toil to benefit the rich.
