Let me tell you a story, a story of a wealthy French duke. The man had everything he ever wanted; land, wealth, wives, slaves. However it was for those reasons that the duke became bored in life. He needed to find entertainment, and late one night it came to him. Early the next morning he went out and bought several new serfs for his domain. However, he took keen interest in one boy in particular, a young serf who had yet to do anything meaningful in his life. So the duke observed him for two years before locking himself in his room for a week. When he came out, a red hardcover book was in his hands.

The boy, unknowing of this, continued to live his life. It was a little over a year later when the boy learned what love is when a beautiful girl came to stay at the estate. However she had to move away soon after as according to the book that the duke had written. The boy continued to move through life, faithfully serving the duke. It was for his services that the duke allowed the boy to visit his family. 

The boy thanked the duke before going to visit. But not so long after arriving, the boy's village was attacked by bandits and mercenaries, killing the boy's parents along with everyone there except for the hidden boy. The boy swore vengeance before returning to serve the duke. When the boy returned, the duke comforted the boy as if he were his own son. The boy couldn’t have possibly known it was the duke he served who sent those mercenaries.

Many years go by and the boy who still serves under the duke gets enlisted into the army. The boy is taught to shoot, to kill, and to serve. One time, when escorting the duke through a village, it is attacked by mercenaries. The same that had attacked the boys village many years ago. Driven by vengeance and the need to protect his duke, the boy fights and kills the mercenaries. All as the duke sits in the fine chair inside his carriage closing a red book with a smile.

After many more years, the duke concludes that the boy's services are done. However the boy, no, the man, still chooses to serve the duke that had provided him so much since he was young. Little did he know, his life had been controlled by the duke. From what he ate, to when he slept, to who he would talk with. Everything had been written in the red hardcover book. 

For the final act, the duke had his most recent mistress interact with the young man. Soon enough under the duke’s watch, a forbidden love was formed between the two. It is in that love that the man had gotten the mistress pregnant. The duke felt immense amusement as he watched the man who was once his serf and his mistress attempt to hide and deceive him. To make it worse the duke, who has been reaching old age, announced that the child the mistress carried would be the heir to his wealth. The poor boy turned man was riddled with guilt and dread not only for himself but for his new love. It ate away at him for several months before he gained the courage to admit the truth.

On that day however, the man seemed to have been called to the duke’s office. He walked in and saw the man who had treated him as a son and had allowed him to gain his revenge sitting behind his lavish table with a red book. The duke smiled at the man before telling the man to read the book. And so the man read about the story of a boy. A boy who’s life was exactly as the man’s. It was at this moment the man, no, the boy realized his life was a lie. Everything he’s lived so far was not his own choices but that of the duke in front of him. As the boy neared the end of the book, it ended with the man and his love getting executed for their crimes. The boy quickly tries to escape but by then he’s already been restrained by the duke’s guards and carried away to his death. Just as the book had fated it to be.

So, I must ask you. 

Did the duke control the boy's fate? 

Or was it the boy's fate to be controlled by the duke?

Or could it possibly be that it wasn’t fate at all and it was simply the boys' bad luck? 

So I ask you

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Do you believe in fate?