Chapter 19: May the Best Man Win
"Announcing the arrival of Queen of Nitreil, Long Live the Queen!"
Theeya stepped into the Grand Ballroom as hundreds of pairs of eyes were fixed on her.
In the next one week she was to be betrothed to marry a man who would rule by her side. By tomorrow after the first challenge, there would only be 20 men left out of the original 50 odd men. By the end of Day 2 only 10 would be selected and the last 5 days would see only 5 men vying for her attention and win her hand in marriage.
"Announcing the arrival of Prince Geoffrey from Kingdom of Araneil."
Jeff purposely waited behind the double door so as to allow the Queen to enter the room first without implicating her for favoring a contender so early on in the contest.
The evening went on without any untoward incident. Theeya danced with every man who was competing for her. All in all there were 59 contenders including Jeff.
As expected the court's favorites stood out. When she danced with Prince Arthur of Kingdom of Rash, King George of King of Pernah and Prince Vincent of Kingdom of Magnio, Theeya saw the nod of approval from the old men who formed the Elders of the Council, who have the power to sway the Court's decision. The Elders in the Council were the ones who would pressure the Queen to make the "right" decision at the end of the weeks.
At the end of the evening, the Queen's feet hurt so bad from dancing with 59 men.
"This is ridiculous," Sereni exclaimed as she took off the Queen's shoes and started to rub on the swollen feet.
"Traditions are to be upheld, Sereni. Mother had to endure it too."
The late Queen was the only heir to the throne and she also underwent a similar experience where she selected the man who would father Queen Theeya.
It had been more than 300 years since the throne had a baby prince born in the Kingdom of Nitreil. They said it was a Nitreil curse from the persecuted Queen Arenia whom the King abandoned and framed to death for his infatuation for another younger, royal lady. From her death onwards no prince was born to the throne. Her son was the last of the patriarchal line of the Kingdom, and her granddaughter inherited the throne.
Theeya had a restless sleep. She tossed and turned, not being able to fall asleep as she had to choose only 20 out of 59 men tomorrow, risking offending 39 kingdoms.
************
I saw those red eyes again.
Am I still dreaming in my past life or am I dreaming out of that past life but still in a dream? I am not making any sense.
I tried to adjust my eyes to the darkness.
"Cassandra, you belong to me." I felt his breath on my right ear.
He actually smells like freshly cut grass after the rain.
"Zach, is that your name? Can you explain to me everything? I am quite confused," I pleaded.
"All in due time my Cassandra. All in due time," he chuckled softly.
"Can I ever wake up from this dream?" I whispered.
"Not until it's time. You have to keep sleeping for three days, remember? I cannot let you marry that man, you have to stay asleep until I appear by your side again. Now dream again, my Queen," he blew on to my face and I lost consciousness.
"Is it even possible to lose consciousness in a dream?" that was my last thought.
*************
"My Queen, it is time."
Sereni gently nudged me on my shoulders.
She was my childhood friend. Only a year younger than me, it should be her turn to be matched next year, marrying someone and leave my side. I dreaded for that day to come.
With her father being a minister she should be matched easily to a noble man.
As she helped me get ready with two chambermaids, we chatted excitedly about the first day's challenge.
It was a physical challenge where the men would be tested for their endurance, stamina and strategy to finish an entire day's race.
The royal men would be tested in various skills including archery, sword fighting, horse riding, jungle trekking, mountain climbing and swimming against the current of the river before retrieving the 20 prizes and running back to the starting point at the podium. The first 20 men to collect the prize and have their royal seal marked at every challenge station would qualify for the next round.
The results will be announced when the sun went down.
A total of 500 people on top of 80 top warriors were stationed throughout the route of the race to ensure the integrity of the race. There had been cases where the men killed for the prize. The best warriors were also assigned to each of the men to watch over them, ensuring no conniving methods to win the race.
During my late Queen Mother's time two men died as they were attacked in stealth by one contender. At that time there were only 37 contenders. The Kingdom of Nitreil was leaving nothing to chance right now.
My late father was the youngest prince out of 8 princes of the Kingdom of Evenstone. His own brother, the sixth prince was one of the contenders and made it look like an accident when he caused the death of two other men, one younger prince from Argon and another prince from Natrom. Evenstone sent tributes to these two kingdoms for the next 30 years to compensate for the death of the princes. The killer prince was sent back to Evenstone to be stripped of his royal titles and exiled. This time around my cousin, third son of my 5th uncle from Evenstone was a contender. I had not seen Philip since I was 8. With the many sons and those waiting in line for the throne, Philip was just trying his like and I did not give him much thought.
Dressed in white sundress which was lighter than my usual attire, the contest master sounded the gong as I flagged off the contestants from the podium.
May the best man win.
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