章 3: Serve Your Kingdom

"The marriage arrangement is final. You will marry Duke Vincent Kalder and move to his Duchy in the North."

Lorelai's stepmother, Queen Althea Erelith, did not even look at her stepdaughter while uttering these words. In the quiet embrace of her bedroom, they sounded more like a sentence than a happy announcement.

Once the princess got ready, instead of assuming her usual duties for the day, she was suddenly called into the queen's chambers. The messenger insisted that the matter was urgent and she had to see her stepmother immediately.

Now she understood why.

Lorelai shifted nervously as she stood before Althea's couch, clutching her cane with her right hand, and finally mustered the courage to speak.

"Duke Kalder of the Northern Duchy?" She repeated his name, still not quite believing that the queen was indeed talking about him.

"Yes, Duke Vincent Kalder. Why? You do not think he is good enough for you? A barren girl like yourself should be happy about such a fortunate arrangement!"

At last, Althea moved her eyes to the young lady standing in front of her and looked at her anxious face from underneath her perfectly shaped eyebrows. She set aside her half-empty goblet of red wine, then leaned back against the couch, and tapped her long, sharp nails on the wooden ornament of the couch's frame.

There was always something bohemian about that woman; though already in her forties, she was tall, slender, and beautiful, with her white skin, long red hair, and dark brown eyes sparkling under the soft light of the crystal chandelier.

And yet, every time she would open her mouth to speak, it felt as if she was a venomous snake, spitting words like deadly poison.

"You were aware of this agreement. Did you really think I was joking about it? You better get a hold of yourself, Lorelai; this marriage is important to the royal family's political stance, so don't you dare screw this up for us."

Althea rose to her feet and slowly walked up to her stepdaughter, towering over her like a menacing predator. Lorelai hated that she always made her feel incredibly small and insignificant with her mere presence alone.

Compared to everyone else, she always felt the smallest.

Pausing mere centimeters from the young woman's body, Althea fixed her glaring red eyes on hers and spread her thin, red lips into a vile smile as she almost hissed her next words.

"This is what your father, the King, wants too, Lorelai. I don't think you want to go against your father's final wishes, am I wrong?"

"... no."

It was true, she did not want to defy her father, the only blood relative she still had, but with each passing year, it has been harder and harder to be a good daughter to him. And now that the king was dying, it would be a sin to go against his will.

Ever since she was a child, as long as she could remember, Lorelai had only one purpose in life––to serve her family; to be a perfect daughter so that in the future, she could be a perfect wife.

It was already burdensome enough that she was diagnosed as infertile thus shattering her chances of producing an offspring, but she was also crippled––due to an unfortunate incident the details of which she did not remember, her right leg was broken causing her to limp and use a cane while walking.

She could never be a perfect wife. Althea was right, she was lucky to have someone who wanted to marry her. Even if that someone was the most disgusting and perverted man in the entire Erelith Kingdom.

The queen spread her red lips into another vile smile and Lorelai felt like dying.

A strong, suffocating sensation crept up to her throat, and she began to choke on her own feelings of betrayal and disgust. She really wanted to die.

But was it really what she deserved?

Suddenly, she remembered her dream. The feelings of sickness and disgust evoked by her unknown groom resurfaced, adding to the already overwhelming struggle.

Duke Kalder as her fiance. Her stomach was tied in knots.

No matter how hard Lorelai tried to shake that unpleasant feeling off, at the end of the day, she was nothing but a tool to help others accomplish their selfish, greedy goals. If the queen said she was to marry him, she had to obey.

Duke Vincent Kalder, the man she was supposed to marry, could easily pass as her grandfather, and although as a royal princess, she reserved the right to select her future husband, Lorelai could not help but feel trapped as she never had a choice to begin with.

The duke was a powerful figure. Reigning over the entire east-northern border, he was overseeing the biggest royal army that guarded Erelith against any possible danger roaming around that border line.

Having such a strong political figure supporting the royal family was incredibly important to Althea, especially since the king's poor health had proven how weak and unstable to crown truly was.

But no matter how rich or powerful Duke Kalder was, it did not erase the fact that he was a disgusting sixty-year-old pervert who had been drooling over Lorelai's body ever since she reached adolescence.

And now, thanks to the queen's greedy ambitions, he would finally have his chance to crush her.

"Good," Althea trapped her daughter's chin between the long fingers of her left hand and leaned closer, glaring straight into the princess' green eyes. "Remember your role, Lorelai. Serve your family. Serve your kingdom. You do not want to be completely useless, right?"

Lorelai closed her eyes, leaning heavily onto her cane as the pain from standing for so long had finally got to her.

She gritted her teeth, fighting the annoying sensation, and forced a response.

"No... Your Majesty."

Althea pushed her chin away forcing the princess to stumble from the impact. Watching her struggling to retain her balance, the queen chuckled and nodded, picking up her goblet.

"Good. Smart girl."

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章 4: Premonition

Lorelai slowly walked back to her study, reveling in the warmth of the sunlight that seeped through the hallway windows.

Compared to Althea's room, where the curtains were always drawn, allowing only artificial light from the chandelier candles, any other room that did not shelter her presence, seemed a lot warmer and thus more cheerful.

Despite the dreading news that had just been delivered to her and the annoying pain in her right hip, the princess felt a little better just walking through the sunlit hall.

Pausing next to one of the tall windows, Lorelai looked through the glass, noticing two people talking outside, among the blooming orchards of the palace gardens.

'Kai?'

Those people were her stepbrother, Crown Prince Kai Erelith, and her future husband, Duke Vincent Kalder.

Even though she could not see their faces very well, Lorelai could tell that their discussion was not a pleasant one. And she knew exactly why.

'If the old duke is here, it means they are discussing my marriage. No wonder Kai looks so annoyed.'

As she finished that thought, Duke Kalder turned on his heel and left abruptly while the Crown Prince suddenly raised his head and locked his glowing green eyes with the princess.

His angry gaze sent a shiver down her spine, forcing Lorelai to avert her eyes and step aside from the window.

There was always something unsettling about her stepbrother which made her feel scared. She did not like to provoke him.

The princess was about to get inside her study when she heard the familiar heavy rhythm of her stepbrother's footsteps marching toward her from around the corner of the hallway.

"Lorelai!"

Lorelai winced and tightened her grip around the ornate handle of her cane. Kai appeared almost out of nowhere right before her, fuming with unreasonable rage as he spat his next words.

"So it's true, huh? You whored yourself off to that old pervert?!"

His crude tone and the choice of words put a disgusted grimace on her face.

Kai was the spitting image of the queen except for his sparkling green eyes––the only visible proof that he was indeed of royal blood. His presence always made her shrink the same way Althea did.

"Please do not use such harsh words in my company, Your Highness," Lorelai started calmly, "and do not act like you have not been aware of that as well. Her Majesty the Queen has been planning this union for years; this is the only thing I can do for the royal family."

Even though she spoke the truth, somehow, Kai did not find her reply even slightly comforting. On the contrary, it irked him even more than his impromptu conversation with Duke Kalder.

"You..!" The prince raised his hand, prepared to strike his stepsister but Lorelai lifted her cane in a protective stance, fixing her bright green eyes on his with unexpected confidence.

"You cannot hurt me anymore, Your Highness. From now on, only my future husband can."

***

From that day onward, Lorelai noticed that both her ladies-in-waiting and her maids had become a lot busier, always running about and often called to the queen's quarters.

That alone was a definite clue that the wedding preparations had been set in motion.

Annoyed and frightened, the princess tried to bury herself in the palace work that her stepbrother had been successfully neglecting, going hunting or sleeping with prostitutes instead, but no matter how hard she tried to focus, her mind refused to obey.

Even a moment's pause made her thoughts twirl in disarray.

Letting out a long, heavy sigh, Lorelai set her quill aside and leaned back in her chair, her eyelids tightly shut.

As she tried to take a break and find a moment of peace, the princess suddenly recalled that bizarre dream from a few days ago.

A pair of glowing amber eyes shone in her mind's eye as if they were right in front of her.

Startled, Lorelai opened her eyes, her chest heaving.

'I cannot help but feel that it was not a mere dream... With everything that has happened so far, it feels like some sort of a premonition.'

Indeed, with the impending marriage alliance looming over her head, she saw that strange dream as a sign from above. After all, the timing was just too accurate. She wondered if her heart was warning her about her fate.

'Poison...' Lorelai pictured a small glass bottle of red liquid she saw in her dream and immediately felt the ache in her muscles.

Following was the male voice crying out her name in despair and the princess felt her skin covered in goosebumps.

It would have been nice. If only someone would come to save her from this hell.

Her thoughts then shifted back to the poison and Lorelai frowned.

Gypsies. In her dream, she bought that poison from a Gypsy woman.

Gypsies were not really citizens of the Erelith Kingdom. In fact, they were just nomads, roaming around the continent like it belonged entirely to them.

Peaceful and harmless in nature, they posed no threat to others, and with their innate talent for street entertainment, gypsies were welcome everywhere and received no judgment or discrimination.

Lorelai had seen the Gypsy settlement in the Capital before. She had always found them fascinating and yet, she had never had the courage to approach them.

And now, it felt like the right time to finally do so.

With another long sigh, the princess turned around and looked out of the window behind her chair. Despite the late hour, it was still light outside which made her surprised for a few moments.

'Ah,' she finally recalled, 'today is the summer solstice!'

The summer solstice was the longest day of the year but it was also the day when all the commoners, including gypsies, gathered in the Capital Square to celebrate the occasion with all kinds of festivities and entertaining events.

Strangely, Lorelai's heartbeat fastened, and she felt her palms getting damp.

Perhaps that dream was indeed a premonition.

No, it had to be.

That dream was both a warning and a helping hand.

An unwavering decision was made right away––she would do it.

She would go to the festival disguised as a commoner, meet the gypsies, and buy that poison.

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