Chapter 5
Isleila: a pretty, young woman in her early twenties with short blonde hair and golden eyes, nearly the same age as Hyejin's soul, was assigned by the queen to help escape and take care of the last remaining royal family member—Vyriana.
Faithful to the end, she takes care of the princess and raises her until they are separated when she sacrifices herself to save Vyriana. With such a tragic ending, she grew to be one of the favorite side characters to the point that the author made a short side story for her, featuring her life before the coup d'etat. Hyejin knew that the young woman had a lover who she had to give up in order to go into hiding with the princess.
She was so pitiful like Queen Asielle who was easily forgotten. However, one had a side story and was a beloved side character and another was considered a hag that was killed in order for the plot to begin.
"Your Majesty...?"
"Huh? Oh yes, my apologies, I was distracted." Once again, Hyejin had unknowingly forgone royal etiquette.
Isleila was confused on why the queen was apologizing but didn't question it further and said, "His Majesty, King Regent Livih has traveled to pay his condolences for King Redian and will arrive soon. Along with Queen Kenesha; however, she has sent a representative due to suffering from a minor illness. Unfortunately, we have yet to hear any news from the Empire for either a representative or a personal visit."
"Didn't Helenda tell you..." that I'm supposed to be suffering from amnesia? But Hyejin didn't say the rest of her sentence out loud because Isleila looked confused. Apparently, the truth of her amnesia had been kept a secret between the Alfrek and Helenda. But for how long were they going to sweep this under the rug? Hyejin was sure that she would mess up somewhere and then it would blow out of proportion.
She did recognize the names Livih and Kenesha as the other two rulers of the other two kingdoms in the empire.
Exreim was an empire ruled by an imperial family, but was also inclusive of three kingdoms that independently governed themselves but answered to the empire.
These three kingdoms were Aucainad, Heavaln, and Shuria.
Aucainad, ruled by Queen Asielle and formerly King Redian, was in the center and deemed the most commercial as it could easily control the trade between all three nations with the cost of the toll of traveling from one to another. The continent was shaped in such a way that it was possible to use the water to get to Heavaln from Shuria and vice versa, but it would take nearly fifteen days longer and by then, anything produce or such that needed to be fresh to be sold would be soiled and deemed useless. Hence, it was better to pay a bit more and use Aucainad rather than go bankrupt or make a large loss over production failure.
Heavaln, ruled by the Regent King Levih, was best know for their agriculture. Deemed the most agricultural due to their abundance of farming capabilities and easy monopolization of the industry, they were able to earn profit via that method. Regent King Levih was in reality, the brother of the deceased king who happened to die in an accident with the queen, both the parents of the crown prince, Yuriel. Once Yuriel was suitable for the age of rule, then the regent king would pass over his seat to the rightful heir. Levih had not gotten married because he did not want to have any children that would create a tangle of conflict for the right of the throne that belonged to Yuriel.
As a matter of fact, there was another sinister secret that Hyejin had found out in a side story that related to the Heavaln royal family.
And finally, there was the Shuria which was ruled by Queen Kenesha, who has been a widow for eighteen years and currently ruled the nation alone. There was no royal heir so the throne was possibly going to be passed to her only niece, Azarea. It was rumored that Queen Kenesha couldn't have children, but the deceased king never took a second wife because he loved her so much.
For the kingdom of Shuria, the method of income was due to the numerous minerals that could easily be found anywhere in the kingdom. With a balanced cycle of dependency in the three kingdoms, along with the towering empire making sure to keep them in order, there wasn't any conflicts for a long period of time. Unfortunately, with the coup of the duke, there was a wave of disruption that caused lots of trouble until it eventually calmed when the princess took the throne back much later.
There were very few minor areas in the continent that were independent from the empire's grasp, but they also depended on the empire and were discreetly under their watchful eyes as well. Practically the entire continent of Luevir was under the Exreim Empire. There was also another continent named Solee, but the author never described that continent that well except briefly mentioning that they chose to isolate themselves away from Luevir.
"Helenda tell me what?" Once again, her thoughts were brought back to reality from remembering the details of this world.
"Never mind. I'll meet with them. Let me know when they get here, please. For now, can you help me find... Princess Vyriana."
Wait, she's my... daughter, so I should address her more familiarly?
But it was so awkward for Hyejin. As this would be her life from now on, she would try. The concept of trying was foreign for her, but she would treat this like she treated university. If she didn't pull her weight, she would fail and be kicked out. Or in this case, she would be dead.
"Y-Your Majesty, are you sick?" Isleila stuttered when the queen finished speaking. Had the death of King Redian caused such a trauma to the queen that she behaved like this?
"Why? Do I look sick?" Did she know about the amnesia or not? Or could it be that her anxiety over impending mortality had caused her to look sick?
"No... it's just your method of speech..." Isleila averted her eyes and bowed her head even deeper in shame. How could she dare to reprimand the queen on her behavior? If the queen was acting normally, she would get her disciplined immediately. Readying herself for the punishment, Isleila closed her eyes in resolution but didn't hear a word of punishment come from the queen's red ruby lips.
"Oh. Sorry, I'll fix it."
Oops.
Did it again.
No wonder Alfrek and Helenda were concerned and looking at me weirdly. I haven't been acting like the real Asielle. Or actually, like a proper queen. But does that mean I have to be ordering them strictly?
Anything that required power or motivation was not her forte. Seeing Isleila so tense in front of her, she wished she could tell her to relax. Hyejin wasn't going to eat her. She didn't know how the previous queen acted since there weren't too many details in the book about her character, but she knew that she wouldn't be acting exactly like her.
It was impossible.
It was best that they got used to her acting like this sooner rather than later because she wouldn't be able to keep up the façade forever.
But nonetheless, Hyejin would at least change her speech manner a bit to be more sophisticated. All those historical dramas she watched younger with her mother would finally be useful!
Yes they were historical of an entirely different culture, but a queen was a queen. In any culture, she acted the same and displayed her status with even the smallest things such as speech.
Ahem. "I mean, take me to Vyriana immediately." Isleila raised her head in shock at the lack of punishment but didn't mention it in fear that it would happen. She nodded and went to summon more servants to help the queen change out of her nightgown into clothes suitable for leaving her room. The event was also particularly special as she was meeting a representative of a kingdom and the royal ruler of another kingdom, and possibly someone from the empire, so they were taking a while with the decision.
In the end, they decided on a sky blue angel-sleeved dress with exposing shoulders and adorning jewels at her hip. Her long, curly brown hair was washed delicately and combed into a bun with silver leaves and a circlet around her forehead. As the queen was incredibly and overwhelming beautiful, she had very natural makeup and her look was finally complete.
Having everything done for her without lifting a single finger, Hyejin felt like she had finally entered heaven. Yes it was secretly hell in disguise, but that didn't mean she wasn't going to enjoy it to the fullest.
"Okay, Your Majesty. You are ready to meet with the special guests. Let's find the princess first." Isleila commented and Hyejin nodded. She needed to find the pipsqueak first to appease her because her earlier impression had left Hyejin feeling guilty. It was like a wounded puppy that couldn't be abandoned, but in this case, it was her own child?
Where was the child support when it was needed?
On a positive note, Vyriana was really beautiful. She had doll-like features that would grow into what was described as beauty of the century. It was the shoujo female lead effect to have the prettiest female lead, but in this case, Hyejin couldn't find fault in this as both Queen Asielle and King Redian were insanely gorgeous. It like their already perfect genetics had decided to become even more perfect and the result was Vyriana. However, Hyejin wondered why they didn't have more children. They definitely had the capabilities for it, but there must've been another reason that once again, wasn't in the book.
Speaking of things in the book, Hyejin really enjoyed how the author had made sure to explain that the usual predominant gender for inheritance didn't matter too much in this society. As long as the first born existed and was competent, then the throne or power was theirs, girl or boy no matter. The lack of gender roles needed for the throne was a refreshing change that was ruined by the author once again.
Reason number heaven knows what for why I sent that email!
If Hyejin knew that she was going to die, she would've trolled all of those terrible authors with more emails. What could happen? Her soul getting cut off to occupy different bodies?
"Your Majesty, we're finally here."
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Saturdays update ♥
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