The ‘worldly’ festivities of my ‘awakening’ started around eleven. And were solely centred around me. Looking down from a coloured glass window, I could already see the masses of nobles waiting for me to make a single step out of the cathedral.
Like hyenas, they gathered around the entrance, waiting for their chance to bare their fangs in the form of compliments and flattery. At least all the priests had the decency to leave me be after a single kiss on my hand but these nobles wouldn’t.
“You are already looking out of this window for ten minutes. Is everything alright?” The pope asked, standing behind me in an elegant robe, a golden staff in hand.
“I just need to steel myself a little.” I admitted and closed my eyes. Even then the scene of me talking to nobles the whole night wouldn’t go out of my head.
“Lesser nobles are like wolves. They live in packs and look up to their leader, hoping to be second in command at some point or even more than that. The trick is to hold them at a distance.” The pope explained, but that didn’t help me at all. Holding others at a certain distance was fine if they fell in love with me. But I was supposed to be the saint who brings warmth into the world, not apathy.
“Do you think I could do that?” I asked a bit distressed, but turned around anyways. I wasn’t the type to stop just because I didn’t like what I had to do.
“No … you are too friendly and compassionate for that.” And that’s exactly where my problem was. Everyone saw me as the holy being I never wanted to be. But so was life …
Breathing calmly, I walked down into the nave, only to stop before the heavy ornamented doors once more. There was very little I could change at this point, so I smiled warmly and waited for the doors to open slowly.
At first, there was utter silence as the first row of nobles stared at me and then, they fell on their knees and looked at the ground quickly. Even those on the stairs who had no way of seeing me knelt down awkwardly as they heard the crystal clear voice of their queen the first time.
“My dear fellow citizens of this beautiful country, my dear comrades of the elven kingdom and my dear beast man of every tribe. I am honoured about your presence and extremely thankful that you came despite this short notice.
This is a day where a new era starts, and you are all here to witness it.
The day I fell into coma, we were divided through borders and faced all of our problems on our own. But this very day, we already face our problems together as one civilisation. The changes I started and your predecessors finished lay bare in front of my eyes. And it’s a wonderful feeling to know we have improved.
But new problems arose. The threat of demons is all to prevent, from within our own ranks and from the outside. But instead of dividing us, they will make us band together. I will make sure of it.
And I will also make sure that injustice is turned into justice, that every single one out there asking for help is heard and that each and everyone can be safe once more.
To all those wishing to hurt others instead of helping, I have only a few words for you.
Your saint has awoken.
And she will stand on the side of those who need protection.”
My speech ended with these words which weren’t just meant for them. I was sure that my whole speech would be relayed through the whole kingdom and beyond anyways, so I tried to speak to everyone instead of just the nobles.
“You may rise and walk this path together with me. Towards a future in which our children have it better than us.” With these words, I made my fist steps towards the slowly rising nobles which parted ways in front of me.
With the pope right behind me, I descended the stairs gracefully, watched by all the nobles beside me with glee, happiness or hope in their eyes. Behind the pope, the first nobles started to walk down the stairs following the trail I had made. As I went past the last noble who stood there in awe, most of the others were already in motion, following behind me while taking quietly with their peers. As I didn’t hear anything bad, I was quite relieved as I reached the steps to the castle and the pope helped me climb them. As most of the nobles couldn’t follow me towards the main party, I stopped at the top of the stairs and turned around to face them once more.
“May humankind prosper.” I said and curtsied deeply in front of them. A round of awe went through the nobles, but I honestly couldn’t care less. Turning around, I walked towards the next horrible even that was about to happen.
At least I had managed to avoid talking with the lower nobles but I certainly wouldn’t be able to do that with the ones inside. Striding through the open door with the pope as my sole companion, I was greeted by tens of servants kneeling respectfully.
“Your majesty, it is an honour to meet you.” A maid right in front of me said respectfully.
“You can call me Lucy … or Milady if you want to. And there is no need to kneel in front of me.” I explained and gave her my hand to stand up. She must have known the old stories where I did the same to the servants in the past, and so she wasn’t shocked at all, but rather honoured to be on the receiving end of my faked kindness.
“This way please. His majesty is already awaiting you in the throne room.” The maid said, an uneasy expression on her face.
“In the throne room?” The pope asked a bit angrily which was understandable. The throne room was for meeting guests below the king, but certainly not someone like me who was as important as the king, if not more depending on the person asked.
“That … that were his majesties words.” The maid admitted, averting her gaze from us.
“It´s okay. Please lead the way.” I said, touching the shoulder of the maid gently. She nodded shily, and turned around to lead us through the other maids who then followed us right away. These halls I strode through felt quite familiar, but they were changed up a bit since I was there the last time. The portraits of kings were newer, even though some of the old ones still hung somewhere. Additionally, they seemed to have added a lot more magic to the castle in general, from self-opening doors to windows shimmering magically once I strode past them.
I already knew where I was before the door to the throne room opened though. This was the second throne room, the exact place I had wrecked in the past and had forced the king to marry me. Quite the irony that I would go back there, but this time as the first queen of the kingdom.
And quite ironic was also that the king wasn’t alone in the room, but rather accompanied by tens of guards on all sides of the red carped leading up to the elevated throne. Trying to fight me didn’t work the first time, so why even try it a second time? Especially now that the king hopefully had even less clue about who I was. If the old king I knew had kept his word and hid my true nature from everyone else, then everything was alright. If not … well, I would make sure his descendants joined him sooner than later.
Walking past the royal guards who didn’t kneel at all, I stopped only as I was right in front of the stairs leading up to the throne and looked at the current king with interest. He sat rather casually on his throne, looked down on me without saying anything. Ten odd seconds of looking at each other later, I had seen enough of this thirty something year old and frowned slightly.
“I believe it is customary for the man to introduce himself first?” I asked a bit unsure what he expected of me. Leaning forwards a bit, he grinned a bit and went through his hair with his fingers.
“That solely depends on who I have in front of me.” How did he stay in power for so long? How could one be so rude to anyone? At least I had the decency to look my torture subjects into their eyes, but he wasn’t even looking at them. His gaze wandered all over my body, and slowed down around my chest area every time.
“Lucy Worchester. Your first wife, bound to you by an ancient contract that never expires.” I explained so that everyone could understand who I was.
“Everyone can say that.” The king Charles said, clearly too full of himself. It was as if he wanted to tell me from the very beginning who was the superior one of us two.
“Not everyone can do so with my voice.” I claimed and furrowed my brows a little. One look towards the pope showed me that I was largely on my own with this man who was way too full of himself.
“Hmm … the similarities are indeed striking. But the saint has a ring which proves she belongs to me.” Couldn’t he see it already? I wore no gloves and didn’t even try to hide the ring on my finger which proved my identity.
“I am afraid I am not a possession passed down the generations, my dear husband.” I said, a bit annoyed by being told I belonged to him.
“The ring.” He said and I closed my eyes for a little while. Reluctantly, I opened them again and climbed the few stairs towards the throne with a gentle smile on my lips.
Standing in front of him, I looked into his eyes and presented him my right hand which he took without a care of the world.
“So you really are the saint. It’s nice to meet you, my eternal queen.” Finally, he did what I assumed a king would do and behaved decently in front of a lady.
“The pleasure is all mine.” I said and curtsied in front of him, which may have been a massive mistake on my side.
“And you are more beautiful than even the stories could portray you as. A little bit skinny in some places, but I don’t mind fragile woman.” He said, making me curse him in my thoughts. I eve had to give my best not to punch him, which would have been a disaster.
“I can assure you, I am anything but fragile.”I said instead, already learning to ignore what he said about me.
“We will see.” Oh, I was sure that one day he would see that he wasn’t stronger than me, just because he was a man. “The others are already waiting for us. I would love to talk with you more, but I can’t monopolise the saint for a whole night, can I?”
“Your majesty, please refrain from such lecherous remarks in front of our saint.” The pope said, finally fed up with the behaviour of the king.
“I’ll keep that in mind.” He said, standing up from the throne and stopped right in front of me. Leaning downwards, he grabbed both of my shoulders and pinned me in place while bringing his head very close to my ear. “I heard you are very smart, so let me tell you this right away. You will get problems when you try to change the way things are done here. Peasants remain peasants and nobles rule the land. I will not let you bring this age old contract down, just because some feel as if they are treated unfairly. Understood?”
“I heard you.” I whispered back, already imagining ways of tearing everything he inherited apart in front of his own eyes.
“Woman are supposed to raise children and serve their husband … so do what you were born to.” Charles whispered and turned me around by my shoulders as I chose to remain silent. It was crystal clear now why he was called King Charles the foolish. He didn’t think much about his actions and behaved like he saw fit, even if it ruined potential alliances.
I didn’t even say anything as he placed his right hand on my hip. Ignoring him and his actions for the time being was probably a more than sensible approach. I needed to wait at least until the party was over until I could antagonise him, which also meant a lot of trouble for me.
“Shall we?” He asked, still guiding me by my hip towards the door which made the pope more than furious. Charles didn’t seem to mind though and also didn’t care that I remained silent the whole time he guided me towards the largest ballroom the kingdom possessed.
The ‘worldly’ festivities of my ‘awakening’ started around eleven. And were solely centred around me. Looking down from a coloured glass window, I could already see the masses of nobles waiting for me to make a single step out of the cathedral.
Like hyenas, they gathered around the entrance, waiting for their chance to bare their fangs in the form of compliments and flattery. At least all the priests had the decency to leave me be after a single kiss on my hand but these nobles wouldn’t.
“You are already looking out of this window for ten minutes. Is everything alright?” The pope asked, standing behind me in an elegant robe, a golden staff in hand.
“I just need to steel myself a little.” I admitted and closed my eyes. Even then the scene of me talking to nobles the whole night wouldn’t go out of my head.
“Lesser nobles are like wolves. They live in packs and look up to their leader, hoping to be second in command at some point or even more than that. The trick is to hold them at a distance.” The pope explained, but that didn’t help me at all. Holding others at a certain distance was fine if they fell in love with me. But I was supposed to be the saint who brings warmth into the world, not apathy.
“Do you think I could do that?” I asked a bit distressed, but turned around anyways. I wasn’t the type to stop just because I didn’t like what I had to do.
“No … you are too friendly and compassionate for that.” And that’s exactly where my problem was. Everyone saw me as the holy being I never wanted to be. But so was life …
Breathing calmly, I walked down into the nave, only to stop before the heavy ornamented doors once more. There was very little I could change at this point, so I smiled warmly and waited for the doors to open slowly.
At first, there was utter silence as the first row of nobles stared at me and then, they fell on their knees and looked at the ground quickly. Even those on the stairs who had no way of seeing me knelt down awkwardly as they heard the crystal clear voice of their queen the first time.
“My dear fellow citizens of this beautiful country, my dear comrades of the elven kingdom and my dear beast man of every tribe. I am honoured about your presence and extremely thankful that you came despite this short notice.
This is a day where a new era starts, and you are all here to witness it.
The day I fell into coma, we were divided through borders and faced all of our problems on our own. But this very day, we already face our problems together as one civilisation. The changes I started and your predecessors finished lay bare in front of my eyes. And it’s a wonderful feeling to know we have improved.
But new problems arose. The threat of demons is all to prevent, from within our own ranks and from the outside. But instead of dividing us, they will make us band together. I will make sure of it.
And I will also make sure that injustice is turned into justice, that every single one out there asking for help is heard and that each and everyone can be safe once more.
To all those wishing to hurt others instead of helping, I have only a few words for you.
Your saint has awoken.
And she will stand on the side of those who need protection.”
My speech ended with these words which weren’t just meant for them. I was sure that my whole speech would be relayed through the whole kingdom and beyond anyways, so I tried to speak to everyone instead of just the nobles.
“You may rise and walk this path together with me. Towards a future in which our children have it better than us.” With these words, I made my fist steps towards the slowly rising nobles which parted ways in front of me.
With the pope right behind me, I descended the stairs gracefully, watched by all the nobles beside me with glee, happiness or hope in their eyes. Behind the pope, the first nobles started to walk down the stairs following the trail I had made. As I went past the last noble who stood there in awe, most of the others were already in motion, following behind me while taking quietly with their peers. As I didn’t hear anything bad, I was quite relieved as I reached the steps to the castle and the pope helped me climb them. As most of the nobles couldn’t follow me towards the main party, I stopped at the top of the stairs and turned around to face them once more.
“May humankind prosper.” I said and curtsied deeply in front of them. A round of awe went through the nobles, but I honestly couldn’t care less. Turning around, I walked towards the next horrible even that was about to happen.
At least I had managed to avoid talking with the lower nobles but I certainly wouldn’t be able to do that with the ones inside. Striding through the open door with the pope as my sole companion, I was greeted by tens of servants kneeling respectfully.
“Your majesty, it is an honour to meet you.” A maid right in front of me said respectfully.
“You can call me Lucy … or Milady if you want to. And there is no need to kneel in front of me.” I explained and gave her my hand to stand up. She must have known the old stories where I did the same to the servants in the past, and so she wasn’t shocked at all, but rather honoured to be on the receiving end of my faked kindness.
“This way please. His majesty is already awaiting you in the throne room.” The maid said, an uneasy expression on her face.
“In the throne room?” The pope asked a bit angrily which was understandable. The throne room was for meeting guests below the king, but certainly not someone like me who was as important as the king, if not more depending on the person asked.
“That … that were his majesties words.” The maid admitted, averting her gaze from us.
“It´s okay. Please lead the way.” I said, touching the shoulder of the maid gently. She nodded shily, and turned around to lead us through the other maids who then followed us right away. These halls I strode through felt quite familiar, but they were changed up a bit since I was there the last time. The portraits of kings were newer, even though some of the old ones still hung somewhere. Additionally, they seemed to have added a lot more magic to the castle in general, from self-opening doors to windows shimmering magically once I strode past them.
I already knew where I was before the door to the throne room opened though. This was the second throne room, the exact place I had wrecked in the past and had forced the king to marry me. Quite the irony that I would go back there, but this time as the first queen of the kingdom.
And quite ironic was also that the king wasn’t alone in the room, but rather accompanied by tens of guards on all sides of the red carped leading up to the elevated throne. Trying to fight me didn’t work the first time, so why even try it a second time? Especially now that the king hopefully had even less clue about who I was. If the old king I knew had kept his word and hid my true nature from everyone else, then everything was alright. If not … well, I would make sure his descendants joined him sooner than later.
Walking past the royal guards who didn’t kneel at all, I stopped only as I was right in front of the stairs leading up to the throne and looked at the current king with interest. He sat rather casually on his throne, looked down on me without saying anything. Ten odd seconds of looking at each other later, I had seen enough of this thirty something year old and frowned slightly.
“I believe it is customary for the man to introduce himself first?” I asked a bit unsure what he expected of me. Leaning forwards a bit, he grinned a bit and went through his hair with his fingers.
“That solely depends on who I have in front of me.” How did he stay in power for so long? How could one be so rude to anyone? At least I had the decency to look my torture subjects into their eyes, but he wasn’t even looking at them. His gaze wandered all over my body, and slowed down around my chest area every time.
“Lucy Worchester. Your first wife, bound to you by an ancient contract that never expires.” I explained so that everyone could understand who I was.
“Everyone can say that.” The king Charles said, clearly too full of himself. It was as if he wanted to tell me from the very beginning who was the superior one of us two.
“Not everyone can do so with my voice.” I claimed and furrowed my brows a little. One look towards the pope showed me that I was largely on my own with this man who was way too full of himself.
“Hmm … the similarities are indeed striking. But the saint has a ring which proves she belongs to me.” Couldn’t he see it already? I wore no gloves and didn’t even try to hide the ring on my finger which proved my identity.
“I am afraid I am not a possession passed down the generations, my dear husband.” I said, a bit annoyed by being told I belonged to him.
“The ring.” He said and I closed my eyes for a little while. Reluctantly, I opened them again and climbed the few stairs towards the throne with a gentle smile on my lips.
Standing in front of him, I looked into his eyes and presented him my right hand which he took without a care of the world.
“So you really are the saint. It’s nice to meet you, my eternal queen.” Finally, he did what I assumed a king would do and behaved decently in front of a lady.
“The pleasure is all mine.” I said and curtsied in front of him, which may have been a massive mistake on my side.
“And you are more beautiful than even the stories could portray you as. A little bit skinny in some places, but I don’t mind fragile woman.” He said, making me curse him in my thoughts. I eve had to give my best not to punch him, which would have been a disaster.
“I can assure you, I am anything but fragile.”I said instead, already learning to ignore what he said about me.
“We will see.” Oh, I was sure that one day he would see that he wasn’t stronger than me, just because he was a man. “The others are already waiting for us. I would love to talk with you more, but I can’t monopolise the saint for a whole night, can I?”
“Your majesty, please refrain from such lecherous remarks in front of our saint.” The pope said, finally fed up with the behaviour of the king.
“I’ll keep that in mind.” He said, standing up from the throne and stopped right in front of me. Leaning downwards, he grabbed both of my shoulders and pinned me in place while bringing his head very close to my ear. “I heard you are very smart, so let me tell you this right away. You will get problems when you try to change the way things are done here. Peasants remain peasants and nobles rule the land. I will not let you bring this age old contract down, just because some feel as if they are treated unfairly. Understood?”
“I heard you.” I whispered back, already imagining ways of tearing everything he inherited apart in front of his own eyes.
“Woman are supposed to raise children and serve their husband … so do what you were born to.” Charles whispered and turned me around by my shoulders as I chose to remain silent. It was crystal clear now why he was called King Charles the foolish. He didn’t think much about his actions and behaved like he saw fit, even if it ruined potential alliances.
I didn’t even say anything as he placed his right hand on my hip. Ignoring him and his actions for the time being was probably a more than sensible approach. I needed to wait at least until the party was over until I could antagonise him, which also meant a lot of trouble for me.
“Shall we?” He asked, still guiding me by my hip towards the door which made the pope more than furious. Charles didn’t seem to mind though and also didn’t care that I remained silent the whole time he guided me towards the largest ballroom the kingdom possessed.
