123 VC
Solemn silence settled over the Kingdom of Arroga. Vendors in the market sold their goods in hushed tones, and the children dutifully walked without noise by their mother’s side. The church bell rang once for the entire day, a loud and painful reminder signalling their grief.
Ministers and other royal officials dressed in black gathered inside the church. They sat on the pews in silence, not even whispering a single word. A long bronze coffin sat on the foot of the altar table, where a priest stood and uttered the final rites. The coffin’s upper lid was lifted to reveal Queen Teresa, dressed in a white gown.
As the people sat in silence, her only child, her daughter, wept before her mother’s body. Tears slid down her face as her sobs echoed in the chamber. She ran her fingers over the glass encasing her mother, longing to hold her for one last time.
A young girl and her father, dressed in knight’s armor, sat near the far end of the pew. Only the girl wore a dark hood over her face to hide her identity from the watching world. Yet it also concealed streaming tears and quiet cries, which she muffled with a handkerchief to her mouth. The father sighed. He placed a gentle hand on her shoulder, wordlessly reminding her it was time to go.
The pair stood from their seats and left the church. Clouds gathered above their heads, but not a single drop of rain fell. They rested on the church’s stone wall. The father waited for the wails to escape the girl’s mouth, for the grief to collapse on her. But she wiped her tears away with her hand, took a deep breath, swallowed any incoming sobs, and looked him in the eye.
“Let’s go home,” her voice slightly trembled but remained firm.
Her father nodded without a word. The girl brushed off dirt from her cloak, and the two walked back home.
---
A day passed after the Queen’s funeral. Arroga returned to its usual pace, albeit hesitantly. When children played, only the sound of their wooden building blocks clattering on the floor filled their homes. When people stirred in their pots no songs came out of their tongues.
The people who suffered most from the reluctant return to order were the officials. It had been two days after the loss of their monarch, and now they gathered to discuss the next steps.
The Meeting Hall’s large round table was surrounded with ministers. The Queen’s usual seat was taken by her daughter, Princess Basilia de Arro, who listened to the ministers’s debates with a frown.
“There are 12 of us, how can we possibly-”
“-cannot accept a kingdom led by several men, we-”
They went on and on. It was difficult to maintain the peace Arroga once had before their ruler’s untimely demise. The Kingdom was held in high esteem, but their neighbors can only offer condolences and trade, not leadership.
“I will rule this country,” The phrase immediately hushed all the ministers. Their tongues stilled, some widened their eyes as they turned their heads to Basilia, who had uttered those five words.
“I will rule this country,” she repeated with a stern tone.
“Your Highness, if I may,” one minister began, “you are only 13 years of age, too young for a Queen to-”
“I will not take my mother’s title until I am of the right age,” she interrupted, “but the rules of succession must be followed. And, thus, command falls to me, her only remaining family.”
She took a deep breath, her fingers withdrawing to her palm to form a fist on the surface of the wooden table, “Like my mother had done when my father passed away, I will resume the family’s sovereign control over Arroga.”
YOU ARE READING
Find the Virtues
Fanfiction(Cover by katieishere) (As of now, please start reading from Chapter 5) (A Parody Series of MOTHY's Evillious Chronicles) In this universe, the four main Gods created three worlds. The first was their home but it was destroyed, prompting them to es...
