The Gentle Queen

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.