Three Years Before
1610 Words
She has always been an early riser and that day it was no different. She had a morning bath and was about to get dressed when her maid Emily rushes to her.
“Your Highness! There has been a summon for you from the Main Palace!”
Everyone freezes instantly, including her maids who were helping her getting dressed and also the maids who were arranging her breakfast on the table. She turned to Emily, who was not only her maid but also the closest thing to a childhood friend she had.
“What did you say?”
“His Majesty, the King has summoned you to the Royal Palace for a court session.”
Her breath stutters for a second and then she inquires, “Do you maybe…have any idea about the reason?”
Going to the Main Palace and seeing her father never ended up good for her. She almost always went out of her way to avoid confronting her father. Emily shook her head. She sighs and turns to stare at her reflection in the mirror.
“If I may…Princess,” one of the other new maids started, even though she was cowering, “Some of my friends work in the Main Palace…and they mentioned and a day ago, an ambassador from the Empire arrived.”
At the mention of the Empire, the temperature in the room dropped a few more sudden degrees.
Someone whispered a horrified “Em-Empire…?”
But she could hardly say anything as her ears started ringing. Ambassador from Empire has never meant good news for them.
“Alright. I see. Let us prepare then.”
Her words snapped everyone into action. The maids who were dressing her in casual clothes first, turned around to grab some more formal clothes for the occasion. But they made sure to still keep it simple because a certain someone did not like her to be looking anywhere near her status or close.
Some minutes later, she was dressed in a simple Blue dress and hair up done. She did wear any jewelry or even her Tiara. The Main Palace was far away from her castle but thankfully she was able to reach the court in time. To her surprise, a lot of important nobles seemed to be present. And she knew something big was about to happen.
Seeing her arrive, the announcer announced her presence.
“Her Highness, the Princess Shirina Nishak has arrived!”
There was a hush that fell on the court at her arrival. She walked through the center to reach her seat. A subject of stares, she maintained an emotionless face through her walk. People were talking about her in hushed whispers. Some gave her pitiful looks. Some gave her hostile stares. She maintained her composure through it all. It had become a norm for her to become a subject of people’s disdainful scrutiny a long time ago.
She took a deep breath and seated herself in a proper stance waiting for her father and his wife to arrive. She did not have to wait for long though. The announcer yelled again.
“Make way for His Majesty, King Alastor Nishak and Her Majesty, Queen Charlotte Nishak.”
Everyone in the court stood up to greet them, bowing down to the monarch and his consort. Shirina did too and watched them stride in, her stepmother plastering herself to her father’s side in an inappropriate manner, dressed lavishly and decked in expensive jewels. A flare of irritation rose inside her chest when she noticed that the Ruby necklace on the woman’s throat that belonged to her mother.
Their eyes met and her stepmother noticed her gaze and gave a shameless smirk. If it was allowed, Shirina would have rolled her eyes. Her father obviously did not notice. He was busy waving at the crowd gathered and doing his best to avoid looking in her direction. She would be lying if she said that after all this time, it hurts less.
Once both the King and Queen seated themselves, the others were allowed to sit. Then the King spoke, “To the ones who are not aware of why an urgent court of Nobles of summoned, there is something important to be known. Just Yesterday, we received an ambassador from the Empire.”
Just like it had happened in her room, the atmosphere here stifled as well. The people shared wide eyed glances with one another, a wave of hidden panic sweeping over them. And she could not blame them because everyone remembers what happened the last time, they an ambassador from the Empire of Tejask arrived.
“Sir Austin, please step forward and state the message the Empire has sent for us.”
She could feel the apprehension growing among the people present when the ambassador stepped up. And it made her angrier when he had a hint of amusement in his eyes because of their reaction.
He stepped in front of her father, fetched the scroll from his pocket on the chest and opened it to read out loud.
“To the Lord of Shadow Dragons, and the ruler of Country of Nishak, the Empire and it’s lord appreciate how cooperative you and your fellow countrymen have been for the past following year. As a result, the taxes that the Kingdom of Nishak has been paying to the Empire will be reduced by twenty-five percent per annum.”
People gasped, and even Shirina herself was stunned. The Current Emperor of Tejask has been famous for tyrannical personality and unmatched strength. And the claims have been supported by the fact that he has been conquering Nations left and right since his crowning. For what reason would he be generous enough to grant them such a mercy when the wars he had waged have pillaged the resources and he needs all he can get his hands on to restock them again.
Something did not sit right here.
There has to be an ulterior motive.
“Although, there is another important news.” The ambassador continued.
Ah, there it is. She almost sighed.
“The following message is to your daughter, Her Highness, the Princess.”
Pin drop silence. Shirina blinked twice. Everyone blinked twice.
“The message is for me?” She questioned, staring at the ambassador in wonder.
“Yes, your highness, a proposal.”
She glanced once at her father who looked as bewildered as she felt at the moment. But he gave her a quick nod.
“Then please continue.” She gestured to the messenger.
“The words I am about to utter now, are master’s own. He says, “To the esteemed Princess Shirina, daughter of Nishak, I, Emperor Ariyan of Tejask, would like to request your hand in marriage.”
Shirina’s mind went blank. What did she hear just now?
The collective gasp of the people surrounding her made her realize that she had heard exactly what he actually said.
Emperor wanted her to marry him? How on the god’s green earth was that possible?! What is going on?
Meanwhile, the ambassador is still continuing with the message. “….have you as my bride. You are given seven days to think of the decision. And you are free to reject the proposal if you wish. But I’m looking forward to a favorable response, Princess.”
‘There will be consequences if you reject my proposal’ was left unsaid. And Shirina was pretty sure what they were.
“That was all of my master’s message to Her Highness, the Princess and to Kingdom of Nishak.” Messenger Austin rolled and closed the scroll and bowed to her and stepped away. It was then everything fell into chaos. Various shouts of “Your Majesty!” directed towards her father were yelled. The Nobles and Knights were stunned and enraged at the same time. Because even though rejection was mentioned to be acceptable, nobody missed thinly veiled threat. There was actually not much room for a possible rejection if the Emperor was willing to discount them entire twenty-five percent of taxes.
Nishak has never been a rich country by any means but between the demise of her mother – the former Queen who looked over a lot of country’s internal issues and did her best to provide for people and her stepmother – the new Queen’s beyond extravagant expanses had rattled the country’s economic foundations. Shirina was aware that the country was actually on a verge of famine and they need to accept any fraction of relief they get from the Empire. The situation was not that difficult to handle.
All they needed was a sacrificial lamb to please the Empire and in this case, it would be her.
“Silence!” Her father stood up, his cape flaring up behind him as he raised his hand to calm down the cacophony of the present Nobles.
“This is not something that can be decided on a whim. I understand your concerns and thankfully, the Emperor has given us a week to give him our answer. So, now I will have an instant meeting with my council and both Queen and the Princess present to determine the direction in which we should proceed towards and then we will announce our decision.”
The chaos calmed down as some ministers sighed in relief. Her father stood up and left the room with her stepmother following him close behind.
- Writer
