The queen and the mystical being

Chapter seven

King Erun:

I know my decision was for the good of the kingdom but marrying my daughter out to that brutal man is terrific. I once witnessed a fight between Igie and the previous head of warriors, Igie fought like a man who was possessed by demons. From that day, he became the favourite of so many, even when he does wrong the people still favour him. It was once reported that he was having an affair with a married woman and when the husband came to complain against him, he denied the accusation but the shocking part was when the man disappeared from the village until few days after he was found by some fishermen who found him floating at the top of the river.

I gave Princess Ivie a day off to go have fun for I do not know how life will treat her after marriage. I wanted her to go out and make happy memories that will always give her reasons to smile. I will have to deal with telling her she will be getting married soon. " How I wish I have a son of my own, I won't be scared of losing the throne to selfish men, at least I won't be marrying out my daughter to Igie.

A knock on my door brought out of my thoughts. That must be the Royal physician I sent for. I asked the person knocking to come in and the door opened.

A worried physician came in. "Your highness, are you ok?" He asked.

"I rushed here as soon as the guard you sent to invite me came to my hut."

"It happened again! In the presence of the chiefs!" I said

He worriedly came closer to me

"Does that mean they know now?" He asked.

'I don't think they noticed but it seems the Chief of Egbesama saw something because he curiosly kept watching me" I told him.

"Out of all, why must he be the one to notice" the physician exclaimed.

"I don't what he saw but I know he will find out sooner than later. So tell me, royal physician, does anyone else know about my illness? I asked.

"I swear to you by the gods, my king, I told no one not even my student nor your daughter and I plan on keeping it that way until you say otherwise."

"Thank you for keeping my secret and I am sorry for putting you through this mess of my own. I know how close you are to my daughter Ivie. it must be hard keeping a secret as this concerning me from her."

"It's nothing, your highness! I have been part of the royal family for as long as I can remember and I can say, you are more like my family! So whatsoever I do now, I'm surely doing it for my family."

"I'm happy that you are here and I know you will also serve my daughter when I'm no more but I will still ask a favour from you my old friend. I will need you to take care of my daughter when I'm no more especially now that she will be married to Igie."

"What!" He exclaimed

"Yes" I confirmed to him

"That's the only way she will live in peace and not be troubled by the Chief of Egbesama. That way the Chief of Egbesama will fulfill his selfish desire to own the throne while my daughter gives birth to an heir that will still rule the kingdom. It's going to be a win-win agreement." I explained

"Whatever your decision is, I will always serve the royal family and I promise you not just as your physician but as a friend, to take care of the Princess and I promise to stand for her no matter what.' He bowed his head to show his respect.

I simply sighed in satisfaction of his promise.

"I guess the princess is not aware of your marriage arrangement" he said.

"I shook my head to gesture No. But I will tell her as soon as she's back" I told him.

He saw the worried look on my face and just put a smile on his face just to lighten the mood.

"She will understand" I said.

"I will take my leave now but please take your medicine and get better soon."

I just plastered a fake smile on my face because we both knew I wasn't going to get better.

"I will take the Medicine" I promised him.

So he bowed his head to me again before exiting my room.

I brought out the medicine from where I was hiding it to take when the door was knocked again and I thought it was still the royal physician so I permitted him to come in but it wasn't the physician but my daughter staring at the medicine I was holding.

"Oh! You are back! How was your outing?" I tried to start a conversation that will take her attention from the bottle of medicine I was still holding.

She walked towards me still observing the bottle as she took it from my hand.

"What's this father?" She asked

"Medicine" I replied

"I know it's medicine but what is it meant for" she asked with so much worry written all over her.

At this point I knew I wasn't doing her any good by keeping my health issues from her. She needed to know on time. The sooner the quicker it will be for her to move on.

"Come sit with me my daughter." I patted the space close to me on my bed for her to sit.

She hesitated but still walked over slowly as if she was scared of what I was about to tell her. She sat down finally but fixed her dull eyes that has always been naturally bright on the floor.

"Look at me" I used my finger to raise her chin up and she looked at me with sad eyes as if expecting bad news.

When I saw the unshed tears in her eyes, for a moment I lost my voice, everything about me became heavy. Telling her of my incurable disease will hurt her and not telling her seems to be the worst. At this point I felt sorry for her. She lost her mother when she was still tender and ever since then, I have been everything to her. Although, I was a little bit hard on her but that was with good reason and now she was going to lose me too.

"My poor daughter Ivie, I am dying!"