Chapter 18: The News Travels To Edalelia

In Summercourt, located in the Kingdom of Edalelia, sat a young man with flaming red hair, but was dyed platinum blonde with his roots coming out. He sat reading a book when suddenly his door opened and an elegant middle-aged lady strolled in to his side.

"Have you heard the news? Your cousin is getting married!" said the lady with a cold smile while the young man continued to read his book. "She appears to be a nobody for a noble. A lowly little Baroness' child. I would love to get to know her."

"Mother," said the young man as he closed his book elegantly and looked up at her. "We should be happy that my dear cousin is getting married so soon."

"Ha! Don't be so naïve, Zander. When have you ever heard that a Crown Prince was marrying before he has officially come of age? No, something must have happened in the Palace for them to rush such a marriage."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that this girl is the descendant of that Baron who was friends with your Royal Grandfather. Hmph! If I did not know any better, I would say that those old foggers must have made an arranged marriage between their grandchildren to rule together in the future. The only good thing that came from us leaving the Kingdom of Glear was the fact that you were saved from a dreadful arranged marriage with this child! Imagine! My son being married to that sort of low breed. Her mother may have the title of Baroness but her father has no title!"

"Then, in your opinion, who would be a good marriage partner?" said Zander bemusedly.

"Well, obviously, someone with at least a Marchioness background. Who wouldn't want to have that young Marchioness from the Blakeloch family! Hmph! Even the two Princes here are enthralled by her charm! Always gracing the parties with her latest fashions and poise. Sadly, she has retreated back to her family's ancestral home to mourn the loss of her family."

"Mother, you have high standards. That young Marchioness is coveted by the Royal Family of Edalelia. You think just anybody could marry somebody like her? Even my Crown Prince cousin would not have a chance, let alone someone like me."

"What do you mean, 'someone like you'?" said the lady with a frown showing on her face. "Who are you? You are a Prince of Glear! Ha! Only two people need to die in order for you to get your uncle's throne! If your father was still alive, you would be the Crown Prince right now! Life is just unfair! Why did he have to pass away!"

"Mother, dry your tears," said the young man as he moved closer to dry her tears with his handkerchief. "Come now, what would cheer you up?"

"Oh! My dear child, no one treats this old lady as well as you," said the lady as she wiped the tears from her face and smiled at her son. "We must go and see how everyone is doing at the Palace in Glear. I have already booked a pass for you to travel there first thing tomorrow morning."

"Sigh. So soon? We just heard about this marriage for my cousin. When did you have time to buy a pass?"

"Never underestimate the power of money and determination," she smiled smugly while looking at her son.

"What about you? Are you coming to his wedding as well?"

"Unfortunately, I still have a few last minute details to handle, since I plan on us going back to live in Glear. You will just have to go ahead of me. Come, get the servants to help you pick out what you want to take back with you. Remember that we are moving back so everything must go. I still have many other things that need my attention, so you hurry along."

The lady turns to leave the room while Zander is left by himself to contemplate what his mother is scheming. He is forced to focus on the task at hand when several servants appear and begin to pack his things.

**********

At the Royal Palace of Edalelia, the Queen was quietly reading and sipping tea, when the Royal Head Steward comes in quickly and bows before her.

"What news do you bring Us?" states the old Queen with authority in her voice.

The Steward, still respectfully bowing, states, "Your Majesty, we have just received news from one of our allied countries: The Crown Prince of Glear is to wed a young lady of The Harkins Family."

"This is cause for celebration! The young Prince is getting married even before Our own princes, whom are older. But why do We get the feeling that this name, Harkins, is familiar?"

"Your Majesty, this is the same family that the late Marquess Blakeloch took for a bride… and the same one who gave birth to Marchioness Elizabella Opal Blakeloch," said the Steward almost in a whisper at the end.

"Oh? So she will have relatives sitting on the throne there as well as here? My, what a star of good fortune that Harkins has!" praises the old Queen with a look of content. "We suppose that she will travel to congratulate her cousin. Well, We still need to send them a congratulatory wedding present as well. What may We send?"

"Of course, Your Majesty; however, the girl in question to be married is… the young Marchioness herself, Elizabella Opal Blakeloch…" trailed the Steward as the queen stood rooted to her seat when she heard the news.

"How can this be? We have already prepared her wedding gifts for when she married one of Our Royal grandsons! How could she be marrying a strange prince! Surely, she is still not upset with what those two did that forced her to leave the kingdom. We made sure to punish them as soon as We found out," said the old Queen with a loud voice. "More importantly, why did she not tell Us anything about this beforehand?! After all we have gone through together, is this how she repays Us?"

"Your Majesty, quell your anger! The young Marchioness is not using her title or influence for this marriage. Instead, she is posing as the young daughter of a Baroness. It seems that no one knows about her life here, that is, unless we say anything," stated the Steward as the old queen grew contemplative.

"What are the people saying about her? Surely, they must all be for it since We helped raised her."

"My Queen, it is true that you have diligently raised her as if your own, but right now, no one knows that she grew by your feet to personally learn from your experience. The public and nobles believe her to be a normal child of the Baroness."

Shock was apparent on the old queen's face as she said, "Are you saying that not even the Royal Family knows about her heritage? Truly, if they knew of her background, would any Royal Family with a bachelor prince leave her alone? Why would she not use her birth heritage instead of a lower identity?"

The Steward, still remaining bowed, keeps silent for a moment to let her think when he decides to break the silence with his own thoughts.

"Your Majesty, what if she is doing this because of the threat on her life? Who is to say that all of the culprits were captured? Everyone knows that she has traveled back to her ancestral home to mourn her family's death. What if those shady people are still trying to find ways to get to her? If they find out that she is still living and even going to marry a Crown Prince, would they just sit still?

"After all, the young Marchioness has already retaliated and she has struck hard on them, leaving them to simmer in their hatred for her. My Queen, maybe it will be safer for her if we do not disclose this information to the public for now and go along with what has already been disclosed by their side. What do you think?"

The old queen sat there and thought silently to herself as she listened to the Steward who still respectfully bowed his head. She sighed and it appeared that she had aged in that instance.

"All those years trying to grow a fruitful treasure only to have someone else come and pluck her away."

"Your Majesty, could you perhaps clear my doubts? If your intention was to have her marry one of our princes, why did you never issue an edict to her engagement when she was younger?" asked the steward while the old queen remained silent, making him look up to peek at her mood.

"…I made a promise to her great-grandmother, to honor our friendship, that in my lifetime, I will never force an edict on her descendants…" said the old queen changing her formal pronouns to informal, startling the Steward so much that he dared not peek at her again. "Prepare the wedding gifts that were meant for the young Marchioness. Make sure that she gets everything that We had prepared except for the ones that are too obvious like deeds to lands and the such."

"Right away, Your Majesty; however, what shall we do about the news that relates to her?"

"Not many know that she has traveled outside of our kingdom. We can simply deny that this is her. It isn't like she has already said whose family she came from," said the old queen as she remembered something. "Also, about that person… we must keep all information to ourselves and not tell the young Marchioness. It could prove troublesome if she decides to investigate it herself when her life is still in danger. Let her focus on her new marriage and forget about the ugly past."

"As you command, Your Majesty…"