The End Of An Era (oneshot)

Once, a king was leading a massive kingdom. King Christopher Everett. He, himself, has eight wives, but among them, there is one in particular that he favors the most. She was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. Smooth, shiny, brown hair. Soft eyebrows, big, bright, innocent eyes, adorable button nose, soft and delicate looking lips. She was the only daughter of her parents. She was named after a famous warrior in her hometown, Natalia. He could not believe how a woman with such a physique could exist. With that, he had the power to make her his queen, and so he did. Out of his twelve, beautiful wives, one was favored. The woman that he chose to be his queen was crowned just a month after he met her. No more formal invitations to other kingdoms nor was there an invitation for the woman's family. The king was eager to be married to her and for her to be his queen. She agreed with what the king wanted as what he wanted, he will always get. The morning after the surreptitious coronation, an announcement was declared that she will be alongside the king for as long as she lives or for as long as she wishes to. The rest of the wives remained his but was now called his concubines. The king barely gave the concubines his attention as he was busy with his job and of course his queen. The only time that he would be seeing his women is at dinner time as it was quite a rule of theirs to have every woman that the king has, must be present. The king's intention was for all of his women to unite and befriend one another and as well as a way to tell everyone who and what his properties are. Time passed, and the queen was now with the king for over a year. Life has been great for the couple and there has been no problem with the rest of his wives. But like every story there was, something has to go wrong. Who would've known that on this one particular night, all of their lives would change, especially the queen's. At dinner, everyone was in the hall, as usual. The queen sat right beside the king, his hand on her lap as they continue to consume their food. Natalia can just feel a pair of eyes staring right at her. She gradually finishes her food as a shiver ran down her spine, but she chose to shrug it off. She stopped eating once her plate was empty. She taps the king's hand as if signaling him that she was ready to leave the table. At this moment, the king and some of the women have already finished eating and were now getting ready to leave for their rooms and hit the hay. The queen stood up but right then, it was as if the bones in her legs disappeared for a moment, and she came crashing down onto the floor. Gasps filled the hall as the king rushed to her side and helped her up. "Are you alright my love?" the king asked. Natalia just nodded as she took a moment to breathe and stood up slowly with the king still by her side. Minutes passed as everybody made sure that their queen was fine, they all went to their places. As the queen walked to their room, with the king still holding her, she once again felt as if someone was staring right through her soul. She stopped walking and looked back expecting someone right behind them, which made the king wonder. "Is everything all right?" the king asked worriedly. "Nothing, I just thought that someone was following us" she answered, and they continued walking. Since that evening, the queen was never the same. She became more paranoid as she not only felt that someone was stalking her, but someone has been sending her threats not only to herself but also to her beloved husband. She could not bother the king with her problems as she noticed how busy he was and how tired he is at the end of the day. Her weight slowly decreases as her health declined. Possibly because of all the paranoia. Or is it just because of that? Just two weeks after that night, the queen had noticeable changes. Her clothes looked bigger on her. She had dark circles under her eyes. Her once adorable, full cheeks were now sunken. She stutters every time someone, other than the king, talks to her. This worried Christopher greatly. There was even a time when Natalia never left her bed as she has no energy to do so. The king immediately noticed how drastic these changes had become. He asked Natalia to go and see a healer, but she would always tell him that she only had a bug, and it will be gone in no time. She was wrong. Her health continued to decline to the point where everything that she consumes, she ends up throwing it all up. The king was forced to ignore his queen's plea and let the healers handle her. She refused to get treated and ended up locking herself in one of the chambers. As she stays there, she looked at herself in the mirror. The image that she sees not only disgusts her but also scared her. Her arms are scrawny, her lips as dry as the desert's sand, and her once bright eyes were now lifeless. She backed away from the mirror and sat on the bed. She was sobbing. Repeatedly asking herself "What have I become?" She slowly laid down and let her tears flow until she falls asleep. The king on the other hand was pacing in their room. Feeling furious, helpless, and anxious. Furious, after finding out that the reason for his wife's sickness was still unknown. Not only that the healers not know what is happening to the queen but also that the healers are visibly scared on what may happen to the her. Helpless as he could not get the queen out of the chambers. And anxious, that his wife could be dead. All he wants is for his wife to be by his side in this moment so he did what he could. He marched down the halls and stopped right in front of the chamber Natalia was in. he knocked softly, but there was no answer. He knocked a little louder than before, but still no answer. Now, he was banging on the door, begging for his love to answer. And that is when he heard sobs coming from his wife. "My love, if you would just open the door and let me take you to the healers. Let me help you. We could help you with what you are feeling." Christopher said, almost sobbing as his eyes shed tears. "Do not come in here! I am hideous! Leave me alone!" The queen shouted from the other side of the door. After a few minutes of silence, the king thought of what he could do for his wife. "Then you leave me no choice, you will get out of there whether you like it or not. This is for your own good" the king said as he stood up. Natalia did not know how to respond. She sobbed as moments later; she heard a very loud bang on the door. She had no energy to refuse and fight the king, so she continued to lie down as the door is being destroyed. After minutes of loud banging, the door came crashing down as the King engulfed her blurry vision. His furrowed brows showed her how worried he is. Christopher noticed that his wife is slowly losing consciousness, as blood trickled down her nose. Then right there he looked at the face of his once beautiful and healthy wife. The sunken, blood covered cheeks that was once full and would usually have a tint of rouge, dark bags under her eyes, her once plump and delicate lips are now crusty dry and pale, she was definitely unconscious but her eyes were quite lifted and is visibly tired, the blood trickling down her nose flows like a waterfall. No words can describe how heartbroken and worried the king felt the moment he perceive his love's face. He was scared as he has no idea what would happen to her. He held her so tight. Like at any moment she could slip away. He tucked his face at the crook of her neck as he cried his eyes out. Violent sobs and heavy tears are what came out of the king. As he regain his composure, he instantly yet gently carried Natalia as he rushes to the healer's den. He laid her down on the bed and let the healers do what they must. As he left the room, almost immediately his personal guards informed him of the result of the investigation that was conducted. It came out that one of his concubines, Katherine, the attractive redhead woman was taken over by her jealousy and planned to murder Queen Natalia as she thought that she would've been the queen if the 'strumpet of a woman,' Natalia never came to their lives. She was once Christopher's favorite. She was once given the most expensive dresses, trinkets, precious stones, ornaments. She was even once given a crown by the king as he told her that she could could be queen some day. So to her it was all 'that w***e,' Natalia's fault. Indeed, jealousy can be very dangerous. Katherine was not executed but she was ripped off of her titles and lived as a slave in the kingdom. Her family disowned her after what she's done saying that they were embarrassed to ever be recognized as someone related to somebody like her. she would've never thought in a million years that she'd end up here. Terrible things you do can backlash on you worse than you expect. The queen has not recovered yet, but the healers have been doing what they can to save her majesty's life. He was informed that the Queen was carrying his child but because of the toxin that made her ill and her declining health, the supposed to be future heir to the throne did not make it. The king felt an immense pain in his heart, but his main priority is his queen. The king remained hopeful and stayed right beside his wife every step of the way. He was supposed to be there the moment she opened her eyes, yet her eyes never opened again. When the healers confirmed Natalia's death, the king was left shocked, devastated, and shattered as he could not believe that he could no long hold the love of his life. That he would never hear her laughter, see her smiles, and the late night talks with her would disappear. He fell to his knees, holding his wife's cold, lifeless hand, as the healers went out of the room to give the King the privacy he needed. He looked up as tears pouring from his eyes. He never begged anyone for anything but as people say, there is always a first for everything. The king begged and begged the gods above him to awaken him from this nightmare he is going through. He begged the gods above to just take him in place for his wife's life. He begged for all of this to be a dream. But to no avail, his pleads were not answered. He blames himself for what happened. Steven doesn't know how to move, breath, let alone live without her. To him, his life will never be normal. The king became cruel after the incident. He served war after war. Killed anyone who had something ill to say about the late Queen Natalia. He freed his other wives from their duties as he wanted only one woman. That he'd rather choose not to have an heir than touch another woman that is not his late wife. Right then, King Christopher Everett's bloodline has ended. His love for her never died as he brings his memories of her to his grave. He died of old age, smiling as he can now be with the one who he truly loved.