Beyond Eternity

DAY 11, MIDDAY

“I'm back, your turn now.” said Lucas as he entered the front door of the castle, Claudia was just sitting on the nearby chair with a few folded clothes of her own resting on her lap.

Claudia was greatly relieved to see Lucas once more but tried to hide it, she then spoke.

“Oh? What brings you here peasant?” She said jokingly.

“I am to remind the princess to take her bath, we've recently been having complaints of the smell from the villagers.” Lucas replied. Claudia couldn't answer to this and looked defeated.

“I win, but that was rude of me so…Sorry?” Lucas said, triumphantly at first but apologetic towards the end.

“I accept your measly apology and decided not to have you hanged, I shall now head for my bath then.” said Claudia, back to her royalty act and smiling.

“I'll just be here then.” He replied.

“Sure, you might as well begin reading the journal while I'm out” Claudia said as she pointed to the table where it lay and skipped away.

“And don’t leave okay?!” She said as she was at the doorway.

“Sure!” He replied.

Lucas, after seeing Claudia leave, sat on the chair she previously was on and took the journal.

“And now for the finale.” he thought as he began to open it on its first page.

“Hmm, this one has pretty good handwriting too, in fact, even better than the one made by the ramparts guard, perhaps this person is some kind of writer?” he thought as he started reading through.

I am the queen Val of the kingdom Victusene.

“Well, that definitely proved me wrong fast.” exclaimed Lucas, snickering.

This journal is meant to serve as a daily record of my time as queen, I don't think I really need this, I've been queen for several years now, but they said that it helps, so rather than personal things, I'd mostly discuss about the kingdom and how its management goes. But before all that, I shall give a brief summary of my life up until now.

“How very convenient.”

I was but a girl of humble beginnings, I was born at this very kingdom, from a family of fishermen, so as you see, I wasn't exactly the “pampered lady” type.

I was a jolly kid, I'd always join my father in his fishing trips with his fellow fishermen, I helped them cast nets, repair the ship, scrub the decks, so yeah, you could say that I wasn't meant to grow up for all this royalty work.

Around my teenage years, I looked manlier than the men, dark toned skin, muscles all around, a scar across my shoulder (due to an injury involving a drunk knight), and a loud mouth. It was around those times when the 4th prince of the kingdom was looking for a bride, there was to be a party at the castle's main hall and I was pushed by my company to join. Myself, who looked like a warlord returning from war rather than a lady. Perhaps they just did it for the laughs, but I did it anyway.

I wore a dress that frankly, did not look too great on me, and entered the castle from the front door, coming out of a carriage and all, along with other real ladies who walked elegantly and smoothly, all the girls were already crowding to where the prince was, trying to gain his attention, I on the other hand, stayed on the side and satisfied myself with the wine that everyone else was too busy to drink.

The party had yet to end, but getting near the prince is only possible if I slaughtered the other girls on the way, so instead, I walked around, exploring the castle's interior, feeling woozy from all the drink. I bumped into a man who held me as I was about to fall, that scenario would've been storybook were I not half in the bag.

That man introduced himself to be the 3rd prince and I replied with my drunken raspy voice “IM VAL!” I only know that I said this because that's what he told me after I woke up. It was the next morning and I realized that I was at one of the beds meant for the guests, the 3rd prince on a chair beside where I lay, so from then on, we'd keep meeting, talk all night, get wasted either at the castle or at my father's ship, blah blah blah friendship turns to romance that lasts two years before I finally accepted to be his wife.

You know what's better than being the wife of a prince? Being the wife of the king! So yeah, the former king decided to have my husband become king, none of the other princes and princesses complained, that's just to show how his majesty (my hubby) is a very respected individual within the kingdom. And that leads us to now.

And now to the matter at hand-

“Oh finally.” exclaimed Lucas, “Now we're getting somewhere.”

The kingdom has always been peaceful, tranquil, serene, it’s been like that for several generations now, almost never seeing any type of conflict, except for a few drunk brawls, petty thievery and such, that is until just recently.

Entry 1

I've been hearing things, small rumors around the castle, something about the hidden artifact we try so hard to keep, I know what it is, but I can't be too careful, I will not write down what it is or what it’s like about here, for I fear this journal will go to the wrong hands.

“Well, you don’t need to.” Lucas exclaimed, “I already know, it’s the elixir of life.”

It also seems that kingdom's treasured grove has been used for not so pleasing acts, it has come to my ears that foul connections and contracts have been made there, however for now, I have yet to find out who are involved or why.

“This treasured grove must refer to the one we passed by, with the wolves and all.”

Entry 2

As of now, nothing is wrong, really, I get to enjoy my days in the castle, our time of peace is still active and hopefully will remain so, however I cannot help but feel unsettled by these rumors, they are causing tension and have slowly changed the atmosphere around here. Then again, every kingdom has its problems right? It should come to no surprise that these things exist, perhaps I have yet to be used to them.

I gave my assistance to the servants of the castle that day, I'm not the type of queen who savors my authority, nor do I treat my subjects lower than myself, no. I talk and work with them as though I were one of them, only I wear queenly garments. According to his majesty, this is one of the things he likes about me, and so, I keep that attitude.

Lucas kept reading on and on, noticing that there wasn't much going on for a long time, apart from the “unsettling rumors” all was well, every entry merely talked about what the queen herself was doing and the seemingly stable state of the kingdom.

Entry 12

His majesty, who is now aged like myself, can no longer delay his choice on who is to be the successor, personally, I'd prefer it to be one of my own children rather than those born of his other wives, make no mistake, I am the queen and his majesty favors me, so the chances are favorable for my offspring.

But so much for that, the kingdom is still prosperous, though I have to admit, having my term of being queen to end makes me sad despite knowing it had to happen sooner or later, but what's good is that I can always write or talk about these things with my servants who are more than just caretakers for me. Among them, it was Jillian, Mana, Alisa and Lyn who were the closest to me, always there to help me with my daily issues. I am thankful for them.

Lucas read through for a while with little to no events taking place, it was only a few entries later that something did happen.

Entry 26

An entire family got killed in their own home was what reached my ears today, along with a person who was an herbalist. Accordingly, it was a cold blooded murder. Something of this caliber had not happened before, at least, not during my time, it has also been reported that the treasured grove has become more “active” with more people doing who knows what in there. I set out to visit the burial for the family and herbalist, although not knowing them personally, it seems that they were upright people in the kingdom based on how I saw the faces of those who knew them. I also decided later to set up guards by the grove at night.

Entry 30

I received news early in the morning today that the guards I put in charge of the grove were slaughtered in the middle of the night, with the exception of two. I visited the survivors and told me the assailants were a small group of people, all highly skilled and nimble and their faces were covered by their cloaks.

I always thought of the grove to be an unsafe place that is meant to be constantly guarded, I was foolish to only place a small unit of guards.

“And here it begins.” Lucas thought to himself.