Chapter 4
1091 Words
"Your majesty, please take me as the bride to the devil instead of my daughter. Spare her from this fate I beg thee."
The guards rallied round her.
She was not summoned to the court house, she was not of royal decent and moreover, she was a concubine.
Under the Eldorian Laws of Decorum, she has no right to be in the Court House unless summoned.
King Arthur watched and could do nothing as they advanced to hold onto her to take her out, waiting for his order.
As much as he wanted her to stay, she could not say because his ministers and court members were all present.
And they were all waiting for one more mistake from him to rebel against the royal family.
"Unheard of it has there been anyone who defied the decree of the realms of darkness," King Arthur spoke with a heavy heart, his voice echoing with regret. "Granting your request does not lie in my hands, but in the hands of he who has sent the decree. I am bound by the laws and customs of our kingdom, unable to alter the course set forth by powers beyond our control. As much as it pains me to witness your plight, I must adhere to the dictates of our world, for to defy them would invite chaos and unrest among our people. Know that my heart aches for you, but I am powerless to change your fate."
A tear fell from her eye. A tear of anxiety, a tear of nostalgia about what the future held for her and her daughter.
Hazelene watched on at how her mother was been treated.
The King's other wives were all seated in the Court House, they all had their royal seats and were very much involved in the decision makings that took place at the Court House,but she and her mother were not.
They were outsiders, ostracized.
They were less of humans, just having the title of Princess and Concubine,but within the deep walls of the palace and amongsts their maids and servants.
No one else saw them as royalty.
King Arthur watched as his guards moved to remove the concubine from the court.
Despite his desire to intervene and grant her plea, he knew any display of favoritism could incite rebellion among his ministers and court members. Helpless to defy protocol, he remained silent, torn between his duty as a monarch and his empathy for the concubine's plight. His beloved concubine's plight.
"I will marry him"
"I will marry the Devil's son"
"I accept his decree to be his betrothal with all my heart"
Hazelene went on to break the silence that filled the room, and to further ascertain the meaning of what she had said.
"No Hazel, you don't have to, I promise you, I will beg the devil's son on your behalf, I will beg him to make me his bride instead of you, just don't worry. I won't let any hard come to you, I will live your date for you, just you watch. Don't accept this fate yet please,I will shoulder your burden, just give me the chance. Please, don't go through with this" Her mother pleaded amid the guards that were about to take her out of the court house.
"I will be the devil's son's punishment " she went on.
The King's lawful wives snickered. It was weird she would be saying things like this when her future was not guaranteed. It was unwise of her to give herself false hopes they thought.
Hazel looked at her father's first wife.
Queen Isabella of Everglade. She was the first wife of King Arthur.
It was said that when King Arthur has married her, her father, the King of Everglade had offered a formidable army of skilled archers and cavalry, numbering around 10,000 troops to King Arthur. She has daughters as much as she had son's, but most of them were unknown to her because she was not allowed to have first class relationships with them. They only saw each other at the Decorum and Etiquettes Classes.
Then there was the second wife, Queen Seraphina of Azurevale.
It was no news how the royal family of Azurevale were all corrupted.
It was marked by tyranny and oppression. Azurevale's serene landscapes belied the corruption that festered within its noble courts, where treachery and deceit ran rampant. The kingdom's artisans and craftsmen are forced into servitude, their talents exploited for the royal family's gain while the common folk suffered under the iron rule of the Empire's Monarch.
Azurevale's Monarch had offered gold's and silver comprising around 8,000 karats to the King Arthur for accepting to marry their daughter, even though she was divorced.
She had only a daughter.
Then there was the third and last wife, Queen Elara of Suncrest. She possessed the beauty that could pass for that of an angel but beneath the radiant facade existed a woman blinded by her insatiable greed and thirst for power. She could kill for a throne and the throne of Eldoria was what she was vying for her son's.
They all alike had telltales about Roxella. They held her in contempt because of how she has been able to get the king to marry her, and especially at a moment when the king was going through his annual lost mourning.
At those times, no one was to disturb him. Even if one did, he would not answer.
It was at this moment and point of his life that he had returned home on a chilly night with his hands clasped in that of another woman who was with child.
That was when Roxella came to the palace. She shaked what they were used to on her first day of arrival, something all of them could not have done in years to come and still counting.
All of them hated her mother equally but she has noticed that the hate of Queen Seraphina was no good at her and it surpassed that if the other concubines.
She never knew why and never bothered to ask why.
She had always lived without asking about them.
She had to come to their own level and if this marriage was what was going to make them do that, then she does not mind doing.
" I will be the Devil's Son's retribution, the punishment for his sins"
" For he has numerous sins, that is why I was chosen by the universe to expunge them and be his punishment "
- Writer
