Charlotte’s jabs on the stone hedge echoed in the empty training hall, they were so powerful that they created gusts of wind every time her hands made contact with the stone. She loved the distinct smell of blood and sweat in the air, and she misses it dearly as well. She became the queen of this accursed kingdom a few years ago, and she hated every single part of this job, she was a warrior, she belonged on a battlefield, but now she was stuck here.
His husband was the one who started the rebellion against the old kingdom. He was the one that swept the whole island with his might, while she fought beside him. In the end, he died when the wounds of the last battle took over his body. And the responsibility of the office fell on her lap.
It had been 8 years since she came to the royal palace. Since then her life has been about fancy parties, tea parties, afternoon parties, and tourneys. And in every official event playboys and knights are trying to seduce her, trying to get inside her bloomers. The small amount of energy that she has left gets spent in the council meetings.
She hates her life. She only keeps going because of her son, becoming a queen was never her dream, but seeing her son become a king is. And she was living for that…
Her arms ached after her bout, but she loved that pain, to catch her breath and drink some water, she turned and went to the corner of a ginormous hall. Her servants had put freshly squeezed orange juice there, and seeing the crystal jug full of juice, she became reminiscent of her past, she didn't have enough money to buy a single orange, but now she could afford a farm of it.
While drinking, she glanced at the body-sized mirror in the corner, as a woman in her late sixties, she looked quite young, her mana had done a pretty good job in making her look so youthful, but her martial body had deteriorated.
She no longer has defined muscles, which she cultivated through blood and sweat, her skin of soft now, and her hand which used to be full of calluses is now soft as a bunny’s hide.
But she looked beautiful, more womanly, everything on her body was fully stacked and in shape. No wonder I have so many admirers.
Thinking of admirers, she couldn't help but wonder whether she would ever be able to find a man again. She loved her husband and she loved her son, but in politics and ruling the kingdom, she had become lonely.
Most of the men who do approach her are the people who just want her money and power, and she knows that perfectly well. Seeing that she wonders sometimes, if would she find love again, which makes her remember a line that was once his husband recited for her from his favorite poet.
“Life is a sentence that is too long to suffer alone.” It was written by some estranged author that no one knows about, but it fits in her life perfectly.
“What are you thinking?” She was startled, she looked back and saw her son standing not too far away from her.
Her son was a handsome man, standing high with a height of 6 feet, he had black hair like her and lilac eyes like his father. He likes to train as well, it could be seen by the way his muscles were peeking from his clothes.
“Thinking, what should I do? I am losing my mind here.” He chuckled at her response. “Are you losing your mind, because I was able to sneak up on you?”
“Oh please, you're 100 years too young to sneak up on me.” There was no way she was admitting that he really was able to sneak up on her. She was really losing her edge.
“Really? I thought I really surprised you over there.” She shakes her head. “No, you didn't. Now, how can I help my dear son this morning.”
“Council meeting. Me and the General had something to discuss with you. So I took the liberty of scheduling a meeting after breakfast.”
She groaned in frustration “You should have asked me first.”
“No can do, I have to go meet some friends tonight, so I needed this meeting to be over as soon as possible. ”
“So you threw me under the foot of Mammoth so that you could have dinner with some of your friends?” She was annoyed.
With a big smile on his face, he replied. “Yup. Now go change, we have some work to do.”
Rupert is a smart kid, based on his potential there might come a day when he would have to sit on the throne and command the office of the king. That is why she decided that it would be for the best to teach him everything she knew about the ruling, she gave him the role of her personal adviser and made him sit through most of her council sessions.
Stolen novel; please report.
She thought that it would be a good idea, he would learn to run a kingdom as well as she would be able to spend some time with her son, little did she know at the time that decision would come to bite her in the ass.
***
As the gates of the meeting hall were opened, everyone present stood up, her mother and the queen, Charlotte Alanor was there. Rupert also showed common aristocratic courtesy and got up as well. He felt weird that he had to do all of this for her mother, but he didn't complain.
Sitting just beside him was General Tarrain, he is an old man with a balding head and a long white beard. He is the head of the Royal Army as well as the strategic advisor to the crown. Just beside him was a small scrawny middle-aged man, he was Howard, he oversees the Royal treasury…
Like always, after pulling her chair from the round table, his mother greeted everyone, and then all of them sat down.
“What is the important thing because of which I had to leave my workout early?” she asked Rupert.
“We are here to talk about Mikaila Sumor,”
General Tarrain looked rather confused, “Gregor’s youngest? What about her?”
Rupert then shifted in his seat, “Well… She is doing something shady. And we need to find out what is going on inside her crazy head,”
Howard leaned forward, “Crazy? Like how crazy are we talking about here? Did she steal your heart or something?”
Rupert sighed, before he could correct Howard his mother chimed, “I have heard that she had become quite a beauty after her expedition. Is it true?”
Howard nodded, “Yup. From what I heard, everyone who had seen her walking in the capital with her father had fallen for her. My people reported her as a seductress, who could make anyone fall in love with her, with just her gaze,”
She was not that beautiful, Rupert thought. But inwardly he knew, if he didnt have any proof that something was wrong with her, he would have loved to date her.
“Is this true Rupert?” His mother asked. “Did you really fall in love with her?”
“NO!” he groaned, “That is not why I have called this meeting.. I… Something..” He calmed down a little bit, and with a deep breath he said, “Something is going on with the Sumor Family.”
“Could you elaborate please,” General Terrain said. He knew that there would be at least one person who would listen to his theories.
“Alright. For starters, we remember the inquisitors. We know why they came, and about their warning,”
Charlotte asked, “Wait, is this related to that matter?”
“Might be,” he said, “For starters, Gergor Sumor took the third battalion from the capital to Sumor Sanctuary. That was suspicious. From what my spy told me, they were looking for something there. Ultimately, they found something. A very old network of iron ore mining tunnels. They didnt know about the tunnels, and neither did we. The suspicious part was, that only Gregor, his butler and the first commander of the Sumor family went inside,”
“What did they find?” Howard asked.
“Dont know,” he said, “But they did tranpored the dome creater from Sumor Keep and deployed a dome around the entrance. As they have shrunk the dome’s size considerably, they would need to recharge the dome every two months or so. And based on the mana stones that they have, they could hold the dome for a considerable amount of time,”
“That is indeed troubling,” Howard added, “If Gregor pulled out the dome creater, it means whatever is inside the tunnel, it would surely be very valuable. Maybe, they found mana stone mines down there. That would explain why they are willing to go to such lengths.”
Rupert then added, “That is not all…” he then further told them about Drac and what he saw on the Sumor Castle. He told them about his suspicions. As they all knew about his family’s blood magic, they all believed him.
No one said anything for a few seconds, processing the information.
Then General Tarrain asked, “Do you reckon that they have shaken their hands with Dark Mages, to overthrow the current rule?”
Charlotte then added, “I dont think so. I know Gregor, and that man in no way or form would ever shake his hands with Dark Mages.”
“Not necessarily,” Howard added, “ I have seen some fucked up kids in my time. Maybe it might not be Gregor, but one of his children,”
“I am more interested in this Drac fellow,” General said. “If the prince’s words have some truth, I would like to know how a person like him exists…”
Rupert then told them, “I think that Drac is the real culprit here. The aura from him, it could not belong to a normal person. I think that he is somehow manipulating them,”
Charlotte then asked, “Can your spy keep an eye on the guy?”
Rupert nodded, “Way ahead of you. I already have my men posted on him. For the last month, he had been giving me reports on that man regularly,”
“What is his moment like? Anything unusual?” General Tarrain asked.
“No. In the absence of his masters, that man reads books and practices Sabers. He had started learning the saber play, from the day his masters left the castle. According to my spy, the man was doing so because he wanted to get strong enough to beat the magical beast,”
“And what is up with this magical beast business?” Howard asked, “Did you find anything?”
“Nothing,” Rupert said, “Nothing at all. Neighboring settlements had not spotted any beast of any sort. Nor there are any reports of missing people,”
Charlotte then leaned back, and said, “Something is up with the Sumor Family. They are hiding something. If this is indeed related to Dark Mages, we cannot just contact the inquisition. We would need proof of their involvement. Keep an eye on them, try to find out whether you can find something on them,” They all nodded, and after discussing some more matters, the meeting was adjourned…