Janet, The Queen of Snow Capped Mountain Kingdom, smirked as she saw the path leading to the Forgotten Tower where she had ordered her step-daughter, Frostine, to live, just yesterday. She didn’t want her own daughters to be influenced by the creepy daughter of her late husband. The child acted differently from the other 12 year olds Janet had dealt with, raising several daughters. Frostine appeared to act one way in front of the Court, acting like a pre-teen trying to act more older and mature then her actual age while keeping the child-like innocence and wonder, but in private, Frostine’s attitude changed completely, reminding Janet of a woman around her own age - her mannerism, how fast she would catch onto things only adults would, and the list went on. No 12 year old should be able to do something like that. It rubbed Janet the wrong way. She actual prefer her step-daughter to vanish so she could claim the Heart Crystal of Snow Capped Mountain Kingdom and she would rule the Kingdom the way she saw fit.
Personally, Janet never thought she would raise up, this far within the ranks of royalty. She was a simple peasent, a daughter of a merchant and a witch, one child of many. Sometime during her late teen years, she had managed to catch the eye of a Duke. She didn’t love him, but she did agree to marry him because he presented her an opportunity to raise up the ranks of society. Her own mother had no desire to do that, despite the fact she could have used her magic on people. However, once in a while, her Aunt would visit and tell Janet stories about how she would bewitched Kings, Emperors, and low level gods to get what she desired, but she would usually flee when she got caught and the Royal Family had sent out a bounty on her Aunt’s head. Between her mother and Aunt, Janet started to learn how preform magic. She quickly leveled her skills in the magical fields and abilities.
After the wedding was over, she discovered she could barely stand her husband and his personality, but he made up for it in their marriage bed. That was probably the only reason why she didn’t killed him, immediately. She was content and ended up baring him several children - all daughters. However, he didn’t have a male heir and sought out company outside of their bedroom. He had the nerve to approach her about a bastard child his mistress had bore and ordered her to adopt the bastard boy, in order to make sure he had a male heir. They had argued over the bastard for weeks before Janet had enough and gave him a special celebration drink to take on the road one day. He was found dead a week later at a random bedroom at a neighbor’s kingdom, during a political mission. She had taken great joy in that news, despite the fact, she had to comfort her daughters over the death of their father and War had broke out between the Snow Capped Mountains and a neighboring Kingdom. King Adolph took the death of one of his Dukes, personal, and reacted such. For Janet, that was a surprising turn of events and it allowed her to get away with the murder of her own husband.
Janet turned her attention away from the blocked path, bringing her mind back to the present. She knew Frostine wouldn’t be able to attend the Funeral Parade. She would have to address the Court later if they had any questions about the ‘Crowned’ Princess’ mysterious disappearance from the Royal Wing and the Funeral Parade. She could come up with a heart tugging story about how Frostine had begged to move to the Forgotten Tower to live the rest of her days in solitude and away from her memories of her precious ‘papa’. She couldn’t lay it on thick, but just enough where it was believable for the Court. Her daughters would proved support on the story. They didn’t like their new creepy step-sister either.
Her eldest Daughter, the one who should be the Crowned Princess, Teressa, sat in the carriage behind the Queen’s Carriage. Teressa’s hair was done up in an elaborate bun with a few strands of her dark brown hair framing her face. Her hazel eyes stared ahead as she held the emotionless expression on her white powered face. She looked beautiful in her dark mourning clothes. Any high lord, duke, or prince would be proud to have her on his arm.
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Janet resisted the urge to frown. She needed to plan a Coming of Age ball for Teressa. The girl would be turning 16 in a couple months. There was a list of things she would have to complete in order to have the correct set of bachelors to show up for the ball. She wanted the best for her daughters. While she would prefer Teressa married a prince, there was a chance that wouldn’t happen since her daughters’ father was a low Duke in the Court, despite the fact, he was sent on several political quests beside the one he died on.
In face, Janet had been surprised when she had managed to catch the King’s eye, last year. It was an unexpected blessing, in a way. She didn’t know exactly what to make of it when her relationship had first started with the King, but she did find out and took advantage of it. She created a plan. She even sent a message to her Aunt, but nothing came from it. Apparently, her Aunt had been caught and was killed for what she did. Janet did mourn the news of her Aunt’s death, but she swore to herself she would do better then her Aunt. Her own mother wasn’t much help, saying she wanted no part of Janet’s plan. Eventually, an illness took her away from Janet. It had been years since her own father had died from a bar fight. Janet had thrown herself into the task and often told her daughters to watch and learn how she managed to woo the King into a possible marriage with her.
Teressa had soaked Janet’s lessons up like a dry sponge in water. Janet felt great motherly proud whenever she used analyze and saw Teressa had archived another level in one of her skills, abilities or even in a new level general. Janet wished Teressa’s younger sisters would apply themselves and started seriously leveling up so they would have better matches for marriages. However, Janet did have time to help them and teach them the various skills they will need to be smarter then their future husbands. She would figure out what to do with Frostine when she had the time. Somehow, the brat inherited the Heart Crystal of the Snowed Capped Mountains. She figured it might have been done in the last few moments of the King’s life. Her darling husband, at first, didn’t have Frostine as his heir, but he pulled a fast one on her and she didn’t see it coming.
Queen Janet pushed those thoughts away. She needed to play the part of the dutiful wife, mourning the passing of her husband then play the dutiful Queen with limited powers to rule the Kingdom. She didn’t know how much she could do with the limited powers of the Kingdom, but she would figure it out. Maybe she could go through her mother’s and aunt’s spell books to learn a few new powerful spells. She knew she was on the verge of leveling several of her magical abilities. Hopefully, those new spells would send her over the edge and she would ascend.
“My Queen,” the Head of the Knight’s Order spoke up. Janet snapped out of her thoughts and her eyes flickered to him. She didn’t even remembered his name. “We are ready for your order.”
She nodded. “Let’s get this started. It would appear Princess Frostine will not be joining us.” She allowed a tear to slid down her cheek. “She has been taking her father’s death hard.”
“I’m aware, my lady,” Sir Knight’s voice held a sympathetic note. “You and your daughters are all she has left.” Janet was aware of that fact. She knew the previous Queen and King, Frostine’s grandparents were assassinated for some unknown reason. She didn’t know if King Adolph ever had caught the assassins or learned the reason behind their deaths. Frankly, Janet didn’t care. There was a pause as the rest of the parade fell into line. “I’m sure she will join us, soon.”
Janet nodded her head, but she hoped the brat didn’t join them. Maybe she should make sure to cast a few spells to make sure the great Princess Frostine didn’t join them. She didn’t know if she could do it, secretly. Decisions, decisions, decisions. Before she could debate it further, the carriage horses became to walk forward, heading to the Church where the funeral will be held before the Knights carried the King’s body down to the royal crypts to be buried.