The 14th Concubine of a Harem King

Epilogue part 1. A Queen for Malyke

Valerie

"Valerie! I need help now! You'll never guess who is coming to visit us?" My little sister Carissa barges into the study while I'm immersed in 3 days worth of paperwork
"Duke.... Kavanit?" I say slowly.
She sighs loudly. "No! And his name is Duke Kavanitch!"
"Oh, I see..." I reply.
She grumbles under her breath. "Why do you have to be so dry? Managing the estate and land is dulling you down even more than you already were! And now that polygamy is illegal how will you ever get a husband?" She humphs onto the sofa two meters away from my desk.

She isn't wrong. I'm not particularly interesting, beautiful, or witty. My coming of age was seven years ago and i didnt exactly turn heads even back then. I'm intelligent with good management skills so I'd be ideal as a side wife to maintain an estate while the main wife enjoyed our husband's attention. But thank goodness polygamy was made illegal by the mad king nine years ago so I can pass my years relatively peacefully managing my own family's estate in the far west sheepherding territory.
Since our mother grew ill she became unable to manage the barony and my adorable little brother Kasier revealed himself to be more of an artist with a flair for the dramatic as opposed to a book-keeper. My little sister Carissa, who is sighly loudly on the sofa because I won't share her excitement about whatever her next suitor is, just had her coming of age three months ago. She is adorable with blond curls and green eyes like our mother. She stands three inches shorter than me, with slim shoulders and a midsized bust. Her latest fixation is a Duke named Kavanitch which i'm absolutely certain sounds like a type of sandwich.

"Well, if it isn't the Duke who is it?" I say, finally taking the bait.
Her eyes brighten and she bounces back up. "Her Excellency the chief advisor Lorora!"
My heart sinks. There are two reasons for that woman to come here and neither of them are pleasant. The first one is to check my books and make sure we are properly paying taxes to the crown, distributing our resources to improve our territory all that sort of thing which isn't necessarily horrible since we run our territory ethically and on the level but it's a headache. The other, more formidable reason is she is on the lookout for prospective spouses for the royal children and king. I'm almost certain my little brother lacks fondness for women so marrying him to a royal like Princess Kyri or Javelle would be political suicide. The only other prospective woman for Adran's royalty is Carissa. Prince Harlym isn't a bad match, albeit he is deeply devoted to his knighthood training and wouldn't give Carissa the necessary attention she'd require. The final and worst one is the mad king Malyke. He rose to the throne even before his teens, publically beheaded his own mother for treason and since then has been known for being intolerant of inefficiency and inadequacy. He is not shy to fire, banish and even execute people who cross his lines or don't meet his expectations. Our nation has fared well under him as his uncompromising ruling style nearly eliminated corruption from Adran. And his choice of ministers and allies has resulted in an increase in nationwide wealth. As a ruler he isn't bad but as a husband to Carissa who is spontaneous, expressive and naive, it could spell disaster. Even if she could tone down her personality for the sake of becoming a queen that still leaves his majesty's questionable nighttime activities where he forbids everyone, including staff from entering his room except his twin sister Kyri and two chief advisors Lorora and Sayra, two of his late father's concubines. He is nationally ridiculed for "keeping it in the family." but anyone who dares to approach his room is promptly silenced and if they escape Sayra will send assasins after them or Harlym will chase them to the ends of the earth. Whatever he is doing in his closed off, forbidden room with his sister and concubines of his dead father, is the greatest secret Adran has ever known. For a king who outlawed polygamy he is twistedly shameless with his favorite women. If Carissa marries the king, whatever is there with him and those three women...she will have to face it. She will also be the topic of everyone in the nation's gossip. I turn to look at her hoping with all my heart and soul that Her Excellency is here to look over my bookkeeping.
Carissa is still smiling. "If I am chosen to marry the king then I will be richer than rich! I can buy mother all that expensive medicine that heals her so she can get back to managing the estate and you can hurry up and find a husband before it's too late! You're already 25," she smiles prattling on.
"Carissa.... but what about you?" My voice is broken.
She glances up at me, her smile only breaking for a moment. "I can be queen! How excellent would that be? Besides, I'd like to do something for the family for once too."
My eyes falter. "But can you love a man... a man like that?"
She grins. "It doesn't matter! I can make the man love me and then I shall have all I could ever want! Just you wait! I'll be the prettiest queen Adran has ever seen!"