The Imperial Mentor

Chapter 44: Who's ascending the throne?

A few months after Brunia's return to the palace along with the Professors, The King of Granzreich and the Queen of Vermillion called an urgent assemblage at the reception hall at eight o'clock, in the morning. As instructed, the Princes and Princesses gathered at the venue; including Prince Eins and Princess Eina. The King spoke, "I should surmise that recent events state that you're not thrilled with my engagement with the Queen of Vermillion. So, after a careful evaluation of everything that has transpired, we have decided that the Queen of Vermillion will be resigning from her duties and has chosen one of her daughters to rule the Vermillion Kingdom until Prince Adam comes of age. I, on the other hand, have yet to decide on the next King, but we still have time for that, as the decision had to be made rather discreetly." The Queen proceeded, "And one other thing, we have decided that for the benefit of both Kingdoms, The King and I have to terminate our engagement." Everyone present in the room was shocked yet relieved to apprehend what the Queen articulated.

Licht blurted out, "Well... it took you centuries to come back to your senses--" Bruno interrupted him by scolding, "Do not say such things about our father and the Queen!" Princess Eina looked over to her mother and asked in curiosity, "So, the King said that you have made your decision about who you're choosing. Who did you elect to replace you?" Everyone in the reception hall fell silent as they have been anxiously anticipating for this moment for a prolonged interval. The Queen took a deep breath and answered, "Well... only one of you made the cut, so I will go in order of how I went about the process of elimination. I am talking to the five of you as the Queen of the Vermillion realm, not as your mother, so I don't anticipate you to be disheartened at the remark I give you. First, one to be eliminated is... Princess Eina!"

Licha squealed with perplexion, "WHAT!!!??? HOW COME THIS HAPPENED!? YOU'RE SAYING THAT ONE OF US SURPASSED HER!?" The Queen replied, "Yes, that is precisely the case." She then looked at her eldest daughter and continued, "Princess Eina, you were the most qualified candidate for the throne; there's no doubt about that. I'm sure that you're aware of the reason why you have been eliminated, and I also know that you don't want me to announce that in public, so I will spare your dignity." Eina bowed and spoke, "Yes, thank you, Your Majesty." The four younger sisters were bewildered and agitated about the fact that their eldest sister didn't get elected.

The Queen then proceeded, "The next one to be eliminated is, Princess Licha! You chose another path and don't have aspirations for the throne, don't you?" Licht shot her a knowing look, which indicated that he knew the authentic motive of why she was excluded. Licha responded, "Yes, Your Majesty." Leonora asked in curiosity, "Licha, why exactly have you been eliminated?" The Queen instructed, "Princess Leonora, please reserve your judgments until and after this meeting." She then she glanced at Leonora and spoke, "The same goes to you, Princess Leonora. You were too afraid that you weren't qualified for this immense responsibility, so you chose another path, but you are qualified, I see no reason why you go out of your way to do that. Therefore you are stripped off your claim to the throne; just as you requested." Leonora countered, "Yes, Your Majesty, but I will have you know that I didn't go out of my way, I did it for another reason, and you know that."

The Queen then glanced at Princess Brunia and Princess Kaira, who made it to the final round. She declaimed, "Congratulations, the two of you made it to the final round, but only one of you is going to go through a crushing defeat, so be prepared--" Licha scoffed and interrupted the Queen, "Will you please get to the point? I cannot take this suspense anymore!" The Queen then composed herself and affirmed, "Princess Brunia has been stripped off her claim to the throne; which makes Princess Kaira be the future Queen of the Vermillion realm!" Everyone except Brunia was dismayed, horrified and were intricate about the situation; including the Professors. The Queen then continued, "Congratulations, Princess Kaira, you are at this moment, the Queen of the Vermillion Kingdom. Alongside you, your fiancee, Beau will be ruling the country as he will be the future King."

Kaira inquired, "Wait! How is this possible? I mean, Beau and I are not even married! And isn't Brunia a much more qualified candidate for the throne?" The Queen shot Brunia an infuriated look and clarified, "Don't worry, Kaira. You and Beau will be getting married soon enough. But as for Princess Brunia, she has been stripped off for a reason, why are you asking me? Why don't you ask the traitor this question?" Leonora screamed, "Mother! You have no right to call my dearest sister Brunia a traitor!" The Queen countered, "That is why you're moving away with her; you two deserve each other! Both of you are disowned from this day forward!" Kaira responded angrily, "Mother, why are you doing this?" The Queen answered with tears in her eyes, "I'm doing this for a reason, Kaira! Viktor, you continue the rest of the announcement, I can't take this anymore! I need to be alone!" She fled away from the reception hall and locked herself up in her chambers.

The King then proceeded, "Well... after concluding this meeting, I suppose that I shall go and check on her. Princess Kaira, since you are Queen and Princess Licha has quit her duties as a monarch; Licha, how would you feel if you were bestowed with the honor of being the Duchess of the Vermillion realm?" Licha's eyes widened with shock as she replied, "The truth is, I really do not forgive mother for what she did, Your Majesty. I don't even forgive you!" The King responded, "Princess Licha, we didn't realize that we were jeopardizing your prospects to the throne, but we do now. We humbly apologize for how much we have hurt each of you, but you needn't forgive us now; we do hope that you will get there someday." Licha calmed down and articulated, "Tell mother, that I will try to forgive both of you. And also that, since she's well aware that I won't be able to take out time for being qualified to be Queen, but I can obviously accept being the Duchess of the realm. I'll have you know that I'm not doing this for you; I want to serve my country and follow my ambitions and hope that my father will be proud of me." The King responded, "Good, I will tell your mother the good news."

The King looked over at Princess Leonora and Princess Brunia, and said, "Whatever has transpired within these two months, I'm extremely sorry about that." Lenora asked, "Wait... you're not mad at us?" The King put on a weak smile and replied, "No, and neither is your mother. If you both abandoned your claims on a lark and had nowhere do go, then we would be infuriated. But you guys have planned your futures very carefully, and we are proud of you for that. Even though your mother disowned you both, she will never forget you, I can promise you that. And Brunia, once again, I'm really sorry for what I did." Kaira approached them and asked, "But why are you both disowned in the first place?" Leonora responded, "Kaira, we will talk about it later, okay? I promise that we will answer your questions when we're ready." Kaira answered, "I know you will."

A few moments later, everyone exited the room, except for Prince Bruno and Princess Brunia. He inquired, "Brunia, what is going on?" Brunia explained with tears formulating in her eyes, "We sisters will be leaving Granzreich a week from now, Bruno. Kaira and Licha will be gone off to Vermillion whereas Leonora and I will be going somewhere else." Bruno asked with concern, "You both are disowned, where in the devil are you going to go?!" Brunia held his hand and proceeded, "Bruno, I don't want our relationship to end, we will still keep in touch, right?" Bruno responded, "Obviously, it's not like e we are going to be apart for long, right? We can still keep meeting." Brunia's eyes overflowed with tears, and she said, "Right, we will." And a few moments later, Brunia and Brunia separated their ways as Brunia had to commence packing up her luggage with Leonora.