"hell hath no fury like a woman scorned."
Iftia: Lyx Palace, Elianna's Bedchamber
• Elianna •
A few days later, Kiran brought in a letter that had been delivered from Krystal Palace. Elianna saw Elizabeth's name written in ink on the envelope and quickly sliced through the seal flap and removed the letter from within. Unfolding the paper, she read.
The moment she reached the last word on the letter, her fingers had pinched tighter on the paper. Emotions swelled in her chest and she wished so badly that Elizabeth could be by her side right now. The urge to wrap her arms around her sister and let her know how sorry she was to leave her alone all these years was overwhelming her.
While the entire realm regarded Elizabeth as a Queen who always had her head held high with pride, no one understood that she was just as fragile as anyone else. She, too, had wished for the warmth of love. A small sigh formed on Elianna's lips as she tried to ease the ache in her chest when she thought about her poor sister.
"Mother, who sent a letter?" Arell entered the room just in time and an sudden idea struck her. Placing the letter on the surface in front of her, she lifted her skirt slightly as she stood and walked towards her son. She picked him up in her arms and placed a soft kiss on his cheek.
Facing Arell, Elianna mentioned, "It's from your Aunt Elizabeth. Should we return her a letter filled with our love?"
"Of course!" Arell's expression brightened up instantly. The child stretched his small arms out excitedly and drew a big circle as he added, "Arell had so much to talk to Aunt Elizabeth about!"
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Iftia: Royal Palace, Outside the King's study
• Queen of Iftia, Silvestra •
"Your Majesty, you mustn't." The guards from outside the King's study had crossed their polearms and prevented her from barging into the room.
Angered, Silvestra snapped, "It's wiser for both of you to get out of my way."
Her frustration did nothing as the guards remained unmoved until a click sounded on the door and the King's first knight announced, "His Majesty had accepted Her Majesty's audience."
"Perfect," she inhaled sharply. Thundering her way into the study, she had skipped past the greeting and demanded, "What's the meaning of this, Gadiel?"
"My Queen, you're losing your composure," Gadiel reminded.
"You've accepted the marriage arrangement proposed by Queen Elizabeth of Thethia without going through me. So, I'm asking you right now. What's the meaning of this, husband?" she hissed.
"I've simply accepted what I thought was the best for my children," Gadiel stated, averting his gaze away from her. His expression only displayed his indifference to her anger.
"The best?" she exhaled a bitter laugh. "Matthias marries a second-in-line, while that son of a bitch gets to marry a first-in-line. Here you are, telling me that you considered the best for your children?"
"Silv, I do not wish to remind you about your composure as the Queen of this Kingdom and I am the King, therefore, my decisions are absolute!" Gadiel bellowed.
"Gadiel, do not make me remind you are a despicable King who ascended the throne with your hands soaked in blood," Silvestra spat. Her hands closed into fists as she bunched onto the expensive material of the skirt of her dress. "It's not anyone's blood. It's the blood of my child, my poor unborn child."
"Do you always have to bring the past up?" Gadiel exhaled in exasperation.
"How dare you, Gadiel," Silvestra scoffed with all the resentment brimming in her heart. "In order to marry the only daughter of the Grand Duke Gauthier, you did unforgivable things to me. While you sat high on the Kingdom's throne with her, I was only given the title of a concubine and you refused to have a child with me until Valeria bore the firstborn. The most foolish I had been was when I thought that having Matthias would turn things back for us, but you're a disgusting man who made two women pregnant at the same time."
"I know that I have made a grave mistake with you, Silv." Gadiel's voice dropped but was soon raised again when he spoke in a cold and unrelenting manner. "That was the only reason why I have made you the Queen and pardoned you even after you ruthlessly murdered my wife and my daughter in front of my son!"
"Rowan is not your only son!" Silvestra exploded.
"I owe everything to him from the moment I cannot explain why the murderer of his mother and his sister is the current Queen of Iftia!" Gadiel pounded his fists hard on the table.
"You brought this whole darned thing to yourself, Gadiel," Silvestra strained, feeling her veins in her temples pounding when her anger rose. "You owe everything to Rowan, what about Matthias?"
"Matthias has expressed very clearly that he does not wish to take over the throne," Gadiel mentioned. "Haven't I been the most lenient and accomodating to him already? Since young, Matthias can do whatever he wants and I would've allowed him to."
"That child doesn't know what's good for him and I'm his mother!"
"Silv, there's only one thing I have to say to you," Gadiel exhaled, closing his eyes and rubbing on his brows with irritation. "Matthias is a very kind and warm child. Please do not ruin him."
"Gadiel, if you had given up your ambitions back then, our family never had to look like this," Silvestra stated, throwing her words at him before storming out of the study.
All the hatred and resentment she held in her heart had magnified after the heated exchange with her husband. Yes, her husband. She wanted to laugh at the ridiculousness when she had learned in the hardest way that men would only swear love when they're in heat. Men and their love were worth nothing more than just their insensate spew of empty promises to chain women in their possession.
At the immediate moment she retreated into her bedchamber, she dropped her knees to the ground and wept. Her hands clutched tightly onto the fabric of her dress in front of her chest and groaned in agony.
Memories of her younger self flooded back to her as she remembered that very day which she was pinned down on her bed and forced fed the abortifacient that caused her to lose her first child. She would never forget how pathetically she begged for them to have mercy on the life within her and how none of them had listened to her as they stripped away every single ounce of dignity from her. The child who was supposed to be the very light of her life was reduced to nothing but a pool of blood between her legs.
She had lost so much. Even after the day when she sought revenge by tainting her own hands with the blood of that hateful woman which everyone claimed to be too kind for the world, she continued to lose everything. Her reputation, her grace and her gift.
She remembered the day she lay in the bed of snow dyed in crimson as she faced the sky and laughed because the one who dwelled above hadn't taken pity on her. Instead, the Goddess herself had forsaken her, left her all alone to fight the endless misery by herself.
That day, she swore to defy every belief she had for the Goddess. That day, she told herself that the only way to survive was to be cruel. That day, she made plans to show everyone what a ruined woman can do to an entire realm.
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a lot went through my mind when I wrote this chapter.
but can everyone hear the wedding bells ringing already?
please vote and comment if you're enjoying the read!