A most disappointing audience.

Finally after weeks of travel you enter the holy of holies, the room where the Queens of the Esteran Kingdom have been administering justice for generations.

It's been laid out accordingly. The ceiling stands high, its weight supported by gigantic columns of marble. Statues of the Queens of old, all great beauties with fair features and of Amazonian stature, are aligned on both side of the carpet that leads to the throne at the end of the room.

You expected to see the room full of people; it is a royal audience after all. But instead there are barely more than ten persons here.

In the middle sitting proudly on the throne is Queen Lydia, 7th of the name. You recognize an air of resemblance with the last statues that you passed. She is in her forties but looks younger. No doubts being Queen gives her access to regular magical treatments to keep her young. Her skin is bronze and her long strawberry blonde hair is curled elegantly. Of course it’s impossible to miss the enormous window in her royal dress that shows off a massive amount of cleavage. You think that she’s representing perfectly what one would imagine an Esteran woman would look like; a perfect hourglass figure with great amounts of hips and breasts and a tight muscled waist that hints at the presence of powerful muscles under all those curves.

You take a knee while Aenestis rejoins the Queen to stand on the right of the throne. You hear murmurs coming from the other noble women. A man in the throne room? It hasn’t happened in Esteran History for years.

The Queen then starts talking in a surprisingly soft, yet assured voice.

“Welcome Marc Lenkovar, son of Eleana Lenkovar, Duchess of the lands of Mertone. Your mother was a good friend and a great servant of the Kingdom. Her absence for now almost 20 years has been sorely felt.”

She stops for a few seconds her voice breaking a little. No doubt she is remembering better years spent with her long lost friend.

“You come to us at a troubled time. Kyra one of the most cherished daughters of Estera, who also happens to be a dear little cousin of mine, has been missing for a week. We fear for the worst. There are rumors of unrest and rebellion in the capital itself and, even though the idea that a man would dare to lay his hands on a woman of one of the noblest lineage of Estera is ridiculous, we can’t ignore it.”

She continues.

“You can imagine that your visit couldn’t come at a worst time. And yet we have let your situation be ignored for too long. Partly because your mother had always been an ally of the Kingdom, that's true. But also because of my own weaknesses in wanting to spare her for her monumental error of judgment: deciding to keep you.”

You see the women around you smile in contempt. You’re starting to guess where this is going.

“As you well know, you should have been put to adoption as soon as you were born. No man after all shall become a noble according to our laws…”

You interrupt the Queen. “But according to the letter that I received, I was summoned here so that the passing of my mother’s title to me would be made official…”

“A ruse that we deplore, but your mother **** our hand. She has still a small army at her disposal and we wished to avoid a civil war that would have led to senseless casualties. That is why we made you come here.”

She signals a scribe to bring you a piece of paper. You take it.

“Here is an official document that we expect you to sign voluntarily. But make no mistakes; it won’t make much of a difference if you don't. Take a few days to get acquainted with it. It’s proof that you acknowledge the surrendering of your title and properties to the Kingdom. We will be charged to designate the most able woman to govern your mother’s lands as she didn’t produce a female heir.

“You might be glad to learn that Marina, my eldest daughter is the most likely candidate. She is very able. The experience could be very formative to her before she succeeds me as the Head of the Kingdom.”

She nods toward a young woman on her right; a redhead, still wearing her armor, who shares the same bronze complexion as the Queen. Though instead of strawberry blonde hairs like her mother, hers are a fiery raid. They are kept short and end at her shoulders. Even though she’s wearing her armor, you can see that she seems to share her mother’s impressive bosom. She smiles as she hears of the news but doesn’t seem overtly surprised.

She already knew.

“So you give my lands to a child for her to play with?” You can hear the resentment in your own voice but you don’t care.

You hear scandalized reactions coming from the rest of the court. The redhead’s smile disappears from her face and you see her reach for her sword no doubt wanting to wash the affront.

The Queen raises her hand and the voices stop.

“I will consider that your words were said under the influence of fatigue. And that you didn’t mean to insult a member of the royal family or to question a decision made by Estera’s Queen.”

She then looks at you with a look that seems almost compassionate.

“It isn’t entirely your fault. I understand your frustrations. Despite all of the love I have for her, I can recognize that your mother was foolish to raise you so liberally and delude you with the hope that you could ever succeed her.”

Then back to a harsher tone:

“ Still, men who can’t control their basest urges have no place in Estera and we have long ago purged the country from their kind. A servant will now show you to your quarters. You shall wait here until we summon you again. Now go and I advise you to sleep on it. Night is the mother of counsel.”

You follow after the servant. You are boiling in anger from the injustice of it all. But to be perfectly honest, this turn of events wasn’t completely unexpected. And it only motivates you that much more to put your plan into action.