Helga's Counter Offer

Helga's eyes send you a questioning, skeptical gaze, "Your wife... does she know of your intentions here?"

"She does. She supports it." You answer.

"Duchess Eliza, was it?" Eliza nods. "What can you tell me about his highness and his wife?"

"His wife is an ugly creature." Eliza says without hesitation and with a bit of amusement.

"Eliza!" You snap. Was Eliza's offer of friendship to Camilla all for show? "What! You and I and everyone who has seen her know it's true! Even she herself knows it." Eliza defends herself.

"My wife is not ugly. She is simply not beautiful. The lack of beauty does no equate ugliness!" Helga notices your defense of your wife. "Well, is she or is she not ugly?" Helga inquires.

"Queen Camilla is not the most beautiful girl in his kingdom. I've seen servant girls and peasant girls who are better looking than her. But she is not as ugly as I made her seem. Our King here gets pretty defensive when it comes to his wife, as you've just seen."

"And compared to her, good King, how do I fair?" Helga tested. "Speak true or you can show yourselves to the door. I saw the way you looked and acted when you came in. I noticed even though it may have seemed as though I wasn't paying attention."

"Princess Helga, you are absolutely the most beautiful woman my eyes have ever laid upon." You can hear Eliza snicker.

"More so than your wife?" She asks with half-opened eyes.

"More so. There is... no contest." It was the truth. A bitter truth. Helga was exponentially more beautiful than Camilla. Dorothye would be better contest.

"Would you say you love your wife?"

"I do. I most certainly do."

"Yet you still seek out other women."

"My wife knows who I am and my needs. She has no qualms letting other women sate them in her stead. I never claimed to be a role model of chastity."

"Why did you marry your wife, good King?"

"The short answer, I love her. The long answer, I needed her father's influence and cooperation. It was a political marriage no different than the rest."

"And if you met me first, would have proposed marriage to me?"

"On the spot? No, don't be ridiculous. After further consideration and thought? Quite possibly." Helga's face seems to have soften after that.

"You are an honest man. It may not serve you in court but at least I now have a clue on your character." She took her seat again. "You gave me an offer. I shall give you a counter offer. Here are my terms: Help me win my war and reclaim my father's land. But I cannot accept you as my King. Neither I nor my people will allow an Almain to rule over us. We may bicker but we have our pride as a people. As Queen, I can legitimize any bastard child I will have. If you help me and put me on my father's throne as Queen, I will give birth to our child. I shall make him or her my heir and you shall promise that either you or our child's half-sibling will ensure he or she inherits my crown. I will offer my ports to your use and join a trade and military alliance with you. I shall strive to build better relations with the Confederation. My offer is generous and reasonable. I will negotiate no further than this and will accept no alternatives."

Cockily, you raise an eyebrow, "You do realize we could just pack up and go?"

"Oh you are more than welcome to refuse, good King. The door is right there."