The events of the past months have been significant...

So, Millicent gave birth to twin babies.

A boy and a girl.

They were named after saints of the Fardennian faith: Lothar and Theresa.

During the months while the princess was pregnant, the city of Iseldein was largely ruled by representatives of the Videlhof family.

Their numerous warriors patrolled the city streets.

Their knights suppressed riots in the countryside, only formally obeying the title and authority of Millicent.

Behind the "screen" of the title of princess of royal blood, Siegbert Videlhof carried out many important actions, guided by secret instructions from his father.

It was quite expected that, thanks to a network of spies, the queen mother Isolde quickly learned of what had happened to her daughter...

The anger of the queen mother knew no bounds...

She realized that Lord Aldric was using her daughter to realize his long-term ambitious plans. And these plans were dangerous for the power of the queen mother herself. After all, she expected to find a completely different husband for her daughter... Isolde expected that she would be able to organize a matrilineal marriage for Princess Millicent with some weak-willed nobleman who could be easily manipulated.

Alas, cruel reality made adjustments to this plan...

Intentions for **** against the Videlhof family ran into additional problematic circumstances.

The problem was that mass riots of the plebs began throughout the kingdom. The plight of the commoners, crop failure, the outbreak of some infectious disease, the medicine for which was extremely expensive...

The plebs really had a hard time...

And on this "soil" among the plebs a new faith was spreading, called the "Way of the True Sun..."

The adherents of this faith and wandering mendicant preachers were especially numerous in the southern region of the kingdom.

However, even in the central region, the plebs, against the backdrop of disasters and hardships of life, began to turn their gaze towards the new faith.

The royal troops were not enough to suppress the numerous uprisings.

Isolde was **** to turn to the most influential feudal lords for help. And Count Aldric Videlhof was among them. His troops helped suppress dangerous rebellions of large masses of hungry peasants.

In this situation, the queen mother simply did not have the resources for open confrontation with the Videlhof family. Although, of course, she would very much like to take **** on them for what they did to her daughter...

Well, effective **** requires careful preparation and waiting for the right moment...

In correspondence with mother, Princess Millicent once tried to soften Isolde's anger, but the letters in response contained only words that concealed a passion for maintaining power and an intention to wait for the right time for a cunning intrigue against rivals.

The young princess did not see this hidden subtext in carefully crafted polite phrases...

She naively thought that her had managed to convince Isolde of the uselessness of a conflict with the Videlhof family.

Well, the character of the queen mother was known to her daughter only from one side...

Millicent was absorbed in caring for her twin children.

Twins, a boy and a girl, are rare.

However, the princess's upbringing prompted her to devote some time to the issues of governing the city.

Siegbert Videlhof tried not to "tire" his wife with "boring" questions of politics and economics under plausible pretexts.

However, sometimes she still received petitioners and listened to reports on the situation in the city quarters.

And information about dramatic events taking place on the territory of the kingdom also reached the princess's ears.

Mass uprisings of the plebs are not something that can be hidden "like a needle in a haystack" ...

During one of the audiences, Millicent listened to the monotonous stories of a representative of the local guild of timber merchants regarding complaints about the growth of taxes, accusations of competitors in various violations, justifications for the rise in prices for goods.

However, in this boring speech of an elderly, overweight human-male, whose large, shiny cheeks created a slightly comical impression, the princess heard something interesting.

"These dwarves have become completely insolent! Loud noise in the middle of the night spoils the sleep of local residents! And that's only part of the problem! The experiments of these dwarves are causing inconvenience to all residents of the Middle Quarter! Your Highness, our guild petitions you to deign to issue an order to expel from the city this impudent group of dwarves who have been living near the building of the "River Treasure" tavern for six months! Their madness is simply unbearable!" - the fat man says the words in an agitated tone.

The princess sits on the throne and looks at this merchant with a bored look...

One of the dignitaries leans towards the princess's ear: "He means a small group of dwarves who recently arrived in the city from somewhere in the west... Your Highness... there is information that these experiments are aimed at creating some kind of previously unseen weapon... All this is very unstable and dangerous... However, if you think that this has some profitable prospects, we can put these dwarves' activities under control..."

Millicent thought...

"Maybe I should take a little walk and personally visit these strange dwarves to see what exactly they are doing?" she thinks.

Or should the princess simply end the audience and indulge in entertainment? It seems that one of the ladies of the court spoke of the arrival of a famous minstrel in the city...

Or should Millicent spend time with her husband?

The princess recalls that Siegbert mentioned that he wanted to visit the main city church today. This is a ritual action and fardennian priests can be overly strict and boring. However, a joint visit is a chance for the princess to talk to her husband longer. Siegbert has been extremely busy lately and rarely appears at the governor's residence, which is located in the city center...

The city of Iseldein is still a relatively stable place (against the backdrop of unrest and riots in other regions of the kingdom) - however. to ensure order, Siegbert Videlhof is **** to constantly lead local troops and deliver "preventive strikes"...