Your cursed father!

Your father was less than pleased when he found out about your affair.

"It lowers us, Baldr. Do you not understand, welp?" He scolded you. You were old enough to know, but he talked to you like you were smooth of face again. He smacked your face with his right hand. "Don't fuck around with your inferiors or I swear I'll choose another damn heir."

It was no strange thing for princes to find a girl to comfort, but to make a bastard in her - that was a tragedy to be sure. Luckily you were able to pay a handsome sum to a temple to Freya in an Arhus. She would become a sheltered acolyte, allowed to give birth in peace. Who knows, you may even get the chance to visit again.

Your father always had a plan like that. He had taken great care to ensure that your rule would be inherited smoothly. Most great Norse kings had at least ten to a dozen wives, taking many in order to cement political alliances with neighbors and even more still to ensure plenty of progeny would be made. The strongest child typically won the kingdom, so having many children ensured a good ruler for the next generation.

Your father, however, took only 3 wives, all only for political reasons. Two were with Norse princesses to the east on the nearby islands, while one was with the sister of the queen of Himmerland, a small kingdom to the north. He rarely visited them and so had only three sons and one daughter in spite of his many wives. One son died of smallpox at a young age, but the rest remained healthy, including yourself.

Still, he could have chosen an uncle or cousin of yours to be heir if he pleased, so his threat had some validity. Succession permitted it. You had **** but to sit in your castle while your fling was taken away from you. You resented that for sure.