Talk from the King

"Cecilia..." My father speaks to me in a almost unhearable soft raspy voice. "..You know pretty well as I that..." His voice gets cut off under the loud buzz of the pretty jovial people in present, and I have to shuffle even more closer to where he sits to hear him again.

"My days I have left here are pretty much already numbered on one hand. The priests definitely seem to think so too. So I wanted to to make sure everyone knows what we've decided as to make our kingdom's succession not turn into a bloodbath after I' m gone. And please, don't forget about our family's legacy." He waves his arm weakly at one of his councilors, who promptly steps forward with a single parchment in his hands, and positions himself in the middle in front of the open corridor, waiting for everyone to quiet down a bit.

"As you all 'ere have gathered you already know our King will not be our King for much longer, as he has been really sickly for the past 15 years. And there are, sadly, no other strong men in his family tree left who will be the next King after him. " Almost as one, the people in the room seem to move their attention back from the speaker, up to the throne, where I am still standing right next to my father. "And it has thus been decided by the king, and by the council, that despite our only recent change of heritage laws, and the still felt resentment that a woman shouldn't be in a position of power, our first Queen shall be Queen Cecilia from this day forth..."

Where I was almost expecting some kind of applause or cheers, the whole room was notoriously silent. And I just stood there in shock, as I still couldn't believe it. After a moment people suddenly got loud again. "Bet she's going to ruin us, like any stupid wench would at home if they're being given the chance."

The speaker loudly clears his throat and continues. "But the council will only accept Cecilia as the new Queen if she agrees to get married within the next 2 years, so that our Kingdom will be able to have an actual candidate the next time. Borne from both her, and our once so valiant King's great dynastic blood."

My father lightly taps my arm and, even though I was still half believing that this is all just some weird dream I'm having, lower my head closer to his mouth, so only I could hear him speak. "My dear Cecilia, you understand this is the best way to prevent the realm from breaking apart on itself right? And I' m sorry, but it was the only way I could make the council agree." "I think they only did so because a few of the nobles bribed them, because they probably think you'll be an easy conquest. But I know you are not the shy, suggestible little thing everyone holds you for, although it still feels kinda bad to push all of this onto you. But I am sure inside of you, there's a fierce lion from our House of Brancaster and you will be able to continue our good name." "Or even if you won't be able to find someone, who would be willing to marry you and let his children carry our name family instead, then at least the next generation of kings will carry a little bit of Brancaster blood in them."

"But father, please I don't want to get married yet." I silently whisper back in his ear. "Let alone have someone's child, up untill only a moment ago I didn't even know a girl could do that." I look up at my father's face and see that his head has slumped next to his shoulder, his body limp on the throne. In his hand is a small porcelain flask, he must have poisoned himself. But now he just looks like a saggy bag of potatoes. Quite literally, Dead potatoes...

And so my reign as the new Queen began.