Rebirth: The unfavored Princess is the Tyrant King's favorite-Chapter 47: The dragon queen
In a large hall in the central part of the kingdom of Zubrekacadesh was the throne room of the dragon queen, Queen Darana. The throne was situated on a high platform separated by a flight of stairs where the ministers and elders of the kingdom sat for court meetings.
The dragon queen’s throne looked majestic and was made of pure gold, embedded with jade, and featured two almost lifelike dragon wings at the side. There was a sculpture of two fierce-looking black dragons with their heads projecting upwards that served as an armrest for the queen, who looked below at the bantering ministers.
Today’s court session was over, and both leaders of the right and left flank ministers of the court stayed behind to share their concerns with the queen. They had just begun the closed-door meeting, but both ministers were already fighting and shouting at the top of their voices.
"My queen, please listen to my suggestion. With the guidance of the Oracle, we can appoint new candidates to be trained as the heir. Princess Alina has been missing for nearly two decades now, and your health is deteriorating. We have exhausted all methods to find the princess; please think about it," the leader of the left flank ministers said.
"You’re only saying that because you want your daughter to be the next queen. You want the throne for yourself. My queen, please do not listen to the words of this unfaithful servant; I think we should hold on with appointing a new candidate; the princess would soon be found," the leader of the right flank ministers said.
"You... you..." the leader of the left flank ministers said, pointing his finger at the other minister agitatedly before turning to face the old queen again.
"My queen, Duke Tardrain is spouting nonsense and wants you to question my loyalty. I will always want what is best for this country; I’m just worried about your deteriorating health and your weakened strength. If word of these were to go out and our enemies find out, they would attack us. My queen, I’m just worried about the well-being of the people, especially the women and the children," the minister said.
"And how would word about the Queen’s deteriorating health go out without someone purposefully fanning the flames, Duke Kenai?" Duke Tardrain asked.
"Our people have no contact with people from other countries; the people outside our borders hate us; they don’t care about us; we should focus our resources on finding the missing princess; it’s already been 19 years; who knows what she is going through to not have returned until now?" Duke Tardrain added.
"You said it yourself; it’s been 19 years, and Princess Alina hasn’t returned. We all know how people of Zubrekacadesh are treated outside these walls; it could be that something has befallen her, and Princess Alina is no longer with us; even the Oracle could not find her spiritual essence for some time when she went missing," Duke Kenai said.
"How can you say something so ominous? Duke Kenai, do you want Princess Alina dead that much? You already know that it only lasted for 3 days. The Oracle already reported an identical spiritual essence to that of Princess Alina was felt 3 days later when the first connection disappeared; we just have to locate the princess. She is the one true heiress, and she is the one who would lead our people to greater heights and fulfill the prophecy," Duke Tardrain said.
The queen stared at the bantering ministers, and a sad look flashed past her eyes. If she had not been strict with Princess Alina, always restricting her freedom because of the prophecy, she wouldn’t have become so headstrong and begun to rebel, sneaking out of the palace and never wanting to return. Was she so disappointed in her mom that she had decided not to come back home? The queen wondered sadly.
"Silence!" The queen commanded, and both ministers stopped speaking. Her voice sounded weak, but it was full of authority, and even though her health was deteriorating, she was blessed with the legendary dragon aura. An aura that was given to all queens on their day of coronation. It gave them extraordinary power and authority over all their subjects.
When a queen is angry and commands someone using her dragon aura abilities, it could bring the toughest trained soldier onto their knees in surrender.
"I have heard all of your suggestions. It’s been 19 years since Princess Alina disappeared. If in another year, we don’t find her, I’ll consider Duke Kenai’s words," Queen Darana said.
A black mist suddenly appeared in the middle of the throne room, and a handsome man who looked like he had been carved out of a painting dressed in black appeared before them. He cupped his hands in a respectful demeanor and bowed.
"Greetings to Her Majesty, Queen Darana," the man said, and the queen’s sad eyes lit up at the sight of the man.
"Amirion, come over here. Let me take a look at you; it’s been hard on you. Tell me, did you find anything new?" The queen asked.
"Your majesty, there’s news indeed. We might soon find the princess. Today, I saw a young woman in the capital of Gloryland, and she looked just like the princess. I wanted to approach her, but there was too much crowd, and I didn’t want to scare her, so I kept my distance. I followed her for a while, and I could sense magic from her; I know her identity; it won’t be long before we find the princess," Amirion reported.
"Did you see the princess or a look-alike?" Duke Kenai asked, his gaze looking worried.
Both the queen and Duke Tardrain turned to look at Amirion with eager gazes. That was the same question they wanted to ask.
"The girl I saw looked like the princess when she left 19 years ago. My queen, to tell the truth, she looked even younger, about 16 or 17 summers old. My guess is that she is the daughter of the princess, my queen," Amirion said, and the queen’s gaze became more sad.
’Did her daughter hate being in Zubrekacadesh and inheriting the crown so much that even when she became pregnant and gave birth, she never once reached out to her?’
"You are saying I’m already a grandmother?" Queen Darana asked, and Amirion nodded and bowed.
"I think so, Your Majesty; the resemblance is uncanny. I think that is the only explanation for what I saw today," Amirion said respectfully.
"Amirion, gather 5 elite undercover guards; we must infiltrate Gloryland and secretly bring back my daughter and granddaughter," Queen Darana said. A hint of hesitation flashed beneath Amirion’s eyes.
"I heard the people addressing her as princess consort. She is married to the eldest prince of Gloryland, and getting her would be difficult." Amirion dropped the bad news, and everyone’s eyes hardened.
About 1000 years ago, the people of the other six countries of the Windermere continent and Zubrekacadesh came to a truce to stop the war: They would stay within their borders and never cross to each other’s side of the border, no matter the reason.
This means they had agreed to leave separately from each other, and under no circumstances should one person decide otherwise.
Even though the people of Zubrekacadesh were born with magic and special abilities, their strength was indeed limited when they fought against the six countries combined. And it didn’t help their case that the other six countries also had people with special abilities. People with super strength, fire, water, ice, and wind-controlling abilities who equaled the people of Zubrekacadesh in strength.
The people of Zubrekacadesh’s only hope of winning against the six countries was their dragons, but because the queen had become weak, her strength was limited, and one needed a great amount of strength to command the dragons, so their hope of winning against the six countries was impossible. That was why the disappearance of the princess was a huge blow to the kingdom at that time.
She was going to be the next guardian of the dragons on her coronation day before she disappeared.
"What if we send an envoy to the emperor of Gloryland and tell him they have our princess’s daughter?" Duke Kenai said.
"Are you stupid? The envoys would be killed or burnt to death by those monsters at the border even before they got their messages across. And let’s say they are able to avoid being killed and meet the emperor; won’t the little princess and Princess Alina be in danger if they treat them as witches who hid her identity and infiltrated their country? They would be in danger," Duke Tardrain said and added after a beat,
"My Queen, what about this? We could send a spy to Gloryland to get close to the little princess and gain her trust; the spy can later find the location of Princess Alina through the little princess and kidnap the little princess and bring her here when she is unsuspecting. We would later bring Princess Alina after learning her location."
"Your idea is not bad, Duke Tardrain, but won’t the little princess hate us for kidnapping her? What if she wants nothing to do with us? She would see us as strangers," Queen Darana voiced her concerns. She didn’t want to make her granddaughter hate her just like her daughter did.
