Day 10 of the Fourth Month, Year 1016

The Royal Palace, Capital City of Naveland, Nave Province

THE ARROW flew and hit on the target’s bulls’ eye… Well, almost.

The one pulling the bow from a few distances away was frowning, feeling dissatisfied with her shot. Her brown hair fluttered in the winter wind on the last moment and blocked her sight. She tightened her thick leather armor, feeling her studded leather armor bothering her by the moment. Everything seemed to be designed to irritate her today…

If anyone asked the guards in the field, they would be able to identify her as Victoria Izabella Luna Ulysses, the first and only known princess in the whole Forewood Kingdom—which also made her the Crown Princess, and automatically, the Grand General. It was why she was still practicing despite the chilly late winter air. Her position demanded it.

A young maidservant walked within the field of her vision, right before she shot another arrow. Victoria recognized her as one of the palace maidservants who often served the Queen. “Your Highness?”

Victoria frowned slightly at the greeting. “What is it?” She released another arrow, which, thankfully, didn’t miss this time. “Her Majesty wants to see me?” She looked at the maid.

The young girl nodded. “Yes, Your Highness. I’m sent here to get you.”

Victoria sighed. What did her mother want now? “Where is Her Majesty now?”

“In her study.”

Victoria nodded. “Well, I know the way. You can go. No need to escort me. Thank you, Ophe.”

Ophe looked unsure, but she couldn’t defy the Princess. “Yes, Your Highness.” And then she left with a respectful bow.

She slung the bow in her hand and the quiver of arrows over her shoulder, and started walking away from the field. Another young maidservant walked near her. “Let me store that for you, Your Highness.”

“Ah, yes, thank you, Lisa.”

The maidservant disappeared inside the palace corridor, towards the left wing.

Victoria started walking towards the back entrance because the training ground was located behind the palace. Her brown locks waved in the wind again and she furrowed her brows at her unruly hair. Running out of patience, she pulled a long white ribbon from her pocket and used it to tied up her long hair.

“Hey, Victa.” Victoria stopped walking and looked to the voice source, finding a girl her age, her personal maidservant-slash-guard-slash-assistant which was also one of her best friends. It was a lot of titles, but in short, Luz was her aide. “You really needed to tidy yourself up.”

“Ah, Luz,” Victoria replied lightly. “Her Majesty the Queen already knew what she would see when she decided to call me during archery practice.”

Luz laughed. “Well, go on then. Ethan and I will be in your study.”

“Don’t do anything there,” Victoria warned.

Luz frowned. “What can I do?” And then she widened her eyes as she realized what the young princess meant. “Hey!”

Victoria chuckled. “Well, anyway, are Alize and Rex so busy? I haven’t seen them in a while.”

“Quite busy,” Luz nodded. “Anyway, we are waiting for you to discuss something.”

“What?” Victoria raised her eyebrow.

Then the two walked side by side. “We’ll discuss it later,” Luz repeated. “You need to get to Her Majesty.”

“Ah, right. Mother Dearest is waiting for me.” Victoria scrunched her forehead a bit while looking at the wintery scene, thinking and predicting what her mother would talk about.

Marriage, probably. She was only sixteen this year, but in the kingdom, young marriages were of norm. Even more with her status as a princess, Victoria needed to marry early to strengthen her position as the queen-to-be. Her mother got her to meet many young nobles, but still, this Crown Princess didn’t want to marry just yet. She knew, her life now wasn’t a free life, but marrying meant completely losing the little freedom she did have. A married Crown Princess, in the kingdom, was deemed ready to be queen.

Anyway, she didn’t have any candidates yet. Marrying for love was unreasonable for someone of her stature, but she at least wanted to marry someone she knew, rather than marrying strangers. Oh, well. She shook her head. Thinking about marriage always made her head spin.

She parted ways with Luz and made her way to the Royal Study. Victoria smiled at the two guards, one young and one old, who were guarding the magnificent double door. It was a good system that they had, pairing senior guards with the juniors. “Good morning, Reese, Daynes.”

“Morning, Your Highness,” they greeted back and opened the door for her.

She heard her mother said, “The child is a headache—” and paused mid-sentence.

Walking in, she didn’t look around at the grandiose, intricate ornaments. When you grew up in the palace, some things just got uninteresting. This was exactly why her own study, instead, had very simple decorations and designed for function. Looking at those sparkles hurt her eyes.

Queen Luna Ulysses was a beautiful lady, even if there were signs of old age crept upon her. She was sitting behind her desk while talking to her ladies-in-waiting beside her, and turned her head when Victoria came in.

She curtsied in front her mother. “Your Majesty.”

“Your Highness,” the ladies-in-waiting greeted her with a smile.

Victoria smiled back. “Lady Jannet, Lady Nila,” she replied to them amiably. “How are you today in this fine day?”

“It’s quiet because you are not around, Princess,” the taller woman, Nila, said while laughing.

The two ladies were the wives of powerful noble men in the kingdom, proper and good-mannered. But these women watched her grew up with all her mischievousness, so it was probably hard for them to take Victoria seriously. Victoria didn’t mind, though. “I planned to stay away too, Lady Nila, but Mother Dearest has a different idea.” She glanced towards her mother.

The Queen Regent wasn’t even fazed at the light jab, or the fact that Victoria heard her talking about her. “It’s good that you’re here, Your Highness. As usual, you are a mess.”

Victoria shrugged. “Well, Mother, what did you expect when you called me in the middle of training?”

“Anything else but a presentable look,” the Queen waved her hand. “Oh, very well. Do you know why I called you here?”

She tilted her head. “No, but is it bad?”

The Queen was silent for a few seconds before finally firing— “When do you plan to marry?”

Victoria let out an exasperated sigh. She knew it! “Mother, I’m sixteen! Let me off for a year or two, please?”

“We don’t have a year or two,” Queen Luna frowned.

Victoria scowled. “What? What happened?”

“Well, you know how we are hostile with Lirsk and the situation has always been escalating,” The Queen stared at her. Lirsk was the leader of the Grizzle rebellion, and after they succeeded, they were now a small country named after its leader. They took half of Grizzle province and made it their own kingdom. Victoria’s father died when during the power struggle, and in the end, the half of Grizzle that they took became an independent kingdom. “We have reasons to believe… they are planning something. Worse come to worst, they will wage war.” The middle-aged regent sighed. “The Duke of Savire said that he considered going back to the military if his heir is married.”

Victoria widened her eyes. The Duke of Savire was a Great General back in his days and a lot of men was loyal to him. As he retired, a lot of his men also retire—they were all elite soldiers with top-notch abilities. “Impudent! Is he threatening the Crown? How can he refuse to serve if you call him?”

Her mother looked at her with downturned eyes, and Victoria sighed in response. She did know why—after all, politics was one of the main subjects she had to learn extensively. The Crown’s power wasn’t absolute. If the Council of Nobles voted the opposite, they couldn’t do anything. “And the Archduke of Nave was willing to fund the military with half his wealth if, he implied, you married his second son.”

Victoria couldn’t wrap her head around it. “Aren’t the two Dukes friends? Why are they both trying to entice you to marry me off?” She understood, of course, that her future husband would hold certain power, but wouldn’t it be more effective for one to do it and the other to support?

“Ah. Sometimes friendship isn’t enough,” the Queen answered, looking like her mind wandered. She then shook her head. “Anyway, my point was, everyone, councilmen, nobilities—they all are eyeing the seat of your Prince Consort, my child. Best to marry now to settle everything.”

Victoria grimaced. “That is—” A bunch of nonsense, she wanted to say, but at the presence of the Queen Regent and her attendants, she didn’t dare to say it. She clenched her fist. “Mother, give me some time.” I would settle all the military problems myself, was what she didn’t say out loud.

The Queen observed her, and then she exhaled. “A month,” she said.

The princess looked up, scowling. “You are giving me deadlines now?”

“It’s for your own good.”

At the surface, despite all the emotions bubbling inside her, she bowed respectfully. “If that’s all, I’ll take my leave, Your Majesty.”

The Queen waved her hand, and one of the lady-in-waiting opened the door for her on her way out. Startling the guards, she stalked off to her own study, banging the door open.

The couple inside the room was startled. “Victa!”

“Honestly,” she said to her friends grumpily. “Marry, she said. A month, she said. Frankly, her mind is so narrow… Ugh, I don’t know!” She raised her arms in frustration and let her body fell to the settee on the side of her study. “The Archduke’s son or Savire’s heir? Heh, neither, I say!”

Her two friends and aides looked at each other, then at the Princess. “I take it your mother give you an ultimatum to marry?” Ethan asked.

“Well, what else! It is what she had been saying all these times. And then she said about Lirsk going to make a move…” She stopped, then looked at her friends. “What about it? You found something?”

“Well… Indeed, there is something about that,” Luz nodded. “Ah, yes, while you were in audience with the Queen, a letter from the General of the Army arrived.”

Victoria stood up, walking towards her desk. “Something about that?”

“There are some suspicious movements on Lirsk’s side, my father said,” Ethan answered. His father, the Baron-turned-knight Sir John, was one of the most remarkable knights that went into military. “Nothing concrete so far, but rumors had been going around that they have been restless. It is quite unsettling, to be honest.”

The Princess reached to the envelope on top of her undone paperwork and inspected it. It bore the military insignia, from the General of the Army in Dustor, Grizzle Province. General Adefine originally held his position in the military base in Edgefort, a region of Forewood Kingdom, but since last month he was staying in North Grizzle, paying attention to Lirsk’s movement.

Carefully, she opened the envelope and pulled the parchment out. As she read it, a frown started to form on her face.

“What is it?” Her friends leaned forward, interested.

“Seems like the rumor isn’t unfounded,” Victoria answered. “Rather, there are some movements from Lirsk's side, some weapon shipments from south of the continent.” So, it was correct. They were getting ready.

Victoria noticed the two stamps under the letter and slightly furrowed her eyebrows. She felt a headache coming. “What are the chances of the Duke of Savire joining forces with Lirsk?” As far as she could remember, the Duke was about sixty, while his heir, who was one of her Prince Consort’s candidate, was thirty. The Duke was an astute man, but unfortunately his son was temperamental and easily-angered—she saw it herself. He’d been married twice and both wives ended up dead without heirs.

“Our people found some suspicious correspondence between Savire and a foreign merchant,” Luz muttered lowly. “But nothing concrete to prove any suspicion.”

“Though, not the Archduke, right?” The Archduke was a fifty-years-old man, inheriting the title just last year. He had two sons, the heir was around twenty-five and the spare was twenty. Both sons were known to be regular visitor to the brothels around the capital.

“Nothing from the Archduke. Either he was good at hiding things, or he really was loyal. But we all know the Archduke and the Duke had been friends since their school years,” Ethan shrugged.

“Well, still doesn’t mean he is going to follow Savire's move.” Victoria sighed. “Alright. Call in Rex and Alize.” Rex and Alize were her other friends-slash-aides. Rex was the son of a small noble who had the monopoly of blacksmithing business in the capital, becoming a Royal Blacksmith, while Alize was just a palace servant, but so talented that she graduated the knighthood school and now held quite an influential position under the Capital Guards.

“What are we going to do?” Luz asked.

“We are going to make sure, of course.” She gazed at her two friends. “I don’t do things half in half.”

“Very well. I’ll bring Rex and Alize here.” Ethan saluted at her and then walked out of the study.

“While he is on that,” Victoria looked thoughtfully at the map on the wall, “prepare for a trip to Grizzle, Luz.”

“What?” Her attendant sounds confused. “Why?”

“Why else? Obviously, I want to see the state of things,” Victoria walked towards the map, which, to be frank, was the only decoration on her wall. “And before you say anything, no, Luz, I’m not going to Lirsk. I’m not that stupid.” Since Lirsk only occupy half of Grizzle, to the south, then Victoria was going to the northern Grizzle, to its capital Dustor.

“Not stupid,” Luz nodded, “but you are often reckless.”

“I have to agree,” Victoria nodded.

Luz gave her a look. “We’re straying from the topic. Why, oh why, do you want to go to Grizzle?”

“To meet with General Adefine. I wanted to know how much he really gathers.”

“To Dustor?” Luz opened her mouth to argue, but then she just groaned. She probably knew there was no use in arguing with Victoria. “Fine. Then Rex and Alize are also coming?”

Victoria shrugged. “You are all coming. I need all the support I can get.”

“Okay, then.” Luz turned around and walked outside. “I’ll go tell Her Majesty.”

Victoria frowned. Right. Mother would know her move. She definitely would not approve, but she had the mind of a stone and the recklessness of a teenage girl.

Nothing could ever be in her way. []