Chapter 1
I was told becoming queen would be one of the most fulfilling tasks I could ever do. If that was true, then why did it feel like such a burden. I knew at a young age I wanted to make a difference for my country, but it was revealing to be harder than I had thought. I had eventually told everyone of my court members off when they tried to make decisions for me knowing full well that they didn’t have the authority to do so. That was when I knew I needed a break.
I had wanted to leave home before I became ruler, but it never worked out in my favor. I didn’t even have the right to complain, not when more than half of my own people didn’t have an inch of what I did. I frowned just thinking about it; it's been about a year now that I've been in charge. I had already fired two court members, a couple of servants, and a chef. Not to mention it had only been four weeks of me officially entering the position when all that happened.
I knew that I could always replace them and that’s exactly what I did. It might have been the best decision I made too. Only because my new chef is absolutely exceptional. The delicacies she managed to come up with matched my tastes perfectly. I’d fire everyone if I needed to just to have her continue cooking for me. I could have cared less about the others. Though, sometimes I questioned what she tried feeding me. It never looked appealing, but the taste said otherwise each time. That still didn’t stop me from asking.
The now unemployed thought they would try to use my novelty against me, which had irritated me. To think two of them were some of the most trusted court members, at least they were according to my father. The servants I fired were working alongside them giving them a rundown of everything I did each day. That doesn’t say much for the rest of the court members, I suppose. I’d have to decide later if I still had more to fire in the future. I would just have to wait to see.
A couple of days outside the palace walls sounded really satisfying. I requested permission of course. Didn’t do me much good. The court and my mother declined. I didn’t understand how they could tell me no when I was the one that had the authority to sign laws and pacts into existence. So, in my best interest I decided not to listen and made it clear that I didn’t care if they had refused. It was not the best impression of myself I could give to those who saw it, I can admit that much. I could envision their decision being read in the meeting chamber just thinking about it.
I had been sitting in my father throne chair while the court members stood in front of me. Leaning back I sunk into the chair tapping my fingers on the arm rest half listening to them speak. Only starting to when I heard, “We do not think it would be a smart idea to leave”. That part ended up catching my attention. Eyes narrowed I stared at them and took a moment to breath before I said something I would regret.
Obviously, that didn’t help. The next words that came out my mouth were, “Alright, you all don’t think it’s a smart decision. That’s fine, but I hate to inform you that I don’t care what you think. I will do as I please. If I want to leave, I will do just that. Are we clear?” It didn't take a genius to know they weren’t too fond of that response. There were arguments coming from multiple people, not that I could hear. They wouldn't give the floor to one spokesman. They continued to talk over each other. I listened harder trying to make out what was being said. I got the gest. I wasn’t allowed to go.
I chose to get up from my seat and leave the room. To my misfortune they trailed after me still blabbering away. This time I spun around to face them, calmly stating, “If I see any of you in front of me in 3 seconds, I will personally throw you out of the palace myself. Then I will make sure you can’t find any decent work in my country again just so you will have to leave, and I won’t have to hear of you ever again. And when another country does take you in, you will probably never have a court position there and somehow if you do manage to find a way to work as one and I find out... let’s just say your position will be taken within at most an hour once I’m done talking to the king or queen, maybe both. Because I might even take time out of my day to go visit them.” I closed my eyes, calming myself. Then I smoothed out my dress. “Does everyone understand?” Without waiting for an answer, I said with a smile on my face, “Good. Leave my presence please!” That was all they needed to hear. Finally, no hesitation. Those who had witnessed it kept their heads down as I walked pass them.
The important part was that they eventually had to agree once everyone saw me marching through the lavish golden halls with multiple bags in my hands and a few more in the hands of the servants behind me. My mother and a few members of the court came out to the sight of me packing my bags into a wagon. I didn’t want to ride in anything nicer as it would bring to much attention to myself. I was bringing a couple of guards with me, of course. They would need to get their own wagon, though. I wasn’t sharing mine. Oh, but I quite enjoyed my mother’s face when she saw what I was wearing. She was surely dazed, and I saw her bright sparkling green eyes grow round as they glanced over me. If her eyes could burst out of their sockets, they were close to doing it.
“What are you wearing? And where are you going? But first…first answer, what are you wearing?” She was in so much panic I almost grinned, but I didn’t have energy for that. I felt drained from everyone’s nagging. Not including the nonstop tasks that kept coming to me every single day. A normal day was breakfast as my schedule was read to me, signing papers, continuous studies, training, meetings (once a month), socializing with guests, dinner, and going to sleep. I was lucky if I got an hour to myself. Everyone wanted to have a word with me about some form of a problem that was always occurring.
“Can’t you tell? They’re trousers,” I replied dryly crossing my arms. I had changed into them shortly after the meeting. “And I’m going somewhere nice and quiet.” At least that’s what I had planned to do before this unwelcomed interruption. Some would probably have been pleased with this unwanted attention of everyone’s gazes on them, I wasn’t one of those people.
“You…you can’t go out like that! I won’t allow it. It’s an embarrassment to this family,” my mother exclaimed. I chuckled and said, “Since I’m the temporary ruler, mother, if I told you ‘I won’t allow you to stay in my kingdom’ would that have any effect on you? And hopefully no one find out who I am.” From the expression on her face, I think she was vexed at my words. Not that I minded. It didn’t have an effect on me; she was always upset at me for some reason. If I had to guess it’d probably be my bad habit of ignoring everything she said. I don’t understand how she could be angry over something so insignificant, I did that to everyone else too, so it wasn’t like I was leaving her out of anything important.
“You ungrateful child. To think I raised you like this. How did you become so cold and arrogant?”
I tilted my head and shrugged replying with, “Eh, I guess luck wasn't on your side.”
Her eyes widened at that, and I knew it’d be in my best interest to leave. I shook my head; she wonders where I get my temper from. I grabbed my last bag and threw it in the seat next to where I would be sitting. It wasn’t much of a seat. I was sitting with all the other junk piled in the back of the wagon. I had just made room for myself to be in the mix of it. As for my mother, she’d have enough time to cool off while I was gone. I wasn’t her favorite child anyway.
