Chapter 2 (1/2)

Chapter 2: New Home

A brief history of Flame kingdom…

The fifty-first king, King George Flame of the Flame kingdom, in a sense of speaking, was a mediocre monarch. During his reign, the tax levied was light and he did not wage war on other countries. Nevertheless, he defended his territory during his reign, and his subjects and officials were happy.

But what made King George stand out in the history of flame kingdom was his good fortune. He married 2 wives: the legal wife Angelica and his concubine Liese Lotte.

It was observed at different times in history, where the legal wife and the concubine’s relations.h.i.+p were bad. As it involved the right to inherit the throne along with the wealth and glory that accompanied it; and the women tried their best to curry favor for their children. They even used underhanded strategies to help them as much as they can. It was said that there was a kingdom at the west where the king left the palace for a month due to the cold war.

But this was not the case here, Angelica acknowledged Liese’s presence and Liese respected Angelica as the queen, uncontested. This was known as the king’s greatest contemporary achievement.

Although they had good relations, tension ran high through the kingdom when Liese gave birth to a baby girl. Everyone was antic.i.p.ating a reaction from Angelica as the girl was after all the king’s daughter, they were soon relieved when Angelica said, “The child is so beautiful, just like you Liese…” and she cradled the child in her arms like her own child.

When these words got out, everyone was stunned. Of course, in a good sense that Angelica loved Liese’s daughter, Erika, as her own.

For three years the kingdom was peaceful, but tension ran high through the kingdom when news spread that Angelica was pregnant with king’s child.

When Angelica gave birth to a daughter, she was happy but her att.i.tude towards Erika was unchanged.

Angelica introduced Elisabeth to Erica as her younger sister and treated both of them as her children. Even Liese treated Elisabeth as her own, and so both girls grew up receiving love from both mothers, but they did have a major fight, a fight which would confuse any bystanders.

Angelica said, “Liese what are you saying! The next king is decided, it will be Erika!”

“No, Angelica-sama this is not negotiable! The next Her Majesty will be Liz-sama!”

“What! Erika is the first-born of the king, she should inherent the throne.”

“Angelica-sama, what are you saying! Elisabeth is the child of the legal wife! She should inherit the throne.”

This kind of behaviour no longer surprised anyone in the kingdom as they became used to the two mothers’ affection to their two children. George and Lotte had predicted this situation in a certain way; by the frantic persuasion of Liese Lotte, Angelica reluctantly admitted with a “conditional” succession of Liz.

…… “There are two conditions. The first is, you should confer a t.i.tle and territory to Erika!”

At that time Erika was ten years old, George conferred her the t.i.tle of d.u.c.h.ess and a territory facing the sea, a scenic place called “Terra” also known as Paradise on Earth for its geographical beauty.

◇ ◆ ◇ ◆ ◇ ◆

“Are you Matsus.h.i.+ro Kota?”