SS #1 – Anastasia’s Day (1/2)
Breakers SS #1 – Anastasia’s Day
It was afternoon, two days after the coronation of the new demon king. The three queens of the new demon king, who were the princesses of the former demon king, had gathered in one place.
They were in a well-decorated room. The ceiling was high and had a little bit of a dreary look, but the thick carpet and various decorations gave it a cozy feeling. As the princesses sat opposite each other on a round table filled with sweets and tea, two of them were arguing.
4th Princess Anastasia Nekrion, who was to be the 1st Queen, watched her sisters with a somewhat relaxed face.
“Since Anastasia unni is to be 1st Queen, shouldn’t the next oldest be the 2nd?”
Felicia said with a smile. However, Caitlin immediately puffed up in response.
“Unni is petty.”
It was because being 2nd was better than being 3rd, just like being 1st was better than being 2nd. The dark elves and the lycanthropes had forces of almost equal size, and they also had a similar degree of influence in the Demon King’s Palace. Therefore, it wasn’t easy to set the order of the king’s favour.
‘The other person is Shutra.’
‘Shutra’ was the magic word here as well.
Anastasia reached for her teacup elegantly and sighed.
“Just do rock paper scissors. Or draw lots.”
Both Felicia and Caitlin puffed up at Anastasia’s suggestion. In fact, they had good reasons for it. Anastasia had suddenly taken the spot of 1st Queen. The reason why Anastasia was the 1st Queen was simple.
One, the power of the nightmares was stronger than the dark elves and lycanthropes. Two, 3rd Queen Sylvia and 4th Queen Elaine had accepted 2nd Queen Titania’s offer. In other words, the queens had discussed among themselves and made Anastasia 1st Queen.
Felicia and Caitlin wanted to protest, but it couldn’t be helped. This was what a royal marriage was; a royal marriage couldn’t be established with affection alone. Anastasia ignored her younger sisters’ disgruntled eyes and asked again,
“Do Silvan and Chris have any opinions on this?”
“They wanted to duel with each other to decide.”
Felicia answered with a sigh, causing Caitlin to sigh as well. Anastasia laughed.
“Those children.”
Chris, who was normally cold, was losing his rationality for Caitlin’s sake. There was no need to mention Silvan. Anastasia thought about how Silvan and Chris earnestly wanted to duel and couldn’t help smiling again.
“Princess Caitlin, it is ready.”
A maid, Aphrasa, emerged from behind a curtain and said politely. The reason why the new queens had gathered here wasn’t to decide the 2nd Queen and 3rd Queen but to prepare Caitlin’s new wardrobe. It was significant since the dimensions would also be used for her wedding dress.
“Go.”
“Yes.”
Felicia said with a wide smile, causing Caitlin to nod. Caitlin was very glad to be picking new clothes without Chris’ intervention.
‘They fought so hard until now.’
Anastasia covered her mouth with the teacup. In fact, this wasn’t an issue in the first place because the relationship between the two people was too good. It was highly likely that the order of the 2nd Queen and 3rd Queen would be resolved soon enough.
As Caitlin moved beyond the curtain, Felicia sighed once again. She took a sip of the tea, straightened her posture, and gazed at Anastasia. Caitlin wouldn’t be back for a while. It was time for political talk, not a chat between sisters.
“Do you know?”
Anastasia said as she lowered her cup. Felicia raised her eyebrows and replied carefully,
“Draconian… the 4th Queen?”
Currently, it was set that Anastasia, Felicia, and Caitlin would be queens. However, it was easy to guess that there would soon be a 4th Queen. Among the species which already had queens, the draconians were the only ones without a queen.
“The most likely candidate for the 4th Queen is Leticia. Do you know who that is?”
“Baikal orabeoni’s cousin?”
“Yes, the only child of the draconian king’s eldest son.”
At present, the draconians were led by King Zanskal, Baikal’s and Zephyr’s grandfather. If it was the daughter of his eldest son, it wasn’t an exaggeration to call her the best draconian candidate. However, Felicia frowned and complained,
“But she is too old.”
According to what Felicia remembered, Leticia was 33 years old. In-gong was only 15, so that was more than double his age. However, Anastasia just laughed.
“The draconians are long-lived. It isn’t like us mixed-bloods, but their growth is slow… Just looking at appearance, she isn’t much different from Caitlin.”
Felicia’s eyes widened at Anastasia’s words.
“Have you seen her?”
“Yes.”
Anastasia was the leader of one of the three factions, so she couldn’t miss out on any information about the draconians.
‘If Baikal orabeoni or Zephyr orabeoni had become the demon king… Leticia would probably have become the 1st Queen.’
The draconian king had calculated that both the demon king and queen would be from his own blood. However, all those plans had been broken abruptly because of Shutra.
“So, is she pretty?”
Felicia asked with a hint of irritation in her voice. Anastasia smiled gently and said something else instead.
“The story is still below the surface, but it will soon be formalized. Since the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Queens were decided at almost the same time, they don’t want the 4th Queen to be too late.”
“Pretty?”
In the end, Anastasia couldn’t hold back her laughter.
“Don’t worry, you are the prettiest.”
Realizing she was acting like a child, Felicia quickly covered her face with her fan at Anastasia’s words. Anastasia changed the direction of the story instead of embarrassing her little sister more.
“Baikal orabeoni and Zephyr orabeoni also need to be given new titles.”
“Like Grand Dukes?”
“Yes, otherwise there will still be people who think they deserve to be the demon king.”
“But Baikal orabeoni and Zephyr orabeoni both stepped down.”
“They did. But that is just their opinion. The draconians, including the draconian king, don’t want to accept the situation.”
Felicia understood their feelings, but it couldn’t be helped.
“Shutra saved the Demon World. He killed Abamama’s enemies.”
As Felicia spoke in a voice filled with suppressed anger, Anastasia shrugged.
“That’s right. That is a fact. But… ironically, the problem is that the red dragon was defeated too quickly.
It didn’t make sense at first glance. However, Felicia understood right away and bit her lips.
“The red dragon would’ve surely destroyed the Demon World. Without Shutra, the Sanctuary would’ve been eliminated and the Demon World destroyed.”
Felicia tried to protest, but it was useless. Anastasia closed her eyes gently and responded,
“But very few people know about the Sanctuary. The whole fight against the red dragon was too small for everyone in the Demon World to see, especially the draconians fighting at the Aegis Gate.”
The red dragon had certainly been a mighty enemy. He had murdered the demon king and destroyed the Demon King’s Palace. If left alone, he would’ve surely destroyed the Sanctuary and turned the Demon World back into a barren land.
However, the destruction of the red dragon had been limited to the Demon King’s Palace. The damage had been minimized by defeating the red dragon early, but the problem was that only a small number of people had felt the threat of the red dragon.
This was the reason why the draconians were reacting this way. They didn’t know how strong the red dragon had been, nor did they understand how strong In-gong was to have defeated the red dragon. Most of all, they had no idea about how great the battle that day had been.
“Then… is Unni saying there should be more destruction of the Demon World?”
Felicia asked in a sharp tone. However, Anastasia went on to reply with an affectionate tone, like she was trying to soothe Felicia.
“I don’t want it. But it would’ve made dealing with the draconians easier. That is just the way it is.”
Anastasia finished talking and gazed at Felicia quietly. Felicia’s expression was bad, but she eventually nodded. It wasn’t Anastasia’s fault anyway. The draconians were the ones who were thinking like this.
Anastasia opened her mouth again and said briefly,
“Baikal orabeoni and Zephyr orabeoni will do their best to help. Even in the worst case scenario, a civil war won’t happen. But we need to throw a carrot to the draconians. Even if we refuse to give the title of Grand Duke, we can’t refuse a 4th Queen. Maybe they thought about it and that’s why they brought up the story about the titles.”
“Hah…”
Felicia understood. She understood, so she couldn’t refute it, which made her more frustrated. Anastasia gently brushed back Felicia’s hair and smiled slightly.
“Felicia, this is just the start. I don’t know about queens, but won’t there probably be more concubines in the future?”
The previous demon king had over 10 concubines. It wasn’t an exaggeration to say that the fate of the demon king was to make an alliance with the leaders of each species. All the previous demon kings were like that.
Felicia’s face creased even more, but Anastasia continued.
“Well, it is still a long time away.’
The age of the demon king was only 15 years old, while according to his mental age, he was only in his early 20s.