2 The Royal Assembly (2/2)
Elise was half listening and was a tad bored but could not help but perk her ears up when she heard the purpose of the court session. The king continued,” I have gathered you all here to decide on which house should be her guardian and entrusted the stewardship of her lands and titles until she reaches adulthood”. Murmurs began to fill the courtroom when he finished his speech as nobles looked at one another speculatively.
Elise frowned slightly as she realised what a difficult decision would be made today. The kingdom of Eternia had a monarchy system with the king holding the most power and authority. However, one could not look down on the power held by the five dukes' houses with each possessing a significant amount of territory and military properties. Elise slightly sympathised to the little girl's plight as she was inevitability going to be used by another house to rise in the ranks of nobility.
If just the matter was merely that of adoption, then there would hardly be enough reason to warrant the assembly but the stewardship of her lands and titles made her quite the appealing piece of meat for the lower houses.The royal family could hardly allow another duke level house to adopt her as that would place forty percent of the non- royalty military in the hands of a single house which would become quite dangerous. So, the question remained which lower noble house was going to get the opportunity.
'Although it will probably go to a puppet house of one of the factions of the court' Elise thought to herself. Complicating the matter were the distinct relatives of the girl from her family who also were present to lay a claim on her. They were unlikely to succeed but could be manipulated as a weapon to disrupt the claim of some houses who wanted to bid.
Elise flitted with the thought of raising a bid to adopt the girl herself but then quickly dismissed it. She had no idea how to raise children herself and her bloodstained hands were better left for the battlefield rather than to hold the hand of a child. She leaned back on the chair and decided to take a watch of the show unfolding.
”We have been discussion this matter for several hours now so I have come to the decision to let the child decide for herself, she will be escorted into the room and whoever can convince her by my decree will be appointed guardianship,” the king spoke these final words and then sat back down on his throne.After the king's intervention, the wary glances towards Elise stopped as the nobles resumed their earnest arguments but in a much more muted tone. There was slight impatience as the nobles waited for the girl to arrive in the chamber.
A few moments later and a knock sounded from the door leading to the chamber, the king nodded slightly, and the petite figure of a little girl appeared at the entrance flanked by two knights on either side of her.
'Why does she look like that?'. Elise glanced at the child at the center of the room shocked. The girl was wearing a plain blue dress was no ornaments on her hair, her eyes seemed limp and hollow. Her long hair was draped down her back in a careless style with no attempt to maintain it.
It was obvious that she had not been properly fed as she appeared to be on the skinny side. Her eyes shifted as she glanced around the room and she trembled slowly clearly uncomfortable with the attention surrounding her. Elise could not even guess what her age was as she just seemed so tiny. She was a far cry from the image of a pampered young miss hailing from one of the most noble houses in the kingdom.
Elise pressed her fingers to her temple in a daze, her head began to pound, and her vision started to swim. Why did this little girl look familiar? Her heart was racing as sweat slowly became to run down her back. She had clearly never seen this child before so why it was when she looked at her there was a feeling of dread and familiarity.
The nobles began to form a line to approach the child and try to persuade her to let them become her guardian. There cold hungry eyes looked at her almost like a piece of meat rather than that of a human.
Elise tightened her fingers and she loathed to reveal any signs of weakness especially when in a court of wolves surrounding her and who knows which noble would be observing. The pain in her head increased without warning and it took all her will power not to cry out. Suddenly a voice rang out in her head chasing away all the pain briefly and softly spoke the words.
”That child is the villainess who will bring death and ruin to the kingdom”
”And you die to the blade by her hand”