In the country of Gauntlet, there used to be two kingdoms and one empire: The Madrigal Kingdom, the Ekaterina Kingdom, and the Lucian Empire. But centuries ago, the Lucian Empire, having gained more strenghth and power than the other two kingdoms, conquered the Madrigals, making their kingdom a constituent land of the Lucians. A decade before this, the Ekaterinas and Madrigals had gotten in a disagreement, caused by betrayal from the Ekaterinas. The country of Gauntlet, therefore, was then divided into a country of disagreement. In fact, that's what other kingdoms called it.
Years went by, and the Madrigal royalty (though, ruled under the name of the Lucian emperor), suggested to the empire's counselor that to have peace reigning over the country, they should have a Lucian marry an Ekaterina. At that time, Emperor Ian Kabra was twenty-one, and very in love with the Ekaterinian princess, Sinead Starling. However, one month before the wedding, Princess Sinead was caught cheating on her fiancée. The engagement was broken, and in anger, humiliation, and hurt, Emperor, then the prince, Ian declared war between the Ekaterinas and Lucians. However, Princess Sinead's brothers, Prince Ted and the future king, Prince Ned, came up with a brilliant plan. They could easily give all the blame to the Madrigals. They'd overexpose the fact that their royalty had come up with the idea of a marriage between the two kingdoms, and they'd also say that the man with whom Sinead was cheating on was none other than a Madrigal, since his identity was unknown. They wouldn't care if they'd compromise the Madrigals. After all, ever since the betrayal, they didn't care about them.
That's all there is as to why I was lined up alongside other girls ranging between the age of nineteen and twenty-two. I was currently twenty, if you're wondering.
What I told you about happened three years ago, and ever since then, the king had been punishing us in a very horrible way: each month, he chose a Madrigal girl as his fiancée. The very next day, though, he humiliated her in front of the empire's court, disgracing her with insults, and then sent to exile her from the country, even if she had not been guilty of anything. I've never been chosen, thanks to my Grandma Grace, who managed to disguise my features very well with cosmetics she'd bought from some merchant of the Janus Country (something that was very much against the rules).
Molly Woodhouse, a very pretty nineteen-year-old girl who also happened to be my brother's future fiancée, was visibly scared of being chosen. This was her first time of many that would come, and being in love with Dan, she was obviously worried. Grandma Grace had suggested marrying her to Dan earlier than they were planning to, but Emperor Ian Kabra doesn't care. He might not be as cruel as his dad, who has been ill for the past year, but he still doesn't have a heart. If the girl is married, he'd still follow his plans with her.
Counselor Jonah appeared in front of me. He didn't even take a good look at me, since Grace had made sure I looked less than average.
He, however, stopped once he reached Molly. He eyed her, and then pushed her chin upwards so he could take a good look at her face, since he was at least three heads taller than the petite girl.
Molly gulped. He was taking longer with her than with the rest.
"Hamilton, come here!" the twenty-three-year-old counselor exclaimed. Counselors Hamilton and Jonah, and the emperor had been friends ever since they'd turned fifteen. Even though they were too young to be counselors, the emperor had four more, so he thought it wouldn't hurt to give them important positions in the palace.
A fair-skinned and tall man came along.
One thing you can expect from the Lucians are their strong attitudes, their tall height, their jet-black hair, very handsome features, and their olive-colored skin. Hamilton, however, was fair-skinned and blonde. That was because he'd been adopted from the Tomas Country by very rich Lucians.
"What do you think of this one?" Jonah asked Hamilton.
Hamilton took a good look at her button-nose, wide blue eyes, golden locks, and petite figure. He smiled. "What's your name?"
"M-molly, s-sir," Molly gasped out, beginning to tremble.
Jonah smiled sickeningly. "Well, congratulations, you're the emperor's new fiancée."
I shut my eyes close.
Molly whimpered, and as they took her away, her eyes filled with tears.
Dan would be crushed.
Molly's future would be destroyed.
I gazed at Molly, to whom maids were bringing Lucian clothes. She wouldn't survive being exiled and without anyone to go to. I, however, could be practical in severe situations. And I didn't have a future fiancée or a spot at the Madrigal Academy for Young Girls, the most prestigious school around.
"Wait," I called out.
Jonah turned to look at me, frowning. "Did you just address one of the emperor's counselors in such an uneducated way?"
I sighed, disappointedly. I'd completely forgotten that I had to address the counselors as my superiors. I bowed my head, not looking at him in the eyes as I'd been taught. "Counselor, I beg you to please listen to me."
I could see Jonah crossing his arms.
"If you could take me as a volunteer, and leave this girl alone I-"
I was interrupted by Jonah pushing my chin upwards, just like he'd done with Molly. However, he frowned and took away his fingers. I felt a pang in my heart. He was inspecting it, since some of the make-up my grandmother had applied to make my chin look less delicate-looking had rubbed off.
"Cosmetics," he hissed.
I bit my lower lip.
"I never thought a girl would defy the rules," he said, chuckling bitterly. "Nellie, bring me a towel!"
One of the maids ran toward Jonah, towel in hand, and bowed. He roughly gripped my chin and pulled me forward, wiping my face away.
"Water!" he ordered.
Nellie ran toward one of the chariots and bought a red urn full of water. Dipping the towel in it, Jonah continued wiping my face. After a few minutes, he was done.
He smiled. "Quite a good-looking lady we've got in here. Hammer, let that Molly girl go! We've got a volunteer."
Hamilton, surprisingly, looked relieved to let the scared Molly free. She ran toward me.
"Why did you do this? They'll still come next month, and you'll be exiled nevertheless," she sobbed.
I shook my head, trying to look confident. "Don't worry, I'll be fine and you will be too. Trust me, they won't come next week. I promise. I've got a plan."
Molly was pulled away by some guards, but she looked desperate.
I did not have a plan. In desperation to save Molly and my brother, I had dived into a hole with no way out. I'd have to think up of a plan if I didn't want my volunteering to be useless.
They'll still come next month, and you'll be exiled nevertheless, Mollie's sobs rang in my head. No, I couldn't let that happen.
Hamilton grabbed my arm, leaning closer to me. "For how long have you been wearing cosmetics?"
I did not look at him in the eyes. I knew that what I was about to answer could not land me in exile, but execution. I had been disobeying for quite a while, now. I licked my lips nervously, my face paling. "For a year."
"How old are you?"
I gulped. My heart beat faster. "I just turned twenty last week."
Hamilton remained silent for a while. As he pushed me in front of the maids, he said, "As a birthday gift, I'll only say you were wearing it today."
The color of my face returned to its original state. "Thank you."
Hamilton was already gone.
Nellie smiled at me, and I managed a wobbly smile back. My legs had begun to feel like jelly, as I realized that if I didn't come up with a good plan by the time I got to the Lucian palace, that morning would've been the last time I'd seen my family.
The maids ended up choosing a strapless, silk white gown, with draped skirts and a beautiful and detailed golden metal waist belt. A thick, golden and jeweled collar kept the dress hanging from my neck. To add to the Lucian feeling, the maids applied a cat eye style to my eyes, and added a golden headband on my hair. My wrists and ankles were filled with golden bangles, and my feet were adorned with elegant but comfortable sandals. It was very different from my usual long-sleeved, green dress, but then again, the Lucian empire was known for its very unique fashion sense.
"Wouldn't she look nicer with the midnight blue gown?" Hamilton asked.
"We are leaving that for... the other occasion," Nellie added, glancing at me.
I felt my heart sink to the ground.
"I see," Hamilton said. He gazed at me. "You look impressive. I'm sure the emperor won't treat you too badly."
I looked down.
"Get her into the chariot, we're leaving," Jonah sternly ordered, appearing next to us.
"Amy!"
I looked to my back. Dan and Grace were standing faraway, waving at me. I could see Grace holding back tears, and Molly was sobbing.
I made sure Jonah wasn't looking before I waved at them, feeling tears build up in my green eyes. I wouldn't cry, though. I was going to come up with a plan, I needed to.
The chariots didn't have a roof. In fact, the ones who traveled on them had to stand and conduct the horses. I knew for a fact that, even though the Lucian empire didn't want to admit it, they'd copied a lot of their style and transportations means from the Janus culture. Though, they combined it with their own.
Nellie got into the only chariot with a roof, and she pulled me inside. This chariot looked more like the Ekaterina ones, with cushioned benches and all. Once there, the other four maids that had come along followed us. They closed the curtain, and we were left alone. Reading books taught me a lot. So it was no surprise to me when I realized all the maids were wearing a detailed veil, since it was Lucian custom that they did so. They were wearing royal purple long-sleeved tunics, with golden needle-work, gold bangles, and large earrings. As you might've noticed, gold and eccentric could be used to described the Lucian Empire.
The chariot began to move, and I was pulled backwards at the motion.
I began to rack my brain for ideas, something that I could've read in any book.
"Did you hear?" one of the maids asked.
Nellie turned to look at her.
"The Tomas will be doing an expedition around the globe to see if they find any new lands," the maid said.
"Where did you get that from?" Nellie asked.
The maid looked down, biting her lip.
"She bought a book," another maid supplied, whispering. "And the librarian informed her."
Nellie gasped.
In the Lucian Empire, no woman could read or receive an education, unless she was royalty.
"Who taught you to read?" Nellie asked.
The maid didn't make eye contact. "Counselor Hamilton."
Nellie looked as if she understood. From the past minutes I'd been with the maids and from my own experience, I could gather that Counselor Hamilton didn't have such a tough heart.
The maid, whom I later learned was called Reagan, took out a book. My eyes sparkled. Its cover was the most beautiful I'd ever seen. And it was an encyclopedia!
"Would you like to see it?" Reagan shyly asked, her tanned arms holding up the book.
A small smiled appeared in my lips as I took it, and opened it to the first page that appeared. It was a section of legends from all the known empires and kingdoms. Vespers, Janus, Lucians, Ekaterina, Madrigal, Tomas... even the Cahill Land was in there.
"We won't get much chance to talk later," Reagan told me. "But if you like to read, when they... when they exile you, I could get you transportation to the Janus Country. I know that the Cahill Land is known for its intellectuality, but they haven't accepted any basic education for women, only etiquette and housewife manners."
"You do know a lot," I told her.
Reagan shrugged. "The palace has a nice library. After I learned to read, I was so excited that I skimmed through every book in it."
Nellie smiled.
I flipped one of the pages, and my face brightened at all the beautiful drawings used to describe the stories. Stories... I could feel an idea growing in the back of my head, but it wasn't quite clear.
Something told me it would save me, though.
(Warning: Long author's note ahead!)
Have you ever read One Thousand and One Nights? It's about this emperor who discovered his brother's wife cheating. Later on, he discovered his own wife. Thinking that all women were the same, he sent to marry one girl, just to execute her the next day. I read this book a while ago, so I don't know how the main female protagonist became the emperor's wife, if it was under normal circumstances or not. But to save her life, she began telling a story every night, but never finishing it. The emperor, wanting to hear the end, kept postponing the execution for the next day. And so, the book develops. I'm not going to tell you how it ends, but you get the idea.
The idea for this fic came from it, but I'll be adding my own twists. And as you might've noticed, I made it less cruel :P
The story Amy will be telling will be Jamy, and the one she'll be living will be Amian! Being a fan of both, I did not know what to write, so I luckily came up with this idea. In the original book, there's more story-telling, but I'll make sure to write equal shares of story-telling and the actual story.
I'd also like to explain the world they live in, which is inspired by real life history:
Janus Country: the Ancient Greek and Roman Empire.
Tomas: Byzantine Empire and Spain.
Lucian: a combination of Arabic, Persian, Egyptian, and Roman culture.
Ekaterina, Vesper, and Madrigal: kingdoms like England, France, etc.
Cahill Land: the Imperial Era of China.
Imagine all those kingdoms and empires, but in the Renaissance era (even though some of them were really different in this era), in the beginning of the Age of Discovery.
Finally, I'm done with this novel of an author's note. Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed!