The newly crowned king stared down at the bundle of letters, a mixture of feelings, mostly hurt and rage, swirling around in his heart.
"How could you do this to mom?" he muttered angrily. "I thought you loved her- why would you take on a mistress? And father an illegitimate child with her!"
He collapsed onto the bed, rifling through the letters, unsure of what he was looking for. He plucked a random envelope and opened it to find shaky penmanship.
Johanna has been asking questions about you- about her father… what should I tell her? That her father is of noble blood, a member of the royal family, the ruler of this kingdom… read one of the letters that had been addressed to the late king.
And just like that, the letters ended.
"Johanna…" murmured Steve, closing his eyes and taking a deep shuddering breath of air. He did the math in his head a few times before realizing that she would be around fifteen years of age now, not even ten years younger than he was.
A slip of parchment, folded into quarters, fell out of the bundle, Steve managing to intercept it before it could land. He opened it and smiled at the sketching of a child- Johanna, he supposed.
He squinted, bringing the sketching up closer so that he could peer at the careful charcoal markings. She looked to be around seven or eight years old, with long curls that fanned behind her as she ran through a field of flowers and deep dimples imprinted in her chubby cheeks. But what really caught his attention, was a purple and red stain that covered the left side of her face. He recognized it almost immediately- it was a birthmark that popped up every few generations in the royal lineage. Steve had the same marking, only it spanned the entirety of his left shoulder.
Something was stirring inside of Steve's chest- an unfamiliar feeling that he couldn't quite put a name to.
I have a little sister, he realized, a small smile growing on his face.
A little sister.
"Steve?"
He looked up from the letters to see his wife, Duchess Margaret Carter, with one hand cupping her swollen stomach. She smiled softly at him as she waddled her way across to him. He reached out blindly, clasping one of her hands in his as she ran her fingers through his blond locks.
"What is troubling you?" she murmured softly, coming to stand in between his legs, one hand on his shoulder for balance.
"Dad had an affair," he blurted out. "And I have a sister- well, a half sister."
"Oh, Stevie," she sighed, hugging his head close to her chest.
"I don't wanna be like him," he mumbled from in between her plump bosom. "I'm not gonna raise taxes, or imprison innocent civilians. None of that. He was my father, but he wasn't the father I wanted. And in order to achieve that, some things need to change- starting with Johanna."