The Nightingale

Chapter 27: Bloody Queen

Spring - Year x492 / May

It was less than a week to celebrate Kaien's wedding; the invitations to all the Lords of the Kingdom had been sent and all had responded that they would attend the wedding; the banquet had already been planned and the Chief Cook was finishing gathering the ingredients to start the preparation of the banquet.

Masaki was grateful that most of the things they were going to need were in the castle's warehouse, however she had been in charge of placing orders to the various places for the purchase of more grains, seeds and animals; even what arrived at the port was acquired by the castle. Masaki not only had to buy things for Kaien's wedding, she also had to buy things for Ichigo's wedding, that he had set for a week after his birthday.

Everything was too huge, too many events in a row and, although it was an immense waste of kingdom gold in something as frivolous as the wedding of princes would be, it was something that activated the economy of the city and nearby towns,because everything they needed for the weddings, they bought.

Rukia had perfectly understood the situation, she knew that her wedding and everything related to it, would see it after Nelliel's wedding;Masaki didn't want to mediate fights between them just because one chose something the other liked, although from what she had seen, Rukia was more calm and understanding than Nelliel, besides, the two girls did not have a very good relationship, and Masaki had the impression that there was something that distanced them, but she did not know what it was.

Masaki hated when something got out of her control, so the situation with the two girls, while cordial, kept her alert. Masaki knew everything that happened in the castle, she knew that her son went out at night to train in the training yard, and that he used to be alone with Rukia. The Kahya had informed her of the intimate situation in which she had found them the day Ichigo had injured himself in that new training and, although all her impulses were fighting to make Rukia drink the tea, she didn't; Masaki decided to trust Rukia and her son's good judgment.

In the worst case, she would send Rukia to Vayalat with an asylum letter, hoping and trusting that Kisuke would take care of her even though it could end very badly. She had to talk to both girls about the children, although Nelliel was clear about what being the Crown Princess entailed and what she had to do, she needed Rukia to understand many things that would serve her when she became queen.

Masaki didn't even want to think about the fate of Nelliel and of the child of Kaien, when Ichigo has to give the coup; because of one thing she was sure, Kaien was not going to waste time to have a child. Kaien needed that his child to be born into a marriage legitimately blessed by the High Priest so that his children and his inheritance would not be questioned.

After thinking about it for a while, and finishing going through some papers that had to be sent to the baker who would be in charge of making the wedding cake, she asked the Kahya to invite the two girls for afternoon tea.

—

The tea date with the queen came before she left her room; the queen was busy and Rukia knew that planning a wedding was not the same as planning a dinner, so this time the queen didn't ask her for help, but told her that she could do whatever she wanted while they were with all those preparations.

Rukia spent a lot of time with the princesses, they were quite intelligent and taught her things that the queen had not had time to do. The princesses had shown her the mural of the Royal Family, where the genealogical tree of all those who had belonged in the Royal Family was painted since time was time. She found it sad that many of the princes had died very young and she found it curious that the first woman who appeared as the queen of Avanta by inheritance and not by marriage, should bear the title of "The Bloody Queen."

She liked to see that mural, it was really big and well cared for, but the reason why she liked that mural was because there appeared the women of her family who had married the princes; even the men in her family who had married the princesses when there were no women in Maranni to fulfill her role as the future wife of the Second Prince.

In that mural her name would be painted when she and Ichigo get married, and in that mural the names of the children she would have with him would be painted; That idea made her smile because she knew that she had to give children to Ichigo, but she also knew that Ichigo was not in a hurry, they both wanted a quiet and unhurried life. Ichigo used to say that the rush was Kaien's, not his.

Rukia went to the Lord of Maranni's rooms, that day she was going to have lunch with him, so it would be a quiet day; she hadn't spent much time with her father because he was always busy, so those invitations to lunch or dinner were greatly appreciated.

Her father received her with a huge smile on his lips; Rukia had never seen him smile like this, as if he had been given the best news in the world, so the first thing she did, after greeting him properly, was ask why he was so happy. Her father guided her to the living room and handed her a scroll, it was a letter from her mother.

Rukia read the letter with emotion and speed, until she reached a sentence that made her smile with real joy, Hisana had given birth to Byakuya's child, and it had been a little boy. That was really good news; Rukia was an aunt, and that made her happy.

— We have to go to Maranni, Father. — Said Rukia. She was excited and wanted to see and congratulate her brother and her sister-in-law.

— We will, but not now. The baby has just been born and we cannot be close to the mother or the baby, until the baby is a little bigger. We will go after the Prince Kaien's wedding, I will take care of leaving all the arranged matters, and we can stay a couple of weeks, or maybe a little more, in Maranni. — Rukia saw her father really happy, and she had the impression that if her father did not have so many responsibilities in the castle, he would have gone to Maranni since he received the letter.

When Rukia left the Lord of Maranni's rooms after that lively lunch with her father, whose only topic of conversation was the new member of the family, she promised herself that she would go to town to buy something for the baby; maybe a plush doll or some nice blanket. She would ask the queen if she could go out with the princesses, maybe they would have ideas about what to give a baby.

She reached the queen's room, still thinking of her new nephew, and didn't realize that Nelliel was behind her until Nelliel stood next to her. The guards opened the door to let them in.

They both greeted the queen, Rukia let Nelliel be the first to greet the queen; Nelliel seemed to always want to be the first in everything, then Rukia kissed the queen's hand before they both took their place where the queen indicated. It was clear to Rukia that Nelliel didn't want her as friend, but eventually they would be family and at least the relationship between them should be cordial.

Rukia heard the queen speak to Nelliel; the queen explained her duties as Crown Princess to Nelliel and what she would have to do along with the importance of giving birth to a child in the first year of marriage to perpetuate Kaien's line of inheritance; she explained to Nelliel that her children would be the Crown Prince and Second Prince of the kingdom, and how they would be brought up when they were born.

They were very long plans but they were necessary for the wife of the heir to the throne. And, as Rukia listened to the queen speak to Nelliel, a doubt arose that she did not express until Nelliel left the room.

— Your Majesty, if Nelliel's sons will be the Heir to the Throne and the Second Prince, then... — Rukia left the question unfinished because she didn't know how to formulate it at all.

— Are you worried about the position of your children? — The queen asked, putting down her coffee cup. Rukia nodded. — Your children will be princes and princesses and will also enter the line of succession to the throne. If Kaien, when he becomes the king, dies before having a male child, then the male children you have had with Ichigo will be considered to be the new king. Only until the end are the king's daughters considered to be the new queen.

— What if I have a child before Nelliel? — Rukia asked causing the queen to open her eyes in surprise and fear.

— Are you pregnant? — The queen asked taking her by the shoulders. Rukia was freaked out by that and immediately shook her head.

— No, I… your majesty… I am still a virgin. — She cleared up completely flushed. The queen relaxed her hold on her and breathed calmly, but the next thing the queen said was something that Rukia would never have imagined.

— The law is clear. The king would execute you, Ichigo, and your child for treason.

— What! — Rukia asked getting up from her seat completely terrified; she couldn't believe that the queen had said that with such imperturbable calm.

— Sit down, there are things you need to understand. I would love to have grandchildren, but I would rather have my son live than see him die. — Rukia could not understand that response and sat down again in her seat as the queen had said it. She needed answers, and she needed to know why having a child was considered a death sentence.

— All this is for the "Old Traditions" do not be used again; before, the succession line was a massacre. — The queen calmly began to speak.

The rule of inheritance was simple, the last man who survives inherits the kingdom. It did not matter the order of births, it mattered to be sufficiently astute to survive. There was no heir or the second prince, all princes were brought up to rule and at some point they were sent to a city to learn about state affairs.

The kings had concubines and, all the male childs who had the king with them, were considered princes, there were no bastards because all were children of the same father; The King's concubines used to fight among themselves, sometimes they fought against the queen to make sure that the children of the Queen were not the following kings. The queens tolerated it because it was their duty; The Queen had no official voice but she used to whisper in the king's ears to have what she wanted; If the king still felt enough affection for the queen to listen to her, then the king could give his support to the children he had with the queen and not to the children of his favorite concubine.

The prince who had more power, more control, more influence or more luck, could survive and become the king. That new king had to expel all the concubines of the old king of the castle, and the mother of that new king took control of all matters related to the castle. At that time, the title of Kahya did not exist, the Queen Mother had absolute power over everything related to the castle, even above the king's wife.

Nobody paid attention to the daughters of the king, the little princesses who were born of the queen, were married to important lords of the kingdom, and the girls born of the concubines were nothing more than the wives of the soldiers, if they were lucky.

That happened until Princess Kazue, the first daughter of King Ganju with his wife, was born. As soon as the princess was born, the king went in search of a concubine to have a male child, nobody wanted a princess because they were not considered valuable enough to rule a kingdom; at that time the women were considered only for their ability to bear male children. Princess Kazue secretly trained and studied politics, always supported by her mother who had told her that the throne belonged to her and not to the son of a concubine.

It was the first time that being the son of a concubine was considered as something bad, as something infamous.

One day the king went hunting and fell from his horse, hit his head so hard that he could not resist and died in the hunting field. It was at that moment that the prince who was most sure of his position named himself king, had all his brothers imprisoned, and then unceremoniously killed them all along with their children. He wasn't going to let anyone come between him and the throne.

Kazue let the new king feel safe, and one night she entered the new king's bedroom and sliced his neck without the man realizing what had happened; as silent as she had entered the king's bedroom, she entered the princes' bedroom and smothered them with the pillow until they stopped moving. The queen, who was sleeping with the princes that night, was stabbed into the belly by the princess to make sure the queen didn't have a child inside. With no man occupying the position of king, Kazue proclaimed herself Queen of Avanta.

Kazue "The Bloody Queen".

She lived up to her nickname by killing all those who opposed her reign; those who refused to obey her orders, she locked up and tortured; her mother was always with her, feeding and supporting her ideas. It was Queen Kazue who changed the rules of inheritance.

She created the position of Favorite of the Queen, so that she could control her husband's lovers and the children he had; only the children of the Favorites could be adopted by the queen. She designated that the heirs could only be legitimate children born by the blessing of the Deities and not illegitimate children of the king, and only in case the queen did not give birth to a child would she then adopt the Favorite's child. She created the title of Second Prince so that the heir would know that if he killed his brother, the soldiers would rebel against him; she created the position of the Kahya, to have someone to run the kingdom with besides her mother; and she created the Queen's Court so that her children could choose lovers and wives.

Queen Kazue never had daughters, so she did not think about the fate of the king's daughters; but in the following generations things changed little by little, to the point that the title of Favorite of the Queen became the title for the future wife of the Second Prince after the fall of Maranni.

However Queen Kazue made something clear that all the kings have followed, they were not going to allow a rebellion or separation from the kingdom; just as she had created the position of Second Prince giving him control of the soldiers to make it more difficult for the Crown Prince to kill him own brother; she also ordered that the Second Prince could only have children after the heir had them.

Bastards were forbidden unless they belonged to the heir or the king, and they were conditioned to be nothing more than soldiers; but if the Second Prince or the lesser princes had a child prematurely, they would be accused of treason and would be executed along with their child.

— No mother wants to see her children die, and I have done terrible things to protect my son, which I do not regret because I know that he is fine and healthy. — Said the queen when she had finished telling the story. — If I had to go back to doing what I have done for Ichigo, I would. I even did it for Kaien, so keep this in mind: if you want to be the queen, you have to be strong and do what needs to be done. Pity is for the weak, pitying the wrong person could spell your end and of everything you love. Also keep in mind one more thing, Nelliel is ruthless, and the only reason I disagreed with her wedding to Kaien is because Kaien is a bastard who took the throne from my own son.

Rukia withdrew from the queen's room with her head full of the information the queen had given her, unconsciously rubbing the red stone on her ring. What had the queen done for Ichigo and Kaien? What would she have to do if they were really going to take the throne? With each passing day, it became more certain that the path to the throne was a path bathed in blood.

That night Rukia had a nightmare, she dreamed that she was suffocating a baby in a crib with a pillow, a little baby with green eyes and dark hair. In that dream she was certain, because that's how dreams tend to be, that he was Kaien's son, and she was killing him; Rukia felt the resistance of the baby until suddenly the baby stopped moving. It was done, she had removed the obstacles to Ichigo's throne. The Queen's War Crown appeared in her hands, where she had previously been the pillow with which she had killed Kaien's son, and she found the crown to be really beautiful; behind her was Nelliel, dead and bleeding on the floor, and Rukia was aware that her hands were stained with Nelliel's blood as she put the crown on her head. She was the queen, The Bloody Queen.

Rukia woke up completely scared. She was shivering and sweating, and the first thing she did when she woke up was to see her hands, she still had the sensation of Nelliel's blood on her skin and that made her shiver; she was afraid to close her eyes because she was afraid to dream the same thing again. What had that dream been? She wasn't like that, she couldn't kill someone even if her life was in danger, much less a defenseless baby. Just remembering that, she trembled again because she remembered the resistance of that baby who fought for his own life.

She looked at her hands in the gloom and looked at the stone in her engagement ring, the ruby shining so unnaturally that it was hypnotizing, she stopped seeing her ring when she felt a little calmer. Her mouth felt dry, her throat ached but she didn't know why, and she got out of bed in search of some water. Her heart would not stop hurting and every time she thought about that dream, about that scene that she had seemed so real to, she was afraid that she could really do something like that.

— No, it was just a bad dream, a nightmare. — She told herself comforting herself a bit.

Rukia went back to bed after drinking some water and tried to sleep, but every time she closed her eyes she saw again the scene where her hands were full of Nelliel's blood, and that terrified her.

— It was because of the queen's story; that must have been. — She said to herself again.

That had to be it. The queen had told her that she must be strong. The queen told her that she herself had done terrible things for Ichigo and Kaien; and that dream was terrible. What could be more terrible than taking the life of a baby? And for a moment, Rukia was afraid that what Orihime had told her about Queen Masaki's cruelty was true. Were all queens cruel? Would she be cruel if she ever became queen? Would Nelliel be a cruel queen?

Love, LunaticR