The news of the return of the third princess spread like wildfire among the noble social circle. After her health has improved, she can finally return home from the temple. The only thing people didn't know was that this wasn't the real princess.
The lie about Irene's poor health began when she joined the army. Because they didn't want to tell anyone that the king's daughter is fighting on the front lines to avoid jeopardizing her safety more than necessary.
Because of this, Irene was said to have withdrawn to a remote residence of the royal family to take care of her health. So she would be shielded from the public eye for some time and no rumors would start about her absence.
They planned it so that the princess's health would improve again after completing her 2 year stay in the army.But to everyone's surprise, Irene had decided to stay longer than just 2 years. In the eyes of society, the princess's health deteriorated and she could not return from her remote residence yet.
Because of this news, a new problem arose.
Since, due to the steadily poor condition, many concerned of acquaintances and members of the social aristocratic circle were looking for audiences with the princess and wanted to pay her a visit, the king could not ignore this any longer. Because after the visitor's inquiries were rejected several times, the nobles were starting to get suspicious and suspected that something was wrong. Rumors started circling around that the princess was dead, because noone except the Imperial Familiy has seen her for the last years. The situation slowly got out of control and they could no longer keep it a secret with mere lies.
They were looking for a way to keep the rumors in check while not revealing Irenes actual place of residence which was on the Battlefront fighting the enemy.
However, it was time for the third prince's wedding and Irene would be back for some time, which would put the people off for now.
When Irene returned after 4 years in the army to attend the wedding of her twin brother, Aaron the third Prince of the Arts Kingdom. Contrary to their expectations, people did not stop whispering about the princess' long absence. Even if it was Prince Aaron's wedding, Irene's appearance drew the most attention. It attracted a lot of unwanted attention because the princess looked safe and sound the exact opposite to what has been said about her state of health.
Even if she avoided everyone all day at the wedding and stayed in the background, you could hear the whispering of the nobles everywhere.
After the wedding, King Aiden and Irene's mother begged her to stay in the castle, but she didn't really care about being a princess anymore. She belonged to the battlefield covered in blood an dirt not wearing frilly dressed and attending tea parties with other lady's.
She didn't really care if the people knew that she stayed on the battlefield. Her parents don't have to lie about her health and her whereabouts. Even if they knew, nobody would dare to touch her. She had worked her way up in the 4 years and made many friends. She had not yet achieved her goal of becoming a general and leading the army. So she could not simply turn her back on it and stay in the castle.
She wanted to stay 1 week to celebrate her brother's wedding and to spend some time with her family. She also wanted to get to know her new siblings. Queen Elena became pregnant last year and gave birth to another prince for the Arts Kingdom. He got the name Adrian. Irene saw him once before the constant begging about her staying in the kingdom became too much.
After 3 days she packed her bags in the night and returned to the battlefront. She just leaves a note and just said goodbye to her brother Aaron, who was the only one who didn't want to stop her.
After she disappeared, the king had to come up with something. He sent his butlers to all slums and orphanages to find a girl who was Irene's age and looked like her. After a two-month search, they found a girl with gray hair who looked like the third princess in a small village near the border to the Void Forest. Since she came from a poor background, she followed the soldiers without further questions when they told her that she could live a good life without poverty and hunger.
When she led the young girl into the castle she couldn't believe her eyes. Everything was clean, shiny and glittering in every corner. She would never have dreamed of setting foot in the royal family's castle. The king explained the circumstances to her that she should step in as a princess and commute between the castle and the temple because of her poor health.She was to take the place of the princess while she was being healed in a temple in a neighboring kingdom. To protect them from mischief and gossip, they needed a double.
The king promised her that she would get a room in the castle, clothes, food and everything she could want, even pocket money, if she took the place of the princess and pretended to be her. Even after the real princess returns, she would not be forgotten and was to be adopted into a noble house as thanks. The girl did not have to think twice and agreed. The king gave her the name Ina Arts. Even if she was 3 years younger than Irene, her stature was almost identical. They had both blue eyes, only Ina's hair was gray instead of white, but even this they could cover up a bit. Ina should wear a veil in public that covers most of her face.
After they had found a solution for the absence of Irene and Ina posed as Irene in public and was often seen, the rumors about the disappearance or death of the princess became less. But Inas task was not at easy as it seemed. She had to pretend she was sick, get fake treatments from temple healers, and she had spent most of her time in the temple or out of the eyes of society.
But she was fine, her life was so much better than on the street and in the village that was constantly attacked by monsters and voidlings. In addition, Aiden promised her that it wouldn't be like this forever and that the real Irene will return at some point, but he didn't know when exactly. As long as she maintains the charade and no one revealed what was going on, she had nothing to fear. Of course she knew what would happen if she told something to someone. It would end immediately in her death with the crime of betrayal to the royal family. However, since she did not intend to give up the simple life in the temple and palace, she had nothing to fear.
As luck would have it, Ina actually caught an illness and spent all her time in the temple, although she had nothing to fear. Since she still wore the appearance of the princess of the kingdom around her, she was taken care of by the best Priests of the temple. It was a blessing in disguise. The diseases increased and the reputation of the weakest princess in Oryn was bestowed on her.
But after 4 years the priests of the Orin Temple were finally able to find a magic spell that could cure Ina's illness. So Ina returned to the palace and the rumors about her return and the improved health of the princess spread faster than the royal family would have liked.
1 week after the news about the return of the princess, the first marriage proposals were received. Since Irene was the only unmarried princess of the Arts Kingdom and is already 24 years old, the wedding with her was very desirable. No noble family could resist the temptation of being part of the Royal family. Aiden knew it would come sooner or later as soon as Ina's health improved and nothing stood in the way of her return to the castle. However, he hadn't expected more than 20 letters within a week.
Even if he promised Irene that you can do what you want and not have to get married, after so many years it is no longer inevitable. The situation had changed after the Kingdom of Forcia formed an alliance with the Milean Empire and their army grew and slowly marched to the borders of the Arts Kingdom. Of course, as a general in the Imperial Army, Irene had everything under control and no one could match her talent in magic and swordmanship. However, this cannot go on forever, he trusted his daughter, but he did not want to put her into more danger than he had to.
Another alliance is slowly becoming necessary. Ethan gave up all of the duties of a nobleman 3 years ago and joined Degan and his merchanary group. Adrian is just 4 years old. So there is only Irene left for a political wedding.
He sighed as he sat across a mountain of mariage proposals, going through the names and inquiries one by one. Most were from small neighboring kingdoms and noble families who, however, could not contribute too much to the alliance.
There was a knock on the door as Aiden opened the next letter. His butler Joseph opened the door and entered with another letter in hand "Your highness, there is another marriage Proposal which arrived a few minutes ago with an express courier."
Aiden looked up and waved off "Just put it on the pile with the others, I'll read it when I'm through the letters which arrived earlier."
When Joseph did not move and still held the letter in his hand, the king stopped and put down the letter he had just read.
"Is something wrong Jospeh?" he asked concerned.
"Well, this letter shouldn't be ignored and I think you should read it right away your Highness"
He frowned and held out his hand to signal that the butler should give the letter to him. Joseph took a few steps forward and put the letter in the king's hand. He looked at the letter and his eyes widened when he saw the Emblem on the wax seal on the envelope.
"Is this..?" he looked puzzled at his butler.
"Yes, Your Highness. This is a proposal from the first Prince and Archduke Rowan Elios form the Elios Empire for Irene's Hand in Marriage."
The king jumped up as he tore open the letter and paced impatiently as he read it through
°With this Letter I, the first Prince of the Elios Empire Rowan Elios, request to marry the third Princess Irene Arts of the Arts Kingdom. With this we would seal an alliance between The Arts Kingdom and the Elios Empire and will help each other in times of need.
We would also like to have a trading relationship established with this wedding
We hope to get back to you as soon as possible
Rowan Elios°
When Aiden had read the letter, he stopped and turned in Joseph's direction.
"This would be exactly the alliance we need, a great empire with a lot of military power. I can not imagine what the Elios Empire could need from us, since they are one of the greatest kingdoms, but Rowan Elios actually asked for my Daughter to marry him."
"But isn't this great news, Your Highness? Why the concerned look on your face?"
The king sat back at his desk and cleared his throat before continuing the conversation.
"I know this would be exactly what we need. But this is something, I cannot decide on my own. At the time I had given Irene a promise that she would not have to get married and that she could do what she wanted. If I just decided to do this and order her back she would be angry. "
"I had heard a lot of grumbling from the soldiers who we included in the second platoon. Princess Irene had apparently thought about a break or a vacation. Maybe we could summon her and could talk to her about it directly. We know that she listens more to facts, as she also knows the situation firsthand on the battlefield, maybe she agrees to the wedding for the good of the people? "
The king put his elbows on the desk and crossed his fingers in front of his face. He thought about it for a few seconds before nodding resolutely.
"You are right, Joseph. The best would be to talk to her directly. Please send her a letter and ask her to come back to the castle and let her know that we have something very important to discuss."
Joseph nodded and was about to leave the room when the king raised his hand again.
"Don't mention the wedding just yet, the way Irene has changed and we know her, she will burn something down on the way home or start another war, or worse, disappear like Ethan." He sighed and shook his head at the thought of his second son and daughter who is now known as the blood demon of the battlefield. She was nothing like the little Princess they once knew. She was a completly different person now
"Of course your Highness!" the butler bowed and then left the room.
'I should talk to Ina, even if she has only recently returned, we have to consider Irene's return and the wedding. When Irene returns and maybe gets married, we don't need a second princess to appear before the people.I should speak to Count Entrick about adopting Ina as his daughter. ' he thought as he slowly moved the other wedding invitations aside.
'The first Prince ot the Elios Empire ... huh? He was rumored to be a bloodthirsty scarry Man. Never would i have thought that he propsed to Irene who was rumored to be weak and sick. '