Chereads / The Late Husband of Princess Magdalena / Chapter 4 - Chapter 4 - The Empress of Tarsir

Chapter 4 - Chapter 4 - The Empress of Tarsir

The Empresses of Tarsir were always hot headed. It was like a non-written rule of The Tarsir Empire, that to be qualified as a ruler, one must draw her sword faster than her words. Which in a way made a lot of sense, since if the opposite side died you could write the history to your liking and nobody else could contradict you. This would bring several advantages: one because they were already dead, and second because they were scared. This viciousness ran through the history of Tarsir, and that was the whole reason that Tarsir became the most wealthy, the most respected, and the forerunner of the kingdoms in the mainland.

The current empress, Empress Louisa was no exception. Since the late empress died 4 years ago, she had been executing not only the emperor consort, but also all noble families who were against her by throwing them to the gallows. She also almost executed her twin sister without trial, but that damn bitch managed to escape the night before her execution day. And now she's sitting on her throne with uncomfortable cautiousness she had been feeling since Princess Magdalena, well, Duchess Magdalena now, escaped her grasp. It felt like the throne was made of roses with its many thorns that kept scratching her everytime she sat on it. She had been busy plucking those thorns one by one, but there was still one on it. And even though she knew where it was, she couldn't touch it, and that pissed her off.

Her ascension to the throne was not smooth, but that was to be expected. No empress in Tarsir ever ascended to the throne without conflict. That was just not Tarsir. These people thrived in conflict. But at least she thought she got it in the bag, the throne. Fine, the council might have had difficulty to vote because some liberal members thought that Tarsir needed an empress who preferred diplomacy than the one who declared war every other year. But those liberals just needed some guidance. A bit of persuasion to remind them how much glory did the last war brought them and how painful it was to try to deviate from the norm.

Even more, she thought that she fit the general criteria of an empress. She was ruthless, decisive, brave, and she was the grand general of valkyries. She was not only great in planning a battle, she was great in the battle too. She was convinced that under her iron hands, no country in the mainland, or even the countries from across the golden sea, would dare raise their swords against Tarsir.

Unfortunately there was a slight hindrance in her ascension. Princess Magdalena, her twin sister. Her dear mother gave her a twin sister, born only with 1 minute difference, and nobody knew who was born first. The late empress somehow had foreseen this situation as she went into a secluded manor to give birth to both of them, and then after she killed the midwife who helped her, she came back with two babies and nobody knew who was older than the other. So there were two crown princesses, who shared the same concubine father, born on the same day, same hour. If one of them is a male, that would be easy. Men were worthless, they only followed their beastly nature, brute but no self control nor brain, they could never rule. If they were not twin sisters, that would also make matters easier, because there were ranks within the harem, princesses who were born from higher rank fathers would take the throne. But no, her mother just had to give birth to twins and brought the secret to her grave.

At first these slight discomfort didn't bother her too much. Empresses of Tarsir were almost always a warrior, or a general. She was both! An empress of Tarsir was also expected to make ruthless decisions, not showing any slight mercy to the opponent, and Louisa's hot headedness and stubbornness fit like a glove. Meanwhile her twin sister was not even ever present in the training field. She even wondered if Magdalena knew where the training field was. Magdalena was the quiet type, and as straight as an arrow. She never argued with people, never fought, never interested or disinterested in anything. Well, except books. Magdalena loved books. And that red head, who was his name again? Something with D… Douglas? Dominic?

Louisa also had an appearance that was considered as "the classic empress" look. The blond straight hair that glowed in the night and reflected the sun ray during the day, a feature that appeared to be quite handy on the battlefield. Her posture was not bulky but muscular with broad shoulders, and strong jaws. Magdalena on the other hand, has black long hair, wavy like they had minds of their own. Her skin was moon white, pale, that was what you got if you never stepped outside the library. Her posture is slender and lanky. It seems all of her limbs are long and looked rather brittle. She had an oval-shaped face and her eyes were as black as her hair. Magdalena always reminded her of Raven. Not only because of her eyes and her hair, but her present was always ominous, like bad news waiting to happen.

She knew that she shouldn't be worried too much. She was the favorite choice, an easy choice! Well, except for the liberal council members, but they were easy to deal with, she'd come back to them later. She was sure that if she came forward to claim the title, Magdalena would just accept it. She never had any interest in anything anyway. But there was something nagging in the back of her mind, maybe it was just a hunch, but her hunch was a trained one. Her instinct was almost always accurate. So when she saw that Magdalena spent less time in the library and more time on the bedside of their mother, she knew they were plotting something.

Maybe her mother told Magdalena something she shouldn't know? What kind of secret would the late empress keep from her? There was only one possibility: their birth order secret. Was it possible that Magdalena secretly prepared something to claim the throne? Unlikely, but possible, even plausible. But why would her mother wait until she layed on her deathbed to tell her who was born first? Louisa had been pondering the answer to this question. The most possible one was that her mother didn't want to lose her support, afterall she was the best, the most vicious general of valkyries Tarsir ever had.

Once Louisa realized that, she began to get her ducks in a row. She took the son of her mother's advisor as her main consort. Securing the alliance, making sure she was strong politically. Army was never a problem. She was their highest general, they would listen to her, ready to die for her. But all of those preparations would not matter if Magdalena was the one with the birth right. So, the next step was clear, Louisa needed to take all of Magalena's crutches so she couldn't stand anymore and then kicked her out of the way.

First the red head. Easy. Men were easy to handle. Trap him with an eager noble lady, he wouldn't be able to refuse, and make sure that Magdalena entered the room at the right moment. Seeing her so defeated was not as fun as Louisa would have thought. Magdalena was too crushed, too sad, too defeated. No fight in her eyes, just a deep black hole of sadness filled with tears. It was quite boring. She refused meals for days, stuck up in her room, her books were left untouched, Louisa thought that the battle between them was over at that point. Until she saw Magdalena weeks after that, came back to her usual self. Moody, disinterested, detached, but stronger, and her eyes that were once filled with sadness now filled with stronger desires - disgust and hatred. Even worse, she returned to stick to their mother's sickbed like a wall plaster.

After she received the report from the healer that her mother was poisoned by someone, she took it as divine intervention of The Holy Mother. She surely wanted Tarsir to be ruled by a strong woman, and now The Holy Mother handed her a weapon, she had to use it. So she informed her political allies, and they raided Magdalena's library, and everything fell into its place. There were books about poison in her collection, and it served as a good enough proof to execute her without trial. She would be satisfied with just that, but her main consort not so much. He, which meant his mother, demanded that the Emperor consort get executed also for the same crime. She never had any attachment to her mother's main consort, so fine, get on with it she gave them the emperor consort. Throw him to the gallows too for all she cared.

Was it over? No. to keep her alliance happy, and her mother in law happy, she executed the emperor consort first, and Magdalena would be executed the next day. But that damn bitch showed more fortitude than she ever showed us these past 20 years. Magdalena escaped! How, who helped her she hadn't found out, and it made her blood boil. There was a rat in her empire, and the sooner she caught it, the better. And if it was not bad enough, her imperial guards and valkyries failed to catch her too, and she ran away to the only alliance Tarsir had under a treaty. Burnedie. If it was Ashan, she would attack the capital the next morning without any hesitation, but Burnedie… the treaty, it made everything more complicated because now for the first time in her life the council, the nobles, the duchesses, even the baronesses were unanimous against violating the treaty.

And then Magdalena got married with none other than the son of the queen himself. Attacking a royal family member was not acceptable in any circumstances, treaty or not. But maybe now, she could breathe a bit easier. The duke died, that meant Magdalena was not married anymore to a royal family member. She was up to grab. Finally after waiting for four years her chance had come to her. But how to approach it… she was not an expert in political strategy, but she knew that she had to thread this carefully.

****

"She what?!" screamed Louisa, red blotches appeared on her face, her eyebrows furrowed together and between them two vertical deep wrinkles appeared. Her fingers clawed the armchair of her throne so tightly that her finger tips became white.

The messenger kneeled and shrunk before her. "My apology, Your Majesty. Duchess Magdalena had entered full mourning period for 9 months starting yesterday"

"I don't fucking care. What in the name of Holly Mother's tits does that make any difference?!" bellowed Empress Louisa.

Her main consort patted her right hand. He looked worried and shuffled slowly closer to his wife. "Please calm down, Your Majesty. It is a custom in.."

"Get your dirty hand off of me, go back to the room and warm my bed!" snarled Louisa through gritted teeth. She slapped her main consort's hand away so hard that a red patch appeared instantly on the back of his right hand.

The main consort was shocked but retreated out of the throne room all the same. He didn't dare to even glance back at his wife.

"Even though I agree that my son needs to be educated, especially regarding interrupting his wife, I'd appreciate it if you don't scold him in front of your subordinates, Your Majesty". Advisor Prein sighed after her son just left the room. "May I enlighten you about the mourning period and how it affects our plan, Your Majesty?"

Empress Louisa who was still taken back by subtle scolding of her mother in law didn't say anything . She waved her hands to gesture to Advisor Prein to continue talking.

"It is a custom in Burnedie for a widow to mourn for their main consort. Taking full mourning means that Duchess Magdalena would be untouchable for 9 months. Meaning that she will still have the same authority and rights and protection under the treaty as if her husband is still alive." explain Advisor Prein. "This is most definitely inconvenient, but it is not that bad if we take a closer look. During the mourning period, her contact will be limited to 4 people because they don't want any widow to plan revolution or revenge. And Duchess Magdalena had chosen a bit of a curious band in her wagon."

"Which noble families is she allowed to make contact with?" enquired Empress Louisa.

"Duchess Magdalena had chosen the comfort of a butler, a lady-in-waiting, her husband confidant, and a noble family."

"Just one noble lady?" asked Louisa.

"Just the one, Your Majesty. It surely makes matters more simple." answered Advisor Prein. "But it's Marchioness Iurda."

Silent fell in the throne room for a moment. "A Marchioness, huh? From which border then?"

"The southest area of Kilburn. The border of three lands between Burnedie, Tarsir, and The Barren." answered the advisor. "And before Your Majesty asks me the very obvious question, No. We don't have any strong allies there. In fact, our popularity is rather bad in The Barren after they lost the war 8 years ago."

Well, fuck. What are you planning to do Lena?

So she did plan something, that raven bitch. But now at least Louisa knew Magdalena's intention, she would have to prepare herself too. "What will happen after the mourning period ends?"

"The duchess is allowed to submit her intention of remarrying, or pledge her loyalty to the holy temple. Or move out of Burnedie." replied the advisor. "Our best chances are that she moves out, or that she submits herself into the temple, but I wouldn't bet my money on it. If she entered the temple, she would lose her right to any throne. If she moves out of Burnedie, she would no longer be protected by the treaty. But if she married someone higher than her last husband, she'd get more power and more possibility to attack your position, Your Majesty."

"Does the Iurda family have any sons of marriageable age?"

"No, Your Majesty," said the advisor. "So alliances by marriage are definitely not going to happen."

That didn't sound right. If that was the case, why did Magdalena want to be friendly with them? Is it really only because of Tarsir relation with The Barren? But The Barren was so small, so insignificant, and so poor that The Queen of Burnedie would never accept alliances with Barren to confront Tarsir. Why, though? Well, if she couldn't understand the purpose of Magdalena's action, it would be no use to ponder on it. She would be better to use the information about her sister that she knew would work.

"But it won't be a problem if she… let's say.. Eloped with a lowly man, right?" asked Empress Louisa with an unnatural sweet tone that sent chills to everybody in the throne room. "By the way, do you know by any chance a man with gorgeous red hair my sister used to hang out with? Can you find him?"