Arya thought it was strange her monthly cycle hadn't come that month. She never once missed it, ever. She definitely wasn't pregnant, she was a virgin after all. Perhaps it was normal she thought. So she tried not to think of it too much and carried on with her life.
However, when the same thing occurred the following month. She was starting to get paranoid. How was this possible she thought? There was no way this was normal. Growing concerned she considered asking the royal physicians about it. One day towards the end of the 2nd month of her not being on her cycle she headed towards the court of royal physicians.
She was hoping they would be able to shed some light on what was going on with her body. Hopefully it was something small that wasn't too worrying.
As she arrived at the court and making her way to the office of the physician she usually saw. Then she heard someone come up from behind her. "Crown Princess? What brings you here your highness?" The familiar voice asked.
A shiver went down Arya's spine it was Jasmine. She was the last person Arya wanted to see at a time like this. Jasmine stood before her dressed in physician attire, a warm but irritating smile on her face.
"Oh, I'm here to see my regular physician." She simply responded to her.
"Oh my, what's wrong? Is it something serious?" She asked seemingly concerned and curious. Aryas thought about it there was no way she could tell her about her issue. There was no doubt that she would happy about it. Especially in the unlikely event it was something serious. Jasmine would just benefit from the situation.
"No, not at all. I just have a slight headache and wanted some medicine to help with it that's all." Arya nervously lied.
"Oh really?" Jasmine asked to affirm what I said. "Well sorry to hear hat I hope you feel better soon." She said in a seemingly polite way.
"Thank you." Arya said. "If you'll excuse me I have to go." She then politely excused herself.
She could feel Jasmines' gaze from behind her as she continued to make her way to her physicians office. She was starting to second guess this visit after bumping into Jasmine.
What if the physician thought something was wrong with her? That, that she was..... infertile. A shiver went down her spine from the thought. Everything would be in shambles if that was the conclusion he came to. Her first duty when she became Empress was to produce an heir.
If any issue was suspected when it came to her capabilities to have a child she would most definitely be removed without hesitation. Not to mention most in the castle hated her at this point and preffered Jasmine over her. Arya was convinced it was to the point where any small issue she caused would be enough for those that hated her to want her gone.
She was horrified as she imagined Jasmine replacing her. The fact is Arya would bring shame to her entire family if she was deemed unfit to bear children. The humiliation of losing to Jasmine as well as the feeling of inferiority was too much. She couldn't bring herself to ask about her issue anymore. Even Ms Bell her lady-in-waiting whom she was closest to, she was afraid she would worry her.
Instead , she just told the physician the same lie about having a headache. Arya was going to keep her issue a secret for secret. She didn't have a plan for what she was going to do she just secretly hoped it would sort it self out and things would go back to normal.
However, it happened again the following month. Arya found herself at a complete loss. If this kept up sooner or later Cedric was going to find. There was no way she was goignt to be able to keep this a secret forever. As she was going to be expected to have a child. Was she really now infertile? Why did it happen so suddenly when she had been fine all this time?
In the following months of nothing having changed for Arya, Cedrics' father soon passed away and Cedric became the emperor. There was a lot going on at the time for the Kajun empire as it was also preparing to go to war. Cedric was planning to take over a kingdom as part of the continental wars. It meant Cedric was in and out of the castle a lot. Arya and Cedric then had to officialy get married and Arya crowned the empress. However, they had to postpone the wedding due to the war preparations.
Arya knew that when they got married he was soon definelty going to find out about her issue. She had to act fast if she wanted to find some kind of resolution. She had to tell someone she had to know what was really going. The only people she could trust were her family. After thinking about it for a little bit she decided she would write a letter to them specifically to her mother.
She wanted to ask if this had happened before to previous women in her family, like her mother, aunt etc. She needed some assurance that this was normal. Letters that passed in and out of the castle were usually heavily monitored, however, right now with there currently being other things of higher priority going on, and Cedric going in and out she hoped she could secretly send the letter to her family.
Then eventually Arya and Cedric got married the night of the wedding the two were expected to spend the first night together. As Cedric had no feelings for Arya it was nothing pleasurable for her. Soon after that he left to make more war preparations.
Arya was now the empress and had the offical authority to take charge when Cedric was gone. Arya had always dreamed of becoming the empress when she was younger, however, she couldn't even enjoy it now as she was constantly stressed. Though she was the empress everyone hated her and lacked any respect for her. She felt so alone. She could only patiently waiting for a response from her mother.
However, the worst conceivable situation occured when Cedric returned to the castle 2 weeks after their wedding and asked for a public hearing about her in his thrown room. Cedrics' royal council, other nobles in the empire as well as Arya's family were all asked to be at this hearing. Arya feared the worst as she went to the hearing.
On the day, Cedric sat on his thrown, a furious look on his face. His entourage stood close to him and among them was Jasmine.
Arya was made to stand in front of Cedric near the steps to the podium where his seat was. Jasmine looked at Arya with a cynical knowing glare, as if she couldn't wait to see what was about to unfold. Cedric announced that he had called everyone for a hearing due to something important that came to his attention.
He was handed a letter by his servant and secretary Duke Samuel. When Arya saw it she immediately recognized it was the letter she had sent to her mother.
"It's been brought to my attention that the empress has been keeping a secret from me." He started slowly. Based on the contents of this letter which the empress had tried to secretly send to her mother, she has concerns that cannot bear children." Cedric paused for a moment then looked Arya right in the eyes."Is it true that you are infertile?"
The crowd of nobles that were invited to witness the hearing began to whisper amongst themselves. "What? The empress is infertile?"
"Does that means her family lied to the royal family?"
"Silence!" Sir Aaron Cedrics knight ordered the crowd.
Arya was trembling her fingers shaking scared to answer. Even if Arya was unsure what was really going on with her body. She had to accept that it was abnormal, it had been almost 8 months since she'd had a cycle. She had to accept the reality the cat was already out of the bag but slowly said "It's true you majesty. I am infertile."
"So you knew you were infertile and yet you didn't tell anyone? Do you know that you were deceiving the royal family? You know how important it is for the empress to conceive and yet you with held crucial information!" He angrily shamed her as he raised his arm in a fist and hit the armrest of his thrown. The sound echoed in the room and Arya winced in fear.
"Yes, your majesty I apologize." Arya stated with a shaky voice as the tears continued to stream down her face.
"For lying to the royal family and I hearby strip you of your title as empress of Kajun and banish you from the castle." he stated. "You were supposed to receive a harsher punishment but then I was persuaded to show more mercy." He said as he turned to look at Jasmine.
The crowd was amazed. "Wow lady Jasmine is so kind to go out of her way to ask for a lighter sentence for the former Empress."
"She truly is kind woman unlike the deceitful lady Varez."
Afterwards Arya was made to immediately leave the castle immediately. Due to the humiliation and shame she had brought on the family, her family cruelly decided to cut ties with her.
Evryone had abandoned her and left her to fend for herself. The only person who promised to stay by her side was Ms Bell. Despite the fact that she now had no money couldn't pay her a salary anymore she said wouldn't leave her lady. Ms Bell had been a commoner before so she her way around. She promised she would be able to help Arya.
The two of them traveled to a village far away from the capital. Where they could possibly start a new life together. It was a small village so they didn;t have to disclose who they were, so they could move around as they were now commoners like everyone else. Within 2 weeks Arya and Ms bell had managed to find small jobs and a place to stay.
It was really difficult for Arya to adjust to life as a commoner after all she was so used to living a life of luxury but now she had to do a lot of physical work and constantly be on her feet. If it weren't for Ms Bell by her side there is no way she would have been able to continue with this new life.
For the next month the two continued with this new life of theirs. Arya was slowly starting to get used to things and beginning to come to terms with her new life. However, things got stange as she began to get sick.
She would throw up in the mornings, painful cramps and just felt tired. Concerned for her, Ms Bell suggested she go see a physician. Ms Bell thought perhaps this new life was too much for Arya and was exhausting her thats why she was sick.
Arya excused herself from work then went to a local physician near where they lived.
Upon explaining to the physician what was wrong with her, the physician then gave her a physical examination. Ater she was done inspecting Arya she then looked at Arya and gave her her assessment.
"Miss, you're pregnant." She simply stated. "You've been pregnant for almost 3 months now."
Aryas eyes widened in horror from what she said.