Sumin's eyes fluttered, he slowly opened his eyes and found himself lying on a haystack in some stable.
A horse snorted nearby peeking from the small wooden gates. Sumin saw the sky, the sun was much gentle to look at, 'It's evening now… how long have I been lying here?'
When he got up a sudden pain shot across the left side of his head, the woman had hit him hard. The sudden pangs on the side of his skull were making him wince.
He spotted his sword in its sheath, kept next to him with something wrapped in a white piece of cloth.
"An apple?!" Sumin frowned. He wondered if the woman was mocking him but when he noticed that the white cloth was the scarf she had used to cover her face he was sure that it was indeed to mock him or maybe to remind him that he had lost to her.
Sumin grabbed his sword, fed the apple to the horse, and took the scarf as evidence to find this woman's identity.
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Courtroom:-
The courtroom was lively with yelling ministers and their nonsense justification of the arguments.
It was a particularly joyful day for Maan, he had got a taste of victory after many stressful weeks where he had scoured his brain for a strong enough weapon or tool to ensure his survival in the palace.
However, he couldn't see the reason behind this marriage proposal, right after she had rejected him. It had come to his notice that the Devdurg and Maythene were both farming kingdoms with a few artisan villages and fairly capable with military power.
Whereas Hanna was a corrupt nation being eaten by its ministers, surrounded with water from the east as well as south, mountains, and shitty, notorious neighbors from the north, and as for the west had a narrow and hard terrain disconnecting Hanna from the western world, from where the Maythene army had arrived in outcast villages.
Then what was there for them to gain, 'is it the sea routes or the northern kingdoms?'
Whatever the reason, as long as she didn't want him dead, it was in his favor to have the queen of Maythene and her army by his side. He could see the courtroom gradually falling in his favor, one by one.
He side glanced at the veiled space at one side of the courtroom. Queen-mother's plan to plant her spy in the name of the queen was crumbling, it might have been as painful as severing a limb and she couldn't even cry.
Maan was at peace knowing this, he had plans to watch her go through worse as soon as he is married.
The ministers were all unified, except for the royal advisor, the rest voted in favor of the king marrying the queen of Maythene. Some said it was a better way to establish control over southwestern lands and plant their footing in the west, some wished to gain power in the west through the queen, some wanted exotic luxuries available there, some just wanted the offerings.
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The representative of Devdurg's queen was sent back with a positive answer and valuable gifts from Hanna.
Maan was flying in bliss that came after witnessing Queen-Mother dismiss the selection process for the queen, she had to put an end to her most anticipated move and she had no choice.
'Now she knows how it feels to get bullied in the corner.'
As expected the rumors took off about the 'king having a love affair with the queen of foreign lands',
'the king has bedded the Maythene princess when he went to return the slaves',
'the king kneeled to the Mayhtene queen after she bedded him' and many more.
the farther the news spread the wilder and more bizarre the rumors were.
The families whose daughters were sent back after reaching the finals as well as the ones who got eliminated were very upset and wholeheartedly gave wind to more rumors, but in hiding, they couldn't risk making enemies with queen-mother.
The noble ladies were having a hard time digesting the news of the king taking a woman of foreign origin as his wife.
The jealousy took the shape of gossip like, the queen was ugly and hard to look at, the queen was as dark as coal miners, the queen was promiscuous, the queen threatened the king into submitting, she sleeps with her soldiers and whatnot.
The next few months were the season of such rumors and gossip until one day the news of the Queen's arrival echoed in the capital.
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On the day of arrival:-
The streets of Shaom were decorated like a maiden's hair, with flowers and ribbons to welcome the Maythene queen and Hanna's future queen.
The city was beautiful and ready to welcome the guest but the people were the opposite, they were either curious or sour about the queen's arrival.
Regardless of how they felt, everyone wanted to know how the queen carries herself, How different she was going to be from them, it was rarest of the rare to see the queen's convoy from up close or even share the same space.
The royal ladies, especially the queen, concubines any of the king's women were not allowed to be seen by even palace officials let alone the general public.
They used palanquins to travel if necessary. It was a privilege to see a queen's palanquin that curious people from around the kingdom had come to witness. The appearance of the queen's maids would be a good example of the queen might look.
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The soldiers marched from the palace to clear the path and form a human barricade in order to prevent anyone from getting too close to the queen who had arrived at the city of Shaom.
Everyone in the city had gathered around, leaving their work and shops, they had been waiting for the queen's arrival since morning.
It was past noon when they heard the sound of marching, the ground vibrated as the convoy got closer and closer.
"Horses…" the crowd could hear them. "Lots of them"
As the convoy got closer to the palace, it left the waiting crowd amused and awed at the size of the army traveling with the queen, there were at least a thousand soldiers.
"Is she a queen or commander?"
Firstly the soldiers on horses arrived and made a mounted barricade next to Hanna's soldiers, guarding the path for their queen.
Big horses, with strong muscles, covered with chained metal armor like their riders.
Then there was the queen, mounted on her mare, sitting tall, dressed in a white flowing dress paired with trousers and decorative armor-style jewelry made from gold covering her chest and similar style shoulder plates. Her dark hair was braided beautifully and pinned using gold hairpins and accessories.
The gold shone under the sun and blended with her golden skin making her big eyes pop even more. One sun was in the sky and the other was trotting down the streets of Shaom on her black horse.
Behind the queen was Mitra, her loyal bodyguard, and knight, dressed in light armor made out of metal chains and plates. Her eyes tore through the crowd.
The people around the street couldn't see the queen clearly because of the mounted soldiers blocking the view. But the few in the distance or sneaking from a tree top had, they were too surprised to see the procession.
"She didn't come in Palaquin!" the word got around and the buzz reached the queen's ears.
The crowd was astounded to see soo much gold together at once worn by a single person. if one could get past that dazzle they would be intimated by a single look at her, she was intimidating and charismatic with sharp facial features.
The queen liked the curiosity and surprised look on the people's faces. She knew what she was doing, an arrogant smile appeared on her lips when she saw the palace.
"Here I come Hanna…' she said with intentions unknown to these people who had been waiting for her since morning.
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Sumin was waiting dressed in his uniform with a team of senior inspectors at the second gate of the palace to escort the queen to the queen's palace (a smaller palace within the main palace) with her maids.
A few weeks ago, He was sad to see his sister return with a broken heart because the queen's selections were dismissed right after she had made it to the last round but he was relieved to know that his sister wouldn't have to marry that spineless clown king.
A group of riders walked in with spears, then entered a woman on a horse, with an intense look on her face. She was wearing light armor and had an axe and sword sitting at her waist.
'A woman knight…' It was a first for him to actually see one... same was the case for his team. They had only heard of them. he could feel the atmosphere carrying the serious energy of this 'queen'.
"Her…" Sumin saw the woman that entered next and his dragon eyes narrowed. 'the Outsider!'
The arrogance and the swordsmanship of this woman that day were all coming back in a full circle. It had answered most of his questions from that day.
"This is what she meant when she said that she could imprison me for pulling my sword on her."
"A warm welcome to, her Highness from the Inspector General of the civil department of Hanna," He said, came forward, and bowed to her.
The queen got off, took a lazy look around the palace and her eyes stopped for a second at Sumin before averting.
Sumin was waiting for her in attention position, eyes straight forward but he could feel her gaze on himself.
He wasn't scared about what had happened when they first met as he was doing his job but he was wondering, "What was she doing that day?"
"What did you say, soldier?" the queen walked up to Sumin and stood in front of him.
"A warm welcome to Her Highness, from the Inspector General of the Civil Department of Hanna" he repeated looking above her head.
"Don't answer the air, Inspector!" she commanded.
Sumin pressed his lips and stared her dead in the eyes, deep, ebony eyes, "A warm welc…"
"What is your name?" She interrupted with a smile.
His jaws clenched, "Sum In Jheng, your Highness."
She nodded and walked past him after giving him a taste of 'who she was', a question he had asked when they first met.
As he escorted her to the queen's palace a new question emerged, "why him?"
He knew it was a political marriage but still, "The queen of such status and power, what did she see in that 'fool'?" She was wrapped in gold so it couldn't have been for the resources, power… she already had enough, land, or was it his looks.
From his understanding, she didn't look like someone to be charmed by a fool so easily, not in the circumstances she had met him in... he was sure of it but then again what did he know, the noble ladies adored that very fool even his sister had a crush on him.
"He's bitten off more than he can chew," Sumin thought knowing well that things were about to get hard for the king. This he was sure of.
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