She waved for her guards to leave, and they closed the doors after them, standing guard outside.
Her hands traced the spines of the books until she stopped on one and removed it from the shelf: "Geography of the North Continent."
Elora opened the book with curiosity, to see maps of the whole northern continent; even Palaverda was among them.
She scanned through the book and noted the list of kingdoms, both large and small, with a detailed map of each. The northern continent was vast, with ten major kingdoms and ten smaller ones.
Feeling tired from standing, she sat in the chair, leaning back as she placed the book on the desk.
The light was good, allowing her to read without straining her eyes. Flipping the pages as she read more, grateful that she could read thanks to the memories she'd absorbed from this body.
After a while, the letters began to blur. She blinked to focus, but a yawn escaped her lips.
"I'll just close my eyes a bit," She murmured, resting her head on the book, and soon she was fast asleep.
The sunlight streamed in through the window, casting a warm glow on the sleeping form.
****
In a smaller castle, a young man cried in the arms of a silver-haired woman. "Why did the Queen kill my mother like that?" His shoulders trembled in her embrace.
The woman's heart was filled with anger, wondering why her cousin ignored her face and killed her consort mother.
"The House of Silverado was wiped out, and I'm all alone. Woo hoo...Your Majesty, I don't want to live anymore. My heart aches." His tone was laced with pain and sadness, but his eyes, hidden against her shoulders, flashed with anger at Sharon's uselessness. If he'd known the queen would change, he would have married her himself.
By now, he could have been living above everyone else. Everything he had planned with this woman was in vain, and even their source of income was gone.
Alden's face distorted in fury but changed back when Sharon raised his face to console him.
She kissed him gently on the lips, secretly enjoying his dependence on her, as it made her feel in control.
"Don't worry you have me. Don't die. I can't bear the thought," She said with such sadness and love flashing in her eyes that it was so touching it made Alden throw up internally.
Does she think I'm naive enough to believe her? She can't bear the thought, haa! He snorted; he was sure she would mourn him in the arms of her two other husbands.
But his expression remained touched, and tears welled up in his eyes. "Your Highness, without you, I don't know how to go on."
"Don't say that." She held him in her hands, pulling him towards the bed, "I'll help you forget your sorrows." She cast a spell, and a green hue covered the both of them, making their clothes vanish.
Locking the doors, she lay down and spread her thighs, forcing his face to her lower lip. What she cared about was her pleasure, nothing else.
Alden eyes darken with hatred and disgust at her cold-hearted selfishness; he just lost his family, and here she is seeking her pleasure.
He sighed in resignation, knowing now that without his family's backing, he had to please her more to remain favored, or he would be cast out after becoming useless.
Sharon's back arched, as his mouth sucked on her lower lip. Moans left her lips, her hand pressing him tightly like she was about to choke him.
He endured, his mouth sucking on her tiny beads making her chest heaved.
"Mm..faster...hhh," she ordered, her eyes turning to slits from pleasure as his tongue stroked faster into her pink walls, his hands rubbing hard on tiny beads.
"Mmm..." She moaned, changing position, not giving him time to breathe; she sat on his face, ridding him to get her pleasure, not bothered by his discomfort.
Alden eyes flashed with killing intent as he saw her pleasure-filled face. The thought of killing her was born in his mind, as he sucked harder, he planned ways to kill her and marry a more useful person.
Now he's without a family backing. He would do anything to get power; he only had to endure a bit. Sharon let out a short scream and came hard on his face, her body trembling as she lay weakly to the side; she fell asleep, not concerned for his pleasure.
In another castle, Rose's face had aged overnight. Her once smooth skin turned sallow, with dark bags under her eyes from lack of sleep.
She watched, her heart bleeding, as her treasury was emptied into a dimensional bag, all of it to be given to the queen the next day.
When her treasury was finally emptied, the room was so hollow that even the smallest sound could echo. Her only saving grace was her small business; without it, she would have been destitute overnight.
Aurora had been avoiding her mother, who lashed out at the smallest mistakes. She couldn't count how many maids had been killed just yesterday after she returned from the queen's castle.
Today, she finally learned what had happened. She was shocked at how a supposedly dull, gloomy cousin outwitted her mother, forcing her to pay such an enormous sum of money.
Aurora became more vigilant, wondering if Elora had been pretending all this time, waiting until she ascended the throne to reveal her true nature.
It had only been three days since the coronation, and Elora changed suddenly.
A flicker of fear stirred in Aurora's heart as she pondered how someone could hide their true self so deeply and patiently, enduring such disrespect from her relatives.
Aurora was far from the truth but scared herself with her own overthinking.
Meanwhile, Elora's stomach growled. She blinked groggily as she sat up, her face imprinted with letters from the book, evidence of how long she had slept.
She blinked her eyes into focus, her hands caressing her stomach. She stood up, stretching as she put the book back on the shelf and left the room.
The guards turned when they heard the door open and upon seeing the queen's face, they struggled to hold back their laughter.
The queen's hair was a mess, and her face was covered in the imprint of the book's pages. It was as if the book read her and not she doing the reading.
Nalia cleared her throat and quickly composed herself. "Your Majesty, shall I help you straighten your hair?" She asked respectfully.
Elora nodded absentmindedly, paying no mind to her odd request, her thoughts solely on what to eat.