Across the room, a whiny man complains to his wife. "Why didn't she take the salad?"
Niathe snorts."What do you mean why? For the same reason, no one else did."
"But I love salad."
"You are a deer among wolves, my dear."
"I do not appreciate that comparison, Nia."
She giggles and drags him over to the table. Everyone digs into the dishes still on the table. Especially the stuff I didn't touch.
Surprise. Surprise. The Duke is a total herbivore. He can't stand meat or anything blood-reminiscent.
Hadrian, Harleen, and I seemed to have similar tastes though. I don't like most cooked meat. However, I love blood and anything semi-raw. Salty stuff tastes great too.
The only exceptions were soup, fried stuff, and these yellow pastries.
Hadrian watched me eat and used a finger to poke at my bulging cheek. I slapped her hand and munched on a pastry.
She scoffed."Voracious eater. She might eat you out of house and home Nia."
My mother emphasized."Our house and home. This is all coming out of the communal kitchen's pocket."
Hadrian groaned and gave me a look that said stop eating. I picked up some tofu from a nearby plate, waved it in her face, and threw it down the hatch.
I even licked my fingers while maintaining eye contact with her to ensure the utmost degree of disrespect was given.
"…"
"Holy shit!"
One of the triplets cursed and started crying laughing. All of them did. Which started a laughing fit. Even Erichean looked like he had just busted his stitches. The adults maintained a straight face but I knew on the inside they were laughing too.
I can be funny.
I was promptly cleaned up and sent back to my room in punishment for taunting my elder.
No more food for me.
Hadrian gave me a victorious look and I poked my tongue out at her. Let the rivalry begin.
By the way, Harleen showed me what thirty percent of her winnings were. Later that night she sneaked into my room with help from Lillie and a large sack in her hands.
She helped me count all of my share of the pot on the floor. Forty-eight gold coins. Forty-eight is thirty percent of one hundred and sixty.
Which means she tripled her profits if she only bet fifty gold.
How much is a gold coin anyway? Can I buy a book with it?
My seven months of life turned into a year in no time.
A year of being alive here has taught me a lot about my current world. It's not earth, that's for sure. I can't tell if that's a good thing or a bad thing.
For starters, this kingdom that I live in is called Allere. I could've guessed from all the lord and my lady stuff earlier on that I was living in some kind of monarchy. However, it's always nice to confirm before you run with something.
Back to the topic. It's a matriarchal-biased kingdom with an aristocratic, religious, and people's representative system in place.
So, a mixed oligarchy republic? It's strange. I'll give it that. How does it even function?
It helps me to think of this kingdom as a pyramid.
At the very top is the Queen. She's my grandmother on my mom's side. She's got ultimate power and control over everything.
She's at the center of religious, political, militant, and social circles. She's been the reigning monarch for over two hundred years. She shares some power with the elected government but it's very clear from the history books that should she ever ask for it back. They'd have no choice but to do so.
The current administration would have no choice but to do so. The aristocracy is her biggest supporter and is made up of three ducal houses, two marquises, four counts, and eight barons.
So fifteen houses of aristocrats.
Most of them have a hand in legislation and government affairs. Some dabble in economic development and some other matters too.
However only three of those noble houses have any military power: The Duccanes Duchy (AKA my father), the Marquis Meng (Meng Jialin's Parents), and The Solomon Duchy (AKA Hadrian's mother).
Marquis Meng has one of the strongest armies in the realm. The Black Knights. It doesn't matter who you are or what kind of status you have. Strength is the only factor in getting in. This means that most of their ranks are made up of commoners or people with something to prove.
The second strongest army is the Mercenary Corps. My father's army. Mercenaries are a unique force. These people work strictly for money and very rarely are they loyal to anything else. However, most of them were in a great deal of debt and dire straits when my father recruited them. He promised wealth to those who followed him and provided it. All in exchange for exclusive service. His rag-tag army has quite a few accolades under their belt and a couple of mentionable talents.
Like the Red Masks. They're like the elites of his army. The big guns. Strangely, I've never seen them around though.
Whatever.
Last but not least is the imperial army. The Crimson Knights. Most of their ranks are made up of nobles, illegitimate noble children, and a few great fighters. They used to be a quite powerful force but the history books I read note their decline in power. In my opinion, they lack both quality and quantity.
They typically only accept those of noble birth or a special bloodline into their ranks. Otherwise, they ignore commoner children.
There are only so many noble houses it's just not possible to have a proper army made up of only rich kids who want something to do.
Anyway because of these armies, these specific houses are especially regarded by the Queen and the masses.
Below them in terms of power or popularity are the various temples to the gods, their followers, and their apostles. The people are heavily influenced and reliant on the temples. So, they receive a great deal of respect and donations.
I'm supposed to be baptized by one of these temples soon.
It'll probably be my mom's temple that does the baptism. She might rip out her hair if I don't.
That'd be fun—
Anyway on to the next rung on the ladder. The People's Representatives. Individuals who are elected to speak up for their people. There are three representatives for each race and three representatives for each gender.
Don't ask me why.
Every year they hold a meeting. They vote, bring up, and address matters. They then draft petitions and send them to the palace for review. The palace reviews these petitions and then makes changes to the kingdom accordingly.
Technically they don't have any real authority. But they're in charge of making the people feel heard.
Below them is the largest rung on the ladder in this country.
The commoners.
They're the backbone of the society I live in. There's not much on them in the books. Just a bunch of quotes that say how happy they are.
I'm starting to get suspicious because of how biased this book seems.
Phew. I think that's all right? Wait am I missing…Oh! Back to the monarchy.
There are only two princesses and one prince in this kingdom. My mother is the youngest child and youngest daughter of the Queen. She's also second in line to the throne and a religious figure among our people.
Not to mention the Goddess Nyx chose her as her champion. Which is a big deal to everyone and by everyone I mean...The Fae. Specifically the dark elves in my case.
Magical world. Magical people. Wait a minute. Did I explain…? That's what I forgot!
The ruling class and the smallest class in this kingdom are the dark elves. The second largest classes are witches, pixies, fairies, demons, wendigos, vampires, and werewolves. The largest and poorest class is composed of light elves, goblins, succubi, humans, imps, dwarves, and beasts.
Humans, dwarves, goblins, and demons technically aren't Fae though. Humans and Dwarves are a race all of their own. Goblins, succubi, demons, and imps technically are humanoid monsters. Only recently were they recognized as a sentient and separate species from monsters. That's a story for another day.
According to the books I've read, this kingdom is the strongest in this realm. Affectionately called The Lower Realm. There are three other large kingdoms besides mine here.
The Kelpie Nation, The Adronic Empire, and The Sand Kingdom. Each one is different and has its unique history and strengths. Allere is sort of in the middle of all of the kingdoms.
The Kelpie nation is comprised of multiple islands and a small country that hosts mermaids, sirens, nymphs, naiads, and krakens. From this map I found I can assume that they're mostly based along the east coast.
The Adronic empire is a jungle empire that consists mostly of demi-humans, spider people called the Adonai, giants, orcs, centaurs, satyrs, and dryads. This empire is located almost directly down south from Allere.
The Sand Kingdom is our closest neighbor and the second-largest kingdom in this realm. This means tensions have always been high between the two. Not many fae live over there. It's almost entirely a human and light-elven kingdom. They're located in the northwest.
"At the moment under the Queen and the Crown princess's leadership, we live in an era of peace, progress, and prosperity."
I throw my head back and count. That's the sixth time I've seen that sentence in this book. My head is about to explode. I'm done. Time to go exercise. I threw the big leather-bound stack of paper on the pile I'd amassed and scurried out of the library.
Shortly after my seven-month anniversary of being alive, I started to explore the huge mansion that I live in. I mean why not? I live here, right? My explorations are limited to the east wing though. Any attempts to go further than that have not ended well.
So my regular hang-out spots are limited to the kitchen, library, laundry room, etc.
My crawling skills have upgraded and I can now walk. Not for a very long time but I can do it all on my own. My adventures have led me all over the house and I was often caught in the beginning.
Until I started learning how to avoid prying eyes. Stealth has become second nature and now even the guards can't spot me. I'm a tiny ghost.
This also means that over time I started to understand the relationship dynamics within my household and how they related to the rest of the world.
AKA Intelligence gathering.
AKA Gossip. Let me tell you. The tea is piping hot here.
Let's start with my father. I'll skip the boring part and go straight to his shining accomplishment.
Duke Eligia Duccanes ushered in a new generation of vampires to this world. Vegetarian vampires. Who rely on blood substitutes to survive instead of human blood. His nutrient solution was not only cheap, varied in flavor, easily accessible, and effective but they were also a humanitarian alternative to blood camps.
This is just to clarify. Blood camps: Camps filled with people who regularly provide blood for vampires via bloodletting.
Due to how obtainable and cruelty-free the substitute was, most vampires decided to partake in it. After a couple of years, most vampires completely abandoned the blood camps and switched to blood substitutes.
This led to an open protest against the increasingly obsolete blood camps and blood banks which were now losing customers left and right. Eventually, most of the blood camps had to be shut down and now most of the vampire world drinks the miracle blood substitute.
Ichor.
The savage past of his ancestors was finally left behind under his rule and he made bank on it. He is now one of the most wealthy people in this realm.
Even the Kelpie Nation and the Adronic empire bought Ichor in bulk once they realized how nutritious and tasty it was.
Which means plenty of suitors came to his doorstep by the time he was one hundred and twenty years old. However, at the time he only had eyes for my stepmother Dorothea. A human kitchen maid who rejected his advances and refused to become his concubine.
Standard Cinderella stuff ensued. I'll skip it.
Yada yada. He went against his parent's wishes and married her as his first legal wife. The official mistress of the household. The aristocratic faction was furious but the temples and the people's representatives were overjoyed.
The noble houses demanded the annulment of the marriage and the other two parties admonished the aristocracy.
However, the Fae Queen in her generosity offered a compromise that would appease all parties if they were willing to make certain concessions.
This was her offer. He was to marry at least two wives of noble birth who would be equal in status to his first wife. Only then would any children with Dorothea, her rise in noble status, and his marriage to her be deemed legitimate.
The Duke sat on the offer for a long time. His parents were infuriated, to say the least, and left the estate in shame.
(They still haven't come back by the way. They only visit on special occasions.)
After much deliberation and the birth of Erichean. The Duke agreed to the Queen's conditions. Within a few months, she arranged the marriages of two third-born daughters of noble birth. Druvis Whidbey the daughter of Baron Whidbey and Meng Jialin the only daughter of Count Meng was married to the Duke.
On the same day!
Cue the drama!
After some time had passed he gradually accepted them and had children together with them.
Which was pretty fast in my opinion. What happened to all that true love you were droning on about? There were a bunch of catfights between all of the women during that time.
They even pulled their maiden families into those fights.
This family became famous for a lot of reasons in those years.
So of course he caught the eye of most of the kingdom. Especially two of the most eligible bachelorettes in the kingdom.
My mother and Hadrian. Ugh! I mean I get it. He's somewhat objectively attractive but what is up with these women? Why does it have to be this guy? Is he drugging them or something?
Anyway, they had multiple fights over him before both of them went tattling to my grandmother. They begged her for a marriage to him and refused to consider anyone else.
The Duke himself refused to be married again and pleaded with the Queen not to grant their requests. Finally, someone had some common sense and saw reason. At that time he had already had three wives and five children! Most of them were newborns! At a certain point, enough is enough and he had already reached that point long ago.
The Queen got angry at the way they were treating each other and herself. She is a Queen after all, not a matchmaker. The bullshit had to stop.
She proposed a compromise.
The Duke would be the deciding factor in all of his future marriages from now on. If they wished to marry him they would have to gain his approval within a year.
If the princess and the heir to the duchess could not achieve this within the allotted time. Their marriages would henceforth be decided by Her Majesty.
They agreed.
Within that year they pulled out all the stops and wooed over the Duke. He approved. Cough. Pushover.
The both of them got married to him on separate dates. Hadrian first and Niathe last. After that, they all lived very happily. They still fought petty fights here and there but they didn't have any major conflicts.
Until my mother gave birth for the first time.
This is where it gets kind of dark.
Her son was healthy at birth and beloved by all.
Until he sadly passed away in his sleep five years ago before his three-month anniversary.
The cause of death was never revealed but everyone assumed it had to be one of the other wives.
My mother in her grief left the estate to search for the perpetrator and never found them.
She returned two years ago to the mansion after being summoned back by the Queen and became different.
She had shed all of her previous lively personality and accrued quite a reputation.
Niathe the Bitter.
No matter what terrible acts or bad deeds she committed after she came back. The Duke pardoned all of them and even bestowed her a private garden as a gift.
Yeah. A garden. Like fucking flowers are going to help her recover from the loss of her child. Asshole!
I can sense a deeper story there but the kitchen maids completely bought the next part of this love story.
After much push and pull they fell in love again and they had me. The speculated reason as to why she refused to see me until I was three months old was because she was afraid of becoming attached to a baby that might leave her prematurely.
Sob story right?
So I decided to forgive but not forget all of that.
Moving on. Today I've decided to sneak into the kitchen. The staff there have some of the loosest lips in the estate. Sometimes when they spot me hiding they feed me in exchange for keeping my mouth shut. Not a lot. But enough to satisfy.
Especially Ichor sauce pancakes. God those taste so good!
Anyway the newest gossip right now mostly pertains to me.