Witch's Daughter And The Devil's Son

While the King of Megaris was busy dealing with his royal court ministers, his queen had left for her tour of the palace. Finally, other than the overlooking view from her chamber's balcony, Seren could also enjoy a more personal exploration of the Royal Palace of Megaris. When she thought of the possibility of visiting the city proper in a few days as well, she could not help but be excited.

"This way, Your Majesty," Lady Tyra said as they stepped out of the chamber and entered a familiar long corridor of that wing. Seren and Lady Tyra walked in front while the others divided into two rows before following behind them. It was a majestic sight.

It was the same hallway Seren passed through the previous night when they arrived. Last night, the only illumination came from the orb-shaped night lamps, but as it was daytime, the walls and the carpets were brightened by the sunlight coming in through the large windows with drawn curtains. One side of the corridor had a wall with paintings and weapon ornaments hanging on it, while the other side had wide glass windows which allowed one to see the outside view.

Seren stopped before one of the windows, looked outside, and saw seemingly another building connected to where she resides. Unlike other side palaces where one building belonged to only a single royal, the royal residence where the King and Queen lived was a colossal curved palace with a garden and a fountain in front, while having the left and right wings facing each other.

As if Lady Tyra understood what Seren was thinking, she informed, "That entire wing is where the King's chamber is located. Just like how this entire wing belongs to Your Majesty the Queen."

Seren observed the floor exactly opposite to where she was standing and thought, 'So he lives there.' She observed there were two more floors below that.

She heard Lady Tyra speak again, "These two wings are connected by a pathway which is ahead. By crossing it, Your Majesty can reach His Majesty's chamber."

'Why would I go to his chamber?' She frowned inside and turned to leave.

The ladies behind her gave each other confused glances. Their queen was a quiet lady, and though they wished to serve her well and give her a good impression of themselves, they were at a loss since they could not guess her thoughts. Aside from Lady Tyra, the rest dared not utter a word in fear the queen would find idle conversation unpleasant, thus they kept silent as Seren took her time to look around, appreciating the wall ornaments of strange weapons as well as the paintings of the scenic places, important events, and members of the royal family which she was too tired to notice the previous night.

'The painters seem to like dragons a lot,' she couldn't help but notice the common themes among the paintings.

After they crossed a certain distance before going towards the large grand staircase, Lady Tyra stopped and gestured with her hand a fork in the hallway leading elsewhere. "Your Majesty, this is the pathway connected to the other side of the wing. If Your Majesty ever wishes to go to the other side of the wing, Your Majesty can use this pathway."

Seren looked at that long pathway which had windows on both sides and connected both wings. 'So, from here, he comes to sneak inside my bedchamber. No wonder he has such poor mannerism, this layout enforces bad teaching.'

Frowning inwardly, she looked away and stepped ahead to get away from there as much as possible. Their group climbed down the grand staircase and reached the floor below. Lady Tyra made a gesture again towards the doors around them. "Your Majesty, this floor has chambers for all our future little princes and princesses."

'Princes and princesses? That means the king and queen's offsprings.' She pouted. 'That means it will be after my tummy goes round.'

Her hand lightly touched her fat stomach under the long and wide and fluffy sleeves of her dress. Seren gazed at the doors around her. Her eyes observed the number of doors which she couldn't count as the turn in the corridor was an obstacle but she saw at least a few of them.

'At least four doors?' she thought and asked Lady Tyra, "All those rooms for the princes and princesses?"

"Yes, Your Majesty," Lady Tyra replied, unaware of what was going on in their young queen's mind.

Seren kept touching her stomach as she thought, 'More than four times... it might be... it will hurt a lot, won't it? I don't want to be in pain. If they insist, can't I just run away from here?' She frowned inwardly. 'No more running. I don't want anyone to get hurt again. Moreover, he will know about it before I can get far.'

"Your Majesty, would you like to take a look at those chambers?" Lady Tyra asked.

The young queen who was already scared and had her palms sweaty with the thoughts of having her tummy round so many times shook her head immediately. "N-No, we can move ahead."

Lady Tyra nodded and they went to the last floor of the royal residence.

"Your Majesty, this entire floor is meant for entertaining guests as well as taking care of all your needs. There are common rooms here, like the drawing-room, the dining hall, art galleries, guest rooms, as well as empty chambers which we could renovate if you have certain hobbies or collections you wish to use them for. Beyond was where the kitchen and the servant quarters are located. All the servants assigned to you stay here so they can immediately attend to your needs."

"This is the Queen's residence, and everything here is meant for Your Majesty alone. The servants here take orders from only Your Majesty, and they are not allowed to serve anyone else, not even the king. You have three ladies-in-waiting, two personal maids, and twenty other servants, all belonging to you. In this place, your words are absolute. No outsider, that includes any other royals and nobles, or even their servants, is not allowed to enter here without your permission. Say, if certain noble wishes to seek your audience, they must at least write a missive mentioning their intention to visit at least three days before coming, that way, your ladies-in-waiting can write back if ever you wish to reject guests."

Seren nodded lightly to show she understood. It was a little overwhelming how many people were serving her, but she had long accepted that being a queen came with changes she would be uncomfortable with. Lady Tyra smiled at her as they finally stepped out of the doors of the royal residence, only to be welcomed by the beautiful view of the garden surrounding the entire structure.

The climatic conditions in Megaris were different from Abetha, therefore the flowers they had were different too. Instead of rose shrubs, which was the dominant flower in her own garden as well as the most common flower plant in Abetha, the garden in front of the royal residence also had different flower varieties, like geraniums and lavenders, as well as towering trees with seemingly golden-red leaves.

The previous night, when she climbed down the carriage, Seren already noticed the existence of the garden but she didn't imagine it would be so beautiful and mesmerizing.

"It's just so beautiful," Seren mumbled as her sight was busy observing the fully bloomed flowers.

Lady Tyra and other servants felt glad that their queen liked it.

"This is all for you, Your Majesty. Before your wedding, His Majesty ordered us to arrange the garden according to what he thought you deemed pleasing. It's late autumn, so only the roses and geraniums are still in blossom, but I assure you that when spring comes, this garden will be a feast to your eyes! Especially these cherry blossom trees that are native to Megaris, alas, they are a magical sight to behold!" Lady Tyra felt proud that her work was appreciated. "You can also instruct us for any changes or additions Your Majesty wants in her garden. Orders will be conducted as soon as possible. Even if you wish to bring in flowers and plants from Abetha or from the western kingdoms, we can make it possible by creating a greenhouse for you."

Seren nodded again as she took her time enjoying the scenic view in front of her. After a while, Lady Tyra came back. Seren was surprised because she was too immersed, she didn't realize the old lady had left at all.

"Your Majesty, your carriage has been prepared to take you to tour the entire palace," Lady Tyra informed and led her way towards the carriage waiting outside the wooden gate on the other side of the garden.

As the complex grounds of the Royal Palace of Megaris consisted of numerous buildings, side palaces, and pavilions, it would take more than a day to walk throughout the palace and introduce each place to their queen, thus a carriage was arranged for the Queen of Megaris so she could comfortably enjoy her palace tour.

The servants immediately arranged a stool for Seren and helped her climb the carriage. Lady Tyra followed after her and sat inside the carriage too as she was the person in charge of showing her queen the entire palace, taking it upon herself to be her companion on her first day since their king was busy.

The carriage left the royal residence and rode slowly on the wide roads inside the palace. Along the way, Lady Tyra continued to inform Seren about which building was for which purpose and who stayed there.

"Your Majesty, that is the Vermillion Palace on our left side, which is the first building beside the royal residence, belongs to the royal harem which Your Majesty would be in charge of."

Sere observed the beautiful architecture of the building that was only slightly smaller than the royal residence and said subconsciously, "So this is where all the royal family women in the palace live?"

"Yes, Your Majesty," Lady Tyra replied. Her response surprised Seren.

'Wasn't I just thinking? How did she hear me? Ahh! By mistake, I spoke it out loud,' she concluded and thought, 'They're right beside where I live. I hope they don't visit my beautiful garden. It's best if I stay away from them. I wonder if all the women here are annoying like the Queen of Abetha and her daughters.'

"Your Majesty, that building on our right, is the Obsidian Palace and it belongs to His Majesty, the previous king, King Theron Ivanov, King Drayce's father. As per tradition, we should go meet him and pay courtesy upon your entry to the royal palace, but His Majesty is not accepting guests at this moment."

Seren looked at the building, and although it was a large structure as well, it looked to be in a single building unlike how her and Drayce's residence appeared to be like two palaces connected to each other. She couldn't hold back the curiosity and asked, "Where does the Dowager Queen live?"

Hearing her question, Tyra understood the young queen knew nothing about the history of the royal family. Though her face was calm, the mention of the previous queen brought a tinge of sadness into her eyes. "Her Majesty is no longer with us."

"No longer with us?" Seren asked as she wondered about the vague choice of words. 'Did she die or did she leave like my mother?'

Tyra just nodded, "No longer with us."

Seren tried to remember what she had read in books. From what she could recall, none of them mentioned anything about the previous queen's death or anything more about her. Seren was only aware of the name—Queen Esther.

"Did she die?" Seren asked innocently.

Lady Tyra nodded silently.

"How?" the curious young queen asked again.

Lady Tyra bowed apologetically, her voice steady as she responded, "Your Majesty, no one is allowed to talk about this. Your Majesty should get the answer to these questions from King Drayce himself."

"Understood," was all Seren said before looking outside of the window again.

Seren was not upset that she didn't get a clear answer. It was nothing new for her to experience being kept in the dark. Servants had their masters, and they wouldn't tell her anything if it encroached upon the interests of those they serve. Martha was the same. Although she was her nanny, she only followed the arrangements of the king. She never told Seren anything.

Seren was a curious young lady, but she would not insist after asking a question once.

'Will he even answer me if I ask him about his mother? He is a king, just like my father after all."