Daughter of Death -Chapter 5 (Patreon)

CHAPTER FIVE

 Bayern went into deep mourning upon the announcement of King Arnaud’s untimely death. His personal valet discovered him pale and cold and though a doctor was immediately fetched it was clear that His Royal Majesty had died during the night in his sleep. There were no indications of foul play to his person or anywhere in the room and the guards all confessed under oath that there had been no disturbances that fateful night. It was a tragedy, nothing more.

For her part, Queen Edeline was devastated. She too had neither seen nor heard any indication that her husband in the next chamber was in distress of any sort. His death came as a deep shock to her.

Her Royal Highness Princess Reina seemed numbed by the news. She let out a cry and collapsed into a chair, shaking and looking pale as she gazed fixedly at a point on the floor for several moments in silence. “How is this possible? I spoke with him but yesterday and all seemed well!” she exclaimed.

Funeral arrangements were immediately made as were the arrangements for the rule of Bayern until Princess Reina’s succession upon her eighteenth birthday. The Royal Council was put into immediate effect wherein no large changes were able to be legally made within Bayern except in emergency crisis situations where action was required for the safety or recovery of Bayern and its people. The surrounding kingdoms also had arrangements that they honoured with one another upon the death of a monarch wherein no one kingdom was allowed to offer any new propositions towards the kingdom in mourning for one year and furthermore upon the requirement that a council rule in a monarch’s place, all previous arrangements were to be upheld until such time that the new monarch was crowned. Then, should any grievances be still relevant, they were able to present them forward.

Of course there were a few exceptions written into these agreements so as to allow peace to be maintained during such a transition period but the agreements were pretty sound to ensure that no kingdom took advantage of another and no internal council member was able to have power to take advantage of their own kingdom. War, treachery and abuse of power were practically unheard of in any kingdom for many centuries and each person felt secure in the idea that no one kingdom or council was strictly out to undermine another –especially not in times of changeover. In this time Bayern however still would keep vigilant so as not to be naïve.

Her father’s funeral was a large occasion and Reina played her part fully in it. To everyone she appeared the grieving daughter giving consolation to others that at last her parents could be reunited.

Queen Edeline too wore her grief openly and deeply. As she was custom she would live in the castle until the crown officially passed to her step-daughter. However she held concerns on what she might do and where she might go after that time. She and Reina did not seem close enough that the future Queen would allow Edeline to stay living in the castle. She wasn’t sure if she wished to return to her homeland either and yet perhaps that was one of the more viable options. Queen Edeline tried to put her uncertainties aside for now and properly mourn the loss of King Arnaud both as a ruler to this nation and as a husband and companion.

Secretly, Reina had met with her consort Ferdinand on a number of occasions. And, he had even shown up the day of the funeral to pay homage to The King and publicly given his condolences to the young princess and her step-mother. Only Reina knew the truth of who he was of course. But the public meeting and acknowledgement was a step towards the future of becoming Reina’s consort. It was a good public beginning to their acquaintance.

Reina allowed one month of grieving to pass before she sought to continue the education she had begun under her father’s guidance to becoming Queen of Bayern.

As to customs of the land, Princess Reina the First of Bayern was anointed as future Queen one week following the funeral of her father.

The ceremony was simple but was treated with almost as much attention and reverence as a coronation in Bayern. The anointed wore white to symbolize their purity going into their ordained role as a future monarch. It also symbolized the innocence of childhood as this ceremony was only performed when the proceeding monarch passed away before the eighteenth birthday of their heir. 

If they had not yet passed on their crown before their death after their heir was legally of age, a slightly altered ceremony was performed wherein no anointing took place merely a Ceremony of Intent where the heir apparent accepted their upcoming coronation following the funeral of the late King or Queen. If the crown was passed on by a living monarch, a different ceremony was performed called The Act of Succession where a verbal contract was made and a small symbolic crown was physically placed upon The Heir Apparent by the existing King or Queen before the actual coronation crown was taken from the head of one monarch and placed upon the next.

Reina, as heir, entered the abbey in her white dress with four attendants following in reverence. She was then anointed with oil as words were said in blessing over her to grow to become a good queen until she came of age. A separate blessing would be given at the coronation that she would always be a good queen for her land and fair and just to those around her. After the anointing, Reina gave a few short words in promise as heir to strive to become the best she could. Then, a small coronet was placed upon her head to symbolize her official passage as heir apparent into the anointed future queen. Essentially it was more a title and symbol of respect even though as a step up in rank this ascension did not bring any real change to the decorum that surrounded how others must treat her. Then, Reina turned and faced the public assembled to watch the ceremony which consisted of nobility and people of high rank of Bayern (and a few visitors from other kingdoms) as well as Royal Council Members. Her beloved Ferdinand was present and bowed along with everyone else as they all knelt and lowered their heads respectfully to her until she had exited the abbey with her attendants. Later, once The Princess had undressed officially for the day, her coronet would be returned to The Royal Vaults where all crowns and other such symbols of rank were kept. That too was a bit of ceremony where Reina took the small circle fitted with a few humble sized jewels from her head and placed it reverently into its place on the pillowed interior of a small chest that held the ornament and the chest was closed and locked then taken by official Vault guards back to its place within the castle.

After giving an allotted time of a few more weeks of respectful grief, Reina carried on with her lessons, her shadowing of council meetings and her personal research into topics of interest regarding Bayern. To all, including Queen Edeline, she appeared to be a young heir wanting to become well acquainted with her future role while acknowledging her current one and taking it all on with fervour and enthusiasm. None imagined her hidden motives or plans.

None that was until one early summer’s day when Queen Edeline began to suspect something was not at all right about The Princess.

Her Royal Highness’ maids and ladies-in-waiting were consistently ill following Reina’s own illness. The Dowager Queen however was unaware of just how consistent those around her step-daughter were in poor health until two were retired from service early all within a short two months of time. It seemed so out of sorts.

Queen Edeline summoned The Matron Head of Household to inquire as to the circumstances. She was told both had been doing so poorly that the doctor advised they be retired from duties indefinitely that they may potentially recover. Her Royal Highness had then appointed that two young women replace them as she had previously.

“Previously?”

“Yes Your Majesty. Her Royal Highness has appointed five new maids of honour and we’ve had a changeover of three chamber maids in this last half a year.”

Edeline was taken aback. “Is that common?”

“No, however Her Royal Highness wished to make a change on many of them. Only two of all those I’ve mentioned were externally influenced outside of Her Highness. Both were maids not appointed by Her Highness. One desired to remove herself from service, another was... another passed away.”

The Queen Dowager held a hand to her chest in surprise. “And the two retired now from service?”

“Yes one a maid another a lady-in-waiting. One was this week the other was in May, Your Majesty.”

“Please let me know of any further changes in staff,” The  Queen declared after a few moments of contemplation.

“Yes, Your Majesty.” The middle-aged woman bowed in respect. “Will that be all, Your Majesty?”

“Not yet. My step-daughter’s changeover of her ladies-in-waiting so often did she provide reasoning?”

The woman looked a bit uncomfortable at this but answered her queen with a very sensible and straightforward answer, “Yes a few were not to her liking whilst the other two she appointed that she may have more company around her.”

“Ah yes. I suppose in her learning and so forth she is becoming more independent and particular on her expectations and desires.” The Dowager smiled to show that the answer she’d been given was pleasing to her. “Thank you.”

The matron bowed. “Is there anything else I can do for Your Majesty?”

“No, thank you that will be all for now.”

With a bow, the woman left the chamber.

Edeline sat in contemplation for several minutes. Although Reina’s changeover of her ladies-in-waiting seemed to be for sensible reasons, Queen Edeline couldn’t shake a feeling she had that foreboded something sinister. “One passed away,” she repeated the words of The Matron. “Others were ill...”

She could explain this away by the idea that Reina had become ill following her birthday which in turn had then passed to those that cared for her. It made sense. And yet—

The Dowager Queen herself had not become ill. Many other maids had not become ill.

“Poison?” Edeline whispered to herself –hazarding a guess. Something about that hypothesis didn’t seem to fully fit.

Unable to come up with any other plausible explanations, The Queen Dowager gave up guessing and decided it was time to keep a closer eye upon her step-daughter’s activities in hopes that an answer may become apparent.

What she would uncover would shake The Queen Dowager to her core and trigger the start of events that would lose Bayern its rightful heir.

Author's Note: Hi everyone I hope you're enjoying the story thus far! Lots more to come! Happy New Year!

-Britt xo