She went to her room, wondering how the Prince would treat her now. The moment she opened the door, the Prince hastily came and took her in his arms, saying, “I was so scared; I thought they would separate us now. Thank you for not killing my brother. And I am so happy that they made you the monarch. I didn’t like the whole process, but I respect their decision. You deserve to be a leader wherever you go, although I know you never desired this.”

  He looked at her with hope in his eyes and continued, “Can you believe that now you are powerful enough to grant me the wish I asked you the first time we met. You can now free Absyleous from internal conflict and make it a peaceful place. Give a chance to everyone to make their lives better and help them become good people. I am so happy that my dream will be fulfilled by the person whom I love limitlessly.”

  Martia embraced the Prince back, unable to tell him how trapped she actually felt in this leadership role. This was exactly why she got bored in her village and accepted the dare from Ari to escape that trap, even for a few moments, which ultimately led her to meet the Prince. Martia didn’t have the heart to share this with him and take away his excitement. So, she didn’t say anything.

  After letting go of him, she smiled and listened to all the suggestions the Prince made to better the lives of the people.

  They again spent the whole night on the balcony, holding each other, while the Prince looked at the stars happily and Martia tried to gather all the love and peace from that moment so that she could handle the boring responsibility of being a monarch.

  At the next meeting, Martia appointed a new minister of law and order, recommended to her by the ministers, and initiated her resolution to grant autonomous status to Promapple and the eleven villages to be governed under it. She told the ministers to discuss the resolution and sent the invitation to the market, which she knew Minver and Acastius would know about. She asked them to come to the meeting along with the representatives of the eleven villages to discuss the resolution.

  The busier she got, the more bored she became, but she was just

  holding the throne until she united Absyleous. Then she would find a way out . . . very soon, she thought.

  One day, she got news about external aggression by another kingdom. She finally had something interesting to work on. She held meetings with all the strategists, along with intelligence minister, Augtromas, defense minister, Rogmanium, and chemical minister, Milinovase. With all the advice, intelligence, and information, Martia developed a lethal plan.

  Along with brutal methods of fighting, she also sanctioned a few drugs to be used on attackers, if necessary. She just needed a bold general to supervise the strategic implementation of the plan. The present generalswere efficient but not up to the mark, according to Martia. Augtromas suggested she give his son a chance.

  Martia laughed at this suggestion and said, “Finally you want personal favors from the monarch. If your son is such a good strategist and fighter, why does he need your help to reach where he deserves?”

  Augtromas laughed and said, “He and our Prince started training

  together when they were kids. After some time, the Prince, because of something that happened, ran away from home, completely heartbroken with this life and his father’s decisions, but my son stayed, even though he also hated this life. He wanted to stay and make things better, so he trained and studied at the same time. If you want to know how good a fighter he is, then who is better than you to judge, fight with him, and see how long he can survive. If you want to know how good a strategist he is, then test him and see for yourself if he qualifies. My point is, he went into administration to help people and our Prince went into medicine to heal people. But my son still practices fighting regularly. He also administers Loktrowen. You can check the reports of its development. I never said give him the job, I only suggested a candidate who can better execute your plans. See for yourself. Appoint him or not, obviously that will be your decision.”

  Martia realized the sincerity in Augtromas’s suggestion. She said, “Give him the charge of this whole task. I don’t have time to judge him; let the situation do that. If he fails, and if the aggressors enter Absyleous, I can take care of it, but before that, I will assassinate your son if he is still alive, and that too, in front of you. So be prepared for it and send him to the border.”

  Augtromas turned to leave, when Martia asked, “What is his name?”

  She smirked and said, “If he succeeds and dies, then I will name a road or place after him.”

  Augtromas replied calmly, “He will introduce himself to you in person after succeeding and surviving.”

  “You have so much confidence. Is it because he is your son?”

  “No, I am not a very emotional person, Your Highness,” he replied.

  “It is definitely not because he is my son. It is because I always bet on extraordinary people. And the people I bet on, always find a way to win. You can take yourself as an example! Now if you grant it, may I leave?”

  As Augtromas left, Martia was amazed at his overconfidence.

  It took time, but the border conflict was handled very well by Augtromas’s son.

  Then one day, Martia got news from the border that her military had taken control over a complete city of the aggressor’s kingdom. Martia, highly impressed with the performance of her military, called Augtromas and said, “Call back our military to the boundary of Absyleous and convey a message to the aggressors that the next time, I will loot and plunder their border areas and assassinate all the civilians, so if they don’t care about their people, then they can definitely provoke us again.”

  Augtromas smiled and said, “Will gladly do so, Your Highness.”

  Martia ordered, “Call your son to the castle. I have bigger responsibilities for him now.”

  After that, within a few months, many rounds of negotiations between Promapple’s leaders and the ministers were held. Many things were already agreed on. Martia then called a final meeting with the ministers and representatives from Promapple and the eleven villages with an expectation that it would be finalized that day. But to her surprise, they started arguing, and the discussion was not reaching any conclusion. This made Martia

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  furious.

  She got up off the royal chair and said calmly but in a threatening

  tone, “Do you think I have this much patience to listen to your destructive arguments? I will not adjourn this meeting till this resolution is passed today. If you can’t reach an agreement, then pass it as I have made, but if you want to add or remove according to your desires, then you all better make it a constructive argument with a reachable conclusion, and that too,

  today itself. Since the monarch has the power to conduct the meeting for as long as she desires in case of an emergency, and since this negotiation will end the internal conflict of Absyleous, it qualifies for an emergency meeting.” Smiling evilly, she continued, “I am trying to be a calm and inclusive monarch, but as you all know, this is against my nature.”

  On hearing this, everyone went quiet for a moment, and then, instead of arguing, they started talking.

  Pleased with this, Martia smiled and started paying attention to what they were saying, which had been difficult before because it was too noisy. It still took them a whole day, but they signed the resolution with some modifications.

  The next day, Martia was scheduled to meet Augtromas’s son. She’d expected a strong and rough person, given the fact that he’d trained since young, but to her surprise, she saw a person with extreme elegance, something she’d only seen in the Prince. If she hadn’t known about him and his achievements, it would be easy to think of him that he was someone who had been raised in a royal home.

  Greeting Martia, he said humbly, “Please accept my gratitude for

  giving me a chance to serve our kingdom. I hope I have made you and Absyleous proud. I am Lovshayie, the former administrator of the city, Loktrowen.”

  Martia kept quiet. Lovshayie smiled and said, “Looks like my ruler is not satisfied with this humble fighter.”

  Martia inquired, “If we both get into a fight with each other, will you be able to defeat me?”

  Lovshayie said, “May I be honest, my empress?”

  “Don’t be if you want to face the consequence of lying.”

  Lovshayie declared, “I can defeat you!”

  “So, you think your fighting skills are better than mine?”

  Lovshayie smiled and replied, “I was not trained as ruthlessly as you, so I might have to say no for this question, but that doesn’t mean I will lose. I will find a way to win.”

  Martia smirked at this response and said, “Let’s never meet in the war field, Lovshayie. It will be a loss if you get killed.

  Lovshayie smiled again and didn’t say anything. He then asked Martia, “If you will allow me, I would like to meet my childhood friend. I would like to see the Prince.”

  “Yes, you may,” she answered.

  After spending the whole day in the courtroom, when Martia returned to the room, she saw the Prince happily chatting with Lovshayie. She thought of leaving the room and letting them continue talking, but the Prince saw her. He went to her, embraced her, and took her to Lovshayie.

  The Prince said, “Martia, he is one of the two childhood friends I have. Until I left the palace, he was there for me whenever I needed a friend. I care about him a lot.”

  Martia smiled and said, “It is great to meet you, Lovshayie.”

  Lovshayie replied respectfully, “It is my honor, Your Highness.”

  Martia replied quickly, so the Prince would not be uncomfortable, “I am not here as the ruler of Absyleous. Right now, you can think of me as your friend, just like the Prince.”

  Beaming, the Prince said, “Yes, we will be so happy to have you as our friend, Lovshayie.”

  “If that is the case, I will be informal and treat you both as my

  friends.” Lovshayie smiled. “And I must say, Martia, as ruthless as my father described you, I never imagined you would be this beautiful, too. My best friend here is very lucky. And I now feel like I should also have a lover.”

  The Prince said, “Yes! You should find a life partner. Nothing can be more beautiful than being with someone we love the most.”

  Martia caressed the Prince’s face, looking at him with utmost adoration.

  The Prince smiled brightly and held her hands.

  Lovshayie laughed. “Now I am getting jealous.”

  Hearing this, the Prince and Martia smiled too, and they talked until almost midnight.

  The next day, Martia summoned Lovshayie to her courtroom.

  Lovshayie greeted Martia and waited for the order.

  Martia asked, “What do you think about becoming the king of

  Absyleous?”

  Lovshayie, completely taken aback with this question, couldn’t think of an answer and looked at Martia, stunned. After some time, he replied, “Forgive me, Your Highness, I just can’t get myself to believe that I am lucky enough for you to choose me for marriage.”

  Martia laughed at Lovshayie and said, “I am not choosing you for

  marriage. I am thinking of making you king and leaving this castle with the Prince.”

  Lovshayie softly asked, “Why does Your Highness want to do this? Are you not happy here?”

  “I will tell you when we meet as friends,” she said. “I just called you here to ask if you want to become the king.”

  “If I say yes, how will it happen?” he asked.

  “I will amend the law,” replied Martia. “I know every minister’s

  weakness. I can get them to do what I want very easily. But I needed someone worthy, and you proved your worth. Even the people of Absyleous seem to respect you a lot. You have an advantage right now compared to the others. If you can take care of the kingdom, then take this responsibility.”

  “I am ready to take this responsibility, but I wish you to stay here, in this palace,” Lovshayie said. “I will never burden you with anything, but I hope you don’t leave along with my friend.”

  Martia asked, “Are you worried that after so long you got to meet your childhood friend and I am taking him away from you again?”

  Lovshayie replied humbly, “I wish you both to stay here. I consider you too as my friend.”

  Smiling, Martia said, “ Prince and I . . . we both are not made for this palace. We can’t stay here for long. If your answer is yes, then leave the rest to me. You can leave now. I have other matters to take care of.”

  Lovshayie humbly bowed to Martia, looking sad, and left.