Had you ruled in my stead, I’d feared that your demise might mirror hers, I could not let that happen. Not again. But if I let you choose your destiny, would you instead spend it resenting me? -- Anon Guest
There's more than one kind of King who never wanted the crown. In the case of Prince-Constort Kanutus, beloved of the Warrior Queen Haalvig, having the crown and the throne meant the death of his wife. Known far and wide as the King in Black, he reigned with nary a smile whilst he was in power. All of Ranouthia mourned with him.
Princess Haalvig II was barely out of swaddling, and could neither lead nor direct the armies. Kanutus held her close, anyway, and rarely put her down.
Her mother had died in battle, taking half an enemy regiment with her. Kanutus, deep in mourning, vowed that his daughter would not follow in those footsteps.
He taught her magic. A way to smite the enemies of the realm from afar. Of course he taught her how to fight, but that was a last resort. The infant princess broke her teeth on boffer sword and Baby's First Runes alike.
She would be mighty by the time she took the crown, but Kanutus had one more idea to fortify his only child.
He sent her out with adventurers.
"Learn what it's like for the people you rule. See them whole, and judge them not. When it is time for you to judge what is fair and what is right... Your decisions effect how they live."
Haalvig chafed under these instructions, wanting to tell the diamonds in the rough that she was going to be their queen. They soon gave good reasons to keep her lips sealed about that.
"To the old crow," they toasted. "The dour, sour coward who sits like a spider in the web!"
"May he choke on the taxes he wrings out of our turnips!"
"May he drown in all that gold!"
"May he get stoned to death by the widows and orphans he makes with this endless war!"
Haalvig, pressed to come up with her own derision, managed, "May he get poisoned by his black dye?"
They laughed, and clapped her on the back, and Haalvig learned a valuable lesson about politics. Everyone on the bottom knows better ways to run things than the one at the top, and they also have little understanding of all the horseshit in the way.
How that Devilborn on the mountaintops managed the same was beyond her. Then again, viewing a crown and a throne as an obligation and a duty rather than a privilege might be a contributing factor.
Her adventuring companions all seemed to agree that the "little Princess" would be far better on the throne.
"Since her mother died?" Haalvig asked. "You'd want a baby under the crown? Tactical meetings with her teething on the markers?"
Well, no, they agreed. Not that young. After she learned to read and write for sure. When she knew her own mind.
"Oh," she coed, "So young that any advisor or viseer could become her puppeteer? So young that anyone could influence her into terrible decisions for one despot's profit?"
Now it was mumbling and grumbling that she really should grow up quicker and get rid of the regent. That'd solve everything. Everyone knew that Ranouthia was defending itself, sure, but Trixorin was also just defending itself and its historical claim to the contested territories.
What historical claim?
Haalvig took them all to a sanctuary of history, where the oldest map available for viewing showed that the contested territory had once belonged to a third Kingdom that had since collapsed. Trixorin had no such claims, and Ranouthia was willing to support its independence.
Trixorin was playing games. One they were adept at in particular. One, Haalvig knew, was called Silly Buggers.
She could play as well. Better. Faster. With more agility. An adventurer-sized strike team could do damage that fully-stocked armies could not.
Especially if they made a pact with the neighbourhood Kobold warrens.
Trixorin was going to have an astonishing amount of bad luck whenever they aimed their siege weapons towards civilian targets.
Reluctant though she was to admit it, soon-to-be Queen Haalvig II had to confess that Dad had a point.
[Image by Martin Zaenkert on Unsplash]
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