Long Live The Queen: Music and Peace Ending [Spoilers] [Part 5]
Week 40
(Studied Dance in the morning.)
You have unlocked a new outfit!
(Studied Dance in the afternoon.)
At this time last year, you were celebrating your fourteenth birthday. You were in the school gardens, surrounded by your friends. A teacher brought you tea and cakes, while a wealthy merchant's son wove a crown of flowers for your head.
It didn't matter so much that you were a princess then. Your title was something for the future. Many of your peers would be Duchesses or Earls or the like, someday, but not then. You were children.
Your parents could not attend on the actual day, but they did send wonderful gifts, some for you, and some for you to share. And a week later, they came for a visit, and your mother took you with her through the countryside in a splendid carriage.
It was the last time you would ever see her.
You wonder if, wherever she is, she can see you now.
You are fifteen years old, a legal adult. You have worked and studied and suffered and prepared, and now the time has come.
You kneel before the priestess, barely hearing her words as she recites the blessings.
She calls upon the gods to deliver peace, wisdom, and prosperity to you, and through you, to all of Nova. And then she calls upon you, for your oath of rulership.
Priestess of the First Circle: Will you guide and govern and protect your people to the best of your ability, according to law and custom?
Elodie, Crown Princess: I will.
Priestess of the First Circle: Will you to the best of your power uphold the ideals of love, honor, justice, and mercy?
Elodie, Crown Princess: I will.
Priestess of the First Circle: Lords and Ladies assembled: I present to you your undoubted Queen, who has sworn you her loyalty.
Priestess of the First Circle: You who have come to give homage, will you do the same?
One at a time, the head of each duchy approaches your throne and kneels to swear his or her service to you and your heirs.
Priestess of the First Circle: People of Nova, I give you Elodie, daughter of Fidelia, your true sovereign. What say you all?
People: LONG LIVE THE QUEEN! LONG LIVE THE QUEEN! LONG LIVE THE QUEEN!
Elodie, Queen of Nova: (Thank you! I will!)
The following year, Elodie and Talarist were married in a ceremony that threatened to rival her coronation for pomp and splendour.
Once his daughter was secure on her throne, Joslyn returned to his birthplace to focus on his duties as Duke of Caloris.
He was pursued by many women, but showed little interest in remarrying, directing them instead to his brother, the Duke of Mazomba.
With the danger of a rogue Lumen weighing on their minds, the squad sent to deal with Lucille, Countess of Nix opted to strike quickly and without warning, aiming to eliminate her before she could bring her powers to bear. Kill-on-sight.
Infiltrating the ducal stronghold to 'remove' one noble while leaving others unharmed is not a simple task, particularly when the easiest time to catch people off their guard is when they are at family meals, or asleep.
While Lucille's traumatic death did produce a Lumen crystal to justify Elodie's actions, it was unlikely that her relationship with her uncle and cousins would ever fully recover.
The subject of magic and Lumens remained a slightly uncomfortable one for the citizens of Nova. Perfectly fine for the Queen, who had inherited it by divine right, but not something that other people should be aspiring towards. Look at all the terrible things that happened when that power fell into the wrong hands!
As an openly acknowledged Lumen, Julianna, Duchess of Ursul, was met with public suspicion whenever she journeyed outside of her Duchy. At times, that suspicion was accompanied with thrown vegetables.
After the halt of the Shanjian invasion, relations across the western sea remained calm and trade flourished. Shanjia's expansionist phase seemed to have come to a halt.
Sometime later, a special trade ship from Shanjia arrived with a tribute for Queen Elodie. There was a beautiful harpsichord inlaid with ivory and pearl and golden roses, as well as two paintings, clearly made by children, depicting a pink-haired angel.
As a Lumen, it was Elodie's responsibility to defend Nova from monstrous threats. She decided that the monsters within the realm were every bit as dangerous as those outside, and thus set herself to the task of conquering the Old Forest.
Each monster would have to be identified and carefully studied in order to defeat it without upsetting the balance. It would take many years to reach the heart of the forest, but Elodie was undaunted.
And thus Queen Elodie's legacy stretched into the future...