Duchess in Distress

Chapter 10

NATHALIE

Based on the map, everyone was taught from grade school to university in the kingdom, Kingsville is the third largest state of the Kingdom of Luvia. North Valley being the largest since King Andrew favored Malin The Great over the other eleven heroes who founded the other eleven provinces.

As history had said, those eleven heroes had no doubt adored Malin the Great also, and they even had acknowledged him to be the first king of Luvia. However, Malin the Great wanted a more peaceful life in the north part of the kingdom, where he also grew up.

He had left Kingsville and became the first duke of the North Valley. King Andrew gave the other eleven heroes the direction of the lands they would own, and that was how the other eleven dukes founded each province.

"It was recently discovered that Malin the Great was a half-brother of King Andrew," Prince Theo said all of a sudden as if he could read my mind.

Then, I realized we passed the statue of King Andrew and Malin the Great in front of the National Library. They were both on their horses facing each other. Based on the history again, the two men part-ways on that very place.

I nodded to the statement of the prince, "Yes, it was during the time of your grandfather King Magnus that Malin The Great was discovered to be another son of King Andrew's father. I forgot the name of his father."

"Caius. King Caius of Galrye," he commented.

I became too excited to story-tell that I forgot we were in the limousine after the reporters harassed us at the airport, "Ah yeah, Malin the Great was son of King Caius of Galrye and his first love, Lou Livia, who built the tribe Luvia in the north which is now known as North Valley. Then, as a tribute to Malin the Great, the eleven heroes and King Andrew named the kingdom as Luvia, the name of the tribe which Malin The Great and his mother founded."

The heir apparent slowly clapped as if he did not expect me to know about those things. "You're good at history," that was the first-ever compliment I heard from him.

I flipped my hair, "I hate history, but when it comes to my ancestor, things are different."

There was complete silence, and I looked at the prince, who was suddenly in his deepest thought. He rubbed his fingers on his lips, and his next question caught me off guard, "Why was Dorothy, Duchess of North Valley was stripped of her title and rights if my grandfather discovered this deeper connection of the royal family to the dukedom of North Valley?"

I swallowed the lump in my throat when my mind processed that. I never thought about that. The question was always why, but I never got an answer since then.

We arrived at the gate of the Central Palace when the sun was already at its highest peak. The blue sky welcomed us when we arrived earlier in Kingsville. The black gate looked like a mountain. The whole palace was surrounded by tall black fences that were sculpted like a sword.

The royal guards who wore, obviously, the red jacket and pants with black hats, and their chest was covered by golden metal - traditional military clothing, checked us before letting us enter.

"They still checked on us even though the crown prince is with us," I got confused.

He looked at me as if I got a new bone in my head and sneered, "A part of the protocol, of course, for everyone's safety."

I looked at the window again and mimicked him in the most childish way.

The tallest flag in the whole kingdom was the appetizer when we entered the gate. It was located far away from the entrance, but it was the indication that the driver needed to turn right.