Mae of Wessex - the rightful Queen, because of marriage to King Æthelred of Wessex!
It's the 9th century - Mae is a talented, beautiful, smart and fun-loving young girl who has lived in Wessex/Winchester for as long as she can remember!
But when s...
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You couldn't really say Mae was happy, but her life could clearly be worse. She has lived in Wessex/Winchester for as long as she can remember and bangs on about the people who live there on a daily basis!
Her father, a minor blacksmith, often sends her to the palace to advertise his services. So one day, fed up with the tasks he constantly assigns her, she enters the palace once again.
At the entrance, the Right Hand of the King greeted her - Leofric! He smiled at her and she smiled back out of decency...she had too much decency. When Mae had passed him, she walked straight towards the throne room and carefully opened the door.
Immediately all eyes were on her and she felt uncomfortable instantly. King Æthelred and his son Æthelwold looked at her with a piercing look and she would have liked to slap them both!
After a second of hesitation and reconsideration, she came clean and told the king why her father had sent her off. Still, she wondered if she should just go home again.
"Mae, what a pleasure to see you here!" King Æthelred smiled at her and tilted his head. His son Æthelwold sat down and began biting his fingernails. "Forgive my son's behaviour, he is nervous as always when he sees you!"
Mae slightly smiled and thought to herself 'why is he so weird?'but she was quickly pulled out of her thoughts as King Æthelred stood up and walked towards her.
"Now tell me, what are you doing here in the palace?" Mae's heart was suddenly pounding faster than before and she didn't quite know what to say. "My father sent me to advertise his services as a blacksmith, Lord King!" Mae said this in a shaky voice and judging by the expression on King Æthelred's face, he didn't know whether to laugh at her or pity her!
"Of course he knows he's not the best blacksmith in Wessex, but all he wants is for his family to be well and for us to have at least a little money!" now the shaky voice was gone and Mae was literally yelling at King Æthelred!
He did not mind, on the contrary, he understood her point of view! He too wanted her family to be well, as they had been loyal and friendly inhabitants of Winchester for years! He sighed, thought and then came to a daring decision: he asked Mae to marry him!
"Mae, I've admired you for years, I just never told you that before." Mae's eyes widened, Æthelwold choked on his own spit and Leofric raised an eyebrow! What was the King trying to tell her? Why did he tell her that in such a strange situation?
"Thank you, Lord King, but why are you telling me this now?" she was really confused and wanted him to know, but he didn't seem to care because he just ignored her question and went on with his own!
"And that is exactly why I wanted to ask you if you would like to become my wife and thus the new Queen of Wessex/Winchester?" now Æthelwold stood up again, stormed towards the door and left the throne room! Leofric lowered his head and sighed and Mae was speechless!
"Lord King, I'm really flattered by your offer, but before I can respond I need to think about it for a few days!" Mae took a step back and began to tremble. Leofric looked at her and was about to walk towards her when she suddenly stormed out of the throne room!
She ran quickly, hoping that no one was following her, and she soon reached the palace garden. It was quiet there, no one disturbed her and here she could take a deep breath! What made the King ask her such a question? Why would he want to marry her? He had only recently lost his wife to death and now he wanted to marry her, a daughter of a bad blacksmith and a simple peasant woman?
Mae's head was in chaos and she wanted to scream. Suddenly someone cleared their throat behind her and quick as a flash she turned her head. It was Æthelwold, leaning against a wall and scowling at her. Mae felt uncomfortable immediately and wanted to get up and leave, when Æthelwold grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her back into the garden!
"Where are you going in such a hurry?" Mae didn't even know what to answer, so she decided not to answer at all! Æthelwold, still leaning against the wall and scowling at her, tilted his head to the side and waited for an answer.
Mae took one deep breath in and out before clearing her throat and scowling at him as well. He raised an eyebrow and leaned away from the wall.
"It's none of your damn business where I go, Æthelwold!" she was proud of herself, but felt bad directly for having reacted that way. Æthelwold looked like he was regretting his decision to speak to her and without another word he was gone!
Mae looked after him and sighed. Had she reacted wrongly? Did she react too harshly? She decided to go after Æthelwold and apologise! He ran fast, so she ran faster - what a miracle! After a while he noticed her and stopped. She raised an eyebrow before she too stopped and waited until he turned to her.
"What do you want, Mae?" he sighed. "Do you want to snap at me like that again? Or do you want to talk to me normally now?" Mae lowered her head and took one deep breath out and in again before answering him. "I want to apologise to you, Æthelwold!" he raised an eyebrow and tilted his head to the side. "It was wrong to snap at you like that and let you walk away without apologising."
Æthelwold was perplexed and did not quite know what and whether to answer. Mae waited anxiously for an answer as she felt really bad and didn't want him to think she was a bad person! After what felt like an eternity, he cleared his throat and started talking.
"I accept your apology, Mae." Mae widely smiled at him. "But I'm going to say what I'm about to say just once, all right?" Mae hesitatingly nodded. "It's good that we understand each other! So...whether or not you have already thought about my father's question to marry you: you will say 'no', is that clear?!"
Mae winced and took a step back. Æthelwold was really a bad person...the people on the streets were right! Never in her whole life had she felt so alone and bad as she did at that moment. Even though she was not alone, this feeling of being so was so strong that she could not even fight it!
And again he scowled at her as he had done in the garden. A shiver ran down her spine and she didn't know what to answer! He had such a convincing tone that she wanted to say 'yes' and 'amen' straight away. But she didn't want to come across as weak and petty!
With everything she had, she fought not to slap him and to answer normally and politely. But it wasn't that easy! It took all her self-control, but she managed somehow!
"I will take your request into account when making my decision, okay?" he got angry and clenched his fists! "Why are you getting so angry now? Don't you like my answer to your request?" Mae grinned slightly and watched him get angrier and angrier. It was funny to watch him get angrier and stifle a laugh.
He did not like her answer at all and did exactly the same as in the garden: he simply walked away. Yet her answer was quite nice. At least she felt her answer was nice and did not give it any more thought! On the contrary, she decided to go back home, tell her parents and siblings about the King's question and then listen to them telling her to say 'yes'!
