The Mad Queen

Chapter Thirty-Four

After the death of his wife at the hands of his aunt and cousins, King Orlando distanced himself from his daughters. Princess Jane, Princess Nyx and Princess Selena. As what he thought was a kindness, he separated the girls from each other too. For they would be the first Dulavelle daughters to participate in the Queen's Trial which would begin the year they reached adulthood. For those eighteen years, the girls each had their own parts of the castle. They hardly ever saw each other so that when it came to the Trial and two of the three princesses were sacrificed, the survivor wouldn't feel the same loss and pain he had suffered. Both with the death of his beloved wife and his mother, the Mad Queen. He also made himself a stranger to them so that he would feel less heartbroken at the death of two of them. Planning to be a bigger part of the winning daughter's life.

His plan did not work.

The three girls were special. They were identical triplets. Even though they grew up separated the three shared a bond. Instead of seeing each other as strangers, as the king had hoped for, the three longed to see each other. They knew that even though only one of them would live past adulthood, they longed to get to know each other. Often, they would find ways to meet in secret, using some of the hidden passages around the castle.

When the Queen's trial began, they were given colours so that they could be told apart. Princess Jane wore green. Princess Nyx wore purple. Princess Selena wore red. However, what the public didn't know was that the princesses would swap colours. Princess Jane was never good at combat yet Princess Selena was. So Princess Selena wore green and did the combat trial in Princess Jane's place. When Princess Jane, wearing the red of Selena failed the challenge, the mark of failure didn't go against her. The Princesses did this with so many trials, that it completely mixed up the marking system and left the people confused as to who to support. They all lost and won the same amount of trials and their performance was inconsistent.

Eventually, a sister won. However, to this day no one knows which sister it was. As what they had done was discovered, the people came to realise that there was no way of telling who was who. The winning princess refused to say which one she was only replying with.

"Those who supported such a trial to put sister against sister does not deserve to know. Let this prove to you that though you may try and sperate us from each other, we will still fight for each other. We are Dulavelle daughters, descendants of Gods. We will stand united instead of apart. The Queen's Trial is a crime. It is cruel and made by those who lie and manipulate.  We shall not stand by and allow this to happen without putting up a fight. This is the first trial and we have made it a mockery. We've manipulated all your precious tests making them unreliable. You will always wonder who I am. You will always wonder if I am worthy of being Queen Victorious. Yet there is nothing you can do about it. You will never know which sister I am. You will never know your Queen, yet you will only know me as your Queen."

~The History of the Queen's Trial.

I wake up to find Nianzu curled up fast asleep at the end of the bed. The large dog snoring away. So much for sleeping with one eye open. I let out a little chuckle before carefully getting out of bed so I don't disturb him. Light streams in through the window and I open it slightly. The skies are blue with no cloud in sight. I smile and leave the window. I rummage through my bags, just making sure we still have everything. Nothing is gone. So there were no visitors during the night. I hear a yawn behind me and turn to see Nianzu. He stretches in his dog form before he shifts into his human form. He stretches out on the bed again before letting out a happy sigh. I head into the bathing room and wash my face and neck with cold water to wake me up a bit. I go over to the mirror and look at my reflection. It is still odd. Seeing myself like this. I run my hand through my short, shoulder-length golden blonde hair. My fingers go around my eyes. I open them wider and lean closer to the mirror, looking at the dark green orbs mixed with hints of brown.