The Shrew

Olivia Harvest has lived long.

She is turning seventy seven this year, and by now, she has outlived her husband, three of her sons, three of her daughter-in-laws, and three of her finest grandchildren.

As the ruling family of Harvest, they couldn't ask for a better life, as long as one lives on this side of Eldaria.

They were not under tyrants, like the east is.

They were not suffering from famine and scarcity, like the rest of the thousand kingdoms are.

Harvest could grow three crops per annum, and every fruit native to the continent, at least in name.

Winter reaches Harvest last, and Spring touches harvest first.

Fleur, the city under Harvest family is famous for its fashion, beauty, and all around decadence.

The men and women of Harvest are famous for their honor, chivalry and virtuousness.

All around, Harvest excelled at bullshit that only the rich could 'invest in' to brag about themselves.

Rich they were, compared to anyone save the Lustre's of Gold land, who literally sat above a gold mine.

She has given birth to two daughters and two sons, one of which ruled as lord of Harvest family.

However, any one with half a brain cell knew, Olivia is the true power behind Harvest.

The first crisis in her life came, when her foolish son insisted he wanted to make his sister the empress of the world, after meeting Rykkor Drakon for all of five minutes.

Olivia saw the man. He was ethereally beautiful, and had equally beautiful Aurea Summers besides himself as queen.

She could see why her son and daughter both were in love with that man.

If there is an opportunity to sleep with that kind of man, there is no way a girl will be willing to sleep with the boorish little twerps who only knew to knock their sticks together.

However, she knew, if her daughter were to have a happy life, she must not go to Rykkor. That man has written tragedy all over himself.

Thus, her youngest daughter went to the next best looking man, drenched in tears.

History has only proven her instinct to be absolutely right.

Rykkor died, his father went mad, and even the imperial power had transitioned. It's the mother-in-law who held the reins, not the daughter-in-law. That proved how formidable ruling dragon empress is or how good her network is. 

Her daughter wouldn't have survived in such a place.

Others only see how much the Empress suffered under the mad emperor's rule, but Olivia knew better.

She has seen the woman.

That woman … she was a bitch through and through. Sure, she suffered at the hands of her husband, but that did not mean she did not get back at him in any way.

Otherwise, how would the power that fell into her hands would remain stable, even when all the relevant men died ?

Simple.

It remained because she had enough handles on all the major families, and enough hostages in her hand from all the city states.

Worse yet, most recently, she did not stop her son from selling her daughter to an unwashed barbarian.

The horse lords are not that different from animals, from all accounts and her own observation.

She was jealous of her own daughter, and she wanted her daughter to suffer the same way as she did.

That's about the only reason Olivia could think of Dahlia's plight.

All the same, that's irrelevant.

The point is that the Harvest family missed making the right call about Beor Hawthorne sixteen years ago. As a result, he was snapped up by Cortana Lustre.

Cortana's brother Quixote Lustre agreed to be her husband's royal guard, and their father was unwilling to let Perseus Lustre be his heir.

As such, in but a moment, the entire south is unified under Beor Hawthorn.

Though they were called allies, and only reduced their names to lords and ladies of Harvest, the Harvests keenly felt the loss of their royal status.

After all, in the first place, the rulers of Harvest for Druids.

During one of the short lived Drakon's conquests, all the druids were killed, as a result, the Harvest kingdom fell into Harvest's hands.

Almost every noble in Harvest could claim their relationship to Druids one way or another.

I.e. Many families with better resources were on the same level as Harvest's level.

If her son were a military genius like Winterchilds always seem to be, Olivia would have no problem joining the dog fight. However, her son was easily convinced, far too greedy, and had little to no sense on how to make something work.

He would have led their family to ruin.

Thus, she stopped him twenty years ago from involving himself with the Hawthorns.

The perfect opportunity arrived with king Beor's death.

The second son of Hawthorns, Mormon, who held Breaktide Island, had little to no support.

The third son of Hawthorns, Lumen Mormon was very much popular, thankfully, Mormon hawthorn had done the groundwork of every one about Cortana's incestuous children.

Thus, it's easy to gather the relevant armies under the leadership of Lumen, who is very amiable and malleable.

Unfortunately, Lumen died on the day of the wedding, without consummating the marriage.

Then, having no other choice, as Raul was already married, they settled on Jeremy.

Her granddaughter Marelyn was the jewel of their family, shrewd as a fox, and pretty as a peony.

As they collected information about Jeremy, they realized the boy is madder than the mad emperor, worse yet, he was stupider than a stable groom.

Thus, Olivia threw the grandest wedding in history for her granddaughter and the king, making sure to add a little something extra for the king's wedding toast.

As expected, the king died writhing in pain.

None but his mother mourned for him, though everyone wore black.

The grandfather of the king was not even interested in finding out who really killed the king. He accepted the decision his son was the perpetrator all too readily.

Meanwhile, Prime minister Pimont, who schemed all this with them, vanished with Sasha Winterchild.

That is the moment Olivia knew, she miscalculated once more.

Sasha Winterchild is the princess of winterland, third in line to kingdom of mountain, and fourth in line to kingdom of mountain, that is, if all the men who are holding them die without heirs.

On paper, it sounds like it's impossible, but in reality, it's a very much possible situation at the moment.

The ruler of riverland is currently sick, and none of his siblings have any children. His only heir is twenty eight, and is showing no signs of settling down.

It's all too easy for him to die in the battle.

Raul Winterchild is a great commander, and it's impossible to win against him in a straight out war. However, in the end he will die no matter what, for he has the same weakness as the rest of the Winterchild family.

He is inherently a good person. At the same time, Lord of Goldland was vain, and had no bottom line. He will kill Raul by hook or crook.

Lord Rushing, once more, had no siblings or children for three generations before, save for his sickly boy. God knows whether the boy would survive.

Thus, whoever marries Sasha Winterchild stands a very good chance of having claim to three of these kingdoms.

She could have found out about Sasha, but Olivia was involved in the political war against the Lustre family in the capital.

Thus, she missed all the growth of the little girl.

In the capital, the lord of Goldland fell victim to a plague, and Cortana became the only influence on the young king.

A war between both the queens ensued, with one killing a maid here, another killing a knight there.

That is, until Cortana Lustre blew up half the ministers tower with foxfire from alchemists.

Fortunately, Merilyn was missing from the accident, but she was doing so, because of an affair.

Thus, instead of returning to the palace, Merilyn returned to her maternal home.

Though Merilyn was saved, her youngest nephew, and pride of their family, Lyon Harvest died in the explosion.

With this, Harvest's withdrew all their support for the Lustre family, in every form and manner. Only, Mormon Hawthorn, who was licking his wounds on Break tide chose this time to go to winterland and support Barrier.

He did not return.

Meanwhile, Cortana Lustre crowned herself the queen, and invited every last nobleman on this side of the red river.

The Harvest family indirectly hinted to everyone of their vassals to ignore the occasion, but more people than Olivia was comfortable with were attending the coronation.

Thus, she decided no matter what, Cortana Lustre must die.

That woman is like a cockroach.

All her enemies die of some unknown fate, while she herself keeps benefiting from it.

Thus, when Olivia heard about the arrival of Dahlia Drakon, she decided she must become her ally. In the first place, Harvest family owes Drakon a debt of gratitude, and she has dragons.

If she decides to kill Cortana Lustre, it will be done in a matter of seconds.