14 The Woman from the Fairy Tales

Still being grabbed by Ramsis, I was led in a beeline towards the tea room. He constantly chatted about the architecture of the Palace, introduced me to all the places we passed on the way, told me about the various artworks in every corner. Coronia was a nation that relied heavily on its craftsmanship and art. Its intriguing jewellery was sold all across the continent, and many nobles ordered statues and artcrafts from the local artisans.

Prior to the establishment of the kingdom Coronia, it was a segregated country which was inhabited by nomadic tribes. They would endlessly fight amongst themselves to secure a patch of green in the desert or the few places where people could settle in.

Generations ago, it was the leader of the Raj Clan who established the Kingdom of Coronia and united the peninsula in the southern region. The Raj was a tribe of warriors who regarded dying during a battle to be the greatest achievement in a man's life. And even among those warriors, the leader was feared as an exceptional bloodthirsty man, a warmonger amongst beast and monsters. Those who couldn't stand a chance, he plundered and devoured alive. Those who stood against him, he killed indiscriminatingly. Neither men nor women, old nor young, were left alive. He conquered most of the southern continent, leaving only a few who retreated deep into the desert, living a life of always looking back and being hunted.

They erected him a statue and made him the embodiment of their War God Raj, one of the few Gods remaining from those days.

As history was written by the victor, his atrocious acts became a legend and he declared himself the hero who unified the south. The Raj Clan became nobles, the warmonger a king, ruling over a self-made kingdom. From that day on, establishing an armoured force was only privileged to the nobles from the Raj clan. Any other tribe had to seek permission first before training warriors or soldiers. That is why most families have become artisans and craftsmen, peddler or farmers. Over the centuries, Coronia established itself as a Kingdom of Art and Religion. The bloody history has been slowly forgotten in the depths of time.

Ramsis was a descendant of that manmade god. The Raj Clan has been in power since the establishment of the kingdom several hundred years ago, never wavered in their superiority, always looking down on the other families which they regarded as servants, or even worse, livestock.

One fateful day, the tides changed. Two decades ago, his Highness Malek K'ir Valen Del Raj, the previous king and Ramsis' father, died in battle, leaving a son too young to take over the legacy of his ancestors. Back then, Ramsis's mother, Queen Mariasha, became Regnal Queen on behalf of the Crown Prince. Not even at the age of twenty, yet she became the new head of a kingdom that believed in the superiority of men. Being looked down upon, the Raj Clan decided to use her as a puppet ruler, waiting for the day Ramsis would come of age, and they could dispose of her.

But to everyone's surprise and terror, Queen Mariasha put down her husband's name and reclaimed her maiden name on the night of her coronation, thus becoming Sovereign Queen Qūin, escaping the clutches of the ones named Raj. The feeble puppet became a puppeteer by snapping off her strings by sheer force with the help of those the Raj had always deemed weak and helpless.

Dyeing her gown crimson red with blood, she turned her coronation into a funeral and the holy grounds of the palace into a burial ground, laying over half of the Raj Clan to rest. She fought fire with fire.

That night goes into history as "The Crimson Liberation".

Within her regnal years, she became the biggest thorn in the eye of the extant Raj Clan. Not only was she a mere woman, but she also dared to sully the throne with a subpar name, cutting into the centuries reign by the Raj, who considered themselves on par with the Gods. And the worst was still to come.

Before her son, Crown Prince Ramsis came to age; Queen Qūin declared the end of the Kingdom of Coronia.

Instead, she established the Sovereign Republic Coronia and introduced something that no one has seen before: a government made of elected representants of the various tribes of Coronia. Queen Qūin was still the head of the Republic, and she still carried the title of Queen, but her decisions were now weighed and measured by the various members of the parliament.

Noticeably, her seat and title was no longer hereditary but had to be elected and acknowledged by the people and their representants. Only those who proved themselves worthy and able could ever dream about it. She became a heroic figure in the eyes of the suppressed tribes and the arch-enemy of the Raj Clan and its affiliates. The resistance against her new reform was fierce, but it amounted to nothing compared to the strong support she received by the various small clans.

Ramsis was no longer privileged to become king, although he was once the lawful heir to the throne. His title now adorns him like his robe and his accessories, it looked beautiful on the surface, but its worth was only superficial — something the peasants gossip about now and then.

Of course, all of this was what Mother had told me on the way. She told me all I had to know about Coronia. A noble's diplomacy must be flawless. And knowing your opposite as much as you know yourself is the only way to do so.

All the time, I thought that I had to walk on tiptoes around Ramsis and that he must have resent his mother for her 'good deeds', but the reality didn't live up to the rumours. We, as onlookers, would only ever see the smoke but never know how hot the fire was.

Ramsis was actually on good terms with his mother.

When we arrived at the tea room, Mother was already deep in conversation with another woman. That woman was the rumoured Queen Qūin of Coronia. The first female on the holy throne and the one who overthrew the kingdom.

With the same jet-black hair as Ramsis and unblemished honey-coloured skin, she looked like a figure from an oriental painting. It was told that King Malek brought her into his harem because she was rumoured to be the most beautiful girl in the kingdom. And later on, she became his Queen.

It was hard to tell her age from her looks. If Ramsis had told me that she was his sister, I would have believed him. She wore no crown and no elaborated robe that would identify her at first glance. Her attire, a double-layered dark golden muslin dress, was far from simple but seemed much too reserved for a Queen. Her hair, even though bound into a high ponytail, still reached her kneecaps. It might have reached the ground if let loose. She had the same small stature as Mother, looking graceful and fragile. Her eyes, the most uncommon colour here in the south, was of such a pale colour, that it was almost colourless. It was a grey whirlpool with specks of silver. They looked like the moon, translucent and unreachable. Such eyes would usually look cold, but she emanated an almost arcadian tranquillity.

It is told that the Qūin-Naï Clan, which Mariasha came from, was of meek and straightforward nature, like pushovers. They birthed priests and maidens, literati and philosophs, those that are piously seeking the advice of the Gods and have never been troubled by worldly affairs. Even before the Raj forbid other clans from training warriors, the Qūin-Naï was told to be a peaceful clan that never clashed with others. If pushed, they would fall, and if beaten they would cower, but never fight back. If not for their sensibility to avoid conflict where it could be avoided and their almost non-existent threat to others, they might have been extinguished by external forces long ago.

Who knew, I thought to myself, it would be precisely this weak clan, and not to mention a woman, who would set an end to centuries of tyranny.

To the young girls in Florencia, her story has become a Fairy Tale, told before going to bed. The woman in front of me was already a living legend, a heroine. And sooner or later, her name will be recorded in the annals of history, and she will be like no other King or Queen before or after because she is the one who invented democracy in this day and age. It was a concept so foreign that people have yet to put a name on it.

My heart quivered when that legendary beauty greeted me with a simple smile. I had not expected to be able to meet her this soon.

'So this is the rumoured smile that could topple over kingdoms. A calamity like beauty...' I sighed in awe.

Never judge a book by its cover.

Never.