3 The Announcement

As she walked into the throne room, it could be seen that she was almost in a trance. Like she was seeing something from the past. Whatever it was seemed to make her smile a little bit, which seemed weird to all those in the throne room as the Princess never really smiles when she is in the palace. As she came out of her trance-like state she looked around.

She saw her oldest brother, Garv, standing alongside his mother. Lady Turvi the now oldest of the king's concubines and also what most consider to be the head concubine as well. She was the daughter of the Grand Duke Aditya, between all of the King's vassals he was by far the strongest.

Next to Garv was Fariq. He was wearing much like always his military uniform and was apart from the Princess the only one who held a military rank, though he was a Leuitent-General. Behind him was his mother Eshika. The head of the only adventure guild within the kingdom. She did hold a lot of power, but that was much nearer the borders where the adventures were much more abundant in numbers.

Hidden away, in the far corner was also another one of her brothers Jairaj, he was the quietest out of the brothers and spent most of his time working in the merchant hall in which his mother's family ran. Talking about his mother, she was standing with some other business-looking people all of whom seemed to be in some kind of deep discussion.

Finally, the Princess saw the youngest of her brothers, Yuvraj. He was with his grandfather the only other Grand Duke within the kingdom, and his mother Ekiya, who was the only of the concubines who had shown the Princess any care as she had grown up. Though even this had grown to disappear as she grew older and instead all of them now only showed her a biting cold.

Apart from the Princes, and their families, there were also the other three major merchant families as well as the other four Dukes. In short anyone with any form of major power or influence within the political circles of the kingdom was here in this throne room.

The Princess then walked away from all of her siblings and made her way to the side, where she could be alone and almost hide away from the looks which she would sometimes get from someone or another. As she looked at the throne she noticed her father the King was not present yet, which shocked her a little, he was always seemingly early to any kind of announcement which he had summoned them all to.

Then some trumpets sounded out, and the doors in which the Princess had not long ago entered through, were opened wide. First what walked in were eight soldiers dressed in chainmail and leather armour, alongside a red cape. These were the soldiers of the royal guard. Then as the trumpets sounded out again, every single person in the throne room bowed down.

All that could now be heard, was the announcers' voice.

"May I introduce, his Royal Majesty! The King Ranveer. King of the great Achambha Kingdom. Grand General of the Royal army, Grand Admiral of The Royal Fleet. Hero of the Northern Border and Arch-Mage of the Royal Mage academy. As well as the only active Grand Magnus within the kingdom!"

Once the announcer had finally finished speaking, everyone could hear the steady steps of what everyone assumed to be the king walk straight through the throne room, past every single person. This was until a slight creaking could be heard as he sat down onto the throne himself.

Then his weak and exhausted voice could be heard quietly through the throne room.

"You all...may rise."

Everyone including the Princess stopped bowing and looked up at the King.

He simply put looked old. His hair or at least what was left of it was all grey and looked like the last would fall off at any moment though it was still cut and well kept. His face was covered in wrinkles and his eyes, well they to be honest looked empty and soulless. It was like if anything he already had one foot in the grave.

No one in the room said anything though. Everyone just focused on the King, all eagerly waiting for the announcement which he had called everyone for to be made.

The King though made everyone wait in suspense as he slowly looked over everyone in the room, his eyes never stopping as he looked past all of his sons and his vassals. Though they did stop once he had seen the Princess they seemed to have some life come back into them as he saw her.

Then he began to speak.

"Prince Garv, Duke of the Raging Mountain. Prince Fariq, Duke of the Green Plains. Prince Jairaj, Duke of the Marble Coast. Prince Yuvraj, Duke of the Black Wood. And finally Princess Pavitra. All of you step forwards to the throne. We have something to tell you."

All of the royal children stepped forwards towards the throne. Once they were all within a meter and in one line, with Garv on one end and the youngest being Pavitra on the other. They all bowed down, then rose back up. The King didn't make any kind of expression at this.

"Now all here, hear my decree!"

He waited for a seconds before carrying on, making sure that he had everyone's attention.

"As you all know, we do not have an heir. So I have decided that it is about time that we make one. So to do this, we have decided that there will be a competition amongst the royal children to decide on an heir. The children must first go to their territory and first reclaim it in full from any rebels that are currently inhabiting it. Then they must develop their territory and help pacify the kingdom. The child who I deem to do this best will be made the heir to the throne as they would have proven themselves capable of ruling."

The King then stopped letting this all sink in, to the various people within the throne room. Each one of the Princes and their mothers all had expressions of shock and annoyance worn on their faces. It must be assumed that they had all expected to be made the heir, here and now. Instead, they were given a challenge.

The Princess though had no expression on her face. No one could tell what she was thinking. But everyone knew with this challenge she had been sidelined and would not be able to take part in the competition for the throne.

Then the King carried on talking,

"As you should have noticed I said, all of the children. As such this means my daughter, Princess Pavitra can not currently compete. So hear my next decree! I hereby appoint Princess Pavitra as a Captain General in the Royal Army. And place the tenth and eleventh regiments under her command alongside the Ninth which she is already in command of. With these soldiers and whatever else she raises I command her to go forth beyond the borders of the Kingdom and establish her Duchy. So In advance, I name her Duchess!"

The entire room was frozen in shock. Not a soul could have seen this coming!

Then the whole room erupted in yelling and complaints. No one showed any respect for the King at all! They were all complaining about how this was unfair and this was not right. They were saying how the Princess should stay in the palace and be good and let her brothers compete.

The Princess her self though had a look of dismay adorning her beautiful face. She was shocked and did not know how to even respond. The King who had seen this simply smiled at his daughter.

Then an expression of fury erupted out.

As he stood up off of the throne, fire appeared all around him instantly silencing the throne room.

"How dare you all defy my decree! I am the King! Not you! Not only that, last I checked the Princess is the most talented mage amongst my children and has more military achievements under her belt than all of the Princes combined! I am just rewarding her at long last for what she has achieved! Now all of you may go except for the Princess, I wish to speak with her in private."

The King seemingly having calmed down, sat back into his throne and watched as everyone left the throne room, including the royal guards, leaving the two of them alone.

The Princess was still in shock however and didn't even react as the King came down to her and gave her a massive hug.

"My sweet daughter. I am sorry. I know, as you have grown older I have not looked after you how I used to and your talent only made you enemies of the other concubines. This has all lead you to be left alone in this vast palace. I have no idea, how you have made it so far, but hear me now. Go forth, do what you must. I want you to succeed, not for me. But for your mother. Make her proud and please do not look into her death until you think you are ready. There are greater forces and play than you will ever think."

With that the King walked out of the throne room, leaving the still shocked Princess alone once more.