Chapter : 2 The Kingdom of Aétria

°•~as each Wing have different constitution, living standard and social norms of each Wing differ~•°

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The Kingdom of Aétria Or simply known as Aétria is the largest working Constitutional Monarchy in both of the parallel worlds. It has it's own features as a Constitutional Monarchy which makes it a unique country. Aétria consists of six wings namely Northern Wing, North-Eastern Wing, South-Eastern Wing, Southern Wing, South-Western Wing and North-Western Wing. They surrounds each other clock-wise along with the capital of Aétria which is located in the middle of the country where all the wings meet.

Each Wing of the kingdom is governed by a minister who is also a member of Council of ministers. The Council of ministers is the biggest and most powerful body of law-making in the country. Every minister has his own wing to govern but some matters that concern the whole country has to be handled by them in the capital.

As the leader of each wings, the ministers, their families and relatives along with government officials are called the Elites. Anyone who works for the government along with his family would be given the title of an elite. But it doesn't mean that the people of the kingdom is divided into caste. It only implies the fact that there are two types of people in Aétria, The elites and the common citizen. But as each Wing has it's own constitution, the living standard and social norms of each wing differ.

For example: The Northern Wing is filled with people who were brought up to be reformed, modern and liberal. While on the other hand, South-Western Wing is the most conservative amongst them.

Despite of the diversity in the country, people of each Wing have one thing in common and that is hospitality. They are very friendly toward any traveller who passes through their state and that's what makes Aétria a beautiful country.

~at the northern wing's minister's house~

The house maids were hurriedly running around the palace, organising the nation's daughter's room as she was returning back to the palace from her mansion in the capital where the elites go to complete their studies, up until they graduate. Working their ass off just to make sure that the intimidating beauty wouldn't nitpick about something, is their definition of doing labor.

They knew that Mabel Clark, the nation's daughter is a pure reflection of perfection and the word mistake is not in her dictionary. Even her twin brother Luke wouldn't even mind a mistake or two but Mabel would surely make them work twice more than usual during her stay. So it's better to work then waste any of their time while whining.

Well, Mabel is not so frightening always. It is just that whenever she makes sudden announcement of her coming back from the capital, something bad had always happened to her which makes her scarier than a corpse without a nose. So they always have to work hard to satisfy her.

''What do you think have happened this time? '' a maid asked her fellow worker with a nudge. ''I heard that something happened in the annual council's party that caused a dispute between her and the son of the north-eastern state's minister, her desired fiance. '' she replied with a duh tone. ''It is really funny that the powerful daughter of Benjamin Clark, the minister of The Northern Wing, cannot even get a guy even after trying for so long. '' the other maid said with an amused tone. '' That's what keep bugging me. I mean how can the clever and 'always-getting-what-benifits-me Mabel Maria Clark failed to break Harper and Liam apart. I thought she could get him wit-''. '' I think it would be better if you two would continue doing your work rather than gossiping about the minister's daughter. '' They got cut off by a female voice which belonged to Janet, Janet Croce, the head mistress of the house maids. ''We are really sorry for our lack of perseverance and attentiveness while doing our job.'' the maids quickly apologized and got back to their work.

People had been making assumptions and spreading uncertain stories about the night of the Council of minister's annual party. Despite not knowing the reason behind the dispute between Liam and Mabel, they are very sure of one thing that Mabel has lost her last change of getting together with Liam. This might be true but considering the fact that Mabel never loved Liam and only wanted to marry him because of some beneficial reasons, allows one to think that this would definitely affect Mabel' s plan in a certain way but her heart would not even a bit feel hurt.

Mabel and Luke have been away from their state since they were six. They both lived in the capital and spent most of their life there while being trained to become a potential candidate for the minister's post. As the country is a constitutional monarchy, minister of each state is not elected. They are chosen by the former minister and they most probably happen to choose their child. So, Luke and Mabel always have to be compared in everything they do and this might be a reason why they are not close enough even after being together since the day they were born.

As Mabel was walking along with Alyce, her best friends, she was being aware of the rumours about her and Liam. But she didn't seem to mind and kept walking until she reached halfway through the Hall and to the front door of her room. She pushed the door with immense force to open it and walked toward the couch.

She took a sip of her coffee from the cup that was placed on the top of the table near the couch when Alyce spoke ''I thought you'd be heartbroken but you're the most unaffected after the party. Believe me, if you feel really bad then you can tell me. I am your best friends and I will always comfort you when others won't. So tell me what are you feeling now. '' Alyce was the only one who was genuinely worried for Mabel after Liam suddenly announced his engagement with Harper in the party. She knew that Mabel was playing hard outside but was really hurt. Although she had already told her that she wanted to gain some political benefits from her wedding with Liam but deep down she had developed a bit feelings for him.

''You already know what I feel yet you're asking. '' Mabel half whispered but Alyce was able to hear it. ''I think if you would give me some alone time to process things in my mind then I will be alright. '' Mabel continued. ''Okay if you say so. '' Alyce said and then left. While walking, Alyce turned and give Mabel a soft smile that meant everything will be alright. Mabel then returned her a smile, a cute one that only her late mother and Alyce has seen while being with her.

Everything that had happened that night was so much to take in. Mabel was definitely feeling hurt after being blamed for spiking Harper's when the drink was actually for her in the first place and she clearly knew who did that to her. But she was not in the mood to think about him or even give any attention to that filthy minister's son who spiked her drink which accidentally Harper took. So, she just closed her eyes and tried to remind herself what she has to do and how she will be able to achieve her goal that had always been to be a minister, a really powerful minister and for that she had studied every Constitution of each Wing and had already learnt that the chances for a women to become a minister is really high in the Northern and North-Eastern Wing. And by just thinking of that, Mabel started feeling dizzy and was falling asleep, after all she was really tired.

Just when she was closing her eyes she felt that someone was crying in her closet. Weird, she thought when she became aware of the fact that someone was actually crying. She quickly got up from the couch and went inside her closet. Thinking that someone was crying in your closet would be really creepy. And that's exactly what Mabel was feeling but she still decided to check that on her own. So when she got in her closet, she heard shrieks of a girl with pain whose voice was weirdly similar to her and that filled Mabel with curiosity. But little does she know is curiosity kills the cat.

Mabel was looking around her closet, when she saw a mirror which was different and she has never seen that mirror before but then she remembered that Janet told her about an antique mirror set with a hand mirror which belonged to the first queen of Aétria. When she got near the mirror, she saw herself crying in a storeroom or something. So now, she was a hundred percent sure that she is in a dream where everything like this makes sense. So, she hoped for waking up because seeing herself in a storeroom while crying and on top of that wearing some god knows what brand is very unlikely of her.

But all of a sudden she felt a blow on her forehead and the next thing she knew was that she was inside that storeroom and in those cheap clothes.

''What kind of dream is this? '' Mabel shouted.