3
'Mother!' The King rushed into the dining room where his mother was.
'What nonsense are you saying? Me? Marry the Queen of the Moral Empire? You know how much Father detested that foolish Kingdom!'
The King's mother couldn't control her son's temper, there was always a distance between the two and it deepened ever since the King's father passed away. She stayed silent while her son continued to yell.
'I've already got three concubines, one of which I plan to marry in the future!'
'Silence!' The King's mother had enough of her son's tantrum.
'Marry a concubine? How long are you going to repeat silly things!'
The King was stunned.
'It's already been decided by the government of this Kingdom. We have planned to increase our connections by marrying into the Moral Empire. We have fewer enemies and more allies this way.' The King's mother got up from her seat as she finished eating. She was a reserved and quiet woman. Never in her life had she spoke back to her son like this.
The King stood there, with his mouth slightly opened as his mother left the room. Baffled, he bit his lips in anger.
...
Arisa had been locked into a cell. A place that was familiar to her. It's been a year since she was put into this chamber again.
From her past lives, the Queen had become a huge fan of the popular yatobe series, "You got Prankzed!" And following in their footsteps, she pulled many pranks and one that nearly cost her life. Arisa couldn't deny how good she felt seeing the government panic, their red faces that were full with anger and confused.
It was at that time, Arisa had been interested of the brothels of this era. Thinking back onto her past lives, Arisa had always spared a moment of her time to look around and enjoy herself to the fullest, as a human would.
Her idea stemmed from a conversation she overheard from her servants. She smiled to herself as she looked at her servants laughing to themselves as they prepared the Queen's breakfast.
'Your highness, you couldn't sleep?' One of the servants, Yara, a year younger than the Queen, spoke out as she looked at the Queen. Yara and Arisa grew up together despite being from different backgrounds, however Yara had slowly distanced herself from the Queen as they grew older, understanding the ways of how a servant should act towards who they serve.
Arisa always felt it was a shame since many of the servants had grown closer and even spoke to her comfortably. Yara was always more mature than the queen, even if their age difference wasn't much, the queen always felt a bit embarrassed about it.
'Yara, did something happen?'
'Your Highness, this one wouldn't dare to answer the Queen, as it doesn't seem appropriate.'
'Damn, It's so hard for me to get used to the way you talk."
"Huh"
Arisa sighed and walked further into the kitchen. She expected Yara not to say anything so she spoke to the others, seeking for what she wanted to hear.
The servants became silent as they heard someone approaching them, however seeing the queen made them sigh in relief.
'Queen, you truly had me frightened.' One of the chef's ladies spoke.
'What happened?' Arisa sat down on one of the chairs, putting her legs up on the table in front. Three servant ladies sat around her at the same table and shuffled closer to the queen.
...
"Is this what you guys were so secretly gossiping amongst yourselves???' The queen had thought it was something quite important from the servant's expression.
Learning that it was something so simple, she felt a little disappointed.
"Your Highness-
The servant that was speaking, paused for a bit. She was slightly older than the Queen, nonetheless, she still felt like she was sort of a mother figure to her. Her heart ached whenever she thought about the Queen being somewhat of an object for the Kingdom to use. The Queen had not been able to meet any of her blood relatives. This servant knew very well how Arisa looked up to her and the rest of her servants. Just as the Queen saw them as family as did they.
'After hearing about this, you still find it so small?'
Arisa shrugged her shoulders and said with a confused expression, 'It's just two women eloping? What's the problem?'
All the servants gasped, including Yara. They all rushed towards the Queen, their mouths unable to close.
'Your Highness, you mustn't talk about it in a normal matter!'
'Nothing about this is normal!' Another chipped in.
Arisa shook her head and tsked at them.
In her many reincarnations, she had grew accustomed to humans and their love for even the same sexes. She herself, a creator where genders are non-existent, didn't see the problem at first, but living through the many generations she had became used to how it was something not many saw in a good light.
But, in her case, as humans would say, she was an ally.
"Can I ask you something then?" The Queen stood up from her chair and all the servants stopped to look.
"A woman and a man are married and their marriage consists of fights and lies, right?"
The servants nodded along and the queen continued.
"Is it okay for a marriage between a man and a woman who don't truly love each other and not for a woman who truly does loves another woman to get married? Doesn't it seem unfair?"
The servants were stunned. Never in their life had they expected a question like this, nonetheless from the Queen herself.
The Queen was always strange but this was too much for the servants to handle. The eldest of the servants got up and went back to continue her cooking and the rest followed. She looked towards the Queen who looked unbothered and spoke in a gentle tone.
'Your Highness, it's completely okay for you to speak to us as if nothing matters, but please.' She sighed, 'Never speak a word of how you feel about this to this government if they ever hear this... I'm afraid you will be punished.'
THAT'S IT! The Queen yelled in her mind.
That's exactly when the queen got the idea. The idea that truly shocked not only the Moral Empire but the entire universe.
...
Back then, the Queen had begged for the government's permission. However, they wouldn't budge.
They were well aware of the Queen's chaotic nature and hence what she asked for seemed impossible.
However, Arisa didn't stop asking.
Every day, she stepped inside the royal court where the government's men had their meetings.
One day, as usual, she ran to the court to beg for their permission again. However, this time she wasn't aware other people were present.
'Please, please, please, please...' The Queen was on all fours, she looked up to them with clear determination, ignoring how shameful it looked to see the leader of a Kingdom like this.
The guests all looked at the commotion the Queen was causing and hence she was sent away at once.
The top executive of the Moral Empire was embarrassed, he looked at the guests; another Kingdom they were well acquainted with. The guests tried to fill in this silence with awkward laughter.
'What must the highness want so badly that had her...' The guest stopped speaking as he felt it might be considered rude to say. The executive understood quickly and spoke right away.
'The Queen has been insisting on the same thing for days now.'
The two guests looked at each other in surprise and then towards the executive. 'Is it something we could ask about?'
The executive laughed, 'It's nothing that big, it's just strange to be coming from the Queen directly.'
'??'
The executive looked at their curious eyes and felt obligated to continue.
'She wants to organize a gathering with Kingdoms all around us.'
The guests had not expected that, one of them smiled at the executive and spoke. 'Wouldn't this be better for what we were discussing earlier? We needed to confirm our relationships regarding the kingdoms we have allied ourselves with and besides it's a good chance to create more allies.'
The executive was just about to shake his head but stopped when he heard that last line. The guests that he had invited to the Moral Empire were one of the many Kingdoms that they had allied themselves with.
However, the Moral Empire always had that distance between other Kingdoms because of their Queens.
'Hm, you're not wrong about that..'