The Usurper's Queen | COMPLETED

16 | the queen

I celebrated my fifteenth birthday last month, and in two years, I shall marry Edmund. Lisbeth was anxious, as the Earl of Springledge has yet to recover, and House Byron's influence and wealth slowly diminished as the days went by. She feared that by the time her fiancé, Lord Cedric Byron did inherit the position of earl, it would be reduced to a hollow position and she would have to live like a pauper. My betrothed on the other hand, had rose through the ranks and had people turn on the king and swear allegiance to him instead. Among those people were the people who were noble to my father, to House of Winterbourne, and since Edmund could be considered a Winterbourne by extension, their loyalty also extended to him.

Today, the King would marry Jane Ainsworth. My father had invited over a renowned seamstress to make dresses for me, my mother, and Lisbeth. The wedding was held during summer, so the seamstress had crafted a leaf green gown for me, made with exquisite green brocade and silk for the bodice. Edmund had sent over some hair ornaments decorated with emeralds, which I appreciated greatly. Lisbeth had insisted on a pale cream gown, which was almost white, despite all our interjections. The gown itself was beautiful, but it was heavy and unsuited for summer. After wearing the gown, I could easily tell that Lisbeth was pleased, and was certain that she had proven everyone wrong. To match the cream gown, she had worn a string of white pearls on her neck and diamonds for her ears. Her dark brown hair was made into an elegant updo, and she had put a little bit of rouge on her lips, which made her look very mature.

On the way to the palace, Lisbeth had made fun of me for still looking like a child, but gradually, she began to sweat and her hairdo weighed down on her. By the time we entered the royal cathedral, she was sweating heavily and her dress was completely soaked, and all the elegance from earlier completely disappeared.

I had only settled down in my seat for a short while before I heard the King's arrival being announced, followed by Jane Ainsworth's. Her coronation would also be held today, so Phoenicia would finally get a queen after that position had remained empty for a year. As Jane walked in however, Lisbeth's face turned pale white. The dress that Jane wore was the exact same shade as Lisbeth's, and the new queen had also decided to wear pearls to match the cream fabric.

The resemblance was quite striking, and many eyes were on Lisbeth. Jane herself seemed to have noticed, and she cast my sister a sinister, dissatisfied look. My mother yanked Lisbeth's arm and caused her to look away, but I could see that my sister was trembling with fear. How unlucky was she to have worn the same shade as the queen on her own wedding!

The wedding proceeded smoothly however, and the Ainsworth kinsmen were seated up front, seemingly unfazed by the fact that their own daughter had died only a year ago. Although, I suppose it isn't that big of an issue to them, as dead Queen Helene's position is now filled by a daughter of theirs as well, and now we have a Queen Jane. We had a Queen Lucianna before, two Queen Margarets, three Queen Isabellas, five queens named Mary, seven or so named Elizabeth, one Queen Helene and a Queen Jane, but never a Queen Anne, despite it being a very common name. Perhaps, if Edmund's father had lived and ascended the throne, there would be a Queen Anne.

King Edward had no male heirs as of now, so perhaps we would have yet another Queen Margaret soon. However, my betrothed was determined to fight for the crown. Maybe on that day, Phoenicia would have a Queen Anne after all.

There were envoys from the neighbouring kingdoms, and I saw extremely tall and willowy, pale skinned men with large, luminous dark eyes, each donning coats the colour of grass in a vast meadow and earthy brown trousers. These were the Terrawinians, the land where Claudie had spent several years of her life in. The leader of the envoy was plump and jovial, and seemed to be very well fed, but his soldiers were thin, pallid and sour faced. They looked at our banquet table with wide eyes, as if they had never seen food before, and whenever their leader spoke, they only smiled thinly and did not respond.