Herald of Steel-Chapter 1491: Queen and Princess (Part-End)

Life with Alexander for Princess Camelia was one of only joy with almost no responsibilities.

She was allowed to wake up anytime she wanted, which usually meant sleeping in long past dawn, sometimes so late that her personal maidservant had to arrange for her breakfast to be put in special containers and wrap it with blankets just to keep it fresh and warm.

Then, almost for the whole day, the princess was allowed to roam mostly freely around, the boundary being only the walls of the manor itself.

Obviously, due to security reasons, she was not allowed to leave for the city without Alexander’s permission.

And this was the norm for all noble ladies of the time, so the young princess probably did not even see this as a limit but more like the natural edge of the world- if you stepped beyond it, well, you had no one to blame but you.

Hence, if the young princess did not have any lessons scheduled such as learning Azhak or various classic Adhanian literature, she would spend most of her time in the back gardens, tending to the flowers, reading a book, writing whatever poems she came up with or even just playing with Alexander’s children on the swings or slides.

Then morning turned to noon, and noon turned to night, she would have dinner, play various games, and in a few rare cases Alexander even told them various fantastical stories of distant lands.

This was a common day in the life of the happy princess- content and peaceful.

Of course, Lady Parthia also played a vital role here, strictly advising her daughter on how to navigate the complex marriage life, making sure she never went against the terms written in her agreement or antagonized any of the wives.

But even without her mother’s intervention, Princess Camelia would have treasured her position very much.

Because compare this with the concubines of other nobles, who were tasked with all kinds of menial chores around the house, working from dawn to dusk with little free time.

And for their work, they did not receive even a tenth of the delicious food Alexander placed on his table or even a hundredth of the entertainment he had.

In fact, the only ’entertainment’ for most of the concubines was mingling with all kinds of unknown men and pleasing them in whatever lurid ways they wanted.

The women there were basically at the mercy of such guests, made to do whatever they asked her.

There would usually be a whole group of them, and if they somehow offended one of them by refusing their advances, and he turned out to be a powerful lord, they knew it would not end well for them.

Rapidly losing the favor of their master was inevitable since there was no shortage of beautiful and young women willing to pull her from that spot and more than willing to do those sorts of prurient acts themselves.

The status of even such a concubine was that lucrative for most.

Thus the pushed aside lady would most likely be quickly replaced, with the mildest punishment being she no longer got new clothes and jewelry.

And this would make attending any formal event extremely awkward for her, as repeatedly wearing the same clothes to a formal gathering was seen as being extremely embarrassing for the nobility- it was perhaps even worse than simply turning up naked, thus letting her become the laughing stock of the party.

Additionally, if a noble lord was particularly angry with his concubine, he could reduce many of her amenities, such as the number of servants attending to her, the size and quality of her room, to basic necessaries like firewood for heating and the quality food served.

And if he was truly engaged, he could even sell her to that offended noble as compensation, letting the man enjoy her regardless.

In other words, other than outright killing her for it was a social faux pas, a noble lord could basically do anything to his concubine.

And the ladies knew this, hence most were clever enough to obey their master without question, accompanying the guests to warm their beds, washing them in baths, and ’massaging’ their sore muscles from all the weary travels with great alacrity and diligence.

Even when these mistresses of the house expressed reluctance to perhaps some extreme acts, such as entertaining multiple clients at once, it was usually more of a coy, hard to get play than anything serious.

Thus for most visiting dignitaries, they were free game to hunt and take as they pleased.

Princess Camelia had learned many of these upon her current stay here, and she instinctively shivered at the knowledge, her head swimming with shock and disbelief.

The first two days the naive girl even had trouble sleeping, gripped by fear of it happening to her too.

And then, from the third day, she made sure to thank her ancestors at least ten times every day for gifting her a man who was vehemently opposed to such practices.

The young princess did not think she would have been able to live with herself if as a concubine, she was put up like a trophy.

Hence from all these reasons, it was not difficult to see why Camelia had changed her mind about Alexander and was very determined to keep her place.

’If I marry a Tibian noble, where will I get such delicious food, these gorgeous dresses, and all those fun games? I do not want to end up cooped up in a boring room all day long with nothing to do. As for marrying an Adhanian… *snort!’

Princess Camelia had already reached a firm decision on what to do with life it was just she was a bit shy saying it aloud to her mother.

Even more proud than her mother, the young princess perhaps felt it was unbecoming for a royal like her to wantonly express her desire to be with a former slave.

"...." Thus keeping silent, she just kept staring at her mother, waiting for her to be the first one to crack.

While as a mother and a far, far, more experienced politician, Lady Parthia was predictably able to detect her opponent’s thoughts with a single glance and half chuckled inside her heart.

Seeing her daughter like this was almost endearing.

But that still did not mean she was willing to go easy on her, as curling her lips, Lady Parthia mused,

"My daughter, I remember you very much disliking Alexander, calling him many names such as a lowly slave and bloodthirsty sellswords. Didn’t you cut your hair just to anger him? So when did you fall in love with him?"

"...." The young princess only flushed at this, finding it hard to voice her thoughts. She could not believe her mother, of all people, would bring such a thing and really wanted to storm out.

While pretending not to notice her struggle, Lady Parthia pressed on, once again urging, "You really should marry a Tibian noble. It would be…"

"Royal mother, I am a princess! There is no way I am going to marry a poor, off in the boonies. He is too poor!" Princess Camelia was finally unable to keep the lid on her temper, bursting forth with such a strong shout.

Then, without giving Lady Parthia a chance to interject, retaliated with an almost artificially forced tone,

"And who says I am in love with Alexander? Of course not! He... and.. father... Royal mother, I am only doing just what you said yourself! I am here to keep the peace between Zanzan and Tibiaa… so if I can give him a son… our family will be in a much better position, right!"

"....." Lady Parthia’s eyes widened a bit hearing this, feeling certainly surprised. She was not amazed as much by the content as by whom it was coming from.

She did not think her daughter was mature enough to come up with such a good excuse to hide her real thoughts.

’Oh.... she has finally grown up! How fast!’ She thus mused internally with a mix of motherly warmth and the bittersweet feeling of seeing children grow up and leave the nest.

"*Sigh*, okay!" Then, at last convinced by her daughter’s insistence, the mother finally relented. She was willing to bear the risk of that extremely shameful taboo if it meant a good life for her daughter.

It seemed in this exchange, the motherly instincts had won.

"Yay… Royal mother, you are the best," And thus the young princess quickly cheered, warmly hugging her mother and snuggling her head onto her heaving bosoms.

The sudden attack slightly stung the recently pierced lady, and she unknowingly winched, quickly pulling her daughter away.

Then, before Princess Camelia could figure out anything wrong, she quickly felt her mother warmly caressing her silky head and sincerely promising.

R𝑒ad lat𝒆st chapt𝒆rs at free𝑤ebnovel.com Only.

"Okay, okay, let me talk to Alexander about it. I am sure I can convince him to annul the agreement, and perhaps, if you are good enough, you will even be with a son by next year. In the meantime, you will go and sincerely apologize to him, then swear never to cut your hair. Alexander might not show it, but he is a very proud man. You must be always obedient!"

If you are not reading this at novelkiss.com, then sorry, the content you’re reading is STOLEN!

Let us say no to piracy! Don’t take part in a crime! Don’t patronize thieves!

Please come Here!

=>Link to the original site:

https://www.novelkiss.com/book/herald-of-steel_24388579605084705