Chapter 541 - Birth of a Daughter!
Chapter 541 - Birth of a Daughter!
There was not a single servant inside the bedchamber of the king of the Subila Empire. The luxurious room had a desolate and lonely atmosphere within it.
Princess Andrea stepped inside the bedchamber, her crisp footsteps echoing in the silence. As the door closed behind her, the sound of blades and cries went quiet.
“Cough…. Cough… is it Aldrich or Amos?”
Within the heavy gauze curtains lay a thin old man. After hearing the footsteps, he asked in a weak voice.
Andrea did not say anything. She just quietly walked to the bed and opened the curtains.
She looked at the old man lying on this luxurious bed with complicated eyes. The old man was already withered, very sick, and could meet death at any time.
This was Andrea’s father, the king of the Subila Empire.
“Father, in the past, you were fired with boundless enthusiasm and had been the example that I longed for. I adored you and longed for your gaze, but now, seeing you in this miserable state, I feel saddened… from then, I understood one thing, there is no eternity in kingship. Only true gods can be eternal.”
The innocence and flawless expression that Andrea always displayed to others were nowhere to be seen. Even the cold indifference that she showed when she killed her brothers was not there. In front of her own father, it was as if she had become a little girl as she looked with a complex expression.
Hearing Andrea’s voice, the old man on his sickbed trembled for a moment. Then he tried to move his head to look at Andrea at the end of the bed. His cloudy eyes flashed with incredulity.
“It’s actually you Andrea… it’s actually you…”
The former Subilan emperor gasped violently. He uttered twice and let out a hoarse laugh, “Very good! You’ve done well, Andrea! Even I did not see this coming. I never thought that my only daughter, the one who was as innocent and rosy as an angel, would be an ambitious usurper.”
“Where are your two royal brothers?”
“They are dead, father!”
Andrea elegantly sat on the edge of the bed. She picked up a towel on a side table and wiped the sweat from her father’s forehead.
The former Subilan emperor stared at Andrea with cloudy eyes and only exhaled after a long while, “...also good. This is also good… No matter which of you three siblings won, you are all qualified people to lead the people of the kingdom. Andrea, you had the least chance of obtaining the throne, but once the kingdom is in your hands, it will not fall.”
The former emperor struggled to reach out with his withered hand.
Andrea was silent for a moment, then grabbed his hand and whispered, “I don’t want to do that, Father! The whole of Subila is just a springboard for me, a mere sacrifice for me.”
“Hehehehe…… You really have high ambitions, Andrea.”
The pale king gently patted the back of his daughter’s hand and said sadly, “Do you think that your father is foolish, think that your father is seeking death by rejecting the gods?”
Andrea hesitated for a moment. Although she wanted to say that her father was not wrong, she still nodded her head in the end.
Yes, her father was foolish for rejecting the gods and rebelling against them. It was utter madness to refuse to adapt to the new age. If her father had conformed to the times and believed in the gods, he would not have ended up in such a situation. He could even continue sitting on his throne as the king and his children would not have any thoughts upon it.
“I also know that I am foolish… I gave up glory and wealth, gave up power, and gave up my life and soul, only for the so-called honor…”
He smiled self-deprecatingly and continued, “Although I know that this is force majeure, but, the Empire that once ruled the west of the continent was split in my hands. The entire Subila royal family is only left with this tiny land. What face do I have to meet the previous emperors of the Subila Empire.”
“A thousand years of time, a thousand years of glory, all gone in my hands.”
The old emperor cried out in pain. He held Andrea’s hand harder and harder, “I had to do something, Andrea! I had to do something but couldn’t do anything in front of the gods.”
“So, I placed my life as a bargaining chip. I rebelled against the gods to keep the churches outside of Subila to annoy the gods. I knew that no matter who became my successor, they would change the state policy and allow the gods to preach. Because of my rebellion, your obedience will be pleasing to the gods and make the gods pay more attention to you all.”
“Tell me, Andrea. Tell me that behind you, like your royal brothers, a god is helping you.”
The old emperor looked at Andrea as a loving father.
Andrea did not expect that her father was trading his life for the future prospects of his children. He traded his soul for the attention and recognition of the gods.
Suddenly feeling sad, she nodded slightly and said, “It’s His Highness the Dragon God.”
“As expected, it’s that god.”
The former emperor revealed a look of understanding.
“Good, since you have come here, then you have won. Andrea, go and pour me a drink.”
Hearing the emperor’s words, Andrea’s arms trampled, but she silently walked to a side table and poured out clear liquor from the mouth of a gold-colored jug.
“Give it to me!”
Andrea didn’t make a sound. She took a deep breath and held back her refusal and grief. She walked to the bedside and handed the glass of wine to her father.
She knew that the wine was poisoned.
“Aldrich and Amos are truly treacherous royal sons to poison their own father. The grieving Princess Andrea avenged her father by putting to death the two sinners. Remember, my daughter Andrea, this is the truth!”
After saying so, the former emperor used the last of his strength to pour the wine from the cup into his belly.
Andrea knew that her father long had a death wish, which was why he had set up this game. Whether Aldrich or Amos was victorious, their father would kill himself and then impose the crime on the defeated, so that the victor could sit on the throne. He even prepared a will for all this.
Now that he had found out the victor to be Andrea, he still chose to do so for Andrea to obtain the throne at a minimal cost.
“Go, Andrea! I don’t want you to see the death of your father.”
Andrea was silent. She endured the pain in her heart and gave a salute to her father. Then she turned around and resolutely left the bed chamber.
In year 33 of the Dragon God Era, the King of Subila was poisoned and died. The killers were the first Prince Aldrich and the second Prince Amos. The grief-stricken first princess Andrea got help from the Dragon god Church and put the two sinner princes to death and became the queen of the Subila Kingdom.
……
“Waaaaa…”
A baby’s loud cries resounded in the Subila Palace.
“Your Majesty, it’s a healthy baby girl.”
The matron carefully handed the girl in her arms to the sweaty and pale Andrea. The matron and the busy maids were all terrified. Everyone bowed their heads and did not dare say much, because the child that was just born had dragon wings on her back and dragon horns on her head. A terrifying and uncontrollable dragon might pervade the air. Even if it was just born, the being made these ordinary people tremble in fear!
The Queen’s servants never thought that their beloved queen would give birth to a half-human half-dragon monster!
“Aurora… Aurora Abel Subila. That’s her name!”
Andrea hugged her daughter tightly and softly spoke with the gentle and loving voice of a mother.
In year 34 of the Dragon God Era, the first heir to the succession of the Subila Kingdom, the first Princess Aurora Abel Subila was born.