<em>I Will Crown Her</em>


    Queen Sisi set down her pen then gently blew the ink. One could never mistake Queen Sisi''s handwriting that was written with utmost confidence and liberation from strict rules. Leah curiously went up on her toes behind Queen Sisi to check out the letter written. Noticing Leah''s gaze from behind, she turned around.


    "Hehe, are you curious, Leah?"


    "Uhm…"


    Leah initially ran away due to fear, but she was left awkward when Queen Sisi called her. She felt that it wouldn''t be right to run away, so she warily approached Queen Sisi. Leah gyrated her lips: "Umm… umm… Your Majesty… umm… I… think… you should not… make such a mess of a letter."


    "You''re right about that, Leah."


    Queen Sisi spread the letter open. Because of the ck ink smeared on it, it was harder to dry. Due to her own selfish reasons, the diplomat deliberately tried to dy teaching humanity''snguage as much as possible. Hence, Leah still couldn''t read humanity''s texts and, by the same ount, couldn''t understand what Queen Sisi penned.


    Cheerfully, Queen Sisi exined, "But this letter can help your papa. Sometimes, letters aren''t intended for others to read for there is anotheryer of meaning behind the letters."


    "Really…? Leah does not really get it… Leah struggles to understand what Queen Sisi and Papa say."


    Queen Sisi folded the letter and carefully abbreviated her name in a small corner of the letter. She instructed, "Leah, take this letter to the subus, and ask her to deliver it to the person at the address here."


    "Uhm." Suspicious, Leah had a whiff.


    Face on her hand, Queen Sisi told Leah, "Leah, I am truly envious of you. You now have a father who loves you so much and protects you, which is why you can still smile despite being in the centre of this chaos. At your age, I lost everything. I searched for food people didn''t want to eat. Stray dogs chased me down. Guards humiliated me. I also lost my father."


    Leah froze and tightly gripped the letter in her hand without knowing what to do. Queen Sisi crouched down and held her arms out: "So, Leah, can I give you a hug the same way your father and Veirya does?''


    "Your Majesty… If… if you insist, then…"


    Queen Sisi gently pulled Leah into her embrace. Leah shuddered. Leah didn''t dislike Queen Sisi''s scent. Leah never thought that Queen Sisi could hug her the same way a normal woman would, in that she didn''t expect it could be so warm in thetter''s arms.


    Leah, in a quiet voice, stammered, "Your Majesty… can you… protect Leah''s father…? Ever since Mama Veirya left… Papa… has been out of sorts… He has been different to how he was before… He now has… a frightening smell… Leah''s heart… aches just catching a whiff of his scent… Your Majesty… Leah… Leah cannot bring Mama Veirya back… but… if you can…"


    Queen Sisi sincerely pledged, "I know. I know. I swear to you that I will do my absolute best to protect him. As long as I am alive, I will not let any harm befall himfor I, too, love your father. As such, I will not allow any mishap to befall him."


    Queen Sisi felt that her rtionship with Leah was finally cordial. She felt that she was truly the equivalent of Leah''s mother. She wanted to perform better than Veirya, but she didn''t see Leah''s face on her shoulders.


    Leah''s expression was particrly aloof and violent. Everyone treated her as a child; she was privy to the fact that they approached her just to get close to her father. On the other hand, nobody understood her. What Leah wanted certainly wasn''t a mother. All she wanted was her father…


    ========


    Current time in the imperial pce.


    The soldiers removed their swords from my neck. The young man''s awfully displeased visage put a grin on my mug. As I said from the very beginning, nobody in the pce would dare to kill me. I could do whatever I pleased unless Veirya showed herself.


    "I won''t let you see Lord Veirya. It took a lot of effort for Lord Veirya to choose the correct path. I won''t allow you to ruin our nation''s future." Without the power of his de, the young man appeared so little and fragile. Nheless, he kept his gaze on me and remained stern as ever: "Lord Veirya should be the one to rule this world. We are different to you. We are passionate and loyal to this nation!"


    "Impressive. I''m amazed you can brazenly mention loyalty. Queen Sisi is the symbol of this nation. Not only did you disobey hermand, you even switched out the ruler. You can represent the will of the nation now? All you did was select a Queen you deemed befitting. You were no longer loyal ages ago. You''re the very source of disorder in this nation. When Veirya makes an error in the future, you won''t hesitate to abandon her all the same. Your so-called loyalty is recing the ruler of the nation to suit your own preference. That''s not loyalty.


    "I''ll give you a chance to repent: let me meet Veirya. I''ll convince her to quit, and then you can support Queen Sisi again. That''s the best oue. Veirya is not cut out to be a Queen.


    You people know that."


    "Wrong." He shook his head without spending so much as a second to think. He sported a fervent gaze for Veirya that not even I, who loves Veirya, would have. He proimed, "Queen Veirya is the Queen we need. We don''t need a fallen Queen the elves humiliated. We have decided to never change! We will not change regardless of what you say!"


    "Oh, really? Hmm, in that case, I won''t waste my breath anymore. I hope that you won''t regret it when the timees. My issue with Veirya is a family matter between just us. You''re the ones who insisted on turning it into what it is now. I could destroy the chapel for Veirya''s sake and turn the elves'' world on its head. Soon enough, you will also learn."


    "Lord Veirya must be Queen! Even if it''s thest thing I can do, I will crown Lord Veirya!!"