The day Jazell was born, Kora, her mother, had always known she was special, destined for great things. The gods had consoled her with a good child since her husband, greedy King Jarob, was a selfish man.
But as Jazell grew, she became more… dynamite. The way she walked. It was different; she walked as though the weight of the world was on her very fingertips.
She became self-obsessed, wanting to do better, wanting to amass power…she wanted to be perfect.
She would spend hours reading books about ancient kingdoms and her ancestors. She would absorb their knowledge and put it into practice in her day-to-day life, and it was brilliant!
Jazell believed that one day she would have to rule as queen, and when that day came, she wanted to be ready…more than ready. She was born an oracle of beauty; many men from great kingdoms came to seek her hand in marriage, but she turned them down bluntly, refusing to be a puppet for any man to use as a political alliance.
A queen had to be merciful… right?
She could do that, show mercy to her servants, discern between right and wrong, and know when to put her stone heart to use. But that soon changed…drastically.
When her father had declared her younger brother…to rule in his stead. That was during a feast in Vandamonth years ago; that night had been a dark cloud in Jazell's life.
Mirak, My son, the light of my eyes, will be the heir to my throne and rule when I die! Greedy Jarob had declared that night with a goblet of wine raised in the air, and everyone in the hall that night hailed in agreement.
That night Jazell was devastated; everything she had trained for…her time, her resources…sleepless nights in the library. Reading scroll after scroll, book after book, tormented by the sounds of the shadow when she should be having her beauty sleep… All for what?
To be rejected!
Stripped off her birthright!
She didn't cry; what good is crying anyways? Tears doesn't solve anything; it is just an excuse to feel better, to let out your pain. Rather than have her pain concealed inside of her, she allowed it to burn in her heart, refusing to let it out…so that it would eat her up…consume her…and it did.
From pain it slowly metamorphosed to hatred… and from hatred…
Day after day…the hatred intensified. She gazed at people with hatred, treated the servants with hatred, ate with hatred, slept with hatred, woke up, and cursed the gods… And then from hatred it turned into emptiness.
Yes! She felt nothing…empty.
Her heart was now like an abandoned bush overgrown with thorns, with sharp spines.
That was when her already stoned heart became as stiff as steel.
She saw through her father's intentions; he wanted to use her for the very thing she hated… as a political alliance, to be sold away to a prince, and to form lasting bonds with wealthy kingdoms
Jazell changed overnight; she became ruthless, and when her father saw this, he opted to ship her away to prevent her from harboring evil towards the heir to his throne. He decided to get Jazell wedded, and as fortune would have it, that very season Ragaleon had just lost his father…and had his coronation done.
The next thing was to have a wife. Jarob immediately sent his aides and had them add Jazell's name to the list of noble women who would like to be picked as queen for the King of Decreash.
When Jazell heard about this…she had sleepless nights.
Thinking…plotting within the shadows how to escape this fate that has befallen her. After days of scheming…she came to a conclusion: she would get married to the king of Decreash.
If her brother Mirak dies, she won't still be given an opportunity to rule; instead, her other younger brother, Brandon, will rule in his stead.
But Brandon had no interest in ruling as a king. Instead, he had his father pay for a tutor, became incredibly knowledgeable, and opted to be the hand of a king.
Ragaleon had handed the king to his father, Harris, disposed of him, and when he learned of Brandon, he called the latter to serve him as hand of the king.
Even though she had badly wanted to rule her own kingdom, Jazell thought to herself, "Getting married to a king also makes her a queen, right?"
So why not? But she was still pained by the fact her birthright was taken away from her and vowed that never again would she let anyone steal what rightfully belongs to her…never!
At twenty-two years, Jazell Makaah got married to Ragaleon and became the second queen of Decreash
...
In the middle of the night the smoke from the smoking pipe dwindled in the air as Jazell blew it softly from her rosy lips.
She was seated on an armchair on the terrace in her chamber, gazing into nothing. Her mind was deep in thoughts… that she would rather keep to herself, but these days there was one person she conversed with...her personal handmaid, Linn.
Her most loyal and trustworthy servant.
"Your loyalty, Linn, it is commendable." Jazell began as she slowly tilted her head in the direction Lim was standing a few meters from where Jazell was seated.
"You do what is asked of you so well; I would say you are a blessing brought to me by the gods. But I have long learned not to rely on the gods for anything." She retorted, the night breeze caressing her face.
"You flatter me, my lady." Linn whispers, her gaze fixed on the ground.
"Look at me." Jazell says with a cold voice, not sparing Linn a glare at first. When she was sure Linn had raised her gaze, she turned to look at Linn.
"I will reward you for your loyalty in time to come, but the gods help you if you ever even think of going against me…"
"You have nothing to fear, my lady. I would rather end my life than be disloyal to you." Linn reassured her, and Jazell eyed her from head to toe before looking away.
"Good!
She said and then inhaled from the smoking pipe.
"Did anyone see you when you were putting the poison?" She asked.
"No, my lady, I made sure to do it while everyone was busy, like you asked me to." Linn answered.
Jazell was satisfied.
"You may leave." She says, and Linn bows, then turns to leave, but halts.
Turning around to look at Jazell… Linn said.
"If you do not mind, my lady. I would like to ask… Why did you drink the wine when you knew it was poisoned?" Linn questioned innocently.
Jazell was silent for a while, then she flashed Linn a cold stare. Linn felt her skin crawl, then quickly apologized.
"I am sorry, my lady. It was foolish of me to ask; I will take my leave." She said "then bow," and turning around, she started walking away.
"Linn." Jazell calls out calmly, not sparing her a gaze. Linn halts in her steps, turns around, and quickly walks up to Jazell.
"Do you need anything, my lady?" She asked, and Jazell sidestepped her question.
"Sit! Jazell ordered her.
In situations like this, Linn understood one thing: even though you are confused...just obey! She wanted to take her seat on the floor next to Jazell's chair….
"On the chair!" Jazell groaned.
Linn did as she said; inwardly she was happy—she got the opportunity to sit on an expensive chair. The whole place was silent for a while; only the sound of insects chirping could be heard… But that silence soon broke.
"I will answer your question because of two reasons. First, you are loyal, and second, I want you to tell me what you learn from what I am about to say." Jazell started off putting away her smoking pipe; she reclined on the armchair she was seated on, then raised her gaze, her blue eyes meeting the stars in the dark sky.
"There are three things you need to know about me, Linn. First is that I don't give up; as long as I keep breathing, I keep going. Second, my life is priceless. As much as I would like to admit, I am not afraid of death, but I still fight to make sure I stay alive, especially in this harem.
"Third…I always get what I want!"
Jazell said, then paused…before continuing.
"You really think I would have you poison a wine and then go ahead to drink it at my own risk? ... pathetic!
"The other night, I had gone to visit the snake reader; he gave me the bottle of poison, as well as the antidote. He reassured me the poison will only have a momentary effect, making it look as though I won't be able to survive it, and that was my plan.
"To trick my opponent and make her think I am eliminated." Jazell laughed mockingly.
"But how can I be eliminated when I am the one playing the game?" She asked proudly.
"I purposely tried to get close to Vashi to know her games. Keep your friends close and your enemies closer."
"Then why did you have the king's wine poisoned instead of Vashi's wine?" Linn questioned, a bit confused.
"Learn to strike where the enemy least expects it; that was what I did. Vashi has a pet snake; her blood is venomous… Do you really think a poisoned wine would have taken her out? For all I care, she might have dozens of antidotes for poison.
"I poisoned the king's wine because I was sure when I insisted on drinking the wine to save his life, I would earn his favor."
"What if the king had drunk the wine?" Linn questioned.
"I was willing to take the risk, but I won't have let that happen. I still need him to be alive; he will not be useful to me when he is in the grave." Jazell snapped.
"What I wanted to do was make Vashi confess her sins, and it worked. Although she didn't add the part where she killed a lot of maids by merely sleeping with them.
"I didn't push on it, because it is in my favor that no one goes around investigating the disappearance of maids in this palace."
"I made it look like Vashi was the one that had the wine poisoned; that was my plan on how to take her down. She did admit she wanted to kill the king…that alone is treason." Jazell crossed her legs, adjusting on her chair.
"You have a master mind, my lady. I am proud I serve you." Linn said, rising to her feet.
"Not so fast,, Linn. What did you learn from what I had just said?" Jazell slowly shifted her gaze to Linn, and the latter remained quiet for a while.
"Don't test my patients. Linn, I like you, but it doesn't mean I will not punish you when necessary. Haven't you learned anything from what I have just told you?" Jazell was getting annoyed; that wasn't good.
"I did learn something, my lady." Linn said, sighing in between.
"Say it!
"You can't beat a master at their own game." Linn said, and Jazell smirked; she reached out for her smoking pipe.
"You may leave." Jazell said, bringing the smoking pipe to her lips, she inhaled it and blew out the smoke.
Linn in question remained rooted to the spot she was standing.
"One more question, my lady. You told me everything but didn't tell me how you found out Vashi harbored intentions of killing the king." Linn said with realization.
Jazell remained silent for a while.
Of course half of the things she had told Ragaleon were a lie. The only thing that was true was that she indeed told Linn to add something to Vashi's drink that made her hallucinate at night and unable to sleep.
Jazell inhaled from her smoking pipe, and without sparing Linn a glare, she answered the question by saying…
"That is for me to know, and for no one to ever find out."