Gianna of Werto

Though she was born as the first child of King Edgar, Gianna’s life was quite different from a princess’. 

King Edgar was a sexist. He always saw women as children-makers and never reckoned that a queen should rule Werto.

 When he was the crown prince, he had the rare opportunity of marrying a Hesmian princess, which seemed quite impossible for someone like him; a not-so-handsome, nor-very-intelligent prince from a small kingdom. 

Then-princess Artha saw him when he visited Hesmia as a messenger. She immediately started having a crush on him, which made no sense because Edgar was not much attractive. Maybe it was just her destiny. She secretly followed Edgar everywhere and decided that she loved him.

Princess Artha had no idea about Edgar’s hidden personality. She had fallen for the fake nice version of him, which he maintained with extra effort. The princess directly requested permission to marry him from then ruler- Emperor Dheema who was the elder brother of her father.No one supported the match, but Artha insisted. Prince Edgar had no clue until his father announced the proposal from Hesmia. 

Edgar was a playboy; having dozens of affairs with girls from every level. As for those girls, they dated him only because he was the crown prince. 

After hearing about the marriage proposal, Prince Edgar was confused. 

He would have immediately thrown it away unless his father advised him to accept it.

“Only a fool would refuse a princess from Hesmia. Don’t be a loser, Edgar. Marry this girl. We’ll be ruling Hesmia one day.”

 So, it happened. It only took a week for Princess Artha to realize that all her fights were not worthy. She had won nothing but got herself trapped in an unhappily-ever-after marriage. To make things worse, she was unable to get pregnant for the first three years of her marriage. After visiting many religious places and doing countless rituals, she got pregnant. And when the baby was born, Edgar was furious to see that the baby was a girl. 

King Edgar decided to depose the mother and the newborn, but he feared that Hesmians would plot revenge. Keeping Artha as the Queen, Edgar married four other women, one at a time. 

The first three concubines failed to give birth. They did not even get pregnant. They were…beheaded. The fourth concubine- Lady Maria finally gave birth to a baby boy. King Edgar was so excited that he forgot about Hesmians and quickly deposed Artha. Maria was made the new Queen and the boy- Eddard was made the crown prince. 

Artha was helpless. Hesmians had already forgotten her. They did not respond to Artha’s messages requesting help. Emperor Narendra was busy with other stuff. He did not care.

Artha went to several kingdoms seeking aid to raise her 8-year-old daughter. She was no longer a princess of Hesmia, nor the Queen of Werto. Everyone saw her as a deposed helpless queen with an unwanted child. 

Actually, some kings agreed to help them, but they had conditions that horrified Artha. Some offered her to be a concubine and abandon Gianna while some kings wanted to make Gianna a concubine when she reached the eligible age. Both were extremely unacceptable. 

Artha felt so relieved when she heard about ‘Stri’; an island which was prohibited for men to enter. It was home to women only. Any woman who wished to live without men could get the chance to live in Stri after being accepted by the chief. 

Artha eventually got acceptance and found a place to live, which made Gianna’s childhood more enjoyable than it would have been if she lived in Werto. Gianna learnt all kinds of fighting skills such as swordsmanship and archery, which would help her in combat. She 

excelled in academics too. 

Stri had a unique educational system that allowed any girl or woman at any age to join the academies located all over Stri to learn. In the academies, they could learn History, Geography, Invention studies, Warfare, Religious studies, Economy, Botany, Zoology, and Alchemy et cetera.

Almost all the girls learnt fighting skills and a type of crafting like pottery or weaving by choice. Strian academies had excellent teachers who roamed the world and gained knowledge in every subject.

Growing up in Stri, Gianna got a good reputation as a top student. But when it came to overall fighting skills, she was still in the ‘yet to improve’ also known as the ‘weak’ group. She kept practicing hard to reach the ‘still improving’ or the ‘medium’ level, while some of her peers belonged to the ‘improved’ group.

******************************

When Edgar heard about the offer from Hesmia, he suddenly recalled that he had a daughter. He managed to locate Artha and Gianna within five days via his spies. King Edgar sent a fairly long letter addressing Artha.

Strian gatekeepers felt suspicious when they saw a letter for Artha, which never happened before. Especially, it came from the Wertese palace. 

Every letter from the outer world had to pass through the main gate, where they were checked strictly. The gatekeepers sent a message to Artha and asked her to open it in front of them.

“Lady Artha, this is strange. Please let us know what is in the letter. You know, security problems.” A gatekeeper said.

“I know, dear. No problem.” Artha replied with a gentle smile.

********************************

Gianna was practicing archery when Artha showed up in a hurry. 

“Lady Vivi, could you please release Gianna? This is urgent.” Artha was panting.

All the middle-aged women were called ‘Ladies’ in Stri. Strians believed that they all belonged to the same class.

“Oh, alright, Lady Artha. Gianna, you can go.” The archery teacher-Vivi said.

Gianna bowed to the teacher and came to her mother. She knew that something was up.

“Mother, what’s wrong?”

“Ginger, let’s go home. We must talk in private.”

‘Ginger’ was Gianna’s nickname.

As soon as they entered their home- a simple cottage, Artha grabbed the letter out of a pocket.

“See? I got a letter…! Guess who sent it.” Artha had a big smile on her face.

Gianna felt strange.

“I don’t know. We never got a letter from anyone.”

“It’s from your father…hahaha” Artha let out a laugh.

"What? Why…just…ugh! Tell me what’s in it.” Gianna was confused.

Artha read out the letter.

“My dearest Artha,

First I must apologize for not being able to contact you for the past years. I missed you and our daughter very much every time I breathed. I regret the mistakes I made in the past and I feel ashamed that I missed the childhood of my darling daughter. 

I want to apologize to both of you that I made you suffer, letting you live an ordinary life instead of royalty. I think that was the biggest mistake I have ever made. Only god knows how much I missed your miraculously beautiful face and our daughter’s cuteness. 

Without you, I always felt empty. That is why I sent my soldiers everywhere to find you the day after you left. But they failed. Now that I finally found you, therefore I would like to invite both of you to enter the palace again and live the life you deserve. I…"

“Wait…He wants us back?” Gianna interrupted after listening silently for a couple of minutes. 

“Yes dear, he wants to let you live the life as a princess. He even offers to make me the queen again.”

“Umm… Don’t you think he’s up to something, mother?” Gianna spoke her mind.

“I thought it too. But I strongly feel that he might have changed. It’s been years, Ginger. People do change.” Artha appeared confident. 

“People do. Beasts don’t.” Gianna said in disgust. 

“Listen, Ginger. You've suffered a lot. You don’t deserve this life. You're a princess, you were born into royalty. Look at this cottage, does this look like a proper place for a princess? You should be living in a palace.” Artha’s eyes were filling with tears.

“Mother, look. I never saw myself as a princess. I can’t remember my life before we came here, but all I know is that I love everything about Stri. I’m glad that I grew up here, rather than living in a palace with an uncaring father. I don’t want to live like a princess. I’m fine as an ordinary Strian. And… I highly suspect that father is up to something. Don’t you see he’s already lying in the letter? I don’t think he searched for us at all. And his praises are way too much. It was him who threw us out just because I was a girl. Such a cunning sexist! He’s up to no good, mother.” Gianna said in an alarming tone.

“I know you’re wise. But you have trust issues you know? This is your father. I reckon we should trust him once. If he hasn’t changed, we’ll simply return. Trusting isn’t a bad thing sweetie.” 

“I would trust any Strian, mother. But not the man who made me have trust issues. And mother…what if we do not get a chance to return? What if we get stuck in there?” Gianna asked.

“No, Ginger… A super-skilled warrior has got my back.” Artha did not lose her confidence.

However, Gianna kept feeling that something might go wrong, while Artha imagined how happy Gianna would be after re-entering royalty after years. She felt satisfied that Gianna was finally going to receive what she truly deserved. It would erase all the mistakes done in the past, she thought.

Artha was the exact same woman who blindly fell in love with a stranger for no reason. Nothing to wonder.

*****************************

Gianna went to bid farewell to her friends. They gathered near Lake Fimne, which was their usual gathering spot. 

“So…you’re leaving?” Zasi asked. She could not believe the news.

“Yes Emse Zasi, I have to. But I don’t think we’d be there for long. I’ll come back soon.”

Originated from a Lisdonian sub-language, ‘Emse’ was the word commonly used in all kingdoms for ‘elder sister’. In fact, ‘Enye’ was the word for ‘elder brother’.

“Bring us news about the outer world, Ginger. It’s probably disgusting.” Kimelle, who had never left Stri uttered curiously. 

“I know Kimie. I’ve already started hating there.”

After having an earful of ‘goodbye’s and ‘be careful’s, Gianna left Stri hoping to return soon.

*****************************

When Gianna entered the outer world, she felt weird to see a lot of men walking around, which was very unfamiliar to her. 

She did not have a clear picture of Edgar in her mind, but she was stunned when she saw that Edgar had brown hair and white skin unlike her, who had black hair and tan skin. Edgar and Gianna had nothing in common. 

“Oh welcome, my darling Artha! I missed you so much!” Edgar walked forward and hugged Artha. Then he saw Gianna who was wearing armour instead of a girlish robe.

“Isn’t that my baby girl?! Oh dear how much I missed you!” Edgar tried to hug her too, but Gianna silently put a step back and avoided him.

Edgar looked slightly disappointed, but then he ordered Gianna and Artha to rest. They were given separate chambers and maids. 

******************************

After spending two nights in Werto without any flaws, Gianna and Artha were asked to meet Edgar for a special reason.

“My dearest daughter Gianna, I have a great offer for you. I’m sure you’ll love it.” Edgar said with a big smile.

Gianna narrowed her eyes. 

“Hesmia- your mother’s empire expects to get their future empress consort from Werto, and that’s going to be you!!” 

“Oh, so that’s why you brought us here huh? To marry me off for benefits? Mother, I told you he’s up to no good.” Gianna yelled.

“No good? I am going to make you an empress, silly girl.”

“No thanks. Look for someone else, please. We are leaving.” Gianna shouted furiously.

At that very moment, Edgar ordered the guards to capture Artha. Gianna was stunned by the unexpected move. She only had a dagger hidden inside her uncomfortable princess robe. It was obvious that she could not defeat all those guards.

“I tried to use the easy way, but you chose the hard way. Now do as I say or your mother will suffer.” Edgar uttered devilishly.

Artha felt extremely guilty and scared. She felt that she had made a nonreversible mistake, which would ruin Gianna’s entire life.

Artha was immediately taken to the dungeons. King Edgar ordered not to give Artha any food until Gianna completed preparing herself as a typical princess.

After learning from several courtesy teachers, Gianna was ready.