TWCMH 02

Chapter 02

The oldest nation in the Northern Continent, Gargo, had a beautiful and mysterious founding myth.

The Primordial Lightning Strike.

When a massive bolt of lightning struck this land, the world that had been one was split into three, creating the continent.

Among them, from the sparks that flew as the lightning bolt embedded in the largest land shattered, two men were born.

They were Ademors, who bore the power of the Sun, and Stellius, who received the power of the Moon and Stars.

When humans, fearing the destructive lightning, were afraid to set foot on the land where it had struck, the brothers cultivated the land night and day, making it fertile and bountiful, and invited the humans.

*’The lightning is the father of my brother and me. We have come to this land to help humans. We have no intention of harming you. So, let us be together. We will lead you to prosperity.’*

Even with the brothers’ bold promises, the humans still hesitated, until a woman led them.

*’If you cannot trust them, trust me. I will go with you.’*

Introducing herself as one of the daughters born to the Goddess of the Earth, the woman planted beautiful flowers and trees laden with abundant fruit upon the land cultivated by the brothers.

Drawn by the fragrance and the fruits, countless humans gathered to the brothers’ land, and the brothers and the woman were worshipped as gods in that bountiful land.

The first human to set foot on that land with the woman was particularly wise and intelligent, and the humans raised him as their leader, calling him ‘King’. It is said that his name was ‘Gargo’.

They also built a temple on the very spot where the lightning had struck, and enshrined the brothers and the woman with great honor.

Now, all that remained was to expand their bountiful land and make their nation prosperous.

The humans longed for the descendants of the gods, and the brothers loved the woman who brought the fragrance.

People believed the woman would choose one of the brothers.

Flowers, fruits, and grains were all symbols of life. The animals the woman cared for were all fertile, so that too was considered a blessing she possessed. Flowers bloomed brightly under the sun, so rumors were rife that Ademors would likely be the woman’s choice.

The Sun God himself had no doubt that he would be chosen.

He went to find the woman, vowing to turn the entire world into the most splendid flower garden, on that bright noon.

The world was seized by flames.

The hottest midday sun consumed the beautiful garden, withered all the fruits, and a great wildfire arose in the plains where grain had been growing.

For a full ten days.

Sun and night intertwined above the site of the lightning strike.

On that night full of lightning and thunderstorms, the roar of the brothers continued for over ten days.

The people were astonished and huddled in the darkness. They sobbed and trembled, crying out, ‘What on earth is happening?’. They were gripped by terror as they watched the once fertile land turn completely to wasteland.

Just as the cries of starving children were beginning to fade, the roaring from the temple subsided.

Above the temple, where flames raged fiercely, Ademors appeared, holding his brother’s spear.

[The wanton flower deceived my brother and turned him away from the world. From this day forward, night and day shall be divided and shall never be together, and flowers shall not bloom freely at midday!]

Three entered, but only one returned.

The people had no choice but to believe the words of the one who returned. Flowers vanished from the land that had once been splendid with thousands of kinds of blooms, and the people began to pursue strength, order, and piety over beauty or tranquility.

While the sun was up, no one dared to speak of the night or the moon.

People whispered the hidden truths under their covers as they went to sleep.

The sun killed the moon.

That powerful sunlight burned and killed the moon and the flowers that loved each other.

However, flowers, which bear seeds and produce fruit, were symbols of life and fertility, so their descendants must surely remain somewhere.

Therefore, someday the moon will return.

To find the flower and his spear.

*’They say this flower bloomed in the vacant lot where the woman disappeared. It is widely known that boiling this and taking it for a long time calms the mind and heals inflammation, but there is something people do not know. That it is good for conception.’*

The Queen of Gargo, Ansgarde Yancalt, squeezed her eyes shut and downed the pitch-black, bitter medicine that the head maid had left behind, citing the founding myth.

The foul smell was nauseating, but she gritted her teeth at the mention of it being good for conception.

With a clink, the bowl was placed on the tray. Fury rippled through her piercing, dark red eyes.

How dare they speak such things in my presence?

The words of the nobles whispering secretly at the evening party just moments ago lingered in her ears.

*’At this point, shouldn’t His Majesty take a mistress? No matter how much he loves the Queen, if she can’t produce an heir, what does love matter?’*

*’I heard Her Majesty the Queen fell from a horse before she got married. Perhaps her reproductive organs were damaged then?’*

Ansgarde Ludiyak, the Second Princess of Ruhilt, had come here eleven years ago, marrying King Perfesdo Yancalt of Gargo.

She was only nineteen at the time. A full eighteen years younger than the thirty-seven-year-old king.

The king, who had remained unmarried for a long time, solely focused on state affairs, had finally married late, drawing the attention of the world.

And what’s more, who was his partner?

It was none other than Ansgarde, the strong and beautiful Second Princess of Ruhilt. She became the Queen of Gargo, praised by all for her beauty, intelligence, abundant ambition, and healthy physique.

With a young and beautiful queen entering the royal family, which was known for having few children, people expected an heir to come soon.

But ten years passed like that…

The much-anticipated news of an heir never came. Not even a whisper of pregnancy.

People began to murmur.

*’I heard their marital relationship isn’t bad, so why…?’*

*’No matter how scarce children are in the royal family, isn’t it unprecedented in history for there to be no news for this long!’*

*’If there is no heir, who will be the next king? Surely, not the Marquess Kroiso of the Northwest?’*

*’Nonsense! Even if he is the late king’s illegitimate son, I absolutely cannot bear to see a man born from a lowly dancer from Luhruk ascend the throne.’*

*’This is frustrating. At this rate, we’re going to end up seeing a dancer’s son sit on the throne because of a barren queen.’*

*’We simply expected too much from Ruhilt, that’s all.’*

Blood is thicker than water, as they say, and the people of Gargo blamed the Queen entirely for the infertility.

That was because a major advantage in selecting Ansgarde as queen had been the Ruhilt royal family’s history of having many children.

In truth, Ruhilt, though a large and historically old nation, was very poor.

After the previous generation ruined the state finances, the king had sold off his sixteen children one by one to prosperous nations.

Among them, Ansgarde was particularly beautiful and healthy, and many wanted her, but the proud princess stubbornly insisted she would rather die than marry just anyone.

That rumor must have reached Gargo.

The intrigued king requested her portrait himself.

Even Ansgarde, who had said she wouldn’t settle for ‘just anyone’, had no reason to refuse a king of Gargo.

She was the first woman the king, who had never shown interest in women, had finally taken an interest in. Moreover, weren’t the women of Ruhilt famous for their fertility? The people of Gargo welcomed Ansgarde enthusiastically.

However, over time, that became her weakness. Unable to suspect their own king, they began to criticize the queen who came from a foreign land.

The faults of the most exalted are the favorite delicacy of all those beneath them…

However, for the noble Ansgarde of Ruhilt, the subject of the rumors, it was an unbearable insult and a wrongful accusation.

‘Damn those wretches. They’ll spout any nonsense with those gaping mouths of theirs.’

Fury welled up, making her grind her teeth. Unable to quell her indignation, she paced the room, beating her chest.

At nineteen, when she had donned the crown of Queen of Gargo, she had had no doubt she would be the perfect queen.

She would become a flawless queen, remembered in history. She would place her child on the throne and then close her eyes with dignity. That was her vow.

Though she had been pushed out of the succession struggle for the Ruhilt throne, she would establish her authority here in Gargo by making her own child king.

But it had all become a hollow fantasy.