The Great Empire of Hesmia has a long history of 3000 years. It was founded by 'Nihas the great'- a soldier who worked for the Findaivian (now a part of Lisdonia) Emperor. The majority of the Findaivians had fair skin, so the tan-skinned people were considered 'low'. They were given less opportunities and their rights were frequently ignored. Nihas gathered all the tan-skinned people and began a revolution. His side won the war and eventually founded the kingdom 'Hasvia' (Nihas+Findaivia).
Its name changed from 'Hasvia' to 'Hasmia', then to 'Hesmia'.
Nihas' descendants- known as the 'Sammata clan' continued to keep the monarchy stable. Only the sons of the queen consort were considered heirs to the throne until Princess Anantha defeated all her brothers and uncles in an all-in-one test to prove that she was the most eligible person to be the monarch. After that, Hasvian women got the opportunity to rule.
Among the hundreds of Hesmian monarchs, some were recorded as the greatest rulers of all kingdoms while some were just puppet rulers.
'Singha the second' was the monarch who expanded Hasmia and made it an empire. He ruled the Empire for 39 years.
Empress Amehna was the first ruler to have non-Hesmian ancestors. Her mother- Empress consort Megha was half-Lisdonian.
Hesmia was invaded thrice before Remington's invasion. Lisdonian emperors invaded it twice and Sesiilians did once. But the Hesmians always won the battles and saved the nation.
Danyel's ancestry:
Prince Danyel's great grandparents were Empress Pruthvi and Prince Sukha.
Empress Pruthvi was the 19th empress regnant of Hesmia. She had an older brother who died in his childhood from food poisoning. Then, Empress Pruthvi was appointed as the heir presumptive. There was a conspiracy theory that said that it was the Empress who poisoned her brother to get the throne. But at the time the crown prince died, Pruthvi was only 11 years old. Vathri Desmith- the empress' best friend since childhood had described how Pruthvi wept over her brother's death in her diary.
Master Sukha Winddane was among the best scholars in the Hesmian Academy of History and Politics. Empress Pruthvi refused to marry any prince from other kingdoms because she wanted to marry a Hesmian to keep the bloodline pure. Empress Pruthvi is said to be a very strict ruler.
The couple had four children;
They were Emperor Dheema the third, Princess Dheera, Prince Theertha, and Prince Nihes.
Emperor Dheema was famous as a compassionate ruler who always took the people's side instead of the aristocrats'. He treated his siblings equally and never got any concubines. Some aristocrats planned to remove him from the throne, stating that Dheema was a weak person. But Emperor Dheema proved them all wrong by handling a pandemic successfully while preventing an invasion attempt from Lisdonia.
Ignoring the pressure that came from his mother to marry a pure Hesmian, Then-Prince Dheema married Lady Nahlia, a Lisdonian-Hesmian who had lived her whole life in Hesmia. Empress consort Nahlia passed away at the age of 40 as she was diagnosed with tuberculosis.
Emperor Dheema had three sons.
They were Crown Prince Harendra, Prince Devendra, and Emperor Narendra.
The two elder princes died while completing the training at the Elville Mountains. It was less uncommon that the trainees died in that extra-hard training process, but Hesmians started questioning if the Sammata clan was strong enough to keep the throne. Other clans even tried to dethrone the Emperor. Then, the 10-year-old youngest prince- Prince Narendra stepped forward and joined the training; three years earlier than he was supposed to. Though his brothers failed to complete the tasks and died at the ages of 16 and 14, Prince Narendra successfully ended the training. He returned to Hesmia at 18 and confirmed his place as the crown prince. Also, he proved that the Sammata clan was strong enough.
Soon after Narendra's return, Emperor Dheema passed away from a stroke and Narendra became the Emperor at 19. The newly crowned emperor had to show his skills to prove that he was even better than his colleague- Merikh Remington who challenged him for the throne. At the age of 21, Narendra married Lady Lalina Runebraid- the eldest daughter of then-Head of the royal council. But after having their child- Crown Prince Danyel, the Emperor began marrying concubines. He had 23 concubines in total.
Empress consort Lalina was framed for committing treason by some aristocrats. She could not prove her innocence because the aristocrats had created fake but strong evidence against the Empress. Narendra was forced to order a death sentence to Lalina. She was executed at the age of 31 when Danyel was only an 8-year-old child. It took years for Danyel to recover from the shock.
Emperor Dheema's only sister- Princess Dheera married a Nemphitish commoner- Hess Abordieu, stating that she did not want to be sold away to some stranger for political benefits. Empress Pruthvi took away her daughter's titles and named her a commoner but Emperor Dheema gave them back to his sister as soon as he got crowned. But Dheera decided to live as an ordinary woman in Nemphitre. The couple did not have children.
Prince Theertha- the second eldest son of Empress Pruthvi always followed her rules. He was not good at combat skills or sports but was excellent in academics. The empress' associates had revealed that she desperately wanted to appoint Theertha as the crown prince because of his obedience. He married Lady Janma Bertillon and had non-identical twin daughters- Princess Yathra and Princess Artha.
(In the Hesmian dynasty, the children of the monarch's siblings get the title 'Prince' or 'Princess', but their children do not receive those titles. They only get the title 'Lady' or 'Master' unless they inherit royalty from their other parent. For example, Gianna got the 'Princess' title only because her father was a king.)
Princess Yathra is a brilliant archer. She married a Sesiilian prince and settled down there. She has two children; Prince Carlos and Princess Valeria.
Princess Artha is the youngest grandchild of Empress Pruthvi whom she never met. As Emperor Dheema did not have daughters, he cherished the two girls very much. But Artha was his favorite. Emperor Dheema did not approve Artha's request to marry Edgar because he thought that she was too young (Artha was 19 years old then.) But he eventually gave permission to Artha because he did not want to hurt her.
The youngest son of Empress Pruthvi, Prince Nihes (who was named after the founder of Hesmia 'Nihas the great') did not want to get involved in royal stuff. He was the favorite sibling of Emperor Dheema. Prince Nihes was 9 years younger than Dheema and 17 years older than Narendra. He asked permission from his mother to leave the empire and live a quiet life but got rejected. His wish was granted only when Dheema became the emperor. Rumor says that he lives in Nemphitre as a merchant but his whereabouts are unknown.
Danyel came out from the hollow first. Gianna left the hollow only after Danyel confirmed that the villagers had gone. Seeing each other in the bright light was more awkward. Gianna kept staring at the ground while Danyel tried to explain the situation. He could not stop stuttering. “Um…I just… I just wanted to uh, stop you from screaming. If they heard you…um, it would be bad. That’s why I… Gianna, I’m so sorry.” “I-I understand you, sire.” Gianna stuttered too. She wanted to pretend that she did not like it, but she could not deny that she had already developed feelings for Danyel. She just did not know when it started. “You know what, let’s forget it. Let’s both erase it from our memory, alright? Whatever happened between us was a mistake. No need to make it a big deal.” Danyel said while avoiding Gianna’s eyes. Though Gianna nodded and agreed, inside, she felt sorrowful. A man kissed her and awakened her feelings, but immediately told her to forge
The former emperor- Narendra was locked in a prison chamber. His hands were tied to the wall with chains. Remington ordered not to give him any food, but Narendra received a glass of water once a day. Though he was shot by an arrow in his heart, was tortured, and starved for two days, Narendra did not die. He wished to see Danyel saving the nation before his death. But he knew that he did not have much time left. In the evening, Nimue visited him with Nimie. Narendra recognized them and wanted to shout at Nimue but he had no strength to do so. “Look who we have here. Does he look like an Emperor to you, Nimie?” Nimue laughed wildly. Nimie silently stared at Narendra. “NIMUE!! You traitor!! Why did you do this? Why?” Narendra spoke with all the energy he had. “I told you to make me the empress, didn’t I? At least you should have made my daughter a princess. You’re just paying for your faults, Narendra. You deserve this.” “How dare you say my na
Danyel was kicked several times by the Lisdonian soldiers on the way. Those kicks did not hurt him a bit because the inner pain was already hurting him intolerably. Lisdonians mocked him and cursed him but Danyel did not understand what they said. He did not bother to listen to them. His mind was preoccupied with Yasvie. Every memory that he shared with her began to show in front of his eyes, one by one. The girl that he loved with his whole heart had betrayed him for money. He still could not believe it. When the men just reached an area that had a lot of tall trees, a Lisdonian soldier’s neck got hit by an arrow. Everyone looked in the direction in which the arrow came from. Two more men were killed the same way as the first soldier. Eswenth and the Lisdonians prepared their swords while Danyel checked around in wonder. A group of masked people suddenly emerged from behind the trees. There were more of them than the Lisdonians and they seemed more skilled.
Although Kvahiya said that Gianna might not wake up for days, she woke up at the midnight. Waking up, she saw a young man beside her. Prince Danyel had come to rescue her!! She spoke in excitement. “Sire, I thought I was going to die. But you’ve come! Thank…” “Gianna, it’s me, Amell.” It was Amell and not Danyel? “Oh! Sorry, Amell. I didn’t recognize you.” Gianna tried to sit with Amell’s help. She felt a bit sad and awkward. “Careful! Gianna, actually, his imperial highness is here. The prince asked us not to disturb him. We’re on the way to Nemphitre.” Just after Gianna stood up, Danyel reached the duo. “Hey, you woke up. Are you alright now?” Gianna nodded. She felt relieved that Danyel was fine, but she understood that he was attacked by someone. “Sire, you have some wounds. Were you attacked? Oh, where’s Yasvie?” Danyel’s face darkened. The person that he wanted to have vanished from his memory was
Minnah and the others approached the healing house after crossing the waterfall and passing the cave. Gladly, Lokhas was not there. Otherwise, he would have wondered how they knew the hidden entrance. The healing house had two parts. One was open to an urban area in Lisdonia and the hidden part was always kept a secret. It had a history of centuries. Only the most talented and trustworthy students got the opportunity just to know that a hidden part existed. One of them would become the next head of the healing house. The hidden part had served as a way of escaping to the Lisdonian royal family since it was built. Kvahiya was a bit surprised to see the Strians, but she expected someone to come for Gianna. “Minnie!” That was Minnah’s nickname among her seniors. “Emse Kvahiya, it’s glad to see you again. Did Ginger come here?” Minnah uttered while observing around. Minnah and Kvahiya continued the conversation in Hesmian because there was a risk that the
Danyel returned to his chamber after talking with Rej. His face had darkened. After thinking for a moment, he went on and knocked on the door of Gianna’s chamber. Gianna opened it expecting the monks who treated her. She was rather surprised to see Danyel. “What is the matter, sire? Are we moving out today?” Gianna was curious. Danyel did not say anything for a moment. “Gianna, I-I have something to tell you.” What was he going to tell her out of the blue? Was he going to confess his love or something? Gianna wondered. “Go on, sire. I’m listening.” “Gianna… you know that… that we’re in a serious situation. We need help. We need a lot of help. Without it, we can’t do anything. But… people just do not help us for nothing. They expect… something in return.” Seeing the guilty expression on Danyel’s face, Gianna felt impatient. “Come to the point.” “Well, Gianna… you know, Rej… he did so many things for us. If it was
It took some time for Gianna to recall what happened. She looked around observantly to find any clue about where she was. After a moment, Rej entered the chamber. He seemed unnecessarily proud of his act.“Hey, sweetie. Remember how angry you became when I just winked at you? What about now? Who’s going to help you? Even you can’t help yourself. Oh! Your prince Danyel? Not even a chance! He sold you to me. He never wanted you. He even hated the idea of showing you as his wife.” Rej went on.He removed his upper clothes and showed off his muscular chest. Gianna felt disgusted. She turned her face away from him.“But, I… saw your beauty. I admired it. I was very kind towards you, but you didn’t accept my kindness. And now, this is the price you have to pay for it.” Laughing wickedly, he rubbed Gianna’s cheeks.Gianna kept glaring at him but did not waste her energy struggling. Inside, she was thinking o
When Danyel re-entered the room, he saw that Gianna was slowly opening her eyes.“Gianna, you woke up?”It took some time for Gianna to recall what happened. When she was done recalling, she could not stop feeling endlessly furious. She pushed away Danyel’s hand.“DON’T TOUCH ME!” She shouted. Danyel was rather shocked.“Gianna, it’s okay. You’re with me now. Rej’s gone. So don’t be afraid.” Danyel began to pat her but Gianna pushed him again.“I said don’t touch me. Just piss off. I hate all men.”She was yet to recover from the shock she got because of Rej’s actions.“But, Gianna, we saved you right on the time. He couldn’t do anything to you.”That statement only caused the sudden increase in Gianna’s anger.“WHAT? Couldn’t do anything? Don’t you see all the wounds on my face and hands? He punched me. He kicked me. And the worst… HE KISSED ME!!” She cried in endless rage.Danyel looked down. He could not understand how to respond. Gianna tried to sit without Danyel’s help but faile