You're a Nominee Valery I

Valery let her sisters guide her to the royal family's private living-space-cum-dining-hall while listening to their complaints with half an ear. The rest of her focus was on the palace staff flitting around them. She tried to keep her observation as subtle as possible, but she knew she was unsuccessful when Solarys tugged on her coat sleeve with a concerned look on her face. 

“Valery? Are you listening?” 

Valery offered her sheepish smile. “I’m listening, Sola, don't worry. You were just telling me about how the terrible Ms. Archibald got you both punished for bringing a spider to class.” 

“We were,” Solarys agreed, but the frown on her cute little face remained. “But, something is bothering you. What’s wrong, Valery?”

Solarys had an uncanny talent for observation and a strong sensitivity to others’ emotions since birth. A skill she clearly inherited from their late mother, who Valery remembered being able to read people like a book.

Valery offered her youngest sister a smile. “Nothing’s wrong, Sola. I was just wondering why everyone seemed to be so busy today.” 

Lunarys perked up from Valery’s other side. “Oh, I know! Cousin Astoria said that important people are coming from Astanza next week.” 

Valery frowned, “From Astanza?” 

Astanza was a kingdom to the north. It was a member of the United Kingdoms Alliance alongside Vesperia and the three other wealthiest kingdoms in the world; Luminara, Zhurin and Kholand. Queen Astrid herself was an Astanzan who used to be a Civilian Knight before being nominated for her uncle’s Courtship. So visiting dignitaries from the Astanza were commonplace in Vesperia. 

Still, it was so strange that the Astanzans would be coming over on such short notice and not knowing why was going to eat her up inside. 

As Valery and her sisters arrive at the large entrance to the private living area, the guards step aside and press the cleverly hidden panels on the wall, allowing the doors to swing open for their entry. 

In contrast to the styling of much of the palace, the dining hall was smaller and a lot more modern, comfortable and simple. It had large glass windows spanning the back wall with a view of a charming cobblestone courtyard. 

Seated at the centre of the large dark wood table, with his back to the windows and facing the entrance was the King of Vesperia. To his right, was the Queen. Eight month old Prince Erik was strapped to the baby seat beside her. To the King’s left were their cousins; Astoria, Anya and Krista who were eight, ten and twelve respectively. 

Queen Astrid stood out like a beacon of light among a table full of dark coloured, purple eyed Vesperian royals with her fair hair, skin and blue eyes. With Valery and her sisters joining the table as well, the sight probably looked quite comical.

“Good morning everyone. I hope you have all been doing well, this fine morning. We apologise for making you wait.” 

The Queen paused in her unsuccessful pursuit of feeding baby Erik the questionable-looking concoction on his plate to address her. “Good morning, my dear. It is good to have you join us once more. We have missed you greatly this past week.”

The smile on Valery’s face widened. “Thank you, aunt Astrid.” 

“We truly did miss you, Valery. I hope the training went well?” Her uncle inquired, handing over his phone to his assistant and gesturing for their food to be brought in. 

“Yes, uncle. The training taught me a lot about how to survive without any modern day resources at hand. I am uncertain when that would be useful considering my future role, but I did my best to absorb as much information as I could from it regardless.” Unable to help herself, Valery’s smile spread into a mischievous grin as her eyes darted to her curious cousins. “I also fought a demonic bear while I was out there,” Valery announced, subconsciously tracing the sharp points of her teeth with her tongue as she used her pointer finger to slide her glasses up. She could barely restrain her fidgeting from the excitement the memory brought. 

“She really did, uncle!” Solarys declared excitedly as if she had been there to witness it herself. 

Lunarys crossed her arms over her chest and gave her older sister a narrow-eyed look. “Really, Valery? Is there a point for telling uncle about your fake fight with a demonic bear?” 

Across the table, their cousins were looking at her with barely held excitement. Whether they believed her or not, they were all fans of hearing about Valery’s adventures. 

Valery grinned and poked Lunarys on the cheek, annoying her sister enough to take a swipe at her.  She dodged. “It’s a true story, Luna. I promise.” 

“Tell us what happened, Valery!” Astoria demanded, banging her hands on the table. 

“A demonic bear? Really?” Anya asked, staring at her with stars in her eyes. 

Krista did not say anything, but she, too, was looking at Valery with eager curiosity.

“Now, children. There is a time and place for everything. Restrain your curiosity till after you have been dismissed from the table. Your cousin just came back from a long trip. Please allow her to fill herself up before you bombard her with your questions,” the King drawled, giving Valery a sharp look for getting them riled up. 

Valery could barely suppress her grin. 

Once everyone had settled, breakfast was a peaceful affair. Etiquette dictated that they all partake in their meals in relative silence, with room only for a few exchanges of polite inquiries. Proper conversation was only acceptable to take place after dessert has been served. 

Etiquette also dictated that they use what felt like a hundred different utensils to eat a simple meal, but along with every other rule she had been required to follow, Valery had resentfully come to terms with that as well. For all her uncle bent the rules for her and her siblings, there were still certain aspects of royal life that he could not allow them to be ignorant of. 

After dessert, the Queen excused herself and Erik. It only took a glance at the baby to make it apparent why. Prince Erik’s body was covered in more food than he had actually consumed that morning and was in desperate need of a washing and a new set of clothes. 

Once their meal was over the younger children gravitated to the large comfortable leather couches in the corner to play. 

Solarys kept throwing sad glances her way when Valery did not join them, but the intimidating presence of their uncle beside Valery deterred her from coming over and making demands.  

The King had held her back from joining them with further inquiries about her Knight training and probably the intention of updating her on what was going on.  

Valery managed to keep her responses succinct without embellishing them like she usually did with difficulty. The King might tolerate the habit when she spoke to the children, but he himself had little patience to listen to a grown woman spin what he assumed was a tall tale. 

“I believe last time we spoke, you mentioned that your training was in its last stages.” 

Valery withheld the urge to nod. Such ‘plebeian' gestures were apparently not acceptable when speaking in the presence of the King. 

“Yes, uncle. I will be receiving my badge of recognition in two weeks.” 

The King inclined his head thoughtfully, a brief smile crossing his face. “I see. That is excellent news. I look forward to assigning you your official duties soon…” He drifted off, a faraway look entering his eyes for a moment until a playful shriek from the children’s area brought him back to the present. He cleared his throat. “Have you been informed of our visitors next week, Valery?”

Valery pushed her glasses up her nose once more, and stood up straighter with her hands clasped behind her back while carefully thinking over her words before she spoke.

“I have overheard a conversation mentioning the arrival of visitors from Astanza on my way here.”

The King’s care for his nieces was determined by their resemblance to their mother, the late Princess Leanna. 

Valery had learned from some of the senior staff that the King had shared an extremely close bond with Princess Leanna during their childhood before Valery’s mother had become fed up with the royal life and ran off with a Civilian Knight.

Except for her curly hair, which she inherited from her bastard of a father, Valery was almost a carbon copy of her mother. Therefore the King’s desperate childhood desire to have Princess Leanna as his Advisor fell to Valery. 

It was only Queen Astrid’s intervention that prevented the King from appointing Valery as the King’s Advisor years ago. It was also the Queen who had insisted that Valery train as a Royal Knight. A desire that Valery had thought was simply due to her reminiscing about her own training days, however there seemed to be an added dimension to that desire as well. 

Royal Knights were barred from the line of succession. This was a particular tidbit of information that she had learned last year when she attempted to memorise the Royal Knight rule book on a whim. 

Initially, the discovery had been surprising. Queen Astrid had never indicated feeling threatened by the presence of her nieces. She had actually been quite kind to them. Still, Valery supposed her concern was reasonable with how mentally unstable King Lysander occasionally got these days. It was definitely possible for him to wake up one day and make her the heir to the throne on a whim. 

So at the end of the day, being recognised as a Royal Knight not only protected her cousins’ best interests, but Valery’s own as well. She had no desire to rule a nation. 

King Lysander was a great monarch. He ruled justly and made great efforts to make progressive reforms in Vesperia. However it was apparent to anyone who knew even a little about him that the King cared very dearly for his sister and that the loss of her had broken him in a way that could never be healed. 

If Valery did not know any better, she would suspect her uncle of having… improper feelings for her late mother. However she valued her life far too much for that thought to leave the realm of midnight musings. 

Either way, what did it matter in the grand scheme of things? Her mother was dead and she was still under the generous care of her uncle. So Valery was fine with her mother’s burden being placed on her, but she refused to let her sisters get involved in the palace drama. That was why she made great efforts to make them seem as uninteresting and unlike her mother as she could in front of the King. 

“Is that correct then, uncle? Will Astanzan delegates be coming here next week? On such short notice?” 

“Yes. They are coming to announce the nominations for their Crown Prince’s Courtship.”

Valery bit back a gasp. 

A Courtship?

The first Courtship of their generation was about to begin? She had really missed out on a lot in the last three weeks. 

Members of the United Kingdoms Alliance were obligated to nominate three representatives for the Courtship. A royal nominee, a noble nominee and a civilian nominee for the Courtship, but after too many petty conflicts had started over monarchs being against unions between countries taking place, royal nominees were no longer compulsory. Still, there was social pressure for Kingdoms to send unwed, adult royals if they were not in the line of succession for the sake of continued good relations between them.  

She wondered what the challenges the nominees would have to undergo this season. What about the prince? What kind of individual was he? Will the prince fall in love with one of the nominees this time, or will he end up marrying for duty like the Zhurinian prince Akihito did?

Her excitement dimmed slightly when she noticed the silent, almost imperceptible struggle on her uncle’s face. A somewhat uneasy feeling began to grow within her. 

“Uncle? Is something wrong?” 

“Valery…”

Valery frowned. “Yes?” 

The King became uncharacteristically hesitant again. 

“You are one of the nominees.”