Witch's Daughter And The Devil's Son

The next day Seren woke up and felt the bed empty. She immediately opened her eyes and there was no one. Drayce was gone but she didn't feel sad. She was happy that he was not angry with her and came to sleep with her the previous night. She reached out her hand to touch the spot he was sleeping on. 

'It still feels warm. He must have left just now,' she thought and continued to caress that empty place gently as if she could feel him. She didn't know why but she liked it when he was closer to her and sleeping with him was becoming her habit.

Seren got ready with the help of the servant and had her morning meal. It was finally the day when Lady Tyra would explain to her about the Royal family of Ivanovs. Seren was excited to know more about Drayce and his mother and she believed this time at least she will get to know something more about the previous Queen. 

Everything was arranged inside Seren's study where Seren sat in her chair behind her study table and her servants stood to one side. There was a wide spread thick cloth stretched at the wooden stand which was placed exactly in front of Seren's study table and Lady Xena uncovered it by removing  the white silk cloth covering it. 

Lady Tyra stood next to the stand while Lady Xena stepped back. 

"Your Majesty, This is the family tree of the Royal family of Ivanov," Lady Tyra informed. 

Seren looked at the chart where everything was written in bold letters and arranged nicely so that she could read it all while sitting in her chair. 

Lady Tyra started to explain. King Drayce is the sixth generation of the Ivanov family who is ruling this kingdom. Lady Tyra explained about all the five kings before and how the family continued. What caught Seren's interest was when Lady Tyra started explaining about King Theron and Queen Esther and their kids. 

"King Theron's first wife was the previous Queen, Queen Esther. After three years of Marriage with Queen Esther, King Theron married Lady Clarisa who we met that day near the lake."

Hearing it, something clicked in Seren's mind and she ended up asking though she knew it was normal for any king to have multiple wives. That night Drayce said he would never have another wife and she would be the only one for him. This made her ask the question.

"Lady Tyra, why did King Theron marry Lady Clarisa? Was he not happy with the previous Queen?"

"My Queen, it's normal for any King to have more than one wife," Lady Tyra answered. 

"That I know but….Is it necessary..to…" Seren didn't know how to put it in words or why she was even asking it. 

Lady Tyra and other servants thought that their Queen was feeling worried that their King would also have other women as his wives. Though it was the normal custom to marry multiple women, it was evident for the current wife to feel jealous and worried. But it was not the case with Seren as she didn't understand the feeling of loving her husband and feeling jealous over other women approaching her husband.

"Your Majesty, even after three years of marriage, Queen Esther could not conceive and King Theron needed to have his next generation that would rule this Kingdom. After Lady Clarisa married King Theron, she conceived and gave birth to the first prince, Prince Keiren, and the daughter, First princess, Princess Taisie."

"Then shouldn't Lady Clarisa be the Queen and the eldest Prince Keiren be the King?" Seren asked the obvious question as it was followed in all the royal families across the continent. 

As per her knowledge about all the royal families from the continent, she was sure about it. The eldest son always became the crown prince and after the death of the king, that crown prince was the one to become the king. But in Megaris, the previous king was still alive and the eldest prince was not the one who sat on the throne. 

When Seren studied about the royal family of Megaris before, she always had this thought about why the younger prince became the king and there was no answer to it. Given the achievements of the young king of Megaris, King Drayce, in the book it was mentioned that he was also called as a devil's son. Seren thought it must be because he had achieved a lot and must be so cruel while fulfilling his duties towards his kingdom.

Lady Tyra looked at Seren as she didn't expect her to ask this question so soon and rather expected her to know the rumors about this kingdom and the king already. 'Would it be fine to tell her everything now? Will she be able to understand the situation at that time and not take anything the wrong way?'

"Your Majesty, there were some unfavorable situations in the past because of which everything had turned out like this. Being merely a servant, I am afraid I am not qualified to address the past incidents of the royal family. But I believe, Your Majesty will soon get the answers from the right person."

"Understood!" Seren replied. 

Though Seren was always curious about everything, she had a habit of not insisting on anything if the person didn't want to talk about it. She had developed this habit after spending years with Martha who never answered her anything and she always ended up putting an end to her curiosity by keeping quiet.

Lady Tyra was grateful that the young Queen didn't insist and continued to explain. "Though Queen Esther couldn't bear a child for King Theron, she was still the Queen. King Theron loved Queen Esther so much that he didn't wish anyone else to be his Queen. Having a child with her never concerned him and he went against the custom to keep her as the only Queen of Megaris. He married Lady Clarisa so he could shut others who pestered him for having an heir and once he did it, others would stop meddling in."

'Previous King seemed to care about his Queen just like His Majesty cares for me,' Seren concluded.