Fake Princess
CHAPTER 6
My father looked down, as if he were preparing to say something, and when he looked up, he put on the expression of the king, strong, calm and cold.
“ Do you know,” said my father.
“ Every time a son or daughter of the royal family is born, the fortune teller in the Palace makes a prophecy regarding the baby.”
I nodded slowly. Of course I know, everybody knows. The soothsayer in the Palace is in Isidros is a divination canal derived from the God without a name. People from all over Thorvaldor, even from the outside, sought out the soothsayer for clues, sometimes if the God allowed it, they received an answer. But for a child who came from the royal family, the nameless God always sent a prophecy before the birth of the baby. Sometimes the predictions are specific, telling how the child died or telling of a victory in the war, but usually the predictions are so general that the meaning continues to be debated for years.
“ Can you name the prophecy given to you?”
Once again I nodded, I memorized the sentence with all my heart.
“ He will rule well for a long time. War will not touch it, nor famine, nor plague.”
My father smiled, but his smile was bitter, without any comfort.
“ A good forecast,” he said “ but the prophecy is fake.”
“ What?” Fake prophecy? Did they call me to say all this ?
Now I could hear a small tremor in my father's voice, but he continued without pause.
“ Before birth, when the queen was still strong enough to travel, we visited the fortune teller, & the woman gave us the divination of the God. (My message dear readers do not trust the astrologer sure the same God only well 🙏🥰)
My heart was pounding in my chest, and I could barely hear my father because of the ringing sound in my ears.
“ According to the astrologer, there is a possibility that the princess died, was killed, before her sixteenth birthday. That is uncertain, but the possibility is quite large until, when foretelling it all the fortune teller sees is blood, & the princess who died in this room.”
But I was sixteen years old, I thought confusedly, but I seemed to be unable to speak. Is that what they want to tell me, that I'm safe now?
My father kept talking, his words were getting faster.
“ It is....difficult conception, & more difficult birth songs. The doctors told us it was very likely that the queen would not be able to conceive another child. The princess is the only heir. We have to protect him, whatever the payment. We put together a plan.”
I wanted to rub my head, but I managed to hold my hand still beside my body. Why does my father keep saying it. The princess. It was as if I wasn't there. & if I was safe now, why did he look so grim?
“ After birth, we execute the plan. Only a few people see the baby, & a baby looks similar to other babies.”
My father suddenly stopped, his gaze fixed on me. As he spoke again he sounded tired, like a man who had just completed a long journey.
“ We hid the princess to keep her safe until her sixteenth birthday. & we replaced her with another baby, a fake princess that is. You.”
My body was tilted at Thorvaldor Hall, the light from the window was intensely dazzling, blinding me. I squinted to dispel this sudden brilliance, and while doing so the room seemed to change, its familiar shape changed until I wasn't sure I still knew it.