Returning to the day of the coronation ceremony—
After a long embrace with her elder sister, they parted ways, and Kriemhild left the royal villa.
At noon, she arrived at the royal castle. Now the coronation ceremony for welcoming Kriemhild as the new queen would be held. The ceremony was small-scale, and only the chief vassals of the royal castle were allowed to participate. This was the way of the kingdom.
Once again, Kriemhild thought it was strange. Looking at various foreign countries, no others held such a closed coronation. Normally, the whole country would celebrate the new ruler.
For the sake of the ceremony, Kriemhild was welcomed into the throne room.
Kriemhild knelt before the empty throne. Her mother couldn’t attend the ceremony, being on her sickbed—though Kriemhild had known things would be like this. She decided that once the ceremony was over, she would go to her mother. The sisters had been refused all this time, no matter how many times they had requested to see their mother, but once she was queen, nobody could stop her.
The chief vassals stood in rows to the side of the throne.
The famed twelve knights of the kingdom, and the knight captain who commanded them, Alois, were all there.
The old retainer Warren, with the crown in hand, stood beside the throne.
All wore stiff expressions.
With the atmosphere strangely dark, the coronation ceremony began.
Crown in hand, Warren came before Kriemhild.
The crown shone dully in the old retainer’s hands.
Kriemhild somehow had a bad feeling about this. Even she, who did not possess the eye of god, was shivering.
Oh no, this isn’t…
Kriemhild tried to back away.
But Warren was quicker, and he carried out the crowning.
He set the crown on top of her head and told her, “Congratulations on your accession to the throne.”
Just then, a voice rang in her head.
It was a woman’s voice ordering Kriemhild this:
Offer yourself to the kingdom.
Instantly, her body was no longer her own.
“What…?” Kriemhild asked, confused.
Warren answered, “That is the voice of the First Queen.”
He began to explain in a low voice. “The First greatly feared a single individual bearing great powers, since the evil dragon that once ruled this kingdom was very much that. If someone with great power were to go out of control, the peace of the kingdom could not be maintained. And so the First made that crown.”
The voice of the First Queen bound Kriemhild’s body with invisible powers. This made Kriemhild remember a mysterious legend about the First Queen.
They said that the queen’s charming voice had held sway over the hearts of those who heard it, and that during her golden era, her command had been like an order from God, able to bind any living creature to her word…
Kriemhild tried to take the crown off. But when she made to touch it, her hands wouldn’t move.
“You will not be able to touch it or to break it, since that would be classified as an act of wrong against the future of the kingdom,” said Warren. “Any acts that are not in service of the future of the kingdom are forbidden to the queen.”
“You mean that the First made such an evil crown?” Kriemhild asked.
“Yes… Although later generations have improved it, expanding the interpretation of what qualifies as an act of wrong against the kingdom.”
Kriemhild understood that that was the problem. This crown had most likely originally only had the role of preventing royal authority from running amok. Then it had been altered by people of later generations—from the way he spoke, by Warren—and abused.
“I understand now why our mother was unable to care for us sisters…”
She had most likely become a slave to this crown.
Kriemhild cursed her own naïveté. It seemed that wicked schemes were swirling around in this royal castle.
“Warren, please answer me. What would you have me do, putting this crown on me?”
“To serve the kingdom, just like the many queens before you. And…” Warren came to the issue at hand. “I will have you kill Princess Brunhild.”
“What are you talking about…? Why would you say such a thing…?”
Warren put a hand to his mouth. “I suppose I should begin with the fact that the Miracle of Life is beginning to disappear from this country.”
The Miracle of Life was the panacea that would drive away all illness. It was a medicine that had spread all over the kingdom.
“The Miracle of Life is beginning to disappear…? That couldn’t be.” Kriemhild argued back emphatically. “The Miracle is simple to make. Since if the queen, who has God’s Power, touches water, then that turns into the Miracle. I’ve heard that now that I have become queen, I’ll be able to turn water into the Miracle, too.”
“Only the First was ever able to perform such a feat. The Second and beyond, when touching water, could not turn it into the Miracle. Even with the Power of God in their bodies, they couldn’t handle it as well as the First…”
“Please don’t lie to me. That would mean we haven’t been able to make the Miracle ever since the death of the First over seventy years ago. It would be strange that it hadn’t run out long ago. But the Miracle of Life is used widely through the kingdom, is it not?”
“That was thanks to the devotion of generations of queens.”
Kriemhild shivered.
She sensed something sinister in the word devotion, something different from the original meaning of the word.
“That reminds me that you have been seeking to visit your predecessor for some time.” Warren courteously prompted Kriemhild out of the crown room. “Let me guide you to her.”