Long ago, during the early years of human settlement, there existed a region nestled between the vast western oceans and the rocky mountains that stretched high into the heavens. The land was bestowed the name Calendula by its first settlers who were nomads in search for a place to call home. The reason for its name was likely due to the fact that Calendulas', a type of flower highly valued for its medicinal potency, grew in abundance within the area.

Eventually the land and the people had expanded to become the Kingdom of Calendula. It progressed so rapidly that it only took less than a century for a ruling system to be implemented to govern their citizens, comprising of the king and queen, the prime minister, the cabinet ministers and the Imperial Calendulian knights.

After a ruling system was established, the kingdom enjoyed a boundless amount of prosperity and wealth. As the location of the kingdom was strategically sandwiched between two inaccessible horizontal entry points, Calendula only had to guard its northern and southern borders, thus making it much more difficult for enemies to infiltrate.

And then the 1013th year came.

It was in this very year where the king had proclaimed a decree to wed their own crown prince to a princess in the neighbouring kingdom known as Epidote.

Now, Epidote was established long before the first Calendulian settlers arrived next door and not much was known about the mountain kingdom shrouded in mystery. The path to the empire was arduous and treacherous, not to mention the inhumane frigid weather and thin air.

However, there were rumours that Epidote had an army with unparalleled strength- likely stemmed from the fact that the mountains were home to many mountainous beasts. However, this rumour remained up in the air for several centuries because of Epidote’s closed country system.

Many years back, King Orpheus, the 14th king of Calendula, came to realise that while there wasn’t much of a threat from an attack coming from other countries due the current peaceful state of the world, it did not necessarily mean that it did not exist entirely. Calendula was much too lax in its recent years and should a surprise attack were to occur, their country would swiftly fall on its knees.

It was for this reason that King Orpheus concocted a plan to form an alliance with their mysterious strong neighbours. In exchange for Calendula's enormous wealth, Epidote, in return, will aid them with their strength. It was certainly a fair exchange as Epidote was not as wealthy as Calendula.

Unfortunately, Epidote was still incredibly wary of outsiders and often refused the envoys who tried to hold an audience with their king. King Orpheus however, was not a man who took no for an answer. Several gifts were sent to Epidote ranging from the finest jewels to the rarest medicinal herbs- Calendula was one of the wealthiest countries in the world after all, so it was a mere small price to pay in exchange for an alliance.

Finally, after 3 years had passed, a reply was sent back!

The letter mentioned that a representative will be sent to Calendula to hear their offer.

Now, after many years of ruminating about it, King Orpheus had become aware that their side of the offer was still lacking persuasion. So, he decided to take a risky move. . .

The Calendulian king proposed an interest in marrying his eldest son, who had just reached adulthood, to the Epidotian’s youngest princess, who was said to be of similar age.

When the envoy was sent back to Epidote, many months had passed by. There was still no word about how the proposal was received by the other party and King Orpheus was starting to become nervous. Did Epidote see this as an outrageous request? What if the little trust they had built up had come crumbling down because of this move? The outcome was starting to look bleak.

And then a letter arrived a year after the proposal was sent.

The Epidotian king had agreed to the offer and will send his daughter to Calendula to meet their crown prince.

In the early spring of the 1012th year, the Epidotian princess and her servants were brought down to the kingdom of Calendula in a golden carriage.

The kingdom was in a state of uproar upon hearing the sudden news. Exactly who was this princess who will one day become their queen? How did she look like? What was her personality? Similar to Epidote itself, her identity was hidden prior to this thus no one really knew the answers to these questions.

When the princess had arrived, a ceremony was held. It a public viewing for the people of Calendula to see their future king and queen, and the citizens of Calendula were quite excited to see how the mysterious princess.

However, instead of dispelling questions, the ceremony only brought in more. . .

On the balcony where the crown prince and Epidotian princess held hands and waved to the crowd, the princess had worn a veil that covered her entire face.

starsmidnight

I absolutely adore villainess and Korean novels so the basis of this story was actually inspired by those tropes. However, the more I wrote and revised it, the more the story deviated from its initial ideas. That's when I decided that instead of rigidly following the original storyline, I'll just let it flow the way it wants to! :> There are still elements of villainess story inspirations and cliches around (hence the tags) but, it won't be heavily emphasised as it did before. Please note that while I try my best to check for spelling errors and grammatical mistakes, sometimes they tend to slip past me (I write really late in the night sobs) ( ͡°з ͡°) Also, the first four chapters are actually one big introduction which I had split into four parts because I'm aiming for 700-1200+ words per chapter hehe ~

Do leave a feedback/rating or add this to your library if you enjoy this! And to ghost readers, you have my thanks too *bows* Author-san will head to bed now!