The sun had already gone down as I jumped out of my carriage once more, heading towards a park in the distance where only a few magical lamps glowed. Under these lamps, there sat a lone pope on a bench that was freed of any snow. As soon as I stepped into the light, the pope looked up and smiled bitterly.

“I never wished for our saint to be married to a king.” He admitted, even before I curtsied towards him. He was trembling slightly, and somehow, I felt a bit bad for making him wait out in the cold for so long … just a bit though. Sitting down right beside him, I gazed into the distance.

“My marriage is why we are here today. I guess the letter arrived already that you will hold the ceremony next week?” I asked and looked at the moon.

“It did.” He stated, still trembling by my side.

“We need to alter the marriage contract slightly.” I stated, hoping he would come up with what I wanted on his own.

“It is very uncommon for queens to demand more as their role is solely …” He didn´t continue, but he also didn´t need to. I knew exactly what he wanted to say after all.

“To bear the children of the king. You must understand that this will be slightly difficult for me, even if I wanted to.” I explained. A female vampire and a human male could never start a family.

“So what are you proposing, especially because you will fall into a coma?” My marriage could not come at a worse date, that was true, but it wasn’t necessarily detrimental to me. I only had to fiddle around with the normal contract between a king and a queen.

“Realistically speaking, I am only doing this to calm the anger of the population, at least that’s what he wants from me. But I want to make the world a better place, which kind of puts me in an awkward position. If I refuse to marry him, he will need to pass reforms beneficial to the general populace, but there will be bloodshed. If I do become the queen though, I won´t be able to change the world, because … well, the time is a little bit short, but we can avoid all the bloodshed.” I explained and put my index finger on my cheek.

“Indeed.” He said, rubbing his palms against each other.

“So, we need to make some slight alterations while keeping the bar where he will refuse low. We also need to consider my … unageing appearance. If I cannot change the world in this century, let me try it in the future.”

“Hmm. That will be rather difficult. The moment he finds out, he will abdicate. And even in the very likely scenario about his death while you aren’t here, your position will weaken as well, especially after several generations of new rulers.” The pope explained, which was exactly what I was worried about as well.

“You could ask of him that I will be the first queen, as long as I live. An eternal queen so to speak.” I revealed what I really wanted. A position that would last as long as this kingdom does, no matter who rules it.

“I am not entirely sure he will agree to that.” He said, which was correct … if the king still thought I didn´t age which shouldn’t be the case anymore. After all, I made quite the scene in front of him to show him that I grew a bit.

“He will. He doesn’t know what we know.” I said and frowned slightly as a dark cloud pushed itself in front of the moon.

“But even then, the queen is not that powerful of a position to be in. It is mostly ceremonial with very little influence in politics.” He explained and exhaled into his palms, forming a little cave.

“I know, and he will never agree that I will have an equal position, especially because of the clause we just discussed. But still, Pope Dustin, I cannot start from zero again when I wake up in the future. I know the churches will support me, but if I really want to change something, I need to be as influential as possible. Being queen is a good starting point for this.” I said and needed to wait a little while for him to answer. He was probably also thinking about what this marriage meant for his church and all beliefs in general and he probably came to the same conclusion as I did. If the Saint was always the first queen, the churches could only profit from it. “It needs to be written into the constitution as well … no king should be able to throw me out easily.”

“… I will finalize the documents tomorrow and present it to him shortly afterwards. If there are any complications, I will write you a letter.” He said, which was exactly what I wanted to hear.

“You are a lifesaver.” I stated. He truly was, even though I had to explain him more than I needed to. I wished for him to find the answers I came to on his own, so that not everything was seemingly done out of my own hands, but whatever.

“… could you do this old man a favour and bring him back to his carriage? I fear my cold bones aren’t as good as they used to be.” They really weren’t. He was trembling the whole time, and I doubted he could walk very well in this state.

“Certainly.” I said and stood up. Easily, I helped him up as well and I gave him my shoulder to steady himself. Together, we walked to the other end of the park where I and two of his priests helped him into the carriage.

“Until then.” I nodded towards him and lifted up my hand to wave at him.

“Until then.” He repeated, and I turned around on my heels. The door closed behind me shortly afterwards, meaning that one more point on my to-do list was actually done. Now, there were only a few left …