In the royal castle of Vinland, as my husband talks to a maid, I Queen Nadia M. Vinland am hiding behind a pillar near them.

I am using my stealth skill to make my presence unknown.

Why am I doing this you ask?

You might think it is because my husband is the King and I am trying to determine if he is cheating on me with the maid.

However, in this kingdom that is male-dominated, I have the highest authority as Queen. My husband married into my royal house and serves me as prince consort.

Is he having an affair? You ask

Nope… I have 100 percent faith in my husband’s loyalty to me. He, in the past and present has shown just how much he loves me.

There is no doubt in my mind that he would never cheat on me.

Then why am I hiding behind a pillar you ask?

That because I am naked!

Yes, you heard that right. I, Queen Nadia M. Vinland of the Kingdom of Vinland, the highest authority in all the land, whose very words should not be questioned am hiding behind a pillar, stark naked as my consort speaks to a maid.

No, I am not a pervert nor do have any type of fetishes.

Then why am I doing this?

Where do I begin?

Tch… someone is coming this way.

***

<Skill: Silent Movement: Activated>

As the consort and the maid walked closer to her location, Queen Nadia used her skill of silent movement and stealth.

Stealth erased her presence while silent movement erased her footsteps.

She tiptoed around the pillar, avoiding their presence.

The maid didn’t know that the Queen she severed was only meters away from her, stark naked.

She peeked from behind the pillar and observed as the two conversed about the stars in the night sky.

She felt a chill as the cold wind blow across her naked body, but that chill was completely overshadowed by a boiling heat of rage as she saw her prince consort smirk in her direction.

He knew she was there… of course, he knew. After all, he put her in that situation to begin with.

I will kill him someday! Queen Nadia thought

As the night went on, she continued to follow them, hopping from one pillar to the next, while being cautious about her surroundings.

They were inside the inner palace. This was a place reserved for the ruler and their family to live and as per tradition, males were not allowed to enter without special permission from the ruler who in this case was Nadia.

This meant that she only had to be wary of the maids that served the inner palace as no guards were present.

These maids were daughters of noblemen in her kingdom, if word was to leak that the Queen was walking in the middle of the night stark naked, her authority not to mention her reputation and dignity would come into question.

How will I be able to face the nobles if words get out about this?

She thought to herself when she spotted Taji smirking in her direction again.

That bastard doesn’t care at all, does he? He is enjoying this, isn’t he? Bastard! just you wait. I will make you pay for this someday!

She watched on as the maid left from Taji’s side and went on with her duties.

Taji turned and walked towards her. With a smile on his face, he spoke.

“How are you feeling?”

“Bastard, I will have your head for this!”

“Are you sure you should be screaming like that? You might attract some unwanted attention.” He replied with a grin on his face.

Nadia could only curse herself, as her cheeks turned bright red from his tease.

How exactly did a situation like this arise?

It all started about 2 years ago.

***

They say that every woman has three burdens.

In my case, I had four.

The first was my great grand uncle. Because of ill health, he had to relinquish his throne to my great grand father, or at least that was what the public was told. In truth, he fell in love with some whore and refused to wed any other but her.

When members of the royal family firmly refused, he reversed a summoning spell and fled with his, lover? Whore? Mistress? Either way, she set this family on the downward path of destruction with what I can only assume was a very seductive body.

After my great uncle fled, my great grandfather took to the throne. He, fortunately, had escaped the great madness that had inflected my great uncle and carried out his duties with honor and dignity.

Little did people know that his dignity and honor were his downfalls.

My foolish great grandfather waged an unwinnable war with the empire to the north. Unable to let go of the humiliation our kingdom suffered 300 years beforehand where our land was cut in half, only to lose and have it cut in half again.

Thankfully an arrow from the empire swiftly ended his life before he dragged the rest of us to the guillotine.

A fate that awaits all defeated royal households.

After his death, my grandfather took over and was successful in stopping the advance of the empire into our lands, or that is what the public was told.

In truth ,It was more like the empire gave up on a lost cause. Most of our farmland was in the north, to begin with. It would have been foolish to invade the mostly desert south.

Nevertheless, my grandfather claimed victory and like all men before him cemented his victory with countless women and even more countless bastard children.

What was worse was the fact he legitimized them on his deathbed.

He didn’t see the difference between them and our family proper and neither did they.

His body wasn’t half in the grave when the bastards sought to take the throne.

Civil war broke out within the kingdom, as the bastards and my family battled for the throne.

In the end, my father, the youngest child of my grandfather was the last royal standing – literally.

Everyone else was either dead or knocking on death's door with no hope of salvation.

My father fought and won...  Or at least, that is what the public was told.

In truth, my father being the wimp that he was entrusted everything to a sly noble named Branimir Dhammaraza.

Branimir, through many tricks and bribes won the war on behalf of my father, but it came at a cost.

Large chunks of land within the kingdom were handed to him and six of his closest allies.

Together, these seven now had more power than the royal family and formed the noble faction.

Their greed however didn’t end there. Not satisfied with having more power than the royal family, Branimir set forth to take the crown itself but not through war and bloodshed but a daughter.

My father was forc- I mean… persuaded to take in many concubines by not only Branimir but the other six noble houses as well.

By this time I was already born to my mother. My mother and father protected me from the ill-mannered concubines who furiously fought one another to produce the next male heir.

My wimpy father would often sigh as he was embraced by my mother. Seeing that would often fill my heart with joy.

It’s a pity it didn’t last forever.

As time ran by, the concubines grew more impatient… when a rumor that my mother was once again pregnant, they developed a killing intent towards her.

Despite my father's best efforts, my mother died…

Poised by her lady in waiting is what the public was told but in reality, it was none other than those scheming bitches.

In a fit of rage, my wimpy father put them all to the sword and named me his heir.

That was probably the coolest thing he has ever done.

I wished my mother could have seen it.

To ensure my safety, he sent me to the holy land to attend the royal academy.

Far away from the reach of the seven noble houses, who at this point had shifted their attention to me.

“If the king will not put a baby in our daughters, then we can have our sons put a baby in his…”

Those were the words I imagined Branimir uttered to his allies as I traveled to the holy land.

After five years of studying, I was summoned back by my ill father. It wasn’t long after my arrival that he passed on to be with my mother.

It was then that I descended to the throne of Vinland and inherited all the problems that came with the throne.