Roialek Senaturian, Zenulvia
Tardine
July 17th, 1813
Kardenccia was seriously in fear that she would lose her sanity. They didn't beat her up yet, however, they were treating her poorly. "Those damn peasants. How dare they mistreat someone who could easily kill them all?" She thought to herself while in her room, looking at the sunset. "I should kill them tonight and take back my throne tomorrow. If only that moron of a husband I have were here." She was getting desperate, specially since she did not receive a single letter from Erminei, who was now their Prime Minister. Could it be that he betrayed her and the plan was actually fake? No, she shouldn't be thinking ill of the only man in the world who actually understand her. The door opens with a bang and a physician (who was actually a guard, from the looks of it) enters in.
"Get up and stand next to the wall." The man, young with fair constitution said with clear animosity.
"Y tu qué quieres cabrón?" She said in Vivanco-Trevisan purposefully, to annoy him. "Yo soy una mujer muy ocupada, no vés tu que estoy cuidando de mi reino?"[1]
"Ugh, the annoying bitch has now forgotten how to speak in Tardineanni." He stepped closer to her, not noticing her clear hatred. "Now listen here you little crazy bitch I will-"
"You will do nothing, stupid moron." She cuts him mid sentence while reaching for a sharpened piece of wood she had with her. While he looked puzzled at her, he was in fact slightly surprised at her sudden change of tone. "You should have paid more attention to what you were doing", said her before sticking the piece up, effectively perforating his throat.[2]
While he was collapsing on the floor, bleeding out with a suppressed scream, Kardenccia started to run. She knew where each corridor would lead to, as she had memorized the way previously. She saw some staff and hid in a cabinet, where she knew the employees' clothes where and stole a maid's broom. Kardenccia managed to leave the facility, but it was snowing outside. She ran into the woods before finally reaching the muddy road, in hopes that a carriage would appear and someone, perhaps, could take her to Olmongeter.
However, the weather worsened and her light clothing wasn't suited for the cold. She was half shivering, half running until she finally collapsed near the woods. Fortunately, and elder woman was passing by and quickly called her husband to aid. They both took Kardenccia with them and let her rest at home.
3 days later
In a small house near the woods
Zenulvia?, Tardine
Kardenccia woke up in a strange room, one that she didn't recognize. Did the damn guards found her and took her back to the sanatorium? She dismissed the thought as she remembered running at least a kilometer before losing consciousness. As she tried to sit, an elderly woman voice called out to her.
"Please do not strain yourself." A confused look crossed Kardenccia's face. She had never seen that woman before. Her skinny, yet small body, with a long, grayish wavy hair and her dark skin were features that she wouldn't have forgotten. "I'm sorry, young girl. You must be really confused at this moment. My name is Rivanne. You are at my house, since both me and my husband found you collapsed near the road."
"My name is Ka-" The empress stopped herself. Would it be wise to reveal her identity to a random woman? "Karina. I am a maid. Well, I was, before some bandits stole My Lady's carriage and we were forced to run away."
"Oh my, I cannot believe what you had to go through." Rivanne took her hands smiling as a mother would do for her daughter. Not that Kardenccia knew what a mom's care looked like, since her mother was brutally murdered. "Karina, please rest a bit more. I will fetch my husband."
"Hello, young girl. My name's Jamika." The elder said while shaking her hand. The tan skinned man was much taller than Rivanne yet smaller than Kardenccia despite his bulky constitution.[3] "My wife told me what has happened. We do not have much but please stay as long as you need."
"Mister Jamika, I do not intend to be a burden." Kardenccia said smiling at them. "I promise to stay just as long as needed for a full recovery. When I find My Lady again I will make sure to ask her for a refund to you."
"No, we will not accept." They said in unison, and the husband completed. "We are helping you because we are good people, not because we want some kind of reward."
"Thank you both for being so kind to me." She said, eyes watering. "It's kind of hard to find good people these days, you know?"
"Specially since that rats killed the Empress!" Jamika shouted angrily.
"My dear please do not scare the woman!" Rivanne said while appeasing him.
"It's okay, Miss Rivanne." Kardenccia smiled again. "I too, have some concerns on the new rulers. Specially since they stripped My Lady's titles. Things have been rough since the coup."
"That's what I'm talking about!" The man said, still kinda angry. "Everyone's whispering about how things have been hard since that traitors stole the power. It's not been a year since the coup and nobody wants them anymore! If only our Empress was still alive." The man completed with a sad look, his tone and expression was now of deep concern.
"I've heard that the Empress is still alive, the bastards didn't have the guts to actually kill her." Kardenccia said, in a conspiratorial tone. "The people are saying she's gathering support to take back the crown, just like she did when Hermani was Emperor. She might be closer than we think!"
Their conversation went on during the next few days, until Kardenccia was ready to leave the clueless couple. She knew for sure that, when she got her crown back the first thing she'd do was to find this couple and reward them. After all, they housed the Empress and were her first new supporters now that she escaped her prison.
She had a destination in mind, a place far from the bustling Capitals that still had enough people to support her. The place of birth of the Narissei family, way before they became the Royal Mardokashni family. Before they got their blood mixed with the Erialdaka[4]. The city of Nouva Narissei, in the province of Riverai. It was the biggest city in the west[5], a place where she would definitely turn the odds in her favor.
[1] Kardenccia was fluent in many languages, including Vivanco-Trevisan (nowadays simply known as Trevisan), Atlish, Aubervijiran and Suadivician. She spoke purposefully in Trevisan to annoy the guard and also distract him.
[2] Along with the title of crazy empress, for burning the city of Narissei in 1809 (hence the city being known as Nouva Narissei nowadays), and ordering the murder of her own son, Ektor Roderich alf Kappena (she didn't actually kill him, she just sent him away to Esthursia where he became Roderick Kappen), Kardenccia II is also known as Murderous Empress, for it is believed that she has killed more than ten people with her bare hands. All of this is obviously not real, just like the fact that she didn't actually burn the city of Narissei. That was just a strange coincidence.
[3] The Kladerais are unusually tall for the average Tardineanni (162.4 cm for the average woman, and 173.9 cm for the average man), oftentimes being at about 1.90 meters tall. Jasemir Partei Kladerai is "only" 1.87m tall. Kardenccia II was 1.76m tall. The couple might have got a bit suspicious since she very tall, but they just dismissed it saying "people from the city are usually taller".
[4] The Royal Mardokashni Family originated from the region where nowadays is the city of Nouva Narissei (which was named after them). Long before becoming a semi-autonomous Tardineanni province, the Kingdom of Mardokash was a vassal state of the Tardineanni Empire. That was until Niana Erialdaka alf Kladerai married Evon Narissei IX. She was third in line to the throne when her brother, Hermani the Great died in Kordatregne (nowadays Cordane, died in 1756). She tried to steal the crown, but her nephew, Kleonis II, assumed the throne. After his death, her son, Hermani Narissei Erialdaka also wanted to steal the crown (saying he wanted to unify both crowns) and he finally managed to do so when he murdered his cousin, Torian (in 1789).
[5] Long before Zenulvia became the biggest city of the north and western regions of Tardine, it was simply a collection of farms and a few noble summerhouses. Nouva Narissei held this title until the dawn of the 20th century.
