When the councilmen heard such a prophecy from the Royal Astrologer, they all looked at each other with a hint of fear lingering in their eyes.

One of the eldest councilmen, Vincent, was the most worried out of all. He had been looking after King Dragomir since he was still a Prince and was very young. He had been providing insights to the King, teaching him peaceful ways of uniting with several other Kingdoms, and many more. He was proud that under his guidance, Wyverndale had become a peaceful and prosperous Kingdom.

And now, the Astrologer was telling them that if they were to miss the upcoming auspicious date to conduct the test, there was a chance that no new ruler would be selected for three decades.

Several thoughts crossed Vincent’s mind. “Is King Dragomir not planning to conduct the test at all? Was that why he was making several excuses yesterday saying that he wanted to postpone the test? Or is it something completely different? Is one of the Royal Children plotting to overthrow King Dragomir and rule over the Kingdom without having to go through the test of worthiness?”

Councilman Gilbert’s thoughts were also running wild after hearing the prophecy. “Is some catastrophe going to befall on Wyverndale? Is one of our neighboring nations trying to attack on Wyverndale… maybe Mihir? They have been quiet lately but who know what they are secretly planning to do? Maybe they have found a secret path to deploy their soldiers into our Kingdom.”

Every one of them was making their own speculations and their own bets regarding what disaster would fall upon their Kingdom. That one sentence from Astrologer Kai had stung all the councilmen very badly.

The Royal Astrologer was however, hoping that no one would ask him what he meant by ‘no new ruler would be selected in the next 30 years’. Because he would not dare to answer that question as he felt that it would make the King despise him and his prophecies even more.

Kai was thankful that everyone was taking their time to process that prophecy in the first place. And they were not asking him to elaborate on that. Now he just wished that the councilmen would greet him goodbye and they would not contact him for another decade or so. He would be happy if they would not contact him in his lifetime.

Kai was getting restless while waiting for them to say to him that he could now return back to his home, so he himself started to speak, “I know that this prophecy might have come as a shock to you all. But you do not have to worry too much.”

He continued to reassure them so that they would leave him alone, “I just said that there is a possibility of it happening if you were to miss the upcoming auspicious day. Now that you know how badly it will affect the Kingdom, I am sure you all will manage everything and conduct the test on that day.”

Though Kai reassured them that the bad prophecy would not happen unless they were to fail to conduct the test, the councilmen could not help but think what or who would be the main reason behind it. They needed to be cautious and ready for whatever was to come; they wanted to be prepared for it even though the possibility of that prophecy being fulfilled was very minimum.

Councilman Vincent looked at Kai with inquisitive eyes and put forth his question, “Royal Astrologer, if you would not mind, would you please elaborate why you said that no new ruler will be selected if we were to miss out that particular day?”

Kai had purposefully not given the reason as to why he had said that. At first, he was even contemplating about whether or not he should mention it. But he thought that it was his duty to warn them of the possible disaster and at last, he had warned them.

Kai was now in a great dilemma. He had already mentioned the prophecy so it was now his duty to answer other questions related to it. But on the other hand, if he answered their question, he was afraid that the King would punish him for what he was going to say.

Kai thought for a while and then he looked at Vincent and spoke in a serious tone, “As a Royal Astrologer, it is my duty to warn you all about the possible future. But you all know that His Majesty does not have good terms with me. So, I will only answer you if you all agree on keeping what I am going to say next a secret.”

Seeing how cautious Kai was behaving, Vincent was even more worried about what he was going to say. He glanced at all the other councilmen and then nodded to them, signaling them to keep Kai’s secret.

And Vincent looked at Kai and spoke as calmly as he could, “We give you our words that we will keep it a secret. So please, tell us the reason behind your prophecy.”

Kai took a deep breath and then said in a melancholic voice, “The King’s life is in danger…”

—

Councilman Vincent was in the King’s Court. He would have given this simple task of informing the King about the date to someone else. But after hearing what Kai had said to them in detail, he thought that he should not be taking any chances and he went to the King to make sure that the test would be conducted on the set date, no matter what.

“So the auspicious day is less than a month away then?” King Dragomir asked to Vincent to reconfirm.

Vincent politely bowed his head and replied, “Yes, Your Majesty. But you do not have to worry too much. If you make the announcement to the Palace today, the council will prepare the rest.”

Even though it was King’s job to personally oversee the test, Vincent wanted to lift the burden off of the King so that he would not start insisting again that the test should be postponed.

King Dragomir nodded his head and spoke in his stern voice, “Okay, I will make the announcement in a while then. After that, you can start making the necessary preparations.”

Vincent bowed to the King “I will take a leave for now Your Majesty” and then turned around to leave the King’s Court.

But King Dragomir stopped him with a question, “Councilman Vincent, are you not feeling well? You are looking very pale.”

Vincent turned back to face the King and tried to smile, “I am fine Your Majesty. I am just a little tired, that is all.”

“You should take a few days off if you are not feeling well.” Dragomir was genuinely concerned about Vincent as he was like a father figure to him.

“I will definitely take leave if I feel unwell. Your Majesty should also care about your own health. Do not just spend too much time here in the Court.” Vincent kept on bowing his head to hide his eyes which were full of tears.

Dragomir smiled and replied, “I will keep that in mind.”

After Vincent left the room, the King spread a white sheet of paper in front of him and then started to scribble on it.

“This is to notify to all of you that the test of worthiness is scheduled on the second day after the next full moon. All of you are expected to prepare for the test from your side. The location and time of the test will be revealed to you one day prior to the test. All the best to you all!”

After writing the announcement, King Dragomir stamped his seal on the paper and then rolled it. He then gestured the court guard to take the scroll and ordered, “Give this to the messenger and ask him to visit each and every Prince and Princess personally and deliver this announcement to them.”

He paused for a while and then added, “And after he is done informing the Princes and Princesses, ask him to announce the date to their mothers as well. I am sure they would also want to know.”

“As you wish Your Majesty”, the guard bowed to the King and left the hall with the scroll.

The messenger received the scroll from the court guard and immediately went ahead to fulfill the task. He decided to start delivering the message from the eldest Prince and then thought of moving gradually to the younger ones so that he would not forget to deliver the message to anyone.

He went to the quarter of the first Prince Edwin and asked the maids to inform the Prince about his arrival. He went inside the quarter of the first Prince and read out the announcement from the scroll. Then he bowed to the Prince and left the room.

Prince Edwin leaned back on his chair and stared at the ceiling above him. A mirthless smile appeared on his face and his grim voice echoed throughout his room, “At last, it is my time to shine. The era of King Edwin will begin…”

A cynical cackle could be heard even outside of Edwin’s private chamber.

The messenger visited each and every Princes and Princesses and then read out the announcement from the King to all of them.

Some were showing excitement after hearing the announcement while some were nervous even though the only thing that they had been doing for their whole life was preparing for this very test.

Finally, the messenger reached to his last stop, Princess Adeline’s quarter.

He went inside the quarter and then as he had done with all the previous ones, he read out the announcement to the Princess and then left the chamber after bowing to her.

Unlike all the other Princes and Princesses, Adeline did not show any response after hearing the announcement. She was calm and composed. She sat down in front of her study desk and then pulled out her mother’s portrait.

“Mother, the day that I had been preparing for is finally approaching soon. I promise that I will make you proud.. And I promise that I will avenge your death.”