Chapter 03
Queen of the Starling Kingdom (1)
“So, there is a custom of not choosing a partner until the age of fifteen?”
My mother raised her brows in surprise after hearing the report from the prime minister.
The Starling Kingdom had replied to our official proposal for my engagement with Prince Feliks, saying that royal members of their country only decide their fiancé after their fifteenth birthday.
Long ago, a terrible disease had spread in the Starling Kingdom, and many members of the royal family had died.
At that time, there was an attempt to reassign the fiancée of the deceased first prince—a duke’s daughter—to the surviving second prince. But the second prince already had an engaged partner, a count’s daughter, so it could not be done.
The royal family wanted to give the next king a stronger political backing, but it was difficult to break off a proper engagement with a noble girl who had done nothing wrong.
After similar cases repeated several times, the royal family established a rule: on the fifteenth birthday—the age of adulthood—they would formally choose their fiancé.
“So you’re saying they don’t even officially select candidates before fifteen?”
My mother snapped her fan shut in dissatisfaction.
My father and brother lowered their heads in silence, seemingly intimidated by her mood.
Bado puffed up his cheeks in annoyance on my lap.
I picked him up onto my shoulder and quickly went to my mother, hugging her tightly.
“Mother, if everyone follows the same rule, then I will do the same!”
My mother is kind and loves her family deeply—but sometimes her love goes too far, and she tries to force things her way.
If I let her do as she pleased, she might use the power of our country—the strongest nation on the continent—to bend Starling Kingdom’s rules and make me Feliks’s fiancée immediately.
And unlike other countries, we actually had the power to do it.
My mother looked like she wanted to say something, but when she saw my pleading expression, she smiled as if surrendering.
“…Alright, my cute little witch. You really dislike conflict, don’t you? With our kingdom’s power, we could easily ‘reserve’ a fiancé for you—but I’ll stop here. Because no matter when I present you, that boy will surely choose you the moment he sees you.”
My father and brother muttered under their breath:
“He’s basically threatening Starling Kingdom into not rejecting Rupia…”
“We can’t give her away, but we also can’t start a war…”
Bado purred in satisfaction.
——And eight years passed.
My mother kept her promise and did nothing until Prince Feliks turned fifteen.
But on the morning of his fifteenth birthday, an envoy from our kingdom entered the gates of the Starling royal palace.
By that afternoon, a formal envoy from the Starling Kingdom had already departed toward our country to propose an official engagement between Prince Feliks and me.
——My mother had used terrifying political skill and made me his fiancée in a single lightning-fast move.
Mother… she is so capable it’s actually frightening.
Even so, I was overjoyed.
Ah, I became Prince Feliks’s fiancée!
The Witch of Substitution has finally been properly matched with her partner!
I cheered inside my heart.
Then I picked up Bado with both hands and began spinning around like I was dancing.
“Rupia, I understand you’re excited, but could you please put me down? I am only a noble sacred beast, and I get dizzy.”
Bado complained with a frown.
I smiled brightly.
“Oh, a noble sacred beast should be fine with a little dizziness. Ah, Bado! Right now, I am the happiest person in the world. I feel like singing to the entire universe!”
Bado looked at me—half amused, half fond.
“That would be a disaster. Your sense of music is… unique. If you sang to the world, something serious might happen. I’ll sacrifice myself for the world’s sake. Congratulations, Rupia.”
“Thank you!”
After laughing and dancing with Bado for several songs, I collapsed onto the bed with exhaustion.
My body was tired, but my heart was overflowing with happiness.
That day, I smiled all day long.
Without a doubt—I was the happiest person in the world.
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One year later, I officially married into the Starling Kingdom.
Prince Feliks, who had been crown prince at the time of our engagement, ascended the throne at the same time, making me Queen.
I had to stop my parents, who insisted on attending the wedding.
——It was unthinkable for the king and queen of the great Diablo Kingdom to attend another nation’s ceremony, even for their daughter.
Instead, I arrived with my brother, who insisted on going in their place.
At the wedding ceremony, during the moment the bride was handed over, I saw King Feliks again after ten years.
He looked exactly like the figure I saw in my dreams.
A tall, perfectly proportioned body.
Shiny indigo hair flowing down his neck, with streaks of blue and purple mixed in.
And beneath it, jewel-like blue-violet eyes looked at me gently from a flawless face.
Though he was only sixteen—just one year younger than me—he already carried the calm presence of a king.
King Feliks politely nodded to my brother, then gracefully extended his hand toward me.
His refined gesture made the women in the audience sigh in admiration.
Then, in his own words, he described me kindly.
—My white hair and purple eyes were like the colors of his kingdom.
Hearing that, my brother beside me smiled as if giving up—perhaps he had accepted Feliks.
The nobles and foreign dignitaries all smiled in blessing.
——And so, I became the Queen of the Starling Kingdom, blessed by everyone.
