Your support makes Blue Moon possible (Patreon)Esmeralda's anger and sense of betrayal lessened a bit, but not much. The girl was a simple-minded fool. Her mother's taxes on the lords of the kingdom-soon-to-be-empire were far more excessive than those on the peasants. If the peasants were poor, that was thier lords' fault. If thier peasants were poor, the lords shouldn't tax as much from them, and the future Empress wouldn't tax much either. The only reason the Empress' taxes were so high was because, as far as she was concerned, the lords had the wealth to be taxed. But this peasant girl wouldn't understand that. Perhaps Esmeralda's mother's ego was too big. Hers was the face of the kingdom, and obviously the one the lazy peasants blamed for thier poverty.
As for the talk of Eli's village being attacked, her parents killed, and Eli herself taken in a cage for the soldiers' enjoyment; Esmeralda knew her mother was a conqueror, as her grandmother and all her great-grandmothers had been before her. All the conquests were just: without the conquered lands the whole kingdom would suffer poverty and strife, from the lowliest peasant to the queen herself. But carrying captives off in cages - her mother would have ordered those responsible executed, and thier superiors castrated by thier own men for allowing such debauchery. They were a proffessional army, not a rabble of mercenaries.
"Perhaps I could convince my mother to listen to your grievances, and possibly even spare your life, and the lives of your rebel friends," she finally said. "Perhaps she may pardon you, if you've broken no other laws. But how do I know all you want is justice? What if you already have somebody standing by to sieze the throne, someone more to your liking? How do I know all this talk of 'making me comfortable' isn't all a sham to lure me into a false sense of security before drugging me again and smothering me in my sleep? If my life of luxury is sucking the life out of the poor, why simulate it for me? How do I know you'll mean me know harm, so I can tell my mother of your complaints?"
As for the talk of Eli's village being attacked, her parents killed, and Eli herself taken in a cage for the soldiers' enjoyment; Esmeralda knew her mother was a conqueror, as her grandmother and all her great-grandmothers had been before her. All the conquests were just: without the conquered lands the whole kingdom would suffer poverty and strife, from the lowliest peasant to the queen herself. But carrying captives off in cages - her mother would have ordered those responsible executed, and thier superiors castrated by thier own men for allowing such debauchery. They were a proffessional army, not a rabble of mercenaries.
"Perhaps I could convince my mother to listen to your grievances, and possibly even spare your life, and the lives of your rebel friends," she finally said. "Perhaps she may pardon you, if you've broken no other laws. But how do I know all you want is justice? What if you already have somebody standing by to sieze the throne, someone more to your liking? How do I know all this talk of 'making me comfortable' isn't all a sham to lure me into a false sense of security before drugging me again and smothering me in my sleep? If my life of luxury is sucking the life out of the poor, why simulate it for me? How do I know you'll mean me know harm, so I can tell my mother of your complaints?"
