Chapter Text
Once upon a time in the warm lands of Adrestia, there was a beautiful Empress who was beloved by her people. She was admired for her beauty and her kind, but strong-willed heart. However, Adrestia was a land of many sorrows; her husband, the Emperor, faced insurgents and interference from the other noble houses, removing much of his power until the royal house Hresvelg faced insurrection itself.
For her and the future scion’s safety, the Empress’s brother, Arundel, insisted upon her moving to the neighbouring kingdom of Faerghus for a period of time. Spending most of her days hidden in the kingdom castle for her protection, the Empress took to sewing. She laid in expectance for her future child and whiled away her time working her needle and thread into clothes. As she sewed a black gown of the finest silk, she pricked herself with the needle. While staring at the dripping blood from her finger, the Empress wished for three things for her child:
“Oh Seiros. I wish that I had a daughter with skin as white as snow,
hair as dark as the seas below,
and for her lips to be as red as blood.
If she bore those three gifts, I would give her all I could.”
Shortly after saying her prayer, the Empress gave birth to her daughter, and was delighted that she had not only ivory skin, a hale red face and a few strands of dark hair. The Empress proudly welcomed her daughter and thanked Saint Seiros.
However, on the blessed day that the scion was born, the Emperor lost all his power to Adrestia, becoming nothing more than a puppet. In anguish, the Empress fell weaker and weaker as she gazed at her daughter. With her dying breath she spoke to the child, blessing her with a name.
“Sweet child, your Mother is dying, something that cannot be ward;
You will be our noble protector, our dear Edelgard.”
The scion eventually returned to Adrestia with her uncle, Lord Arundel. He claimed the Empress’s dying wish was that he become her guardian, which the Emperor and royal court scarcely believed. However, there was no proof to say that the Empress’s wishes were the opposite; and his word was taken as truth. Arundel quickly set into a very comfortable life, which he became accustomed to. The only belongings of the Empress’s that returned to Adrestia were an enchanted mirror and one of the many clothes that she had spent hours stitching: a dress as dark as the starless sky. Arundel confiscated the mirror for his own uses and left the dress for Edelgard for when she grew up.
The enchanted mirror held many gifts, the greatest being foresight. The mirror responded with images across the land, pasts from before and fates that had yet to come. Taken with the mirror’s powers, each day Arundel would ask the same question:
“Magic mirror in my hand, who is the strongest in all the land?”
And each day, the mirror would say, “Unrivalled by anyone; Arundel is, second to none.”
As Edelgard grew up, she became a beauty only rivaled by her departed mother, and she inherited her
ancestor, Seiros, grace and strength. Her hair had strangely turned white as snow, and her lips had become as red as roses; and out of mourning and love for her mother, she wore the black dress she’d sewn. On her 21st birthday, Arundel asked the mirror the same question, and it answered back:
“Arundel, tides have changed,
Edelgard is the strongest in range.”
In an angered fit, Arundel approached Count Vestra’s eldest son, Hubert, who was a servant to the imperial house. In the dark depths of their deathly house, Arundel held out a dagger with a locked box and gave the boy grievous orders:
“Take this dagger and plunge it into the scion’s heart;
make it look as it has been done on a lark.
Wait for her in the depths of the forest
and bring me back her heart of rust.”
The young Hubert, whose family had assisted in many cruel deeds for the family of Hresvelg since their reign, was in no position to turn his back on any royal decree. He took the dagger and prepared for fate. Arundel lured Edelgard out into the forests behind the royal palace.
Deep into the bowers and briers, Hubert waited for her. As footprints moved through the dirt and Hubert could hear the calls of a panicked princess, he patiently waited for his prey. But when Edelgard stumbled upon on his hiding spot near a thicket of rose briers, Hubert found he could not fulfill his duties. He was met with a beauty unparalleled, the searing vision of the long-dead Empress’s wishes: long white hair, rose-red lips and a dress as black as night. Hubert lowered the dagger, dropping it into the rose bushes.
And Edelgard, undeterred, only spoke with stern determination. Her voice alone was enough to bring Hubert to his knees. “Vestra, do you intend to kill me?”
“No, please hear my plea.”
“Speak.”
“Arundel sent me to kill you. He wished to hear death’s shriek.”
“Why?”
“He envies your strength, and wishes to be sly.”
Edelgard paused, turning her gaze back to him. Slowly, she spoke, “Vestra, will you give me safety and shelter?”
“My lady, I will give you anything you desire.”
“I desire thorns through his heart, like these briers.” Edelgard had said simply. And when Hubert told her must bring back her heart in the box, Edelgard stole the heart of a black eagle. With great aim and a precise eye, she shot down the bird and carved out it’s heart, placing it in the box.
In return, Hubert offered Edelgard shelter in his family’s summer manor while they plotted to take revenge on Arundel. When he discovered that Hubert had failed, Arundel sent out an assassin to find Edelgard. Hubert, who still had sworn fealty the royal family, left Edelgard alone most days and returned to her in the evenings, where they would plan for revenge.
Arundel sent two witches, each one selling a different item: the first sold black corsets and dress and was told to wind them tight enough to make Edelgard faint; the second sold a cursed comb that would lay her into a long slumber. Edelgard, however, was prudent and refused every seller that came to manor door. However, Arundel sent one last witch, disguised as a poor farmer’s wife, with a pot of bergamot tea.
Ever her favourite, Edelgard could not resist the tea and took a cup. Little did she know, the tea had been laced with a sleeping potion, enough for the victim to become comatose. When the tea touched her tongue, she fell into deep slumber, deep enough to feign death. When the witch reported back to Arundel, he asked the mirror once again: “Magic mirror in my hand, who’s the strongest in the land?”
“Unrivalled by anyone; Arundel is second to none.” It cried out. Arundel rejoiced before approaching the Emperor to relay the death of his only child.
As night fell, Hubert returned to the manor and found Edelgard collapsed. And when he found the shattered remains of her tea cup and realized what she had drank, he knew the cure: a kiss of true love. Gently, he raised Edelgard’s lips to his and kissed her, breaking the slumber.
Immediately after she woke, Edelgard demanded to be put into a glass casket and to be on display in death. Hubert almost refused until Edelgard took his face in her hands and pleaded:
“Vestra, trust me, please,
lay your faith in me, my dour devotee.”
Both smitten and indebted, Hubert agreed and Edelgard layered him with other instructions. Dutifully, he followed every direction. In short days, nobles and common folk alike came to mourn the late princess. Arundel caught wind of the mourners leading to the Vestras summer manor and followed in close and quick pursuit. Many Adrestians commented that Edelgard’s beauty was only perfected in death. She wore a dress as dark as the winter sky and held an ornate dagger in her hands. When Arundel wished to be alone with Edelgard’s body, he whispered to her deaf ears:
“Dear child, you may have won the battles,
but I am not so easily addled.
Enjoy death dear Edelgard,
your deck was short a card.”
Both stronger and more resolute, Edelgard rose from her glass casket and plunged the dagger into Arundel’s heart. As he lay dying, Edelgard proclaimed the following,
“Wretched as you may be,
I do not hate, only pity thee.”
After his death, Arundel was exposed as not only a conspirator of the insurgence against the Emperor, but also a schemer to poison the late Empress. After besmirching his name, Edelgard ascended the throne and became Adrestia’s next Emperor. Ever by her side was Hubert, who became her consort and close companion. Throughout history, Edelgard and Hubert’s story was told as the gifts of strength and loyalty.