Work Text:
The Bilious Plains had been hotly contested land bordering what is now the Dersite Prospitian Confederacy and the kingdom of Skaia for a century or longer. A relatively small piece of land compared to the other nations, ruled by a prince who did their best to stay out of politics, they were nonetheless routinely dragged into them when one of the bordering nations set their eye on expansion. The only thing that saved them from all out war was the one constantly brewing between Derse and Prospit, which always happened to grow especially worrisome whenever one country lingered too long on the Plains.
Otherwise, the Bilious Plains were relatively peaceful, self-sufficient with their unfortunately named landscape and deep springs. It is a wonder, then, to some scholars at least, how the Shade Ogre ended up terrorizing the small kingdom. Ogres, as well learned readers may know, are virtually never seen outside of the Liminal Forests, and had not been known to attack people out in the open, much less for more than a night or two or so far down river, in decades.
Is it not natural, then, that some scholars find it curious how swiftly Prince Diederik of Skaia responded, how relatively easily he took down the Ogre?
Is it not also curious that Prince Felix of the Bilious Plains so easily gave up ownership of the land to Skaia not a year later?
Some scholars find this to be yet another oddity in what has been an increasingly strange rule since Prince Diederik took the throne after the disappearance of the king and queen when he was still on the precipice of puberty.
Some may argue that this is all coincidence and can be explained away reasonably, but I leave you, dear reader, with one question:
Why has Prince Diederik not yet claimed his rightful coronation ceremony and ruled as king?