The Scar-Faced King

by Isabell Schmitt-Egner

  “You are beautiful, my boy! Just wonderful!” Jahne patted his chest, as she was too small to reach his head after he had sat up. Amon lowered himself back onto his bed and Lilli thought he still looked distraught. It would certainly take him a long time to halfway process what he had experienced.

  Auntie Jahne moved a chair to Amon’s bedside and then they all discussed the events together again. In doing so, Auntie Jahne posed the thought that Jheron had caused this deception and it had disappeared with him.

  “Perhaps he wanted Constance’s deed not to be forgotten,” Lilli said. “In truth, the scars on Amon had healed quite well, but Jheron let everyone see the terrible deed because it had not been atoned for.”

  “But why didn’t he let you see them?” Amon asked.

  “Perhaps he sensed that Lilli was the one to help you,” Jahne remarked, rubbing Lilli’s arm until he blushed. “Possibly even that he called her to you. We’ll never know. You don’t have to fathom everything in life either. Some things are destined to remain a mystery.”

  14

  The next day Amon was well enough to get up. The astonishment at his new face was enormous all over the castle and the same day the wildest rumours were circulating, and most of them revolved around a curse that the Princess of Aurenbrunn had lifted.

  Amon had given orders not to give Constance any information. So, she did not even know whether her brother had survived the poison attack. A guard reported to Amon that Constance kept demanding to be let out, as the throne was now hers after the king’s demise. Amon ordered all the guards not to exchange a word with Constance.

  Lilli had not yet been able to spend a quiet moment with Amon and was eagerly awaiting their togetherness as a couple. Finally, in the early afternoon, Amon led her into his study and closed the door. Immediately Lilli flung her arms around his neck and pressed her lips to his. How she had missed that! Amon returned her embrace and also the kiss, but he seemed slightly tense, and she let go of him to look him in the face.

  “Lilli ...” Amon stroked her hair. “Your father has refused my request. He does not give his consent to this marriage.”

  A dizziness seized Lilli and she had to hold onto Amon to keep from falling over.

  “Why not? What did he say?”

  “He doesn’t think I’ll be a good husband to you, and he thinks you’ll regret it. He thinks you don’t realise that it means a final decision for your whole life. In his eyes, it’s just a whim. I think he will arrive here again in a day or two to pick you up.”

  “No.” Lilli thought she was going to throw up. “No! I won’t go along with that. He mustn’t!”

  “Lilli ...”

  “No, no ...” The tears burst out of her like a tidal wave. Amon held her in his arms and cradled her gently, talked her through it, but she couldn’t listen. Wild plans circled through her head, from escaping to the mountains to locking the gates when her father arrived. She knew she was headless right now, but she found herself unable to think clearly now.

  They talked about it until evening, Lilli managing to calm down after many tears and two guzzled down cups of water. Her eyes were burning, but her mind was slowly clearing. And then she knew what she would do.

  Amon let Constance continued to rot in the dungeon. She was given bread and water, and the contact ban was maintained. All the servants and inhabitants of Grauemfall were by now aware of the entire story. Constance’s chambermaid wept and quit her service, some whispered that they had always suspected it and still others kept silent, fearing that the curse of Grauemfall might return in some form and this time catch them themselves.

  Amon did not yet see himself in a position to face his sister. Nor had he yet determined a punishment for her, and so she stayed down there and had time to think about what she had done. Lilli doubted that this would change anything. Perhaps Constance was also suffering from a disease of the mind, who knew. She just wished she would get out of their life.

  Two days had passed since her devastating conversation with Amon, and in the morning, someone had reported a cavalcade of riders approaching the castle.

  Lilli had immediately gone to her room and had Sophia fix her hair. She had chosen a dark blue dress, with silver jewellery around her neck and a belt embroidered with silver ornaments. Sophia braided and pinned her hair into an elaborate hairstyle, with Lilli instructing that no strand should hang out playfully.

  Satisfied, she looked at the result at the end, thanked Sophia, and then went into a room she had had specially prepared to receive her father. She took a seat next to the fireplace, where a quiet fire was burning, and waited. They would bring her father here as soon as he arrived. And she had asked Amon not to greet Jaromir, but to let him talk to her first.

  The crackling of the fire soothed Lilli, and when the door opened, her heart barely beat faster, which she noted with mild astonishment.

  “Welcome, father. I hope your journey was pleasant and smooth.” Lilli made a gesture towards the armchair opposite her. “Please take a seat. Sophia, please bring the king some refreshments.”

  Sophia disappeared with a curtsy and Lilli waited until her father was settled. She did not get up to greet him with a kiss as she would have done in the past. Her anger at him was too great for that and after all this time it didn’t feel appropriate.

  “I want to get straight to the point,” Lilli began, noticing her father eyeing her with ill-concealed astonishment. “Amon has reported to me that you have refused his request concerning our marriage. I would like to hear the reasoning for that refusal from your mouth.” Lilli folded her hands in her lap and looked at her father with a calm expression.

  He raised his brows slightly, looking a little confused. Lilli remained silent and waited. She knew that in the past, she had come at him with a torrent of words when it came to such things. Now she sat here and deliberately gave him the floor.

  “Well, Lilli ... well, first of all, I’m delighted to see you well. I heard about this business with Constance of Grauemfall. That is unbelievable. If I’d had any idea – she’d sent me a letter at the time, very cunningly urging me to get you away from here. That’s why I came here then. She described you as moody and that you had told her you were just waiting for the day, I got you back anyway.”

  “That was true for a brief moment. But now that’s in the past,” Lilli said quietly. “Constance is cunning, and I’m not surprised she wrote to you. She will be punished and then Amon and I intend to forget the incident.”

  “Amon and you.” King Jaromir scratched the back of his neck.

  “Exactly.” Lilli fell silent again and waited.

  “I refused Amon’s request because, in my opinion, you don’t know what you’re doing.” The king looked up as Sophia came in and offered him a cup of wine.

  “Do you have any other requests, Your Highness?” Sophia asked politely, and Lilli saw it flash in her eyes.

  “Not at the moment,” Lilli said, seeing from Sophia’s look what she was thinking. Sophia curtsied and left the room. Lilli turned back to her father.

  “You were about to say something. But first taste the wine. The grapes grow on a vineyard with rust-red soil, far away from here. That gives it a very special taste. Before, the wine was grown further north, but there this grape variety couldn’t fully develop its flavour, it lacked the right soil.”

  Jaromir looked at her, then reached for the wine and took a sip.

  “You are right. It is exquisite.”

  Lilli indicated a nod.

  “You look pretty, Lilliana. And more grown up somehow.” He let the wine swirl in the cup.

  “My looks don’t matter. Neither do the looks of my fiancé, whom I love more than anything. When I nearly drowned down in the sewer, it was the thought of having to save him that kept me going.”

  “Lilli ... I ... you know how everything has been. You know you came here out of spite. How could I assume that you could love a scar-faced monster ...”

  “Never
again,” Lilli said, and the tone of her voice silenced her father. “Never again will you call him that. Do you understand me?”

  Jaromir said nothing, just pressed his lips together for a moment.

  “I am ashamed when someone in my family judges a person by their appearance.” A small pause arose in which Lilli did not take her eyes from her father. She waited mercilessly for an answer.

  “All right, you’re right. I admit it, I was put off by his face. For my daughter, I wanted something better. And I assumed you were just making a big mistake out of spite against me.”

  “I understand that,” Lilli said, noticing how surprised her father looked at those words. “But you were wrong. Amon is the right man for me. I can’t imagine anyone else, and I won’t be happy if I can’t be with Amon. That is why I will marry him even without your consent. If you say no, I will find a way. I don’t care how long it takes.” Again, she spoke words calmly and waited for his reply.

  “So,” Jaromir finally said. “I admit that you have changed, Lilliana. And your words sound like those of a queen, I cannot deny that either. If you do not object, I will have a word with your ... fiancé ...”

  “As you like,” said Lilli. “You are a guest here and the king will hear you out. But I have told you my decision, and it is irrevocable.”

  “I’ll see you later.” Jaromir drank the last sip from the cup, then rose and went to the door. Lilli followed him and accompanied him to Amon’s study.

  Jaromir was invited in and Lilli tried not to make a face as Amon rose and turned to her father.

  “What ...” Jaromir’s gaze lingered on Amon’s face.

  “Are you not well, father?” Lilli asked, and she managed to hide the satisfaction she felt.

  “But that’s impossible!” Jaromir exclaimed, completely forgetting to greet his host properly.

  “There was something of a curse on my fiancé. He didn’t have those scars you all saw. Only I could see his true face. But I would have taken him even with all the scars in the world. Father, I wish you both a pleasant talk. What will come of it is of little consequence to me. I will marry Amon, as I said before.” She nodded to the two and then went out.

  Lilli went to her room and gave the two men some time to talk before she showed herself again and invited Amon and her father to dinner just as a matter of course.

  The kitchen had properly piled up for the guest and Lilli sat in the seat next to Amon at the table, which her father noted with a frown.

  “We talked a little,” Jaromir began the conversation, while eager servants put some pie on Lilli’s plate.

  “I assume so,” Lilli said. “Some more of the cranberry compote, please.”

  “Yes, Your Highness.”

  “It seems to me that your consideration of your wedding is not so hasty now,” her father continued.

  “For once we are of the same opinion,” Lilli said.

  “It won’t be easy to explain to the other suitors. By the way, the wine tastes quite wonderful, Amon. I’m really impressed.” Jaromir waved for a servant to pour him a refill.

  “I’m sure you’ll think of an explanation. I don’t remember promising them anything anyway.”

  “Lilli, I get it. You’re right. And I’m sorry I pushed so hard, but I didn’t know what else to do with you.”

  Lilli looked down at her plate. “One solution would have been to ask me what I actually wanted.”

  “You didn’t know that, you just resisted everything. No matter what it was.”

  “Father, I don’t want to talk about this anymore. I’d like to forget about it. In time. And I really need some time, also to forgive you. I know it was different from your point of view, but I can’t just pretend nothing happened. You’re going to have to be patient.”

  “I always have.” Jaromir took a sip of wine. “I would be happy if you waited until the summer to get married. You must be engaged for at least half a year. The cold season will make it difficult for many guests to come. Or do you already have other plans?”

  Lilli put her hand in Amon’s, who clasped it with his fingers.

  “We are getting married next year at the time of the apple harvest,” Lilli said.

  Two days later, the throne room was packed, and the guards were struggling to keep the central aisle clear.

  Lilli saw from her elevated sitting position how the men kept crossing the lances so that the onlookers did not push too far into the middle, while they stretched their heads to see the accused who was about to be paraded.

  Amon had put on a simple but very noble robe and Lilli had also dressed simply and in matching colours. She wore her hair tightly pulled back and did not wear any neck jewellery.

  She sat next to Amon on a magnificently decorated throne, the place that belonged to the future queen of Grauemfall.

  A murmur went through the crowd and movement came to the people. The guards again held people back as Constance, flanked by four men, was led down the aisle. She wore her hair loose, falling to her waist. She was dressed in a simple penitential dress.

  The sight of Amon upset her briefly, although she had guessed that her brother had survived. Otherwise, she would not have been paraded in such a manner.

  “Constance of Grauemfall, you are accused of treacherously murdering our brother, Jheron of Grauemfall,” Amon began, his voice sending shivers down Lilli’s spine.

  “Lie!” Constance cried and was silenced at a sign from Amon.

  “The other charge is attempted murder of my fiancée, Princess Lilliana of Aurenbrunn, as well as myself. The law provides only one punishment for this: Death.”

  People in the room began to whisper and discuss quietly.

  “Silence,” a man who had positioned himself at the side of the throne called out. Immediately the voices fell silent.

  “Before I announce my decision, I ask you, Constance, what punishment would you inflict on yourself?” Amon asked.

  Constance stared at him out of dark-suffused eyes. Her gaze was so full of hatred that it frightened Lilli.

  “You and your wench – you shall rot,” Constance groaned. Again, there was a ruckus in the hall.

  “Then I now pronounce your sentence,” Amon continued, seemingly unimpressed. “Your title is revoked with immediate effect. You no longer belong to the line of Grauemfalls. Your name will be erased from all family books, paintings of you will be destroyed. It will be as if you never existed. You are no longer my sister. You will be taken to a monastery on an island in the Sea of Klameth, five months’ journey from here. You may continue to live there, that is my only concession to my former sister. But you will stay there until you die. And you can only hope that no ghosts will haunt you during that time. Take her away.” Amon made a gesture to that effect.

  “Sewoldt should have killed your wench! You are all so foolish! So foolish! She will bring disaster on you and the whole Empire!” Constance shrieked as the guards grabbed her and dragged her out the door.

  Lilli reached for Amon’s hand.

  “Let’s go.”

  A short time later they were standing in the small cemetery on the upper slope of the castle. There were only a few graves here. Jheron’s grave had only been decorated with a weathered cross, as he had been considered a murderer. Amon had already commissioned a stonemason to erect an appropriate gravestone for his brother.

  One after the other, Lilli and Amon laid a rose and one of the yellow apples from the Tree of Kings on Jheron’s grave. Then they embraced each other, and Amon wept silent tears for his brother. And also, some for the loss of a sister he had believed showed him love.

  Lilli just held him and gave him the mourning time he needed. She cried too, but for Jheron, whose loss hit her in a strange way in hindsight. A young life had been senselessly snuffed out. Through lies, hatred and unhappiness had reigned for years. Wounds had to heal, and that would take time.

  After a while, Amon took Lilli’s hand and led her a little way down the path to a small hi
ll from which there was a beautiful view of the castle. The sun was high in the sky and the Grauemfall plunged roaring from the rocks into the valley. Amon turned to his fiancée and pulled a small, golden necklace from his pocket.

  “This is not an heirloom,” he said as he put the necklace on Lilli. “For generations, the new queen has been given a necklace for engagement, it’s always the same one, and it’s been in a box on my desk since mother died.” Amon took Lilli’s face in his hands and gave her a tender kiss on the lips. “But I think it’s time for something new. I had it specially made, and you are the first future queen to wear it.”

  Lilli felt heat rise in her cheeks and reached for the necklace with the small pendant. It was a solid apple of pure gold, as small as her fingernail but exceedingly ornate.

  Lilli wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed his cheek.

  “I will cherish it. And I will be there for you whenever you need me.”

  “Thank you, Lilli, for my life.”

  “It will be a beautiful life.”

  “I’m sure it will.” Amon held out his hand to her and she took it. Then they walked down to the castle. Only once did Lilli look back and see two red and two yellow dots of two roses and two apples, lying in front of a crooked wooden cross. And behind it she thought she saw someone standing, in the shade of the trees. But when she blinked, the figure had disappeared.

  END