The Romantic Trials Of A Transmigrated Empress

"Sigrid!!" her grandfather called her sternly.

His voice was just as powerful as the emperor's, a warning that she should be as quiet as a tomb. It was this instruction that he had given his granddaughter when they were invited into the palace.

What Sigrid knew and what her grandfather did not, was that the king was determined to have his way at all costs. According to the plot, despite all of his claims about being old friends with the duke, the king had grown wary of the Thorin's. Their increasing wealth and military strength had grown beyond his expectation, their influence which he once appreciated was now seen as a thorn in the side of royalty. 

The king had been advised by his first wife, the queen to tie the Thorin duchy to the royal family by marriage. If it failed, he should betroth Sigrid to a useless man and find a means of using her to tame the Thorin family or eliminate it completely.

Her grandfather's continued resistance to the king's orders was doing nothing more than raising his suspicion.

"It is decided then, in two days the crown prince will wed Lady Sigrid Thorin, pass on my decree." The King bellowed with a smile on his lips. "Thorin, stay back with me, i wish to discuss more details about the marriage with you."

Duke Thorin shot Sigrid a sharp glance and then turned to the king.

"As you wish, your majesty."

Sigrid was already making calculations in her mind, if she became the crown princess, it was possible to become the empress. On a continent like Eldoria where men held the most power, to be a woman was to be in the unfavorable position. If she had power however, she would never have to be helpless.

Eldoria was a vast kingdom on a continent that had magic, however this magic was rare. It only run in five percent of the population. The odds of awakening magical talent were slim and if you were born a girl, the magic was stripped from you at birth.

It was forbidden for women to practice magic in Eldoria, it was also forbidden for them to touch swords.

In this kingdom as it was on most in this continent, a man could marry two wives and he could marry at an age he wished unlike women that had to marry before twenty five. If one surpassed that age, the office of marriages would assign you to any random man in need of a wife.

Sigrid had been unwilling to transmigrate into this world because of the restrictions on women. They were too unfair, and besides, she would have preferred a modern world with televisions, ice cream and a phone.

She sighed.

"God i am going to miss my phone." she thought.

Suddenly, she felt a dull ache in her head and she winced just before she heard a voice.

"Now is not the time to be thinking about a mobile phone, have you forgotten about the little part where you need to change your fate and defeat the false female lead?"

For a moment, Sigrid thought that she was hallucinating. She brought a hand to her head and gently slapped it twice, an act that confused her grandfather.

He looked at the emperor that was writing a decree and then his granddaughter.

"Sigrid, are you okay? Is your old illness flaring up again" He asked, unnecessarily loudly. "Your majesty, do you see what i mean? Look at my granddaughter, she is already ill. I am afraid that she will not live long enough to survive a marriage with the crown prince."

The emperor frowned and lowered his eyes, gazing at Sigrid curiously.

"It doesn't matter, whether it's for a day or a year, she will be the wife of my the crown prince." 

He went back to writing the decree with a secret smirk on his face. Duke Thorin really cared about this little granddaughter of his, she was the only one he had after all. Her marriage was something he wanted to decide personally, he was looking for an eligible young man to marry into the Thorin family. There was a rumor that a sword mage from the Ye family was a strong candidate.

The king was aware that both families had been secretly negotiating betrothal gifts and a dowry. On the eve of Sigrid's twenty fifth birthday, she would be married off.

The Ye family controlled half of the magical mines that produced valuable minerals from which swords were made. If they were joined to the Thorin family that had military power, how long would it take for them to get bad ideas about the throne?

King Ruff was determined not to see the union happening, even if it was Sigrid's dead body, it would be brought into the palace on the day of the wedding and placed in the royal tombs.

Sigrid was coming to her own realizations meanwhile, one: she had a system and two: if she did not find a way to save herself and her family, the female lead would bury them all.

"System, what can you do for me?"

"I am the plot stealing system, with me here you can estimate the percentage of loyalty that everyone around you has.

The fake female lead has a lucky halo that naturally draws everyone to her. As a result, they find themselves hopelessly loyal and willing to do anything for her. If you can steal this loyalty, you will turn things around.

I also have knowledge on all the vital plot in the book to help you take down your enemy. Now is a good time to remind you that you should make a few demands from the emperor.

A blue screen familiar to the one used in the eternal bank appeared in front of her eyes.

[Mission one: Prevent the crown prince from ever taking in secondary wife.

Reward: A hand fan sharper than any sword in Eldoria, activation of your dead magic, a secret about the crown prince.]

Sigrid sniggered softly, she could not scheme in the bank but out here it was different, she had been brought over to scheme after all. Why stop at preventing the crown prince from bringing in a mistress when she could squeeze more out of the king? He wanted the marriage to happen more than anyone else.

"Aah, i am finished." The king declared.

An eunuch that served the king walked down the steps and brought the decree, presenting it to Sigrid.

She got up and brought her hands forward for a second as if she was going to receive it and then she retracted them and fell to her knees.

The smile on king Raff's face immediately face and a coldness replaced it.

"Your majesty," Sigrid called out to the king in a soft frightened voice. "I would like to make two humble requests, if they can be granted, I will not accept any gifts from the royal family on the day of my wedding."

"Ooh.." the king responded calmly. "Go on."

"Your majesty, I hail from the Thorin family. From generation to generation, we have been loyal to the throne and always will be. At one point or another, all the sons of the Thorin duchy have picked up the sword to defend our great kingdom.

Our family has produced more generals for the kingdom than any other. We have also lost more talented sons than most families.

When my father, lost one of his legs at the Eastern boarder, he returned home and started a small business. It was a struggle for him and things have only become better in the last two years.

We have only made a little money but, there are those that are already unhappy about this. They whisper with ill intention about our family holding wealth and military power, I fear that they are some that are already plotting against us, waiting in the shadows like snakes to strike and accuse us of a crime like treason.

Your majesty, we are afraid, our Thorin family seeks to hide under your abundant shadow. Please grant us a death free medal and give me a decree that stops the crown prince from ever taking a secondary wife for as long as I am his wife."