Keyless Queen

I was once the envy of everyone in the White Stone Palace, yet I couldn't even open my own wardrobe, jewelry room, or carriage room. All the keys were in Lydia's hands—the chief lady-in-waiting who had grown up with King Leon and practically managed the entire palace for him. My father had saved the late king, who promised him gold coins, a royal physician, and life-saving medicine from the royal pharmacy. But when my father was critically ill, Leon had Lydia withhold the pharmacy key, simply to "teach me manners." Three days later, my father died in the blacksmith's shop, and Leon thought I was just jealous and throwing a tantrum. So I filed for divorce at the Archbishop's Court, leaving the palace with my father's ashes and the small iron hammer he had forged for me. Leon finally realized that the woman he thought couldn't live without the crown had never stayed for the position of queen. By the time he chased me to the North, retrieved all the keys, drove Lydia away, and presented me with belated compensation, I no longer wanted it.