cupidity
noun
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King Allwis watched his children, Prince Derrin and Princess Heath, entered the study. Both children bowed politely, as was custom. He noticed that Derrin did so a little more eagerly than his younger sister did. But, then again, he had always been the more reserved of the two.
“Children, sit.” He said. “Today, I have a lesson for both of you. One that is best done by me, not your normal tutors.”
“What is it father?” Derrin asked.
The king pointed to a low set table, and the large map on it. It showed the entirety of the known world. Geography was an important thing to know, but had that been all that was on his mind, he would have left it to the tutors.
“This is the world, as we know it. And all the nations upon it.” He said. “Today, I am going to begin telling you about all of those nations, and how to treat their representatives. This is a vital lesson you will need to learn. It is something that goes far beyond the usual etiquette.”
Heath looked over the map, her young eyes gleaming. “The world is so big.” She said, seemingly ignoring her royal father.
“It is, indeed.”
“Where are we, father?”
Allwis pointed to the small country they occupied. “We’re here.”
The princess’s brow furrowed. “Really? But it’s so small. There are a lot of bigger countries out there.”
“There are. And we need to pay special attention to those larger countries, which is why you must pay attention to this lesson.”
Heath continued. “Why don’t we make our country bigger, father? I’m sure we can take some land from a few other countries. I’m sure they won’t miss a little bit here and there.”
The king shook his head. “No, my daughter, we cannot. That is called conquering, even when applied to small territories. Our neighbors would fight us to stop us from doing that, and that’s not something we can afford to do.”
“Why not?”
Such a simple question, but with so many answers. “Because that would mean fighting a war. You know what war is, right?”
“Yes. That’s when two armies fight.”
“Exactly. It causes a lot of death and sadness. And it will sour our relationships with other nations. A small country like ours needs to make as many friends as we can.”
“Oh.” Heath said. Allwin watched the girl closely. She did not seem to understand that yet. But that was fine. She was young, and would learn in time.
“Now then, in order to keep making friends, these lessons are very important. So both of you must pay very close attention.”
With that, he began to teach his children what they would need to be effective rulers dealing with foreign dignitaries. He became nearly as engrossed in the lesson as the children did. At least, as one of them did.
Princess Heath glanced out the window while her father was speaking. She did not care much for etiquette. That was something for her brother to worry about. Her young mind was occupied with other things.
She had learned something important though. The world was vast, and there was a lot in it. And she wanted it. All of it. And she would do whatever it took to get what she wanted.
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And thus an evil queen is born. Is queen the right term here? Empress maybe? Yeah, I guess that sounds better here. So yeah, evil empress and all that.
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