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After almost a year had passed and Esa had not crowned Olisa as King, Olisa began to complain repeatedly. One evening, Esa and Olisa were in their room and about to go to bed when Olisa started to complain again.

“My Queen, it has been over a year already, and you have not officially made me your King. The villagers of Obu are talking, and people from my village are mocking me.” Olisa said.

“My husband. Whether you’re officially crowned  King of Obu or not, you are already King to me, and that’s all that matters,” Esa responded.

“But that was not the agreement, my love. I understand that you said you have to watch me to be sure I can handle the throne and the challenges it will bring, but it’s been a year already. Don’t you trust me? I have tried my best to do everything I can to prove to you that I’ll make a good King to the villagers of Obu, and I’ll be a good king to you,” Olisa said in a bit to persuade Esa.

“Please, give me more time,” Esa begged.

“More time? Maybe until I grow grey hairs and my eyesight is bad, that’s when you will see that I have been a good man all along,” Olisa said in a furious tone, and with that, he walked out of the room angrily.

After Olisa left Esa in the room, she could not stop thinking about everything Olisa had said that night. Although she still wanted to watch and observe Olisa’s character and lifestyle, she knew that Olisa was right about the villagers gossiping. In the past year, several gossips from the villagers of Obu and Abo had reached Esa, but she turned a deaf ear to all of them.

The following day, as soon as Esa woke up, she sent word to her elders that they would all have a meeting later in the day. Esa wanted to tell her elders that she was finally ready to crown Olisa as King of Obu. When she told them that afternoon, some elders just listened to her because they knew they could not say anything to stop Esa from going ahead with her plans.

“Queen Esa. May the gods give you a long life so you can continue to rule us,” one of the elders greeted Esa.

“My Queen, I understand that you want to crown Olisa, your husband, King of Obu, but knowing that he used to be a warrior from a rival village, don’t you think it’s too soon? Crowning him King is not something you’re supposed to do in a hurry,” The Elder said.

“Thank you, Elder, but it’s been one year since I’ve known Olisa, and I can boldly say that he is a good man and will make a good king. I have decided to crown Olisa as King in two days, so I called you here to send word to every village of Obu and Abo to be here for the King’s Coronation,” Esa said. Knowing that some elders would try to argue again, she stood up from her throne and left without saying another word.

On the day of the coronation, just as Esa had demanded, both the villagers of Obu and the villagers of Abo were all in the queen’s Palace to witness the coronation of King Olisa. Immediately after Olisa was crowned King by the Kingmaker, all the villagers jubilated and celebrated their new King.

Though Olisa was happy to finally be King, Esa was happier than he was. She loved that she would finally have a king sit next to her all the time, and she envisioned that they would rule the village of Obu together until their old age.

In the first few months after Olisa was crowned King, Esa taught him about the affairs of the village and showed him how to handle the elders and rule everyone with an iron fist. Because he was King, all the things Olisa formerly had no idea about were revealed to him in less than four months of sitting on the throne.

Since her husband was officially crowned the King of Obu, Esa ultimately stopped observing and watching him because she trusted him completely and believed that he was a good man, as Olisa had claimed. Not only that, but she had also fallen so deeply in love with him and allowed her emotions to cloud her senses.

Six months after Olisa became King, something strange began to happen to Esa. For no reason, Esa began to feel sick and weak. When the sickness started, Esa believed that she was only reacting to stress and expected that she would be fine in a few days, but that didn’t happen; her sickness even got worse.

When Olisa saw that Esa’s health was not improving, he told her to stop attending to the affairs of the village and rest more. He even promised Esa that he would take care of everything, and if he were to make an important decision about the village, he would consult with her first before doing anything.

When Esa heard that, she was very relieved and even happy that she had crowned Olisa as King before her sickness began. Even though Esa did not like the idea of leaving Olisa to take care of her people alone, she had no other choice because her sickness was worsening every day.

The first few days the sickness started, Esa drank all kinds of herbs she knew, expecting that the herbs would make her feel better, but none worked.

 When one month had passed, and her health was gradually deteriorating, Olisa told Esa about a strong herbalist in his village who could heal all kinds of sicknesses, and he suggested that they invite her to come to the village of Obu to treat Esa.

Due to her desperation to get better, Esa agreed with Olisa and invited the herbalist to the village of Obu. When the herbalist came, she told Esa that she could heal her completely, but the concoction she would give to Esa would flush her system completely and weaken her for weeks before she would regain her health and strength.

Without thinking of the possible Consequences of the herbs she was about to take, Esa agreed and took the concoction. Just like the herbalist had said, the concoction was very strong, and it weakened Esa’s whole body to the extent that she could barely move her fingers or even open her eyes. On some days, she would just lie in bed, unable to move or talk, but she would only hear what other people said.

For one whole month, Esa took the concoction every day. Olisa and the herbalist made sure of that. Even though Olisa saw that the concoction was weakening Esa in the worst possible way and would sometimes affect her speech, he still insisted that she take it so she could get better soon. Esa believed her husband because she trusted him.

When the village elders heard that Esa was very sick, they became worried. They tried to see and visit Esa several times, but Olisa would not let them. Olisa claimed that Esa did not want to see any of them because she was not in the shape to have any visitors.

For another two months, Esa’s health continued to deteriorate. It got so bad that she could not even speak again or get out of bed like she used to. In order to give her the concoction, the herbalist would have to lift Esa’s head up and pour the concoction into her mouth on some days.

While all this was happening, Olisa began to make big decisions in the village of Obu without Esa’s consent. For example, he ordered that the gate between the village of Obu and Abo be lifted, so Abo villagers could freely access the village of Obu whenever they wanted. Then he ordered that a large hectare of land that was between the borders of Obu and Abo be handed over to the village of Abo. 

That was not all. He changed so many rules that Esa’s forefathers had made, and this began to bother the villagers of Obu. Since Esa had already taught Olisa how to handle the Elders whenever they tried to object his decision, the Elders could not do anything to stop Olisa from his madness. They silently watched him as he disrupted the peace that Esa had maintained for so many years.

On the other hand, Esa was on the brink of death. The concoction she took was slowly killing her, but she believed it was healing her body, as the herbalist had claimed. While, Esa was on her sick bed, she had no idea that Olisa had sent away and chased all her maids from the Palace, then replaced them with people from the village of Abo. It wasn’t until one day, when Esa managed to open her eyes, that she spotted a strange maid wearing her crown and royal robe, while dancing in her room.

It was on that day that Esa began to suspect that something was wrong. Also, as soon as the maid saw that Esa was awake, she didn’t show fear or remorse for wearing Esa’s crown or Royal Robe. Instead, she slowly removed the crown and robe and tried to give Esa more concoction to drink, even though she had taken a lot of it earlier that day.

Because she was weak and unable to struggle with the strange maid, Esa gulped down a lot of the concoction and returned to Sleep.

The next day, while Esa was lying on her sick bed, her husband and the herbalist who prepared her concoction came into her room, and when they saw Esa, they believed that she was sleeping.

“So, now that you have handed the land to our people, what next?” The herbalist asked Olisa while staring at Esa.

“We get rid of her. If she ever finds out that I was the warrior who killed her father, she could burn down our village, ” Olisa whispered.

“So, are you suggesting I add more poison to her concoction? If it kills her fast, the villagers of Obu will suspect something,” the herbalist responded.

“Just do what you have to do. You told me she would be gone by now. So why is she still alive?” Olisa said in a very low tone.

“I underestimated her. She is stronger than I imagined,” the herbalist responded.

“I don’t care if she is made of steel; do what you have to do,” Olisa said before he walked out of the room.

Olisa and the herbalist had no idea that Esa was completely awake when they walked into the room, but because of her weak body and posture, they believed she was deeply asleep.

After Esa heard the conversation between Olisa and the herbalist, she was heartbroken, and she cried. She could not believe that Olisa had been pretending all along to love her and he was responsible for her sudden sickness, and the most heartbreaking part was that Olisa was the warrior who killed her father during the last war between the village of Abo and her village. 

Before Esa heard Olisa’s conversation with the herbalist, she had accepted it as her fate to die from her sickness, but after she heard them, she was more determined to live and take her revenge on him. To do that, Esa came up with a plan.

Two days after she heard the conversation between Olisa and the herbalist, she stopped taking the concoction. Out of frustration, the herbalist and the maids notified Olisa about it, and when Olisa came to inquire why she hadn’t taken her medicine, Esa said, ” My husband. I don’t think there is a need for me to continue taking the concoction. I am almost dying, and I do not want to give you hope. But before I die, It is my desire to hand over everything in the village of Obu to you. But I cannot do that on my own; you will need to take me to the Palace, invite the Kingmaker and the Elders so they witness everything,” Esa said in a feeble voice, then she coughed to show Olisa that she was actually dying as she had claimed.

“But you are in no condition to see anyone,” Olisa said.

“My husband, I know the Elders did not tell you, but if I die on this sick bed, you will no longer be King of Obu. Another family will be chosen to rule because I was the only heir of the late King,” Esa said. 

As soon as Olisa heard that, he ordered one of the guards to notify all the Elders and the kingmaker that Queen Esa was asking to see them. Precisely an hour later, all the Elders and the Kingmaker arrived at the Queen’s Palace. Shortly after they did, some of her new maids brought Esa out. When the Elders and the Kingmaker saw Esa’s state, they were heartbroken and shook their heads in disappointment.

“My Elders and KingMaker, thank you for coming here on very short notice,” Esa said.

“I have been sick for a very long time now, and because I fear I may not last any longer, I have decided to make this decision before it gets too late,” Esa said, then she coughed. The whole time Esa spoke, Olisa tried to hide his excitement. He knew that if Esa handed everything to him, then killing her would be very easy.

“KingMaker, please remove the crown on King Olisa’s head, ” Esa ordered.

“But, My Queen, you know that if I remove his crown, it means I have dethroned…”

“Do as she says now, ” Olisa interrupted the Kingmaker and yelled at him angrily.

Immediately he did that, the KingMaker walked to Olisa, murmured some words of incantation, and removed Olisa’s crown.

“From today henceforth, let every word I say here stand, and no one shall object. I hereby dethrone Olisa as the King of Obu, and from today, he loses every right and entitlement of a king in Obu,” Esa said in a furious tone.

“My Queen! What are you doing? This was not the plan,” Olisa said in a confused tone.

“Yes, I lied to you. Now, guards take him and every person from the village of Abo away and lock them up. We will execute them publicly this evening,” Esa ordered.

“What’s going on?” Olisa asked again while struggling with the guards.

“Do not pretend like you have not been poisoning me for the past 3 months. And I know you were the one who killed my father during the war. It’s just sad that it had to cost me my health to know that I cannot trust anyone from the village of Abo, not even the man who claimed he loved me,” Esa said, “Elders, I am sorry for not listening to you all. It is true that what the elders see while sitting, a child cannot see it even if he or she is on top of a tree,” Esa said.

Later that evening, Olisa, the herbalist, and all the new maids whom Olisa brought to the Palace were slaughtered publicly, as Esa had said, and she sent back their heads to the village of Abo as a warning. Though it took Esa many months to regain her health, she continued to rule the village of Obu as Queen. She brought back peace and order to the village, and up until her death, she never married again because she regretted her first marriage.

The end. 

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