Royalty vs Loyalty

Heir Apparent is a game that Giannine enters using the fifty-dollar gift certificate given to her by her father for her fourteenth birthday. She plays the part of Janine de St. Jehan, the King's illegitimate child who was taken from the castle for her safety when she was little more than a young child. She grows up in the tiny town of St. Jehan as a sheep herder. Her father in the game is a peat farmer. When Sir Deming comes for her, he is immediately put off by the smell of her clothes. This is an attitude that carries on when she arrives at the castle. Deming immediately deserts her, handing her off to Counselor Rawdon, who takes her to the Great Hall. While she is getting to know her 'family', Rawdon is loading up the last of the realm's treasury.

Janine could easily have...