Cattleya

Taking up official duties as a queen meant that she started to work in the queen's study, or the queen's office. Rainier only let her attend one social event per day. There were also some paper works and administration that she had to do, proposals she had to read, and documents she had to sign.

But her load of work was only a quarter of what Rainier had to do each day. She could finish her work in only a few hours, and it rarely ever passed four hours per day. She really felt that she's just doing a part time job, which was being a part time queen.

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Gwen felt a little closer to her team that month. Sally was a nutritionist who was also a foodie. Gwen felt that one of her most favorite time of the day was to order food online with Sally each afternoon. Sally would always taste everything she ate and drink first, which was Rainier's order, to prevent her from getting poisoned.

Jeremy was a big guy with a soft heart. He told Gwen that he grew up admiring the king. It's an honor for him and his whole family to be able to guard the queen.

Kara was a beautiful, fashionable girl. She would fit as a model or an actress, really. Even when she's randomly sitting or standing, she looked pretty, as if she was posing for a photoshoot. But she was picked by The Royal Office of Human Resources not because of her good looks.

Mark, Rainier's secretary, chose her because she's the best graduate from the Broadstower Academy of Secretaries. She had worked for five years for the Secretary of State, and handled events splendidly.

Kara was really happy to be chosen as the queen's secretary. On her first day, she asked for Gwen's signature, and gave it to her mother. Gwen's signature was then framed in Kara's parents' sitting room.

It's easy to relax and have fun with Kara and Sally. Sometimes even Jeremy. But it's hard to have fun with Ingrid. She's always so serious as her Captain of The Guards. Gwen had one event outside the palace daily since that month, and Ingrid would always be busy supervising The Queen's Army. They were twelve people assigned to work under Ingrid's supervision to make sure all the events the queen went through would be safe.

Even when Gwen was relaxing in the palace, Ingrid would do all the protocols needed to make sure everything would be alright, like checking all corners and under tables and chairs for bugs, or tasting all her meals and drinks before she had it. Gwen felt it's such a hassle, but Ingrid said she had to do it, as in it's her job.

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Starting from March that year, The Equal Trade Law would be legalized. It was supposed to start since January, but the five conglomerates asked to postpone it. Rainier said he's definitely not going to wait another year for them all to reach an agreement. If they were never going to agree, he then would order them all to abide by the new law, since he was the king after all.

In February, a gala dinner would be hold to celebrate the start of the law becoming effective.

Surprisingly, three of the members of the five conglomerates were Duchess Samantha's school friends.

It actually shouldn't be a surprise. Samantha was the niece of the king. She went to Sullivan schools since pre-school to university level. Sullivan was the most prestigious school in the country, where all the richest children of the richest and most influential people in the kingdom went to.

Samantha was in the same school year with Harvey Bennington, Julius Torrance and Hyacinth Nelson. Their circle and age was the same.

"How are they like?" Gwen asked, after one of their regular therapy sessions.

"Such snobs. Pretty arrogant and annoying. But they could all be charming and interesting if they want to. All were pretty smart, as they all grew up and became CEOs of their own companies. Either they're smart, or they hired good experts behind them. They're good if you want to pose with them for an instagram post. However, they wouldn't really be good friends to have."

"And one or all of them would try to to get close to you soon, I'm sure. It's profitable to be close with the queen."

"I don't think Rainier likes them?"

"Rainier hates them all. For him, they were greedy people, who would cheat the law to gain more profit if they could. His new Equal Trade Law made their covered hatred towards each other more pronounced. Billionaires would hate a king who told them to embrace their smaller rivals and reduce their profit."

Gwen nodded at that, and told herself she should be prepared if she met them in the future.

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Harry Whitfield had long disliked Rainier. He wasn't the only one, though. Most of the people of Galsbourg loved Rainier. But some of the richest people hated him.

It didn't help with the fact that Queen Gwen was so...interesting. He was annoyed that Rainier picked Gwen up from the Charity Institution launching.

On the other hand, he had always liked dangerous games, and he was sure that Gwen was attracted to him as well.

Therefore, he offered for the queen to be the new brand ambassador of his skincare line for women aged around 25 and onwards, Cattleya.

Gwen looked down at the proposal and shivered at the prospect of being a model. She used to be a detective who investigated homicide cases, for God's sake!

When Rainier saw the proposal, he became instantly angry. But after discussing with Gwen, he agreed to let her be the brand ambassador.

The Royal Public Relations Office announced that The Queen would be the new Brand Ambassador of Cattleya Skincare, and fifty percent of her income would be donated to a charity of her own choosing.

The people of Galsbourg had grown to follow Gwen through social media everyday. They copied the way she dressed and wanted to know every single thing about her.

With the new cancer charity foundation and being the brand ambassador of his skincare brand, there seemed to be more and more reasons for Gwen and Harry to meet.

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Rainier had no doubt Gwen would look pretty as a brand ambassador. A proposal to film the first advertisement was given to him, and he ordered that it should be filmed within the palace.

If she saw the whole situation from the outside, Gwen felt like she was a character in a love triangle soap opera, and she always wanted to laugh.

Harry was becoming a lot more interested in her, and Rainier was getting more and more possessive.

She just hoped pretending to be attracted to Harry Whitfield would be worth it, and she'd get the information she needed.