The Separatists

"The ceremony in Piercedge City would start at 10 A.M. Then the speech at Seyrside National University at 3 P.M. The farmers support meeting will be at 5 P.M., and dinner with the Minister of Finance and Minister of Trade at 7 P.M."

Gwen woke up listening to Mark reciting someone's schedule.

It's really dark. Why is it so dark?

She needed some time to realize the curtains around the four-poster bed were down.

She sat up and found the opening, then pulled it to the side.

"Oh, Your Majesty, good morning," Sally greeted her.

She must have been waiting for her to wake up.

"Gwen, stay there. My men are here," he could hear Rainier say.

She frowned. It's not like she's naked. She's fully dressed. And it's not the first time she woke up with his men in their bedroom.

"Can you get me a glass of water?" she asked to Sally.

"There's a terrorist threat in Isou Airport, Your Majesty."

That's his secretary's voice again.

She heard silence. Rainier might be surprised.

"Any casualties?"

"Luckily no. It was before they left. The plane had to do an emergency landing. Lots of people were panicking. There were reports of asthma attacks and one cardiac arrest. A pregnant mother had bleeding. Everyone is safe, though."

"Who's the suspect?"

"Four plain-looking men that are apparently supporters of the separatist movement."

".....I want to interrogate them myself."

"Yes, Sir."

"You may leave."

She heard footsteps leaving the room, then she emerged from behind the curtains.

He was having breakfast in the middle of the room like the first day after they had sex, and there was another set of cutlery in front of him.

"Have some breakfast," he urged.

Gwen sat in front of him, opening bowl lids to see what was inside. It was soup and porridge with some side dishes.

As she poured the porridge into her bowl, he thought, "It's really fascinating. Seeing her wake up in her silk and lace, sitting in front of you for breakfast, knowing that you slept together on one bed last night, like a real husband and wife...."

He looked at Sally and she got the message.

"I'll be outside if you need me, Ma'am," before she bowed and left the room.

"Separatists?" she asked as her "good morning."

"People who want Galsbourg to be a republic."

"And you will interrogate them yourself?"

"Yes."

"Will you execute them afterward?"

The question was out of her mouth before she could stop herself.

"I'm nearly sure I will. Besides insulting my existence, they also endangered hundreds of people on a plane. Those innocents could have died."

She didn't argue with him anymore.

Rainier was waiting for the curses, but none came.

They resumed their breakfast in silence.

"I need someone to talk to."

"About what?" he asked in surprise.

"About my life."

"I'm your husband, you can talk to me," he said, with finality in his tone, as if it was the end of a discussion.

"I've been here for nearly two months. It's going to be Christmas soon, and I have nowhere to go to, and nothing to do. I feel that I'm going to lose my mind soon. I need to talk with someone I can consider a friend, someone on my side!"

"......Shouldn't that person be me?" he asked in an annoyed tone.

She glared at him.

"I want to meet with your cousin, Duchess Samantha Hansen."

Besides the fact that she's an award-winning psychiatrist, she also wanted to know more about Rainier.

"And you think a psychiatrist is the right person?"

"Let me consult with your cousin, please," she replied, using a pleading tone, immediately changing her tactic.

He looked up.

"I'll think about it."

"I need to talk to a psychiatrist!"

"Yes, but you would be sharing things I don't want others to know."

"She's your cousin!"

"Still. She's an outsider between us."

"Rainier. Would you like me to entirely lose my mind?"

She was almost crying, and he nearly apologized, but he swallowed it in.

"I'll consider it. You just asked me, I need to think about it first."

"And yet you can decide the fate of some terrorists in a minute. You're going to say no, aren't you?"

He got up, "I need to go to work."

"How nice it is to escape to your work. I have nowhere to escape from this reality. If you really want me to learn to accept my fate, let me consult with your cousin!"

"Have a good day, Gwen."

She didn't answer that. He left the room, followed by a deafening silence.

**********************

When she's so annoyed with Rainier, she wanted to run away. What did he expect from her? To just stay in her bedroom all day like a kept whore?

She used to be really active and busy as a detective. In Galsbourg, she did nothing but read the news, watch the news on TV, and read at The Royal Library. She couldn't continue living like that. She had to either have a real profession or a friend.

Sally and Jeremy were always around, but she couldn't really talk with them. There's a gap that she couldn't trespass no matter what she says to herself.

Somehow she believed Duchess Samantha Hansen, Rainier's cousin, and the kingdom's best psychiatrist was the right person.

***********************

"All of you refuse to say who hired you. How can four construction workers have enough capital to prepare toxic gas that made nearly half of the passengers of a Boeing aircraft pass out for exactly thirty minutes?"

Rainier was speaking in the basement interrogation room at the National Security Agency with a dozen of his armed guards around him.

"You have people in Isou Airport and the airline. Tell me who sent you, or I'll make you regret you were ever alive!"

"You don't fit to rule!!!" one of the terrorists yelled, obviously the youngest one.

Rainier chuckled, before walking to the handcuffed guy.

"And why do you think I don't fit to rule?" he asked in a dangerous, cold tone.

"You're a greedy psychopath!!!"

He tilted his head.

"Would you like to really see me as a psychopath?"

He turned to Jake. "Can you show me his files again?"

Jake clicked his phone and Rainier read it. "You have a mother and a daughter. Should I ruin their lives because you refuse to tell me who your leader is?"

"DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH THEM!!!"

"You endangered 600 of my people today. What right do you have in wanting your family to be safe? After all, am I not a psychopath?"

There's something in his look that riled the terrorist as if Rainier was utterly disgusted with his existence, that made him scream wildly.

"Filth!" the king insulted when none of the terrorists spoke of who sent them, before leaving the interrogation room.

"Should we do what we can to make them speak?"

Jake meant whether they should torture the terrorists.

"I don't think they will speak. But you can try it for one day. Let me know tomorrow by noon, then I'll make my decision."

"What about their family members?"

"Interrogate the adults. Then deport them all. I don't want them in my kingdom."

"Yes, Sir!"

As he walked to the lobby of the NSA, he decided that Gwen also needed her own Captain of The Guards. Someone better than Jeremy, to keep her safe.

************************

Gwen returned to the library to resume her reading about the kingdom and the king. She always sat at the same table, leaving her books and notebooks there each day. When she opened her notebook, she found a name card slipped inside it.

It's Harry Whitfield's name card, with his home and office address, his phone number, and his email address. Behind it was written, "I'm at your service."

She looked around and saw that Sally was away at the bookshelves, and Jeremy was standing facing the entrance of The Royal Library. No one saw her holding the name card.

Someone had slipped it inside her notebook.

She silently put the card on the front cover of the notebook. She didn't have her own cell phone or laptop, but she was sure she'd find a way to contact Harry Whitfied if she needed him.