Chapter 3: A queen in distress

Queen Carissa was the daughter of Duke Henry, the Duke of Swansea before she got married to King Arthur. The Queen Dowager had specifically picked her for the King. She had always loved a luxurious life; having several servants at her beck and call and so, she was really happy when the Queen Dowager chose her. Having the title and power of a Queen was what she had always wanted.

Everything was going smoothly after the marriage, the King respected her and the Queen Dowager favored her dearly but then, her happiness were shortlived when the royal physician announced that she was infertile. It had been two years since it was made known to the royal family and since then, she had indeed not given birth.

She had always worried about that and now to make things worse, the court were already talking about bringing in a royal noble consort.

The Kingdom had one tradition that had been passed down from the royal generations, which was; A King's first son could become the next King even if the mother was not the Queen, only the sons from the concubines were exempted. That meant, a royal noble consort's son could rule after the ruling King provided that the King favored him.

Although, even if a Queen did not give birth, she still held her power and position while the royal noble consort must never show any form of disrespect to the Queen even if her son was King, else the title would be taken from her.

Although if a royal noble consort gave birth first and the Queen gave birth later, the Queen's son would become the next King.

"Your Majesty, I plead for you to calm down." The Queen's head court lady, court lady Grace, who could no longer bear watching the Queen pace around the room, said.

"I cannot, Grace!" The Queen said in a loud voice. "I cannot sit back and watch a nobody take what is rightfully mine." She shook her head abruptly as she clenched her fist, while she continued pacing about in the room.

"You should not panic, your Majesty." Court lady Grace said as she moved closer to her. "No one shall take what is yours." She tried to assure her.

Queen Carissa heaved a long sigh and bit her lower lips before she moved over to sit on her bed while court lady Grace walked closer to her.

"I got information that the court had already started talking about bringing a royal noble consort, Grace. What am I going to do? She... She would birth a child and might find favor with the King. What would I do then?" She panicked.

"You are the Queen, your Majesty. Why do you fret because of a royal noble consort?" She moved closer and whispered into the Queen's ear. "Do not forget that the regent and the Queen Dowager are the actual ruler of this Kingdom. The Queen Dowager favors you so and the King obviously does not have a say nor would whoever he favored, matter."

Queen Carissa turned to look at court lady Grace. She was right. The Queen Dowager favored her dearly and since the Queen Dowager's father was the regent, they would have her back. She did not know what she was going to do and neither could she be able to stop a royal noble consort from coming into the palace but she could not just sit back like that.

"Why don't you pay the Queen Dowager a visit?" Court lady Grace suggested.

Queen Carissa nodded. "Yes, that is correct and is indeed a good imagining. " She stood from her bed. "I shall visit her chambers then."

"But you cannot go at this time, your Majesty. Do not forget that the Queen Dowager often retires to bed at this time, you should go tomorrow." Court lady Grace quickly said.

Queen Carissa paused, "Oh, that is true." She sighed. "I shall go after day break then."

"Yes, your Majesty." Court lady Grace bowed her head. "Shall we prepare you a bath?"

Queen Carissa nodded, "Yes please do. I desire a hot bath."

Court lady Grace nodded before she exited the room. Queen Carissa sat down on her bed. She definitely cannot allow another woman come into the palace and ruin everything for her. The next King must be from her bloodline or no one else's.

Even before she was picked by the Queen Dowager, she had always seen herself fit for the position of a Queen and had taken it upon herself to prepare for it. And then everything fell in place after the Queen Dowager picked her and so, she cannot allow anyone disrupt everything. She needed to do something and it had to be fast.

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"Make haste, make haste! Prepare a bath for the Queen." Court lady Grace urged the maids before she turned to the court ladies beside her.

"Go now to the Queen's room and assist her in undressing her garment before the maids would finish preparing the bath." She instructed and the five court ladies nodded before walking out.

Meanwhile, the maids all started preparing the bath for the Queen.

"The Queen likes her water warm." One maid said to the other. "Add more hot water to it."

The other maid nodded, "Right." She walked away to get the bucket of hot water.

"Bring in the flowers!" Another maid shouted. "The ones with good fragrance."

And then two other maids squatted before the tub checking the water temperature while other maids added cold and hot water to it, to make it warm.

"It seems like his Majesty, the King is about to marry a new wife, a royal noble consort." One of the two maids who were checking the water temperature, whispered to the other.

"Do not speak of a royal, you could get punished." The other maid scolded her.

"All I am saying is that her Majesty, the Queen, must be perplexed by now and I pity her. It would hurt any woman to be infertile."

The other maid gasped and quickly covered the maid's mouth with her hands for fear of being heard.

"Shut up at once! You cannot speak of such!" She scolded her.

"What was it that you just said?" A sudden voice asked and they both raised up their heads to the direction of the voice.

The one who had spoken last, gasped when she saw court lady Grace staring down at them and she fell to her kneels quickly.

"Court lady Grace! I swear, I did not say anything!"

The maid who had spoken about the Queen quickly fell on her kneels as well.

"Court Lady Grace, I... I beg for mercy."

Court lady Grace frowned deeply. "I heard you speaking about the Queen. You said she is infertile?"

The maid who has said it gasped loudly and she placed her head against the ground in front of court Lady Grace's feet.

"I... I dare not to, court lady Grace!"

"Stand up." Court lady Grace said with a serious face.

The maid gulped and with her legs wobbling, she managed to stand up.

"You good for nothing wench!" Court lady slapped hard on the right side of her face and the maid fell down on the hard floor. Blood started coming out from the corner of her lips and she quickly returned back to her kneels.

"Forgive me court lady Grace, please." She pleaded.

Court lady Grace turned to the other maid. "And you were covering her mouth to stop her from talking? Why did you not bring her to me instead?" She glared at the maid.

The maid shook on her spot in fear. "I... I am sorry, court lady..." She hadn't finished what she was about to say before she received a hard slap on her face. She staggered back and held her face as it ached from the hard slap.

"Get back to what you were doing." She said to the maid she just slapped.

"Thank you court lady Grace." The maid bowed before she squatted back beside the tub.

Court lady Grace turned to the other maid who had spoken about the Queen.

"Now you, you shall repeat what it was that you had said and it would be directly to the Queen this time."

The maid's eyes widened in shock and she fell on her kneels shaking her head abruptly. "No, no. Please court lady Grace, please punish me as much as you want but do not take me to her Majesty. I beg of you."

Court lady Grace frowned harder. "You lowly maid, you dared to open that filthy mouth of yours and utter such nonsense. Come with me now or I shall have you dragged against the ground."

The maid breath shook and she gulped hard before she stood up from her kneels. She knew she was completely done for.

Court lady Grace led the maid to the Queen's room.

"Your Majesty." She bowed before the Queen.

Queen Carissa who was sitting on the bed while her court ladies took off her clothes, turned to look at court lady Grace.

"Grace, what is it?" She asked.

"This good for nothing maid dared to speak ill of your Majesty."

Queen Carissa's eyes travelled to the maid who was kneeling beside court lady Grace. She frowned.

"What should I do with her, your Majesty?" Court lady Grace asked.

Queen Carissa sighed and stared at the maid with a bored expression.

"What was it that you said about me?" She questioned.

The maid shook her head abruptly as her mouth trembled.

"I beg for your mercy your Majesty, I did not mean bad at all, please." She pleaded as tears streamed down her cheeks.

"I cannot waste my time on such useless things, Grace. Take her out of my sight and make sure she never speaks again with that filthy mouth of hers." She instructed and looked away.

Court lady Grace nodded her head before turning to the maid. "Get up and come with me."

The maid continued shaking her head. "Please your Majesty, I beg of you. Please, please..." She continued pleading as she cried harder.

Queen Carissa sighed and rolled her eyes before she turned to her court ladies. "Two of you should give court lady Grace a hand."

Two of the court ladies nodded and immediately walked over to where the maid was kneeling and they grabbed a hold of her. The maid tried to struggle with them but they held her tight and dragged her out of the room while court lady Grace followed them.

"Such stinky things." Queen Carissa said and cringed her nose with a frown on her face.

Xoxo