Packing

Then something dawned on him. Perhaps this was part of her plan to throw him off guard like this and make him question himself. She was a very crafty woman who had done various things in the past to get his attention. Perhaps she thinks I really won't allow her to leave. We'll see what she does when I actually accept.

"Very well, you may leave," he finally accepted.

Tanya sighed in relief.

"Thank you for accepting my request, Your Highness," Tanya said. "I'm grateful for the time I have spent in the palace. It was a wonderful opportunity to have been your Crown Princess and I wish you two the best," she politely said and gracefully thanked him, showing proper etiquette.

Malek bit his lip as Tanya maintained her composure despite him accepting her request.

I'm sure she will show her true intentions soon enough. She's just pretending to be calm, he told himself.

Tanya then stood up and left his room and Malek watched after her.

"Your Highness, so Lady Tanya is leaving?" Celste asked Malek after she had left. A beaming smile was on her face.

"Yes," he answered unsure.

"Now she won't be able to bother us anymore," she cheerfully said as she caressed Malek's face. "This is good."

"Yes, it is," he said absentmindedly, as he nervously looked toward the door Tanya had just left from. He wondered how long Tanya's façade would last. He was sure there was more to her decision, that she wouldn't give up on him that easily. That woman wanted him more than anything. He would see her actions moving forward to understand her intentions.

When Tanya arrived in her room, she requested the servants prepare to help pack her things the following day. After they all left, she aimlessly walked around her room as she thought of what she had just done. She had done it. She had actually done it. She was going to leave the palace.

In that moment she felt she had made the wrong decision. Then suddenly she broke down in tears and cried. She felt like going back and retracting her decision, but she knew it was too late and what was done was done. This had been such a difficult decision to make and she barely managed to keep her composure as she talked to Malek. She didn't know how she managed to do it.

Malek's angry facial expression came to her mind and how easily he accepted her request. He really had wanted her gone all along. A wishful, unrealistic part of her hoped he would have begged her to stay, to make her feel wanted. Despite the conflicting emotions she felt she knew she had made the right decision. She cried for a while

That night Tanya made sure to write a letter to her brother to tell him she would be returning to the estate soon. She remembered the last time she had seen him when she ran away crying after the recrowning ceremony and he followed after her. She felt embarrassed that she had made him leave without talking to him. Which meant she would have to write to her brother…

Tanya thought of how her had come looking for her on the day of her demotion. She had been too ashamed to face him that day.

It's just in that moment she was just embarrassed and upset by the situation. That added onto the fact that prior to her demotion she had not been informing him of what was going on in the palace. Throughout her struggles in the palace, she hadn't told her brother of how Malek treated her so as not worry him. Whenever he sent letters asking her how she was she would always tell him all was well. She had hoped things would have changed and Malek finally came to love her but now her lies had caught up with her.

She now had so much to explain to him. She hoped he would understand her decision to return home and support it but if he was angry with her, she would understand. She had been lying to him and she had failed to keep her promise to her family to become the Empress. Once she wrote the letter, she had a servant deliver it and then she finally went to bed.

The following morning Tanya began to pack her belongings together with the servants. All the servants did their best to be quiet and obediently follow orders but they kept glancing at Tanya with an excited look in their eyes. It was clear they wanted to gossip about the situation. Tanya could only imagine everything they were saying and were going to say about her leaving behind closed doors. It didn't matter she reassured herself there was no point in worrying about their gossip.

As she moved about the palace having all her things packed she bumped into the last person she wanted to see. A young woman of incredible beauty, fair skin and a curvy body. Immediately Tanya's expression fell.

"I greet Your Highness, the Crown Princess," Tanya greeted Celeste.

"Lady Tanya," she said with a condescending smile. It was clear she loved seeing Tanya bow to her since she was of a higher ranking. "I see you're hard at work ,"she pointed out the servants helping her pack.

"Yes, I am. How may I be of service to you?" Tanya asked to be polite but the annoyance in her voice slipped out.

"You know really surprised me yesterday. I can't believe you finally gave up. You were actually able to acknowledge that you had lost and pull out," she said before hysterically laughing.

Tanya didn't respond just looked at Celeste. So, she had come to gloat, Tanya said to herself. She internally sighed as she immediately wanted this conversation to end. Unfortunately, since Celeste was of higher authority than her she had to wait until

"You've gained my respect actually," she continued. "But I can't lie I'm going to miss seeing you in that ridiculous foundation that never matched your skin and your overdressing, that was truly hilarious," she said as she laughed some more.

Tanya was angry but from what she'd learned in her crown princess training she was always supposed to remain calm and composed.