Oriel Beach

Oriel Beach was indeed beautiful. Gwen hadn't been to a beach for a long time. She was busy as a detective.

The beach was famous for seagulls, and Sally prepared bags of breadcrumbs for the ladies to give them.

At first, it was scary because Gwen was attacked by what looked like a thousand seagulls. Ayris and Ruby were screaming, until Rainier said, "Spread the crumbs on the sand, don't hold it on your hands."

They listened, and soon, the beach was filled with so many seagulls, eating the crumbs around them.

"Let's take selfies, Your Majesty," Ayris asked.

"Oh. Sure. Let's use your phone."

Ruby ran to them and joined them in taking pictures, also taking some with her own phone.

"You don't want to take pictures with your phone?"

"I don't use one," Gwen replied.

"What, why???"

"It's just the way it is."

Gwen then took off her flat shoes.

"Ah, I can't take it!" she exclaimed, before running to the sea and dipping her legs in it.

"It's cold!" she said out loud.

"You make me want to do it as well!" Ayris shouted, before doing the same thing, followed by Ruby.

Soon, they were splashing water at each other, chasing one another, and laughing out loud.

The three ladies ended up with their dresses a bit wet.

"I wish we could make a sandcastle," Ayris mused.

"Why don't we?" Gwen asked back.

"Are you serious?" Ruby asked.

"It's such a beautiful day. Who knows when we can all meet again? Let's just be happy," Gwen answered.

The way she said it silenced everyone before Ayris burst out with "Gwen! Yes, I'm going to call you that. I think you're lovely and this will not be the last time I see you!"

Gwen wanted to cry at that, but she brushed it off. She's strangely emotional that day, she shocked even herself.

The guards went to the nearby shops and borrowed buckets. Fifteen minutes later, the royal couple and their guests got down and dirty on the sand, building a big sandcastle.

Rainier didn't say much but he played along. The formal visit from Circaria and Jarmania somehow became like this, and it was because of Gwen.

He had never seen her this happy or this carefree, except that first time he watched her playing football with her friends at her own world.

Ayris and Ruby were all older than her, but together, they looked like a group of friends, enjoying each other's company, getting their hands full of sand and their dresses dirty.

They made a beautiful sandcastle, the six of them. The press was pleased, and it would be much talked about in the coming weeks, how there might be a budding friendship because of the gathering between Galsbourg, Jarmania and Circaria's young leaders.

When the press and the royal photographer took a picture of them all with the sandcastle they built, he noticed Ayris and Ruby were both hugging Gwen, holding her close.

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

After cleaning themselves at Broadstower Royal Hotel, they had dinner at the Grangevalde food market.

Rainier visited the place several times already as a part of his social work, but it was his first time dining there.

For security reasons, the market was closed to the public for an hour.

They sat on plastic chairs and had myer, Broadstower's signature dish in meat broth, with eggs, cucumbers, and chili paste.

Gwen recommended lots of snacks and side dishes there, as plates of seafood in chili paste were placed in front of them. There were also dumplings, wheat rolls, and savory pancakes.

For the drink, they had Broadstower's herbal tea.

"These are all so delicious!" Ruby praised. Ayris couldn't even say anything, too busy dipping her dumplings in more chili paste.

The men ate enthusiastically as well. After the meal, they all took a picture with the food sellers. It would be framed and displayed in their homes for a long time.

The ladies were crying as they hugged each other. They would fly home early the next morning.

"I'm going to think Galsbourg's people are all like you, Madam Gwen. Warm and sweet. Let's visit each other," Ruby said, rubbing Gwen's back.

"Let's visit each other once a year. This can't be goodbye, Madam Gwen. I'm in love with you," Ayris gushed.

"I do hope we could meet again."

"Your Majesty, can we borrow your queen again, next year?"

"We'll arrange that," Rainier replied to Ayris.

"See? Please visit Jarmania as well. I'll be your guide."

Gwen only smiled and wished them a good trip.

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

When they were still at the beach, as they were building the sandcastle, Ayris had said, "A detective who married the king. How did you two meet? It must be an interesting story."

Gwen could feel Rainier's eyes on her, but she refused to turn to him.

"It's not as pretty as it sounds," Gwen answered, after she had stalled replying for as long as she could.

"Oh, come on, do share it with us. The whole world is curious. King Rainier was the most eligible bachelor in the world. Entertainment News around the world kept on dubbing him as such. Everyone thought he'd marry an actress or a supermodel. But he chose a detective. There must be an interesting story behind it."

"You did well in hiding your relationship from the media and just announced your wedding afterwards."

"The video of your parade in the horse-drawn carriage recently got ten million views. Did you know that?"

"No. This is the first time I hear it."

Ayris put down her mini shovel, the one the guards found for their sandcastle building.

"Everyone is curious about you, really. I hope one day you'll share about your relationship before the wedding."

"Regardless, you both are a great couple. You look great together."

Rainier saw the nails on Gwen's hand that was holding her mini shovel turned white, as she was gripping it so hard, in an effort to perhaps not say anything negative in retort.

She gave the two royal ladies an awkward smile, and didn't reply.

Still, it was shocking for him, how she didn't say that there was nothing between them before she was declared Galsbourg's queen. He kidnapped her from her world.

Was it because no one would believe it anyway, if she told them?