chapter Thirty-eight

She stared at the different utensils laid on the table before her, bearing dissimilar shapes and sizes. Mrs Wright paced behind her, her head held up high as she walked, her walking stick made a slight tap on the marbled floor. Caroline waited patiently for her to be tested.

"Tell me the use of each of the forks!" She requested.

Caroline took a deep breath and began, pointing at the fork by her right "The salad fork is mostly used for eating salad and it is often shorter than the usual dinner fork…"

She continued, listing and describing the use of each of them whilst Mrs Wright stood still and listened.

"Very well! You did good!" Mrs Wright complimented.

Caroline sighed. It seemed the late night practice with Adrian paid off, even though it was hard to concentrate with him being a perfect distraction once in a while.

"Duties of a queen!" Mrs Wright demanded.

"A Queen must be poised, regal and confident. She must be able to aid in the King's duties in ruling the country. She must be a good comfort to the King and be his shoulder to lean on during difficult moment." She took in a deep breath and continued

"She must be a role model to her subjects and the King's source of happiness. The happiness of the Country and the King must be her top priority above hers even if she has to sacrifice her happiness for the good of the country!" Her face grew pale at the last sentence. It bothered her more than anything. Will she be able to sacrifice everything she has worked so hard for to be his Queen?.

Mrs Wright noticed the solemn look on her face and walked closer to her "I don't think His Majesty will allow you to sacrifice your happiness for his. In fact it may be the other way round!".

Caroline looked up to see her smiling warmly at her, "His Majesty loves you more than I can explain, he is willing to go to the ends of the earth for you. He is ever so willing to sacrifice everything and anything for you Miss Caroline, so why worry!".

Caroline took a deep breath, calming her nerves. She looked sternly at her "You are right. Adrian can sacrifice everything he has for me and I should also be willing to do the same, because his happiness is what matters more to me than anything in the world!".

"Well, that's not…" She paused, brushed off what she intended on saying next.

"You did well Miss Caroline, I have to admit you are one of my best students!" She complimented.

"Of course she is. She is my daughter-in-law!" A familiar voice spoke from the far end of the room.

The two ladies exchanged looks before diverting their attention to Queen Elena, she approached them with a smile smoldered on her lips.

"Your Majesty!" Mrs Wright greeted.

"It is good to see you, Your Majesty!" Caroline said quickly.

Queen Elena frowned at her "Caroline, we are family. Please call me Mother!".

Caroline's eyes shot up as she stared at her, bewildered. "Yes, Your Maje… I mean Mother!" She corrected.

Queen Elena responded with a smile, she turned to the older woman "Mrs Wright, will you mind if I steal her for a moment?".

Mrs Wright was a tad surprised that she asked for her permission to do so "We are done for the day, Your Majesty?".

Queen Elena beamed at her "Thank you!". She turned to the perplexed Caroline and gestured for her to follow her.

****

"Mother, may I know where we are going?" Caroline asked, once they entered the garden, walking hand in hand.

"I want to introduce you to some acquaintances of mine!" Queen Elena replied, "These women are the wives of the most powerful families in Laveria, it is a minimal duty of mine to host them for tea in the Palace once in a while!".

"Oh!".

They halted, Queen Elena took her hand and stared at her, earnestly "These women think highly of themselves. I didn't bring you here just to introduce them to you but also for them to earn your respect. Make them respect you Caroline, if they don't, they will walk all over you!" She advised.

Caroline exhaled and nodded, preparing herself before facing off the pack of wolves.

"Elena is so good to see you!" An over joyous lady sprung up from her seat and approached them, grinning cheerfully, she spotted them from where they gathered.

"It is Your Majesty! Julia" Queen Elena corrected in a stern tone.

"Oh right! I always forget. Your Majesty!" She said with a curtsey.

In a split second, Caroline noticed the look on her face. It was dark and malicious. She watched as her expression quickly change back to her cheerful nature. The lady in front of them seemed more like a snake than a human.

Julia gestured for them to follow her, she led them to a round table where five other women were already seated, each had a cup of tea in her hands.

"It is nice to see you again Your Majesty!" One of the women spoke, drawing others attention to them.

"You finally made it, Your Majesty. We thought that you would not come today!" The lady at the other end of the table spoke, placing her cup on the saucer.

"I apologize for being late, as you can see. I brought someone here with me!" She referred to Caroline standing beside her.

"It is an honor to meet you all!" She said, courteously.

"If only we could say the same ourselves!" The lady responded in a cross tone.

"Excuse me?" Queen Elena glared at them. Caroline could feel the tension in the air. These ladies were as snobbish as she thought. Luckily, she has gotten her fair share of people like them, nothing they would say or do could tickle a hair on her skin.

"Do you know what they are saying about their relationship online?" Julia asked, grabbing their attention. When no one spoke she continued "They are calling them, the new Harry and Meghan!" She said, giggling.

"Julia, I am speaking for everyone here when I say that you are spending way too much time on the net!" The lady beside her spoke up indifferently.

Before she could protest, they began muttering to themselves. Queen Elena took a seat and gestured for Caroline to do the same.

"Ladies please! We have an unwanted guest here!" The lady at the end of the table said, the muttering died down on hearing her voice "Thank you!".

Caroline let out a chuckle, it felt like she was trying to enrage her but her words did not affect her in the slightest.

"Are you trying to get on my bad side, Diana?" Queen Elena seethed.

"Not really!" She replied with a baleful grin.

Queen Elena was about to retort but Caroline placed her hand on hers, she shook her head slightly. Queen Elena took a deep breath and relaxed a bit.

"So, Caroline what makes you think that you deserve His Majesty? Do you think that you will be able to fit in?" She asked staring at her purple polished nails, Caroline leaned back on her chair, taking a sip of her coffee "I want to make one thing clear, no matter how rich you are, it will never wipe out the filth that you originated from. So no matter how hard your try you will never be one of us! Once a peasant always one!". She said simply.

A blanket of silence fell over them, one could hear a pin drop in the silence. None of the women dared to speak. Queen Elena clenched her fist angrily, Diana was really pushing the wrong buttons, she was about to speak up but Caroline beat her to it.

"And who says that I want to join your tiny, useless clique here?" Caroline asked, glaring at her.

"What did you just…" Caroline cut her off.

"Do you think that I want to seat around all day, gossiping about the less fortunate? Have any of you women contributed something meaningful to the society? No, because all you know how to do is to spend Daddy's or your husband's money in useless, worthless things. You ask if I deserve Adrian, well here is my answer. I don't deserve him, I don't even deserve to be here!" She said with a slight shrug, her voice shook with rage "...but Adrian loves me, he loves me for me. If he wanted a stuck up lady, he would have married one of your daughters" The ladies gasped at her last statement, stunned at her words "...or worse still he would have gone through with the wedding as planned and you wouldn't have to deal with me but No, he didn't do all that because he loves me and I love him more and more as the days go by!" She said finally, Caroline felt like a huge weight was lifted from her chest.

She stood up to leave shocking everyone.

"Oh and one more thing. When you want to address my sweet Mother. The correct term to use is 'Your Majesty' not by her name but by her title. At least if that's the only thing that you will learn today I will very much appreciate it!" She said with a forceful smile. She turned on her heel and left the tiny gathering.

The women watched her leave, they could not believe that she spoke to the with that high level of disrespect. They looked too shocked to say a single word. Queen Elena had a proud smile on her face at Caroline's words, she had to admit it was not in the slightest of what she ever expected.

"It is time for you to leave!" She said to them.

They exchanged a flabbergasted look before turning to her. Diana held her head up high, grabbing her purse. She got up and left, saying she felt insulted was an understatement. Once she was gone the ladies followed in her footsteps each still portraying her astounded look. When everyone left Queen Elena sought for Caroline, she needed to tell her of how proud she was.

>>> "God, I messed up!" Caroline hung her head, as flashes of what transpired earlier ran through her mind. How was she going to face Queen Elena?.

"I don't think you did!" A familiar voice said, she looked up to see Adrian smiling at her.

He approached her and took a seat beside her.

"Mother must have told you about what happened!" She said solemnly.

"No, I kind of saw and heard everything!" He admitted.

She groaned "Great! Now I feel much worse. Do you think she will be mad at me?".

Adrian was taken aback by her question.

"Why would she be mad at you? You showed those witches that you are not someone they could talk that way to. I for one think that Mother will be so proud of you!".

Caroline looked at him, her eyes shimmering. She felt touched by his words "You really think so?".

"Yeah I do!".

She inched closer and placed her head on his shoulder whilst wrapping her hand round his arm, enjoying the warmth that exuded from him, it was soothing and very comforting.

"I don't think that I deserve you Caroline!" He said suddenly, "Sometimes I just wish not to have all these; The title, the responsibilities. I just wish to be normal so you will not have to worry about them!".

Caroline looked up, she had an unreadable expression on her face as she gazed at him.

"Don't you ever wish that!" Her words took him by surprise "The people that you think are normal have their own share of problems, they would even wish to be like you Adrian. Everyone has their problems poking them once in a while. I am not really bothered by all the titles and responsibilities that comes with it. Even if you are the president of the most powerful nation in the world or a Tyrant…" He laughed at her humor "... I will still love you, not because of the titles or the riches but because of who you really are on the inside. That is the Adrian I fell in love with!" She poked his chest slightly whilst saying the last sentence.

He stared at her with love in his eyes, how was it that she always had the best things to say to him whenever he felt down?.

"You really make it so hard not to fall for you over again!" He said genuinely.

She let out a light chuckle, "It was not my intention to!".

"Now I really want to marry you more than ever!" Her heart skipped a beat at those words.

"I really love you Caroline!" He said lovingly.

Caroline could not speak a single word, she was still trying to grasp the first statement he made.

"I love you too!" She finally said, resting her head on his shoulders. They both grew quiet enjoying the silence that surrounded them.

* * * *

"Are you really spying on them?" The sound of the King's voice startled her from her hiding spot, located behind one of the pillars of the belvedere.

"Can you pipe it down? I just wanted to check up on her!" She said in a whisper.

King Robert sighed, it seemed like she'd never let go of the habit of spying on people especially their son.

"I have never seen him so happy, Robert!" She said, her eyes never left the lovely couple. "I am so glad that Caroline is in his life!".

"Yeah me too!" He replied, staring at them, a satisfied smile on his lips. "I think it is time for us to leave. They need some time alone!".

He grabbed her by the hand, dragging her towards the nearest door before she could protest.