Chapter Thirty

The elevator doors slid open, Carol stepped out of it. The day was quite eventful for her. Right now, all she wanted at the moment was just to create new designs and get her mind off Adrian, their meeting and almost getting caught by Her Majesty, The Queen. The last one was the most terrifying. Just remembering the look on her face sent shivers down her spine.

She made her way to her office but stopped in her tracks when she spotted Jenny pacing about in front of her, blocking her path. She had a troubled look on her face as she walked back and forth. Carol slowly approached her, pondering on what made her anxious.

"Jenny, is everything okay?" She asked.

Jenny halted, relief flushed her face as she stared at her boss.

"Finally! Where have you been?" She asked suddenly.

"I went to the beach to clear my head" Carol responded "Why? Is anything the problem?".

Jenny was quiet for a bit before she replied.

"How did he take it? Did he like it?" She asked, feeling more agitated than earlier.

"Yeah, he loved it!" Carol replied calmly.

"Then why is she…" she paused and looked at Carol, her brows drew together forming a line above it. "... You have a visitor, she requested to see you!".

Carol shrugged, the visitor was probably one of their snubby socialite client that she can't stand. "Okay? So who is she?".

Jenny took in a deep breath, before dropping the bomb on her. "The Queen!".

Carol's body went cold with dread, her legs felt wobbly as she tried to maintain her composure.

Jenny approached her, her eyes filled with concern. She placed her hand on her shoulder and gave Carol support.

"I am fine Jenny. I am good!" She said with a shaky voice. She shook her body a little, a way of shaking off the fears she had. Taking a deep breath she walked towards the door to face her.

Carol thrutched the door slowly and stepped in, Queen Elena had her back at her, she looked fascinated with the designs that were pinned to the white board in her office.

"Your Majesty!" Carol called out to her. She turned to her with a broad smile, taking her by surprise.

"Caroline! You are finally back!" She said warmly.

"Yes Your Highness, I am." She approached her. "If I had known that you would pay me a visit, I would have arrived earlier".

Queen Elena chuckled at what she said. "I wanted my visit to be unknown, if I had told you that I was coming, everyone of your employees will be on edge and I didn't want that!" She explained.

Carol gave a light nod. "I understand your Majesty but it didn't seem to work!"

Queen Elena laughed, surprising her once more. "It seems my presence still terrifies people!" She said. Carol simply nodded, having no idea on what to reply to that.

She noticed that nothing was served to her, observing how bare the coffee table before her was.

"I asked them not to serve me anything till your arrival!" Queen Elena stated, once she observed the perplexed look on her face.

Carol's lips turned upwards to a smile "Would you like anything Your Majesty, tea perhaps?"

Queen Elena had a soft smile as she replied. "Anything but tea, I am tired of it!" She waved it off and sat on the couch.

"Noted!"

Carol thought for a while before heading towards the freezer situated at one corner of the office.

She opened it and searched for something that would fit the taste of a Queen, she sighed on realizing that the things available were a bottle of red wine, three bottles of soda and a half bottle of orange juice.

"Um… Your Majesty what do you think of taking a glass of red wine this afternoon?" She asked, praying deep down that the reply would be a positive one.

"Sure! I would love one, it seems nice for the afternoon, don't you think?" She asked.

Carol sighed happily before taking out the wine and two wine glass cups. "Yes it does!". She made her way back to the table, uncorked the wine and poured it into the glasses.

She waited patiently, watching The Queen pick up one of the glasses and take a sip.

"It tastes better than I expected!" She complimented.

Carol found herself smiling at the compliment, feeling complacent for a good choice she made.

"Why don't you have a sit Caroline?" She gestured for her to sit beside her. Carol hesitated a bit before doing so.

"Your Majesty, I don't mean to be a bit rude but what brought you here?" She asked, wishing that she did not offend her with the question.

"I thought that you never ask" she said whilst grinning.

Carol's face went blank with confusion. "What?".

Queen Elena turned to face her, Carol couldn't discern the expression on her face, making it difficult for her to remain poised.

"I came because I am curious about You…!" she paused for a while "... and my son!". She had a worried look on her face as she stared at her.

"What are y-you curious about?" She asked in an unsteady manner, it seemed to her that her fears of the Queen suspecting her relationship with Adrian will soon become a reality. "If it is about what you saw today, there is an explanation for it, I… we… well…" she couldn't think of the words to say next.

"You don't have to explain anything!" Queen Elena said calmly, she placed her hand above Carol's, which came as a shock to her.

Carol had a bewildered look on her face as she stared at the Queen who smiled warmly at her.

"I already know everything!"

Carol gasped "Adrian told you?" His name flew out of her mind before she could take it back.

She expected The Queen to look surprise probably furious for her error but she didn't, she still wore that warm smile.

"It would be weird if you'd call him Your Majesty, won't it? Since you are the woman he loves!" She said simply and reached out for her glass, taking a sip.

Carol's eyes grew as wide as a saucer on hearing that. "Y-You know t-that he…".

"Yes, I know that he loves you. Well, he told me and I also saw you two…" she paused and took another sip "... during the engagement ball, in the Palace belvedere, you guys should have been more careful"she stated.

Carol felt like a huge rock hit her on the head, this was so much to take in.

Queen Elena couldn't stop herself from snickering, the look on Carol's face was exactly the same as Adrian's when she dropped the bombshell on him.

Caroline kept quiet, having nothing to say, "So are you here to threaten me to stay away from Adrian?" She asked the question that has been bothering her since her visit.

The smile on Queen Elena's face faded on noticing the hurt look on her face.

"Do you think that is what is best for both of you?" She asked.

"That would be best wouldn't it? I mean he is getting married!" She stated, her eyes welled up with tears.

Queen Elena sighed "Carol, I am going to ask you a question and I want an honest answer from you, okay?".

Carol nodded.

"Do you love Adrian?" She asked, waiting for a reply from her.

"I…" she paused for a bit. "I really do love him!" She said slowly.

Queen Elena beamed on hearing that "Then why can't you tell him?".

Carol looked hesitant, not saying a word, trying to avoid answering the question.

"I have been hurt before by my ex in the past, eversince then I decided within myself that I will never fall in love with any one else. I was doing a good job at it until…until I met Adrian and I just don't understand why but…" she paused for a moment "... but I have fallen so deeply in love with him and it hurts so much not to tell him because…" she felt her voice become unsteady as she tried to speak "... because, I am afraid of getting hurt again!" She blurted out as the tears ran down her cheeks, burying her head in her hands.

Queen Elena moved closer to her and began patting her back, soothingly. She finally understood her actions.

"You know something?" She asked, Carol raised her head slowly, her cheeks were stained with tears.

"What?" She asked.

Queen Elena smiled, she finally got her attention. "The love story of Adrian's father and I is a bit similar to yours".

"How come?" Carol asked, suddenly intrigued.

"Well, let's see…" she thought for a bit, pondering on how she'd start her story "Before I met Robert, I was a trained killer!" Carol's eyes widened on hearing the word killer, Queen Elena smiled at her reaction,

"Our two countries were not at peace with each other, we didn't have any wars or some sort but we disliked each other. My Father hated Robert's father for reasons I do not know until this day, well Robert's father wasn't actually a good man. He was a well known tyrant. He killed anyone that he suspected was a threat to his throne except his sons".

"I was taught since my childhood to hate Laveria and its people, I heard stories that never added up to reality, My Father trained me to be a killer. I never had a proper childhood..I spent all my days back then training to be the perfect weapon for my Father" She paused for a while, Carol noticed how hurt she looked telling the story. She couldn't imagine how hard life was for her.

"Finally, I was given my first mission and that was to ruin Robert's Father and probably kill him if it was needed. It wasn't easy at all, I had to make one of his sons fall for me to do that…"

"Was The King your target?" Carol asked cutting her off.

Queen Elena shook her head. "No, my target was his brother, Edward."

Carol gasped "His Majesty has a brother?"

"Yeah." She replied "so back to my story, where was I?...!" She thought for a bit "Oh right!" She snapped her fingers when she remembered. "I had to make Edward fall for me, learn his dirtiest secrets and ruin him with them, by ruining his eldest son's reputation I would have destroyed the Father, he will be weak and it will be easy to destroy him!".

Carol scrunched up her face on hearing her plan "That is a terrible thing to do to a person!".

Queen Elena sighed "Yeah, it was but I was doing it for my Father and didn't think much of it back then. His Father was a tyrant and that was not the worse thing to do to someone like him!" She explained.

"So, did you do it?" Carol asked, letting the matter drop, the story was getting more interesting as the moments flew by.

"Well…." She let out a breath ".... It was very difficult especially when everyone in the entire country knew everything about your heritage and hated you. I had to compete with other Princesses from different countries and kingdoms for Edward's affection and it was very hard because he never gave me a glance" she said stressing the word 'hard'

"So it was entirely difficult but… Robert was the only one who paid attention to me ever since the day we met, even when he knew everything about me he still stayed by my side and never cared of what his Father or brother said about it!" She said with love in her eyes.

"You know what?" She turned to her, smiling warmly "I didn't actually like Robert at first because of how he followed me around and how he wanted to always be near me. I hated him so much that I wanted to punch him every single time I saw him but then, ... he did something that changed my perspective of him" she paused for a bit, her cheeks flushed as the memory recalled in her mind, "He stood up for me one fateful day in front of his Father and brother. I believe it was that exact moment that I began having feelings for him. It was magical and it was that very day that I swore within myself that I will always protect him!" She said cheerfully, a smile smoldered on her lips.

"If I may ask, where is His Majesty's brother right now and how come no one hardly speaks of him?" Carol questioned.

Queen Elena hesitated before she replied, her demeanor grew pale and cold "He died!".

Carol gasped, her hands covered her mouth in shock.

"He was assassinated on the day of his wedding. It turned out that The King had a lot of enemies apart from my Father, so they ambushed the Palace that day. Their plan was to end the royal family and rule Laveria instead, they almost succeeded, Edward was very unfortunate and was killed, so was his Father. Robert barely survived. He risked his life to save mine!" She said, her eyes grew teary. That day was not something she'd like to recall. It reminded her of the pain she felt when she thought that she would lose him.

Carol clasped their hands together, she held them tightly, perceiving the hurt she felt. "I am sorry to hear that Your Majesty!" She said,

"It's okay" she said, sniffing back the tears. "Robert recovered after a few months, he proposed to me, I said yes. We got married and I had Adrian." She quickly summarized the story.

"Thank you so much for the story!" Carol said after a moment of silence.

"You are welcome. I just want you to know one thing Caroline…" she stared at their clasped hands and smiled at them, she looked at her, with the look of a mother at her daughter "Don't let the mistakes and pains of the past prevent you from being with the one you love. I don't know what occurred between you and your ex but it is all in the past. You have to let go of that fear and move on Caroline. Be happy, be with the one you love and fight for it. Adrian is doing everything he can to be with you and he will not give up, to show you and everyone how determined he is!" .

Carol diverted her gaze from her when she said that. A pang of guilt flushed her face.

Queen Elena smiled. "I just want him to be happy Caroline and you make him happy!" She said finally and got up to leave.

"I think it is about time I got back to the Palace before a search party will be sent to get me." She joked, Carol grinned at her sense of humor " Thank you for your time Miss Caroline, I really enjoyed talking to you!".

Carol smiled at her "You are welcome Your Majesty!".

Queen Elena shot her a smile and exited the office. Carol rested her back against the couch, staring at the ceiling above feeling more perplexed than ever.