To apologize

Albert smiled, he seemed to be liking Annie's cooperation, she did not look angry, neither did she look offended, she just like she wanted to hear the truth and know why she was called here in the first place, and he did not blame her at all.

"You see Annie, whether anyone likes it or not, from the moment you stepped into the Realm, you had a very important role to play" said Albert as spoke softly, as if he did not want to scare her or alarm her.

"I did?" asked Annie in confusion.

"She did?" asked Maddie at the same time and in the same tone, she could not pinpoint what he was actually going for here, she didn't know what it was he wanted to discuss, and she was starting to get impatient.

"Yes you did" said Albert as he nodded.

"As I presume you all know about, Azazel was sentenced just yesterday" said Albert as Annie nodded.

"I am aware, Ollie told us" said Annie.

"Quite frankly I was surprised that the kind of punishment you gave him does not amount to even half of the evil things he has done" said Maddie as Albert looked at her clearly surprised by her statement.

"You were?" asked Albert in a doubting tone.

"Of course I was, life imprisonment in the holds, being stripped of all magic and three months in the Chamber of dolor, that's not nearly enough punishment for a man like Azazel" said Maddie as she scoffed.

"I thought the High Council would uphold nothing but justice, but it was too lenient with Azazel concerning his punishment" said Maddie as she shook her head and Albert looked at her, clearly surprised by the way she was speaking.

"Well Maddie, the High Council did uphold justice, fair justice I might add" said Albert.

"We are not barbarians, there are rules and regulations put in place to ensure the right treatment of everyone, regardless of crime, all Azazel's crimes were accredited to his punishment" said Albert as Maddie scoffed.

"Whatever" she said as she looked at Annie and Albert cleared his throat, realizing that he had shifted from his main focus.

"Annie, when you first arrived in the Realm, I was instantly informed of your arrival, Stella made sure to report the nature of the situation to me" said Albert as he looked at Annie.

"To be quite honest with you, I did not want you or anyone else related to you to be here, it would mean the return of Azazel back to our peaceful Realm" said Albert.

"There had been nothing but peace ever since he disappeared, nowhere to be found, we knew he was not dead, but as long as he did not threaten the peace of our Realm, he would be fine to continue on with whatever he was doing" said Albert as Maddie scoffed in displeasure, how rich and selfish, let Azazel live as long as he's not their problem.

"So when you arrived here, the fear of his return came with you, and hence why we wanted nothing to do with you" said Albert

"And for that Annie, I want to apologize to you" said Albert as Annie looked shocked and Maddie didn't seem moved.

"Apologize... to me?" asked Annie in uncertainty as Albert nodded.

"What for?" asked Annie as she didn't get it, did he call her here to apologize?

"For your unfair treatment and unrecognition, you were treated unfairly" said Albert.

"And help was withheld from you by the Council" said Albert.

"And that should have not been so, the Council should have been the first to help you as a body, and not one individual" said Albert the perspicuity of his statement clear as day.

"Stella brought this to my attention last night during dinner, it was wrong for us to allow you a minor, still in the Realm and beyond to fight a hardened criminal that has killed thousands" said Albert as Maddie scoffed internally.

"It was wrong for us to leave you on your own to defeat him, regardless of if you were successful or not" said Albert as Annie looked at Maddie with a shocked expression on her face as Maddie just nodded as if this was long over due.

"We should have helped you from the start, and for that I apologize to you, can you ever find it in your heart to ever forgive me, and the Council" said Albert as Annie looked shocked, she could not find the words to speak.

"I... I don't know what you mean your Majesty, you and the Council never offended me, not at all" said Annie.

"On the contrary, most of the support I received was from the Council, from my Aunt Stella, my Uncle Captious, Professor Sapiens, the Cauldron members were very nice to me, and they protected me and my parents and my friends" said Annie.

"Most of the Cauldron *Ahem* Armand" added Maddie as Albert furrowed his eyebrows at her statement.

"Doesn't matter, only him" said Annie as she whispered to Maddie, but Albert could still hear her.

"You were not supposed to receive help from them alone, you were supposed to receive help from us all, and I failed to do that" said Albert.

"No you didn't your Majesty, it was because of you that we were all allowed to stay at the Palace and continue staying there, if you did not approve that, we would have no right to fight you" said Annie as she smiled and Albert smiled, he could see why his son admired Annie so much, she was well spoken, fair and reasonable.

"Because of your involvement that the Cauldron helped us, because of your son that we managed to achieve half the things we did" said Annie as she smiled.

"I beg to differ about his son though" said Maddie out loud as she was not hiding it and Annie looked at her and frowned.

"And because of that your Majesty, I do not think that you treated me unfairly, far from it, without your minor actions of help, we wouldn't be here, or well taken care of, or as comfortable or as safe as we all are" said Annie.

"I should be thanking you, and not you apologizing to me" said Annie as she smiled.

"You are very fair Annie" said Albert as he smiled and Annie smiled at him.

"But you are wrong, I do need to apologize, regardless of my minor actions, I could have done more, my son Oliver has fought me tooth and nail to get me to see that, and I regret I only realized now" said Albert.

"So regardless of what you think, I believe I owe you an apology, and I ask once more for your forgiveness" said Albert.

"I forgive you and anyone else that you want me to forgive, there are no hard feelings, the most important thing is that Azazel is gone to serve his punishment and he can't harm anyone in any Realm again" said Annie as Maddie rolled her eyes.

"Thank you Annie, I see now why everyone is so fond of you" said Albert as he smiled and Annie smiled softly.

"Well is that it? Are we done? Because I want to get back home now" said Maddie as Annie and Albert looked at her, well her work here was done, Annie was fine, Albert didn't try or do anything funny, and his apology was long overdue, she was glad that Annie was finally getting all the apologies that she deserved.

"Maddie, that's rude" whispered Annie as Maddie did not seem to care.

"Your Majesty, I want to get back home now, I missed breakfast for this" said Maddie as she looked at Albert who was surprised by her bold way of speaking, but he did not show that outwardly.

"Actually yes I am done, you can both leave now, but before you leave Maddie I would like to speak to you" said Albert as Maddie narrowed her eyes at him.

"What for?" asked Maddie as she did not bother adding his title, it wasn't her style to pretend to be like the respectful Annie that everyone loved.

"Your Mother..." said Albert as Maddie's gaze darkened, ready to fight him if he dare spoke anything unreasonable.

"She is a very trusted member of the Cauldron, she has served all her years in the unit respectfully and upheld all we stand for" said Albert.

"If anything, she is a very high regarded member" said Albert.

"Of course she is... she's loyal and faithful... to the right side alone" said Maddie.

"And for that, I apologize for doubting her and sending her to Agricola, she will never betray her Realm" said Albert.

"I am glad that you realize that, I don't do well with others doubting the people I care about, I can tolerate people doubting me, but never those that are close to me" said Maddie in a warning tone.

"Noted, but you are very different from your Father" said Albert.

"Correction your Majesty, I have no Father, but I do have a mother who loves me and will never betray her people" said Maddie.

"Thank you for that clarification Maddie" said Albert as he smiled sincerely and Maddie shot him an unfriendly smile.

"Now you both are welcome to stay and have breakfast in the Castle before you leave, considering you rushed to come here because of my vague invitation" said Albert as he smiled and both Annie and Maddie looked at each other in nothing but uncertainty.