Chapter 9.

That afternoon I decided to go to my mom's office to talk to her about the readjustments and see how she was doing since the fight with my dad a few days ago, so after lunch I packed my things and changed into more comfortable clothes to go there, opting for black jeans, a fleece blouse and low-heeled boots.

So I go down to the second floor and pass by my father's office which has been very quiet these past few days to go to hers, greeting some guards on the way and recognizing Nolan among them, the boy was even more handsome in his uniform and his eyes colored of amber always conveyed a certain tranquility.

“Good morning, soldier Davies,” I greet him and see that he's startled that I remember him but then smiles and waves shyly as I walk down the hall under the gaze of the other guards and see that my mother's office door is the redhead of yesterday was there too and he smiles when he sees me and I greet him and see his last name on his uniform "Good morning to you too, soldier Roberts!" I say and he nods at me before opening the door so I can go in and see my mom.

I then thank him and walk in seeing that she is concentrating on reading some papers and her black hair is pulled back in an elegant ponytail on top of her head and she is wearing one of the typical dresses we are required to wear because we are royalty, she then notices my presence and signals me to approach the table.

I go over to her and give her a kiss before I sit down and she stops what she's doing to focus her attention on me.

“Good morning dear, did you sleep well?" She asks as her put the pen down next to the inkwell and I confirm and place my papers on the table "that's good, what brings you here?" She asks next and I point to the papers and she smiles.

“I came to check on you after the fight that day and talk a little bit about tomorrow's interview, I'm a little nervous,” I say and she nods as she watches me and sighs.

“The interview isn't sweet at all, what worries me is that your dad wants to make the engagement announcement later this week and I didn't want that for you but we're out of options, no one really caught your eye sweetie l?" She asks hopefully and I deny feeling a twinge of sadness in my chest as I think about it, but ignores the feeling thinking that my attitude will serve a greater good.

“I haven't meet with anyone special mom and I don't think that's going to happen soon as and anyways my time is up and probably by Christmas I'll be married,” I say and smile weakly and see the great sadness on my mom's face.

“When I was your age I had to do the same thing dear, it wasn't easy, but over time I got used to it and my biggest wedding gift was you and your brother, and I couldn't ask for anything else, I learned to love your father and my marriage through you and your brother and it has soothed my heart over the years,” she says and smiles and I get up to hug her and feel when she squeezes me tight and I do the same “but the only thing what I cannot accept is to see you demoted by a man who would rather listen to the king than his own wife!" She says with her face leaning against my shoulder and I nod.

“At last week's meeting I told Dad that I would never accept being ruled by him and my husband, and I guarantee him that I would cut off all his rights to sign or command anything within the monarchy, and this ridiculous law that he himself imposed on marriages will be revoked, we all deserve to have free will to do and exercise the positions we want!” I say and Mom leans away from me to look at me, I see her eyes shining and a beautiful smile on her face.

“I really admire your courage dear, your brother and I support anything you want, we will always be by your side!" She says and I nod giving her one last hug before getting up and heading back to my previous seat.

“I appreciate all the support mom, and changing the subject, did you see the changes approved?" I ask and she nods as she takes my papers and notes to watch.

"I thought they were very good, let's see how they will be put into practice and if your father doesn't do something," she said rolling her eyes and I laughed, so we talked a little more about the repercussion of the announcement of the new measures proposals and Mom started telling me about the news that was coming out.

“Gwen brought me a local newspaper from De'Ath and McQuoid and although the changes were positively received in our country, the other countries that are under our jurisdiction and belong to the Union of Republics and Monarchies of Rolyat don't seem to have accepted them very well,” she says and I frown as she rummages through some drawers and hands me the two newspapers so I can flip through them and when I pick one up I see some pictures of local protests and unrest and stare at my confused mother, she then clears her throat and goes back to saying “the general believes that the rebels are part of an anti-monarchy or anti-republican group in the case of McQuoid, but we are not absolutely sure, they tried to capture one of them to try to interrogate him but he ran away and the others who were detained didn't know anything, they were just locals and we were left with nothing again, but the general sent a warning to all cities in both countries so that all rebels would be captured in case there were new uprisings,” she said and I nodded thinking about it and not being surprised by the situation outside the palace.

I knew that here in our country, Waybrook, and especially in our capital that bore the same name, riots were not so common, just a few occurrences in recent years, but the other three URMR countries were big targets of riots and attacks against the government, CassCross suffered from some protests against the Regent regime which was not much better than my own father and in De'Ath the same thing happened and the hatred for the country's Regent was great, but I didn't know why they were directing the protests to MacQuoid as hard as in recent times since he was the only country that followed the republican regime within the URMR and was rarely repudiated as the president was a woman extremely loved by voters.

Lately nothing had been making sense and that worried me, because I wasn't the least bit sure where we could go with the latest developments in Waybrook and the other countries of the Union.

“Things seem to be getting out of hand out of here, and I'm pretty sure it will get here sooner or later Mom,” I say and she agrees with me as I continue to read newspapers from neighboring countries, seeing more pictures and reports about the revolt, and one of the photos catches my attention, in it there is a masked rebel holding a flag with a broken crown drawn in the middle and around the crown several flames surrounded it and formed a kind of bird, so I looked up and pointed the drawing to my mother who approached the paper "have you seen this before?" I ask and see her eyes widen slightly before she returns to a neutral expression and vehemently denies it.

And that definitely didn't convince me and maybe she knew something, but I would put that off for later.

“How strange, can I keep these newspapers mom?" I ask as I fold their sheets and she watches me for a few seconds before nodding, so I gather my paperwork and put them back inside.

As I finish putting away, I notice that some of the papers on the table belong to the March Spring Ball and my mom catches my gaze and smiles as she hands me the papers.

"I'm finalizing the details, but it's going to be a big ball dear!" She says excitedly and I agree flipping through the planning folder and seeing the decorations and the food that will be served at the party that would be held at the palace and would have the royal families of Rolyat's other countries and the presence of the family of the president of MacQuoid, and a few families from other countries came to our balls.

“Now I understand Dad's rush to announce my engagement, he's going to use the party for that mom,” I say looking up from the pages and seeing her smile fade away and her eyes grow sad with something much deeper I didn't know what it was before she composed herself and faced me.

“I apologize again dear, my last wish was for you to face something similar I went through at your age," she said seriously upset and I took one of her hands and squeezed it between mine to emphasize what I would say next with your full attention stayed on me.

“I know this is not every girl's dream and that I don't love my fiance but most of all mom I'm doing it for the good of the country, daddy is sinking the country and the situation only gets worse, I hope it gets my marriage works out so I can change the situation we live in and help the people, and i don't really mind sacrificing it for them,” I say and see my mom nod but something else crosses her face but again I can't tell what it is and let it go.

“I admire your courage dear, I wouldn't have the same conviction and determination that you have to sacrifice your happiness for others,” she says sincerely and I shrug still holding her hand “but I'm sure everything will be alright!” She says at the end and I smile at her.

We then said our goodbyes and I collected my things before going back to my room and when I got there I decided to take a shower and organize my things for the night escape and when I went into my closet I noticed there was a note on one of the benches inside and when I approached and opened it I saw a letter I didn't know but I soon recognized its owner's initials.

“I hope everything is fine for tonight, I'll be waiting at the agreed place.

R.W"

I smiled at the note and wondered how it had ended up here, but soon I took a lighter from my nightstand and burned the end of the paper and threw it into the fireplace so it could burn and as I watched it burn I prayed that everything would work out tonight, otherwise me and my guard would be in trouble.