There are three important people in Caroline's life. One is John. One is her daughter and one is her maid, which she hates to call, and best friend, Geraldine. John and Caroline have gone through so many treks. Now, another promise is about to be br...
After that night, Geraldine became unreachable. It wasn't the way Caroline couldn't find her. It was like Geraldine was so quiet, so quiet that the atmosphere around them had changed dramatically and Geraldine herself didn't notice that.
Two weeks later, Geraldine received another letter from the kingdom which was the request of her returning to the country from her siblings. She sat on the ground thinking about what to do.
"Eleanor can't find you anywhere in the house." Caroline said while giving Geraldine the maltose.
"Well, you found me." Geraldine got the sweet. Caroline sat next to Geraldine.
"Can you stop being like this?"
"What is?"
"You know, you have lost the funny and cool side. Ellie is actually scared to come to you. She told me the fun side of you has disappeared."
"oh, ummm...well?" She passed the letter to Caroline.
"What did it say?" Caroline tried to look for some words she might understand.
"My father is gone" Caroline gasped slightly.
"I'm sorry, Geraldine..."
"Don't be" There was a short pause in this conversation. "You must think I have a heart of stone. I don't even shed a drop of tear for my father. Do you know how they treat me and my mother? Although I'm the eldest, I have never set a foot outside my room. It's like my mother and I are the people that have bad luck. I tried to sneak out. And one night I heard my father said 'I can't take them to some events. They are ominous'...And when my mother died, he laid his eyes on us for the first time that was longer than ten seconds."
"I don't see a heart of stone. I see a heart deeply wounded that needs time to heal"
"Unfortunately, this heart will never be healed...I have to say you and John understand me way better than my siblings do. I will serve you and the family for the rest of my life because I see the happiness in all of your eyes."
"After all, you're the first one on the line for the throne" Geraldine stood up.
"They can't force me like they force suspects to declare to be guilty unless there's a...I don't know...a will or something. Now, do you want to come with me to the stable? I'm going to take care of the horses." Geraldine casually asked and the Lady nodded.
As usual, they took care of their horses. They washed the horses, took care of the hoofs of the horses. Apart from the people from their close circle, horses were their best friends.
"Oh my goodness! It's been tiring for me. I never felt tired when I did this when I was younger. I've aged a lot." Caroline said and sat up straight massaging her lower back. Geraldine laughed so hard.
"Don't be ridiculous. I'm much older than you. I should be the one to whine first" Geraldine sat down. Caroline splashed her all of the sudden. "Ahhh! Hey!" Geraldine took her revenge as well.
"Whoa! What happened here? Haha" John was back from the meeting and found two ladies having water fight. It wasn't a good time to interrupt 'the fight' as a man.
"Nothing really. I can handle this" Caroline replied while laughing.
Seeing how happy they were, John decided to take Eleanor to see 'the fight'. When they stepped out the house, a bunch of soldiers marched towards them with weapons in their hands.
"Caroline?" John said while walking backwards to Caroline's direction.
"What?" Caroline didn't know anything and she splashed Geraldine for one last time and turned around. "Ahhhh!" one of the soldiers grabbed Caroline and forced her to kneel down. The soldier said something in another language that they didn't understand. As soon as Geraldine heard the first word from the soldier, she knew the soldiers were looking for her and her happy life had ended since that moment.
"Mummy!" Eleanor cried.
Suddenly, everyone went quiet. It was so quiet that was almost frightening. The soldiers started walking backwards. Geraldine walked forwards. The firm posture and eye contact from Geraldine made every soldier shivered. The soldiers kneeled down next.
"We, sinful solders, did not protect Your Majesty. We appologise for the scare from this ridiculous woman." All soldiers said at the same time with their heads down.
"How dare you!" Geraldine helped Caroline stood up. "How dare you force the wife of the knight of the Great Britain to kneel in front of us as if she has sins?" Knight was a respectful position in the ancient Mongolia. The soldier who made the command to take Caroline down and the ones who executed the action were shivering.
"We are guilty of a sin for which even death cannot atone, Your Majesty"
"By the time you get back to Mongolia, please leave the palace to the border" Geraldine told the commander. "Everything's fine." She reassured Caroline and John. Her tone became soft again.
"Please think twice, Your Majesty. The country cannot exist without a monarch." Geraldine ignored them.
"What happens? Are they telling you to go back?" Caroline asked calmly. Geraldine just nodded. "Then go. Go change the people. You hate the fake people, change them. You hate the power distances between people, change them."
Geraldine didn't reply. She took the dress which a monarch should wear, a golden dress with a golden, phoenix-shaped crown. After she got changed, the whole atmosphere had been different. She tried bearing not to cry but she already had tears in her eyes.
"With my words, Sir John de Paynes, Lady Caroline de Paynes of York and their daughter, Lady Eleanor de Paynes, will have the equal status and rights as I have forever." No one dared to speak even though the soldiers thought it didn't make sense at all. In their minds, everyone had to respect the monarch. But having people other than the monarch got respected in the way the monarch had was unusual.
Geraldine turned to the family. "Everything's fine."
"Do you have to leave us, Aunty Geraldine?" Eleanor was crying.
"I have to although I don't want to." Eleanor hugged Geraldine tightly.
"Will we ever meet again?" John asked.
"I really don't know" At this time, Geraldine couldn't bear with her tears. She cried. "But I do believe in fate. It will tie us with the friendship again. Take care" She took a deep breath. Caroline nodded.
Geraldine turned around to face her people. She sat in a carriage and looked back. The family did a curtsy and watched they went far away...
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