New life: 16
Clumsy Queen of Briston
Majesty!
I heard you were in your study
I want to talk can I come in?
Sent 15:26
Mr King
Come in
I'm free
Sent 15:27
Ava nodded to the mobile and quickly stood up from the bed, bidding goodbye to Autumn, so she could go back to her place. She quickly got off the sweatpants and shirt before getting into a simple long sleeve gown, so that she could walk around the palace without getting stared at.
Walking out of the chamber, Ava asked Isaac to accompany her to the King's study as the duo started walking to the place in comfortable silence while Ava hummed staring at the bright sky.
She was so broken a couple of weeks ago and the only thing that calmed her mind was privacy.
Lucas was able to give her some as Ava only stepped out of the chamber two weeks ago accompanied by her companions. She was all alone for the first entire four days, only opening the door when the maids brought her food. Lucas contacted her through his old mobile by making a call and fulfilled her wish of staying alone for a while.
But before the two weeks, she stepped out of her chamber to just stroll the corridor for some fresh air as she finally held up herself by putting all her burden on to her lovable God bro, hoping for him to send her back home some time or just keep her fine.
By now, Ava, surprisingly, had grown a healthy friendship with the King of the country and opened up about herself to him. They were pretty good and felt comfortable around each other.
In which, Lucas came to acknowledge that Ava had been a victim of social anxiety disorder. Though Xavier, her brother had raised her with self-confidence and practically, treated away her disorder, finding herself in the mid of nowhere all of a sudden surrounded by a bunch of people made Ava's condition a bit worse. She was yet again vulnerable to those attacks which made her insecure about herself.
Lucas was patient and calm dealing with each of Ava's sudden panic attacks throughout the last two weeks after getting to know about her condition and never once tried to judge her about it as how she dreaded him to do.
Ava was improving like a child in conversing with the King without difficulty and she also noticed many changes revolving around her day-to-day life that improved in small baby steps.
Now the King was hurriedly placing all the important files back into the drawer as he quickly threw his overcoat over the small couch and picked up a mug to fill it with milk. When he was about to make a cup of coffee in the coffee maker, his door was knocked once and his Knight entered inside with the Queen following behind, walking slowly.
Aslan bowed to the King and walked back after slightly glancing at the study, highly judging the process that the King hurriedly went through the place to make it look like he was free for ages.
" Good afternoon, Your Majesty, "
" Good evening, Ava. " Lucas corrected gently smiling. " You look good, " he also complimented to which Ava chuckled, thanking him.
" So, what do you want to talk? "
" Many things. " she huffed before glancing at the surrounding, asking: " Are you sure you're free? I have a lot to discuss with you, "
" Of course, I'm free and anything can wait, Ava. You're my guest and you deserve all my time. So, tell me, "
She nodded and sat down on the couch after the King told her to. He walked back to the coffee maker and took another mug but a smaller one, from the rack, filling it with milk.
" Your Majesty, I've been wondering about asking you to grant me some kind of...job, "
" Job? " he quirked. " Ava, I told you, you're a guest, "
" Just because I'm a guest, I cannot just stay inside the chamber and act like a Queen knowing nothing, Your Majesty. " she huffed but quickly composed herself when Lucas turned to look at her, she continued: " Probably, I've to stay here for a while and we're not sure how long. I can't stay here doing nothing as long as I'm acting as the Queen, let me do something, Your Majesty, I don't want to be just a burden. " she sounded desperate at the end while the King only sighed.
" Ava, "
" Please, Your Majesty, let me do something. Just think of it as a way for me to repay your kindness to me, "
" Fine... What do you do? "
He breathed and decided to give her a small interview that started with Ava gently biting on her lips, thinking.
" To be honest... I do nothing, "
Lucas snorted, chuckling softly.
" I know, I'm not asking that. What can you do? Designing? " he guessed only for her to shake her head to the side looking unsure of her own decision now.
" No, I've never even tried a designer dress, "
" Cooking? "
Ava grinned staring at every corner but the King, blinking like an innocent toddler.
" Nope, my brother never let me try as he thought I'd end up in jail for, maybe, accidentally poisoning him, "
He sighed at her sheepish smile.
" Painting? "
" Ah... No. "
" Interrogating? "
" Huh? "
" Organising? "
" Like cleaning untidy rooms? "
He looked at her as if she was crazy. She knew nothing.
" Accounting? "
" Nope never heard of it. "
He sighed out loud.
" Have a cup of milk, " he offered her one and plopped on the couch before sighing, dramatically, at the fact that she knew nothing.
Ava squirmed, awkwardly, staring at the warm milk as her useless brain tempted her to say something nice to the King for now, for being...useless.
" Your Majesty...I'm sorry, but... I'll try to learn them. "
Only after a minute, Lucas straightened up, eyeing her with a keen expression as he could remember the faint memory of how Ava was described when he saw her first. She was somehow good at acting or just managed to go along a script.
He's not going to ask her to audition as an actress, trust the writer.
" Ava, have you ever tried to learn any of your hobbies or something that interested you? "
With the new question, Ava hummed agreeing.
" I learnt tailoring when I was in 10th or 11th grade, I don't know... "
" Tailoring... " Lucas's face slightly brightened as his eyes drifted to the unfinished papers over his table. " Seems good and how long did you take? "
" I don't remember...it was 3-4 months, maybe, " she leaned, her shoulders shrugged back.
" Then fine, I have a perfect job for you, we'll talk about that later. Now, shall we go on a walk around the castle? "
" So, you finally remembered promising me to show the castle around? " Ava chuckled standing up to settle the empty mug while Lucas swiftly grabbed the mug with his.
" I did have that in mind, but just wanted you to ask me yourself but you never did. "
They both chuckled looking at each other and after Lucas settled the mugs down on the nearby sink, they walked out of the study together soon being bowed by their Knights.
" Boys, go somewhere else, we're just taking a walk around the castle. " Lucas informed the youngers before beginning to walk the other way while Ava blinked for a second before following the King with a small wave to her Knight, who gave a nod back.
" He looks awfully different, isn't he? " Aslan asked.
Isaac craned his eyes to the side finding no one other than himself around the other and guessed he might've misheard it. But when Aslan continued to stand like a statue, Isaac hardly believed that it was he, who talked.
" I said he looked different. " Aslan repeated as if he wanted a confirmation from the other Knight to which Isaac finally, curtly nodded, walking off from the corridor.
" It's not a problem as long as the King is in his right mind, "
" He has always been in his right mind, Isaac, " Aslan mumbled, watching Isaac's back disappear from his sight, his eyes dropping with...despair, maybe.
#
" So you've noticed that there are 5 floors in the main palace attached to two-three more structures on the side. Both of our chambers are the enormous ones in the palace—
" Where even a family could live, " Ava continued, smiling. Lucas nodded agreeing with a smile.
" We're on the fourth floor as you've already noticed, the Queen's chamber along with the Royal chamber is on the third and second floor. The nursery is on the first floor along with the kitchen and...dining hall. Oh, the throne room is on the second floor. " he kept on explaining to the Queen, who calmly focused on everything and hummed.
" It means... " she fisted her fingers a little concentrating, " I guess there is one huge chamber on each of the floors. Your chamber on the 4th floor, Nythera's on the 3rd floor, throne room on the 2nd and the dining hall in the 1st. Isn't it? " she asked feeling proud of herself as she finally felt like she put her unused brain for some use.
" It is. "
" What is on the fifth floor then? "
" Fifth floor... Instead of saying it, I can show it myself. " he soon chuckled when Ava looked at him with keen eyes.
" So, why are there different palaces around this one? " Ava pointed at the other small structures around the main castle while Lucas nodded halting to a stop on the corridor so that they could take a fine look on the outside where, fortunately, all the palaces were visible.
" We're in the main castle and we have four more sub-palaces around. That one on the east is the Palace of Darius, which is after my old great-great-grandfather. The Palace of Darius has four huge stories and belongs to each of the ranks in order. That is where the quarters are located, which bags the place to council members of the Royal committee on the top floor, both of our Knights and other Generals on the 4th floor. The noble chamber is for noble people and it is located on the third floor at the back of the palace because...it's a bit huge than the other floors. Other two floors have a grand kitchen, and offices for the council members and nobles along with the Generals. Um... And your Ladies in waiting also bags a place on the 2nd floor of the structure. "
Ava was in awe as she tried to imagine the outlook just by Lucas's description while he moved to explain the other one.
" This structure is for the soldiers' use. There are training rooms and gyms for the guys on the fifth, fourth and third floors. I occupy the third floor whenever I work out. Landing spot on the 6th floor as sometimes, rarely... " he added, pointing at the top floor, " I could be travelling, using the helicopter and for our international subordinates too. Then we have libraries...study areas, planning areas and training fields around the structure, especially, granted for our commoners. "
" This thing is huge, Your Majesty. " Lucas chuckled hearing her. " I don't think I can remember all of it, I'll be lost if I'd be left alone. " Ava was mumbling to herself in slight terror but also with amusement.
" The two structures over there actually are different from others. They're equally separated by different departments. Intelligence department, Economic and Political department, Cultural Department and all of the other departments. "
They started walking again as Lucas headed to a spot in particular.
" Okay, so have a look at this room. "
He signed the guards to move and opened the door by himself, walking in with an awed Ava, who was so excited and eager to look at what was inside. But her excitement immediately drained as fast as it increased as she came face to face with a huge library with multiple cosy light bulbs igniting the room like heaven.
Don't mind her, if she was a reader, she'd have been screaming her heart out at the heavenly sight of every other reader's desireful place but instead, she was gawking at the room like a dying fish.
" This is the best place in the entire— Hey! " Lucas screamed. " Ava, I didn't get you in here to run away at the same speed. " he dashed behind her, dragging her back inside despite all her protest and continued explaining how the library opened his eyes to the social relationship with other living people other than his mother which he was so honest about.
It took a whole ten minutes for Ava to escape from the King's love-for-library lecture. Pretty much the 4th floor was entirely designed according to the King's liking and all Ava wanted at the moment was to sprint down to the next floor.
The 3rd floor was simple, yet, had the simplest rooms for the Queen's entertainment that Ava barely had an interest in.
They quickly sprinted to the 2nd floor and Ava quickly stopped when she saw the paths to the chambers were beautifully designed along with beautiful waterways with colourful fishes jumping around. She crouched down to her knees and lovingly tried to touch the clear water
" You like it? It's also Alaia's favourite place, " Lucas smiled, leaning a bit back to see her smiling face.
" Who's Alaia? " Ava crooked a brow when they heard someone clearing their throat to gain their attention. The mortal Queen quickly turned around hearing Mathilda greeting the King.
" Greetings, Your Majesty, what brings you here? " Mathilda Acton asked politely smiling at Lucas when Lucas was focused on Ava, quickly, bowing her head to Mathilda in fright, greeting her with a small good evening which wasn't properly responded to as Mathilda was busy glaring at Ava for bowing at her before the King.
Ava couldn't help but, still, tremble a bit whenever she was before the King's mother. She couldn't pinpoint if it was because of the threat or just the usual bad vibe around Mathilda that made Ava uncomfortable.
" We are here to meet someone important, Madam Acton, I'm also showing the castle to my wife. " Ava found herself unable to breathe when Lucas suddenly pulled her closer to him with his hands wrapped around her waist securely holding her tight to his chest.
Ava was barely breathing as her breath hitched when her body stiffened at the King's hold while Lucas too felt her body's raising heat. He gently whisked his hands up from her waist to her arms to stroke the fabric softly, hoping for a small comfort.
The little change, thankfully, helped a tiny bit and mooted the Queen to take a quick breath before dying out of one.
" Your Majesty, you could just send some others to show Her Majesty the castle as you'd have many works to do than roam, "
" Don't you worry, Madam Acton. I'm freely available, now, if you may move, we'll get going as the Queen has many more places to see today. " he said before smiling down at Ava, grasping her hand a little tight, saying: " What do you say, My wife? "
Ava was flustered. She'd never known that Lucas could be this cheesy right before the older woman and could easily shut her like an unwanted door. Of course, she didn't expect him to show her who she was.
" They're staring at you, " he whispered leaning to her ear and chuckled when Ava quickly looked around and reddened even more.
About 8 noble men and women were staring at the Royal couple standing afar to show their respect along with many other maids and guards, who were, still, there on every door like hawks.
" Yeah—yeah, we—we'll get going, Your Majesty. "
" Have a good eve, Your Majesty. " Mathilda bowed when they crossed her with a goodbye.
" You were so cool back there! " Ava whispered-yelled, trying her best to not scream, flustered like a red berry, still, feeling those sparks and shivers passing through her.
" But you felt so hot, didn't you? "
Ava suddenly shut her mouth close as the heat yet again raised to her face feeling his hand, still, tight around her hands while Lucas grinned freeing her away from him, looking around so that he could confirm that they were out of other ears and also to calm his own heart from flipping up and down.
" These Royal chambers are for our family members which means Mum and Dad and also the former king's mistress, which is my step-mother to be exact, though she's married to him. " he showed her the vast corridor and pointed at different oak doors while they walked past them.
" Mistress? Who's a mistress? Like a second in command for the Queen? "
" No... Not like that, Mistress is a person who's the lover of the King and also the second wife is mentioned as Mistress in some Monarchs. "
" What? Really? Then you might've got a Mistress too? " Ava's eyes widened as Lucas laughed, shaking his head.
" I highly doubt it, but, yeah. "
" Is that my brother? " Suddenly a voice rose from behind them startling Ava, who looked shaken up seeing a beautiful girl in a long dress with a charming smile directing their way.
Lucas's lips stretched into a long smile as he quickly pulled Ava into the world introducing the girl to the Queen.
" Ava, I'm going to introduce you to a special person. This is my sister, Princess Alaia. "
To be continued