Thank you Dawn96 for all the support! It means a lot :)
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Azalea's POV:
“I’m finished with my lesson, may I be excused now?”
He looked my way with a stern eye and looked at the pile of work that lay on the desk in front of me. He sighed but gave a small smile and a nod, signaling me to go.
“Thank you Sir Hector!”
After hearing the sound of excitement in my voice, I calmed down and gracefully bowed towards him before making my exit. As soon as I took a foot outside the door, I prepared for a sprint, until Sir Hector peeked his head out the door and shouted, “Remember your posture!”
I let out a pout before straightening my back and walking dignified through the hall. I could feel Sir Hector’s smirk on my back.
It’s been about a week since the coronation and I have been forced to take many lessons on how to rule Cardinia properly. Sir Hector was Christopher’s tutor so he is an excellent instructor, though he was very austere and would rarely allow me a break. He is a good man though and I value our relationship very much. He reminds me of my father in a way sometimes and he quickly became a confidante of mine. Besides, his lessons weren’t too bad since his lessons were interesting and they were a great way to take my mind off of Christopher.
As I walked through the hall and passed numerous servants, they would all stop, bow and smile at me, their new queen. My reputation in the kingdom has been raised after the coronation and I earned many Cardinians’ respect. I have often heard whispered praises about how I was a knowledgeable, dignified, and astonishing leader since Christopher’s incident. Then again, I’ve heard hateful comments from some Cardinian nationalists who would call me filthy names, but I choose to ignore them.
I finally entered my bedroom and gently closed the door behind me. I took a deep breath and rested my head against the door, letting the stress all fall.
“It seems you had another stressful day your majesty.”
I slowly raised my head and looked at the figure who sat against the bed frame. He had his cocky grin on and I couldn’t help but smile at him.
“Well of course I did, I have to finish all the work you loaded on me while you slept soundly.” I joked.
“You cannot deny a lad an amazing nap.”
I gaited to the bed where he sat and sat down beside him.
“How do you feel today?”
“Just peachy. In fact, I think I can get out of bed now.”
He rustled the sheets, preparing to leave the bed until I motioned for him to stay.
“Azalea, I want to get out of the bed. I am bored from being bedridden all day.”
“It has been only a day since you woke up from your slumber and you think I would allow you out? I am serious Christopher, how do you feel?”
I looked at the bandaged area of his left arm which covered where the arrow slit him. He followed my gaze.
“The arm is feeling better and after eating all the food Beth has stuffed in me, I have more energy now.”
“That is good news.” I mumbled.
Christopher noticed my faint presence.
“Something troubling you?”
“I have been pondering over something ever since you took the arrow for me. How are you still alive?”
“Thank you for the vote of confidence. I'm sorry I am not dead.”
“No, it’s not that. It’s just that, I secretly examined the poison of the arrow with Sir Hector the day after you were struck. It was Heathkr poison, something that would kill a stag. Something like that would be fatal to any normal human, yet you survived.”
Christopher looked at me, as if contemplating whether or not to tell me some big secret. What I did not know was that what he was going to tell me was just that. His physiognomy changed into one of seriousness as he stared at me intensely.
“I think I can trust you with the information I am about to tell you. Therefore, please do not repeat what you hear to others.”
“Of course not, but what is it?”
“When I was young, I was not exactly the son my mother wanted. She expected a son that would look exactly like his father, but instead she got me. Whenever she saw me, she would normally call out to me lovingly, until she saw my eyes. For some unknown reason, she has repugnance for my emerald eyes.”
“I don’t understand.”
“I still don’t either, even to this day. My father never told me why, so I grew up with my mother staring at me with hatred eyes. She got used to it by the time I turned eleven but she still does not like looking at me too long.”
“This is what you wanted to tell me?”
“No, what I want to tell you will explain the Heathkr. When I was four, my brother, Nathaniel, was born. He was the spitting image of my father, except for his hair color. My mother favored him greatly and wanted him to be the heir to the throne, rather than me. She saw him as the heir and me as another child whom she was not connected to anymore. I was raised to be the support of my brother. Everything I did had to be for the sake of Nathaniel. One day, my mother decided to try an experiment on me. She wanted to see if she could train me to be immune to poisons. Each week, she would poison me with weak poisons and gradually she strengthened them. She wanted to build up my immune system so I could be unsusceptible to poisons, and therefore protect my brother more efficiently. This is the reason behind why I’m still alive. My immune system is built up more than the average man.”
I gasped in horror.
“That is so twisted! How could a mother do that to her own son! Did your father know about this?”
He shook his head.
“The only ones who knew about this were my mother, and one of her trusted servants who delivered the poisons to me. My mother knew my father wouldn’t approve, especially since he had an attachment to me at the time.”
“Wait, does that mean, you still are forced to…?”
“No, not anymore; at age six, my brother became ill and weak. My mother and father feared that he would die so my mother allowed me to retain my title as the Cardinian heir to the throne. One day she imbibed Heathkr into me and I passed out for two weeks. My mother became afraid of losing a possible heir, so she stopped the tests then.”
I thought about my childhood. I was a happy child. I lived freely and was loved by everyone in the kingdom. My mother and father were very loving and I grew up without a care in the world. While I grew up happily, Christopher was suffering here in Cardinia. A childhood full of pain and without his mother’s love; that must have been horrible.
I instinctively held him in my arms and squeezed him lightly. I couldn’t imagine such a life. When I first met him, I had a bad first impression of him. I thought he was so carefree and relaxed. Was the reason due to this? Was it because he was not given the carefree and relaxing life a child was indebted to?
“Thank you for telling me Christopher. It means a lot that you shared this with me.”
Hearing no reply, I loosened my hold on him enough to see his face. His eyes were closed and I could tell he was asleep. The effects of the poison mustn’t have worn off completely in his system. I laid him down softly and left the room.
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Hey guys! What did you think of this chapter? I'm trying to post a chapter a week so look forward to chapter 20 around next Saturday! I hope you guys are enjoying the story so far. Please vote and comment ^_^