Kaleid entered the Clover Garden and saw the skinny young lady staring up on the Acacia tree.
"Good morning, princess."
The girl was a bit startled but she shortly turned her head and smiled back to return his greeting.
"Good morning, Uncle. It is such a nice morning we are having."
Kaleid stared at the young princess, she have grown a lot and he still remembered the first time he saw her.
"You have come a long way, Princess."
"Hmm?"
"No, just talking to myself. Princess you have a letter from the front vanguard."
The young princess lighten up upon hearing the word 'front', because it means the letter came from the battlefield and it means it is from the king.
The young Princess, gladly accepted the letter and sat under the shade of the Acacia tree.
Upon inspection from the princess's face, it means the king will be leaving the battlefield for a short while and rest back here to the castle. Though, Kaleid already knows the contents of the letter, word by word.
"Is it a good news, princess?"
"Hmm!!" She excitedly nod her head. "His highness will be back soon and he thinks he will rest for a month this time!"
"The princess must be so happy."
"Yes!" Dream is elated because it had been almost a year since she seen the big human.
Kaleid kept staring at Dream, she seems to be re-reading the letter. The young princess smiles a lot compare to when she was a baby, at some point Kaleid thought it is because the princess as a baby have a good level of understanding that Kaleid suspected that the princess is indeed the Clover seal bearer, though she have instances of showing a childish side, it looks like a deliberate action from her. However, as Kaleid watched her growing up and the King trying his best to teach her emotions and asking the young princess to smile more from the bottom of her heart, Kaleid is now in doubts.
'However, as it stands, no one is far more suitable than the princess herself, to be the seal bearer.'
Though it seems that through all these years, not only the clover is hard to find, but also the spade seal. Additionally, it is harder to confirm the real bearer of the Diamond.
"Princess, it seems that your childhood sweetheart had not visit you for years."
Kaleid knows that Benjamin was not the Diamond seal bearer, because his son inherited it, and that was confirmed by the man himself. However, as the former Emperor died, and so does the disappearance of the young wild lad. The king of Spade always reminds of Kaleid, how crafty and calculative Benjamin is. Did Benjamin killed the Emperor and the young child bearer of the Diamond, in order to secured the seal back to his body?
The princess fell in silence and a sad demeanor can be seen from her.
Not only the boy disappeared, but also his barriers that protect the princess's room and garden.
'That man, if he really did killed the boy, then my sister's...'
"Even Scarlet had not come back."
Kaleid return from his deep thoughts.
"Scarlet, the King's raven."
The raven had not been seen since the King lead the war, at first we thought the ever loyal bird, followed it's master to the battlefield. However, in the past, the raven will come back to the castle to deliver letters to Lady Magdalene. When the king came back to Spade for a little while, he said that the bird did not followed him, and he dropped it as that. The princess showed an endless worry for the bird whom she treats as her sister while growing up. The king knows that the bird had lived past it's life expectancy and probably chose to die away from it's love ones. The king prohibited Kaleid to not to say a single word of where the bird had come to, to avoid breaking the little princess's heart.
"I'll bring you some tea that Lady Queenie had brought as a gift when she visited last."
"Thank you uncle."
Upon hearing the other lady's name, the young princess brighten up again. As Kaleid turned his body, he briefly saw a dark mark on the princess's exposed skin from her dress. Kaleid continued on walking towards the exit of the garden.
"I have to find catalogues of dresses that covers the neck, or a thick lace neck accessories will be good too."
....
Dream marched the halls with a light heart. She feels absolutely lucky the past days because she was visited by lady Queenie and now, she received a letter from her father. Dream stopped and observe the roses in the garden.
Changes are meant to happen but even though, she is a motherless child and her father is leading the war, being born as a princess have it's benefits. She still wants a simple life like a stone, however, even being born as a human again, the memories from her past life is helping her to live by.
Dream continue on walking towards the Queen's castle. Around this time of the day, Dream was asked to accompany the queen. It is something that would never happen if the King is around, but the both of them were taking advantage of his absence. Moreover, it seems Lunard and Kaleid have nothing against it.
Dream decided to judge people by her own eyes. People who have known Dream's biological mother, Lady Magdalene, accused the queen of spade of killing her. The queen never entertained such rumors, so she never denied or admitted to such crimes. However, Dream believes that if her father did find a single proof then the queen should not be alive to this day. However, Dream is still not aware about the former king's last will or that the queen of spade and the king of spade had never enter a contract of matrimony.
BAMM! CRASH!!
Dream stopped herself from turning the handle of the door knob. And another big crash can be heard from the other side of the Queen chamber's door. Dream turned around and rest her back from the door. The knights who are guarding the door looked tense but did not say a word.
Dream closed her eyes and try to listen of the whispers inside the closed room. She try to comprehend the voices but all she could guess is that the queen and Lunard are the ones talking inside. Dream decided to quietly walk away from the place and went back to the rose garden.
'The queen is a lonely woman.'
It is a phrase Dream heard from Lunard and Kaleid when she was younger. Dream always remember those words whenever the queen throws a fit.
Dream is only a thirteen year old right now, but she was once a sixteen year old with an unstable woman as a mother.
Dream knows how hard it is to be a woman, and it is no matter what your status is or where you at. Right now, in this continent, people are still not aware the chemical imbalances that accompany a woman through her lifetime. No one knows how it feels or it existed unless you are one.
Of course, Dream also met a lot of strong woman who could handle their inner demons well and there are even some that used it as a weapon to successfully live life. However, it is rare for a woman with status to control it, especially if you were born with such expectations.
To men being born with such privalage is pride but with women, it is vanity.
After observing the queen with her own eyes, Dream pity the queen, and she wants to fulfill her responsibility that she failed to give her own mother in her previous life, an assurance of love.
Even if she does not like it, she still have a heart that beats and even if it is out of pity, she wants to extend her arms.
Dream step inside a small gazebo in the middle of the rose garden. Dream does not go here if she is with the queen. It is a beautiful crystal gazebo and every corner of it, all you see is yourself, staring back.
Dream was startled by a different colored of skin peeping out of the shoulder of her dress.
"Ahh, I hope no one saw that..."
She slightly pull the shoulder sleeve of her dress to have a better look at the bruise. It is purple now, which means it is healing and it might return to normal when the king comes back but as a precaution, Dream is thinking of wearing dresses that covers the neck, starting tomorrow.
Good thing, that she heard the loud noises before she entered the room, or else she will have to hide another bruise.
The Queen's fit got really bad when Soliard was crowned as the imperial crown prince and was ordered to govern the Heart Country as the temporary king. The queen seemed to have a bad relationship with the Heart Country and she does not want her child to stay there. She started to have paranoia and sometimes late at night she walks around the castle looking for Soliard. Kaleid suggested of probably making the queen of spade stay in Heart Country with Soliard but she refused, insisting, she have to protect Spade as it's queen, especially that the king is away.
Dream pity the queen, so sometimes she tries to help the maids when she have an episode. It can't be help that Dream get hit now and then but Dream does not mind because she knows it is not a deliverate action and it is not like she never experienced it in her past life.
Actually it is far easier in this life because, this time, it is not her biological mother that hits her.
However, Lunard asked Dream to avoid to be with the Queen if she knows she is currently having a fit. He is saying that the queen cannot control her strength in her emotional state and Dream being half of her size is very dangerous for the young Princess.
Though lately the queen's mental health had been more unstable and Dream could not avoid the queen's misdirected fury.
Time and time again, the queen will apologize when she finally calms down and chant the words that she love Dream like her own and beg her not to leave her.
Dream tries her best to reassure her with the promise of not leaving her. Right now, Dream see this as her responsibility, as that her father, the king of Spade is not in castle to assure the queen.
Now that the king plans to come back and stay longer this time, Dream believes that the queen will have a better state of mind.
She kinda missed the argument of the couple during breakfast in the early mid morning.
....
"He is coming back!!!?"
Anne swept away the vase that is filled with beautiful roses. The carpet is drenched with water and broken shards.
"Mother, please calm down, you will hurt yourself." Lunard beg the woman to stay put because she is scared that the woman will step on the broken shards. However, Anne pay no heed and start grabbing more ornaments that her hand could grab into and start throwing it towards Lunard.
"You lying bitch!! You said everything is falling in place that the plan is guaranteed to succeed. That Soliard will be safe even if he goes to Heart Country!! What would you do to protect him?!! What if that man is coming back because he found out?! What if he is coming back to kill my son!!"
"Mother, the king of spade is just planning to res-.." and a small ornament flew right through Lunard's forehead. Lunard instinctively kneeled down and feel up her forehead and she could feel a warm fluid running down her face.
"I know that man!! He never waste a move! A month?! He never came back from the war until he sees it's end, not even when Magdalene was alive!!!"
Lunard tried to heal her forehead with a healing spell and thought of using a sleeping spell on the enraged woman but Lunard knows that the queen will be a lot scarier when she wakes up.
"We will all die, we will all die, my son, where is my son, I need to go to Soliard and warn him, Soliard needs to run away."
"Mother, we are at the last phase of our plan, you absolutely cannot leave Spade."
"NOOO! I need to save my son!! He can't kill my baby! No one can kill my baby."
Lunard is lost to what to do. The queen's hysteria had gone worst, especially since Soliard had became the Imperial Crown prince. To most, that is a great honor, but for the queen who knows more than a thing or two on what is brewing under the surface, she is filled with anxiety.
Lunard felt a presence on the other side of the door.
'That must be the princess.'
Lunard slowly swallowed and had a conflicted idea. The presence stayed put on the other side of the door and in the back of her mind, a voice is telling her to open the door.
The princess had been great in dissipating the hysteria of the queen. It looks like she is quite experienced and knows how to tame a distraught person, however, there are days that princess have to endure a fair share of abuse from the queen to let her ease up her emotions.
The princess stayed behind the closed doors and finally decided to walk away. Lunard looked down to the blood that dripped down to the carpet and looked back to now tired woman who is still furiously sobbing on the corner of the couch.
"What have we become?" Lunard whispered to herself, and a little after, the door opened.
The queen brightens up and ran to the embrace of the person who closed the door behind him.
"Cale! What are we gonna do?! What are we gonna do?"
From Lunard's position he could hear a soft hush from the person that join them in the room. And from the corner of that person's eyes, Lunard was sent a signal to leave them. Lunard stood up and quietly left the room.
"It is the start, who is the victim, who is the winner? Will it matters in the end of this destruction?" Lunard whispered to herself.
Is that all we want?
Author's note:
I am so sorry if I am not as fast as I used to. I've been typing in computer lately and I cannot really type for long because the screen hurts and burns my eyes. I wear anti radiation and uv glasses but I can really only stay focus on the screen for couple hours. But, prolly some of you guys noticed that the chapters are getting longer. lol
I really want this story not to go over a hundred chapters, however, I still have to tackle a lot of plot holes and the chapters might continue on getting longer.
As I said before, this story is just a beginning of another bigger story. But it would end in a good note. I hope, lol.
I have fixed the mobile problem, the chapters should not be all over the place. If someone is having the same issues, the only way to fix it is Uninstall the app from your mobile and re install it.
Thank you so much for reading and keeping up with me, see you next week for the next chapter. :)