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Outburst

"Hector," she repeated, the name rolling off her lips delicately.

"Yes, your highness."

She spared him one last glance before standing up.

"Why are you here?"

He swallowed. "Well, your highnes, Mrs. Margaret is not feeling too well today, so I.."

"Is that enough reason for her to not carry out her simple job?"

"Simple?" he said, then caught himself. "She fears infecting you, your highness."

"Is that so? Did you go through a routine check?"

"A what?"

"So how dare she send an unclean servant to me? To deliver grapes in fact?"

"That unclean servant is a human too," he muttered under his breath.

"Sure enough, and a servant right after that."

He closed his eyes, trying to keep himself in check.

"I am sorry, your highness, if helping out an elderly person and alleviating their pain and strenuous job is an offence to you." The sarcasm was dripping heavily, but he couldn't help it.

"Why don't we do this, Hector, since you are so keen on helping. Go into my kingdom and cut off the supply of each and every old person there is. Then tell them to rely on you for help and see how well that turns out."

He just hoped she didn't just mean that he had cut off Mrs. Margaret's supply. Was she really capable of letting go of that woman because of this one mishap?

He bowed further. "I am sorry, your highness. I apologize."

She clapped once, and Donald, the man at the door walked in, his head bowed.

"Get me Mrs. margaret."

Hector stood immediately, rationality not quite factoring in his equations anymore.

"No!" He said, shielding the door and preventing the man from leaving.

The Queen raised a brow and Donald turned to her and bowed again.

"I am sorry for such show of impertinence. i will get rid of him immediately."

She smiled. "Stop, let her be. You can go."

Donald bowed and walked away, pushing Hector violently out of his way.

"Why are you like this? Why can't you give the woman a break? What's so hard about an agile young woman taking a plate of grapes for herself?"

She smiled gracefully. "That agile young woman is a queen, Hector. You won't ever understand what that implies."

"Power. Beyond what you can control and an attitude no one can handle and that's why you are finding it so hard to get married!" he stopped after saying that, his eyes widening with realization. Since when was he so sharp mouthed? Since when did he learn not to give the most respect to this woman even though she didn't deserve it to him?

He kept mute for a long while, as she examined him. Her eyes thin. The first time she saw him, she had found him cute. Now, she found him interesting. Like a rubik's cube she was determined to solve.

She smiled. "You can go, Hector."

He looked up, shocked that she wasn't calling her troops to decapitate him by now. "Your highness?"

"Yes? Is there any other possible reason for my lack of a husband that you are yet to tell me?"

He blinked. "I apo.."

"You can go." She turned away from him, and he stood, his head bowed. He hadn't planned on doing this, and he just hoped Mrs. Margaret won't be the one to bear the cross for his stupid actions.

The Queen sat, watching her reflection in the mirror. In all her years of being in the royal palace, from a small cute teenage princess to a hardened queen, she had never been so disrespected. The worst part was, she felt a little good about it. Not good per se, there was just this urge to laugh. To go on with that conversation, but she was a queen. There was dignity to maintain.

"Hector," she murmured, tapping her long fingers on the dressing mirror. She smiled at herself.


"Where are you going to?" Lord Lucas asked, watching his first son, Adrian deck himself up.

"Where else? To see my lady love."

"Your lady love? Whose name you don't even know? Who does not miss a chance to insult you and I?"

Adrian turned with a shrug. "Father, a royal has to have that bad mouthed sprinkle in their personality. And she is the queen. For now, we can tolerate whatever she is dishing out, as long as we get closer to the throne."

Lord Lucas sighed. "She won't ever marry you. At least, not the woman I know.".

"She has to. Even if I have to involve black magic."

Adrian, Lucas' first son was unhealthily obsessed with the allure of the throne and the queen he had met at only 12  years of age.

To him, she had been just as hardened as a 12 year old as she was now, and he was determined to soften her up.

He was glad his father coveted the throne, even though Adrian never really cared for it. It was a bonus that came with his object of infatuation, one he was ever ready to accept. To stand by her side, as her husband and king, that was a dream he was willing to go to any lengths for.

"Black magic?" Lucas asked, his eyes thin.

"Just teasing you, father. I will be on my way now." He grabbed a box, one that looked like a jewelry box and headed out.

He always took a gift when he was going to her, one she always threw right on his face and asked him to get out.

But he was resilient and determined. The perfect ingredients for success. In the end, he believed there was no bachelor as eligible and worthy of her as himself.


"Hector?" Lana said as soon as he enrered the servant's quarters. She looked concerned, and walked to him, rubbing off her hand on her apron and taking it off, then placing it on a bunked bed. "You look so pale."

She knew him best, a childhood friend turned lover, and his emotional support every single time he needed it.

He didn't let Mrs. Margaret or the Queen's issue burden him, instead he grabbed her, his hands snaking her waist and kissed her with all the devotion in the world.

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