Raymond's POV
My curiosity got the better of me and I was up all night, trying to figure out why Maria was searching for herself. Maybe she was looking for something mentioning her mother again? I went down a rabbit hole and found out just how little the public had known about the royal family for the past 25 years. We knew the king had been quiet since his wife's passing, and the duke was very loud about everything he did, as if he was fixing the country. But Maria and Edward had never been mentioned in the news, hell I couldn't even find a record of Maria in general, not even in the royal family archives, from before two months ago. Why would the royal family records have information on Edward, but not her?
I walked into the kitchen after the sun rose, getting a cup of coffee and making some bacon pancakes for Maria and I, before heading to her office to do more work. She was already there, making a call to someone, and by the anger in her voice it was not going well. I sat down, putting a plate in front of her and silently eating my food. After a couple of minutes, she put down the phone and looked at me. "Since when has it been possible for someone to fall off the map?" I furrowed my eyebrows and she clarified "I can't find anything on my mom. Not a single thing from before she was married to Rupert." I still found it odd she never called him at least father. "Why do you call him that?" I asked, looking at down at my plate. "I call him by his name because, to call him father would be to give him a courtesy he could not bestow upon me by calling me his daughter." I sat there silently for a moment. She shook her head. "He's yet to call me his child. And I doubt he will now that he's dead, unless you have some magic potion that can bring him back. It would have to make him less cruel as well." She gave a chuckle with no emotion behind it.
I had a whole dinner planned out for Maria, so when she got to the kitchen in a purple dress I could have sworn a maid had worn before, I had the goofiest smile on my face. I was wearing a new suit I had finally gotten from the tailor after So. Many. Alterations. She seemed surprised, and I couldn't blame her, as I was also holding flowers, dinner already prepared and sitting on the table, a candle in the center. I pulled her chair out for her and sat down after she was comfortable. "With the hospital visit and the court hearing, I figured you could use a break." I said sheepishly. She nodded, a small smile spreading across her features. "Thank you Raymond." I pressed a button on a small remote and some songs started playing in the background. The first, a classic from 2019 titled, Dance Monkey, had an upbeat rhythm. Maria stood up and started dancing wildly to it almost immediately. I watched her, laughing with her as she pulled me up and made me dance with her. I appreciated this dance with her more than any other I had experienced. It was less formal, like she was bearing her soul to me. As I danced as though no one was watching, I felt as if I was showing her my soul too.