"This girl," a woman said in disbelief staring at the TV screen in her room and signed.
"She is fearless," the man sitting beside her commented.
"Fearless but not stupid. She has a bright future ahead with that talent and I am sure a lot of people will want her to work for them. She knows who she is and what she wants. She is definitely planning something."
"Isn't that foolish? A lot people will hunt her life," the man said shaking his head in pity.
"Last time you told her family is under the protection of the Hart family. I don't think it will be easy to hurt her."
"During the event two days ago, the second son of the Hart family got stabbed. They hid it well from everybody but I got to know," the man narrated. "They will have too much trouble to take care of that they won't notice when the girl dies."
"Do know who did it?" the woman asked curiously.
"I can guess but I don't know. They have too many people coming after them. It could be anyone," the man answered truthfully.
"Who could it be?"
"Your sister's son or one of the boy's friends," the man answered confidently.
"Why will my sister's son go after the Hart family?" the woman asked confused.
"Too many reasons but he is a psychopath and half of the time, they don't have reasons behind their killing," the man answered.
The woman leaned on the backrest of the chair weakly and closed her. "I don't need to tell my sister anymore. She will find out on her own. I want you to stir the minds of people far from the fact that she could be the late princess. Stir the gossip towards the fact that she could be Valerie's daughter out of wedlock," the woman ordered with a small smile across her lips.
"Okay I will take care of that," the man answered standing up.
"Do it well. The fact that she is the princess should not be mentioned in anyway. No one should even suspect it at all. She is the ticket to my survival . . . No our survival."
"I will do that right away," the man answered before adjusting the blanket she used to cover her leg and left the room.
***
Liam sat beside his unconscious brother and reached to rub his brother's head gently. He felt really guilty but he tried not let it show as he prayed silently that his younger brother will wake up.
It has been two weeks since Jace got stabbed and he was unconscious after the surgery he had to undergo. His father was angry and disappointed with him for leaving home but let him stay with Jace because Jace will need him close by.
He spent the first week searching for the culprit but the culprit seemed to have disappeared out of the face of the Earth. He had not given up and still searched along with his three subordinates.
"Boss," Charlie said walking into the room. He stopped and looked his boss sadly. This incident affected his boss in everyway possible. The boss who was always calm still looked calm but the sadness and guilt could not be hidden in his eyes.
"Did you find him?" Liam asked without lifting his head to look at his friend.
"Yes we did but he shot himself immediately. We could not get a thing from him," Charlie replied bowing his head in shame.
"Okay," Liam answered still wearing the calm countenance. He pulled his hand from his brother's forehead and stood up. "We will leave tomorrow," Liam told Charlie and walked to the window.
Charlie could not help but scratch his head rumpling his already rumpled brown hair that looked like lion fur in confusion. He thought his boss will try to stay longer with his brother.
"Boss. I think . . .," Charlie started but stopped midway unwilling to offend his friend.
"We leave before lunch time tomorrow," Liam told his friend still staring out of the glass window at the view below and ahead. He did nothing to enough time to spend with his brother and he regretted that fact but it was not in his power to decide. He had only two years before those royals completely take away what belongs to the true Queen and kill her afterwards.
If anyone will understand him, it should be his brother who witnessed what took his life from him. He could not live for himself. It was also for his selfish interest but the whole kingdom will be saved by him.
His reward was also important because he could have the woman he loves by doing that good deed. It was dangerous but he was willing. His life was not his after all. He will never be with Rose if he remains with the Hart family. Even if he might not be with her forever, he was still wiling. Life was short for him and he wanted to live it doing the best he could for the princess and with the princess.
He walked back to Jace's bed and sighed. "I am sorry," he apologized and walked out of the room.
Jace who was unconscious twitched his fingers as though using his whole strength to reach for his brother.
***
"Hey, Miss Fashion Designer," Anna said sitting beside her sister on the couch in her room while Rose was watching the TV with the replay of the show she participated in.
"I did not realize you were this pretty," Rose teased her sister when her sister appeared on the screen walking.
"I have always been pretty," Anna said with pride.
"I meant the dress," Rose answered with obvious sarcasm as she tried her beat not to laugh out.
"Good for you," Anna said and scoffed glaring at her sister. "I made it more beautiful for you."
"Yeah you did," Rose answered sincerely the sarcasm completely gone. If it was not Anna wearing the dress perhaps she would not have been as impressed as she was.
"Become my model. You will get to wear all my best clothes on the runway. I want you to do it for me. You are my muse," Rose suggested her sister.
"That is so much of a compliment Mis Rose but I don't want to become a model. I quit long ago and I don't have any intention of going back. I did it in the past because of mum. She started making children clothes a year after my adoption. She never made kids clothes but when she did it for me, I had to wear them a year later.
"I was so scared. Then, I had a serious case of stage fright. There was a time I was asked to sing in the orphanage during an event, I could not. I ran away from the stage in fear. I took modelling classes and it helped me when I was adopted. I hated the sound and lights of cameras.
"I got used to it but it took a while to get used to it. I did it for mum. I wanted her to be proud of me and she was very proud. I also got to understand as I grew up that I was going to be a center of attention all my life as her daughter.
"I am glad you can. We could share the attention now," Anna narrated and laughed.
"Yeah I guess but you will become a model for me so that we could really share the attention with me. I intend to go a long way in fashion and you have to come with me," Rose pleaded acting scared of being alone. "I am not use to the attention."
"I think you are doing good enough. During the interviews and the whole ceremony you were not scared. You had your confidence showing. Do you remember your vote of thanks? I was impressed."
"Don't be. Do you know how long I practiced that speech? Every time I get to work, I repeated it over and over. I wanted to win so badly. I remembered having to destroy some of my work because they were not good of enough. Every time I made a mistake, I went back to the speech and read it. It was my motivation. How could I forget it?"
Anna stood up clapping with nodding her head impressed before laughing softly. "Wow, I guess I should interview you for my new video for my new channel. This speech will be used to encourage new fashion designers," she said and sat down wriggling her brow. "Should I bring my camera?"
"When did you buy a camera?" Rose had to ask.
"Three days ago," Anna replied as she stood up again. "Mum invited the teacher that saved my life for dinner," Anna said as she walked into her closet.
"Oh. I don't know him," Rose said remembering that when she saw the teacher in school, she felt he looked familiar but she could not remember where she knew him from. Who could he be?