(NOTE BEFORE READING THIS CHAPTER: Be aware that I will start using the present sentences and actions. The other chapters were in the past tense and I apologise for that! I will use the "Present Tense" from this chapter and onward. Thank you!)
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Lea snuggled up in her bed at night. Her thoughts kept on pondering in what she had done.
She didn't take care of her father, she feels cursed because of that.
Now he is dead. Looking and watching over her half-dead soul.
Just as a tear escaped her eye, she heard a knock.
"Come in" she said lightly and Valdemar came into the room. She turned to look at him on the bed. He stares at her, making his blue eyes penetrating deeply into hers.
"I came to tell you that the tour is starting tonight. Get ready before four"
Lea said nothing. She adjusted and faced the side she faced before Valdemar came into the room.
"I'm sorry, Lea. I never wanted to... "
"It's not your fault. It's mine"
Valdemar said nothing but stared at her. He tried to say something but a type of element held him from approaching and speaking to her. Something was wrong.
He kept quiet and quickly left the room. Closing the door behind him, he sighed as he relaxed his back.
"It's unfortunate" he whispered and looked down on the ground.
He understood her pain and struggles. He won't blame her for anything, even getting abducted that day.
That smile she always displayed whenever she felt happy and when he annoyed her has disappeared entirely and it is obvious that it is only God that can bring it back. Only the one that created Lea, that can bring back that smile.
Laura peeped from the edge of the wall by the right hand side of Valdemar.
She felt stupid going after someone she don't love and also going after him by force. Someone that is married is forcing someone that has not even entered the house of a man, to marry her brother. Is it some kind of madness?
She had her mind fixed on another person because she is not the type that goes after people no matter how wealthy you are, she can't be lured by you for any reason.
But in this case, she was threatened. Threatened by who? Jen Kun. Sister and daughter of Valdemar and Basseneu.
Men, is she a terror or what?
Laura withdrew from the edge of the wall and released a deep breath.
Lea has already captured the mind of the Prince, what's the deal in approaching him? There's no way, nothing she can do or use to make him fall for her so what is all the force there?
A letter arrived from Jen Kun yesternight stating that in the journey they're about to embark on, Laura should make sure she lead Lea to a very far place and kill her there or make her to get lost.
Even Laura didn't understand the logic that Jen was trying to adapt. She just met all the ladies and she already hate Lea, for what?
All these thoughts made Laura to have a headache. If this is how the Queen suffered at the delivery of Jen Kun, she won't be surprised.
She just have to follow the instructions of Jen and that's it. She gets into bondage in the marriage with Valdemar.
That's, if she ever gets into the marriage with him.
Laura steps out from her hiding place and walked briskly to the door of Lea's room. She was cautious of her step but she had a different plan already laid out.
"Your Majesty? Is anything wr-"
She deliberately missed her step and tripped over to Valdemar and fell.
He didn't even attempt to feel pity or lend her a hand.
"What are you doing out of your room?"
Besides, she didn't want to marry someone as arrogant as him, she thought.
"I came to see Lea" she quietly said and he raised a brow at her, asking her if she was sure with the answer she gave him.
Laura nods and don't hold the admiration for Valdemar in the area of being careful. She like that spirit.
"Leave. She needs no visits" Valdemar say and leaves the sitting Laura.
It took her a moment to realize that he have left her. She just stared at the cape of Valdemar and thought about the strong and invisible bond between him and Lea.
What did the girl do to him or vice versa?
"I'm sorry Jen" Laura whispered and stood up.
It is clear that Valdemar has a thing for Lea.
Meanwhile, Lea saw everything that had happened outside her room through the key hole and now, she is just sitting on the chair opposite the mirror provided in the room.
She reasons deeply. Her father is gone. What she should be competing for now, is the throne.
Because it is from the Throne that she can bury her father well and allow him to rest in peace. His body is still in the Maneth, beneath the hay that she sprayed enough perfume that she had borrowed from Valdemar.
She released Lorn and Raina, the other horse. They are where they are now, probably going to raise a family of their own.
She stared up and into the mirror and held the reflection of her appearance.
"Who am I?"
Lea saw a beautiful, brownish but golden haired, browned eyes lady in front of her and smiled. Her appearance really showed her status and behavior. A gentle but stubborn person is who she is.
Tonight they will embark on the tour journey that is round Barenui.
Preparations are not tasks that will keep her busy, even till the time the leave, so she sees no reason for her to start the preparation now.
Instead, why not train?
Wherever her father is, she knows that he will forever be proud of her.
Maybe he have seen her mother and they're both watching.
A tear escaped her eye and she smile widely.
She isn't smiling cause of the pain she is feeling, nor the thought of both her father and mother watching her, nor because she followed Valdemar to her house in Maneth.
But because she knows that her parents are always with her, wherever she finds herself.
"I know, I still have a family" she whispered.
"My family"