"Cry Hazel but don't ever be weakened you are a Salcharaz and we are strong", the Royal Mother kept on saying until Hazel finally stopped crying after a while.
"Grandma I didn't know His majesty hated me",
"I...", Hazel said and burst into tears again
"Hazel look at me", the Royal mother said and raised up her chin to look straight at her.
"Your father doesn't hate you Hazel", she said and smiled while Hazel just looked at her in disbelief
"But Grandma, he said...", Hazel was saying and she suddenly remembered that he actually didn't say anything and sobbed harder.
"He didn't say anything Hazel but he was saying volumes with his silence", "Sebastian is my son Hazel and no one knows him better than I do", The Royal mother said not breaking thier gaze
"I won't lie to you Hazel your father has failed many relationships", "If you ask me from a mother's point of view Sebastian failed as a son since he couldn't uphold the upbringing he was given, if you ask me from a woman's point of view he has failed as a husband and as a friend since he hurt both Marah and Astra even though he tried not too" the Royal mother paused to see that Hazel had stopped crying and held both her hands.
"But my dear, from a parent's point of view Sebastian has been a great father no matter from which angle I look at it", she said and Hazel gaped at her
"I know you are thinking that he hasn't been a good father to you right", Hazel nodded and the Royal mother just laughed.
"Let me tell you a little secret, do you remember that man that used to bring provisions and food to your family back in the village, he was also the one that rebuilt your house back then when it broke and made it an even larger one, he would always visit every year on the day of the full moon, do you remember him",
"Yes grandma I do, he would bring lots of gifts when he came especially for me, he had began coming to my family even before I was born according to what my parents said he started coming since the full moon that I was born, he would bring things to us on every full moon when asked he told my parents he was repaying an old favor but mom and dad had no idea when they helped him or even see him nevertheless we accepted all his gifts",
"What about him grandma", Hazel asked looking at her grandmother, The Royal mother smiled and said
"That man wasn't repaying any old favor Hazel everything he did was on Sebastian's orders", Hazel felt her mind go numb for a while
"What", she yelled with mouth opened wide in shock and the Royal mother just gave her time to let the news sink in, something clicked in Hazel's mind and she looked at the Royal mother while she just smiled and nodded
"Whatever you are thinking is the truth, Sebastian has known about your existence since the day you were born or maybe even before",
"I don't know the reason why he didn't bring you home or why he didn't even acknowledge you but I know he has a good reason for it".
"It was when I found out about the strange man that would always meet the King a day before the full moon every single year for fourteen years and i found it strange so I decided to investigate and I found out about your existence in Elainor village, I was so elated that my Astra's only child survived and I was going to confront Sebastian as to why he didn't bring you home for so many years, before I could say anything to him one of my men discovered that Sebastian's personal army that were suppose to be in hiding, half of them had been living in Elainor village for almost fourteen years and had been protecting you secretly", Hazel staggered to stand by the window, she couldn't comprehend all this revelations.
"I realized there was more to the story than meets the eyes and I was proven right when Sebastian did everything he could to stop me from bringing you here but I was determined to get to the bottom of all this" the Royal mother said and stood up to hold Hazel.
"I won't ask you to love your father or forgive him for keeping you away from your real home and family for so many years my dear, but I hope you won't hate him because I am certain there is a solid reason behind everything he did",
"Just give him a chance to make it right and redeem himself", Hazel moved away from her Grandmother and went to sit then began crying heavily
"Grandma I am so confused right now, my life has taken so many huge turns within the last five days. I am making new discoveries everyday that I can't even keep up with them anymore",
"I lived thirteen years of my life since I was born with a family and then I find out that they are not my real family and that am a princess from the capital Kingdom, and my mom is no more. I am forcefully taken to my real family and I find out my father is nonchalant about me, I have an evil stepmother and vile stepsisters and the only people that care about me are my grandmother and brother. Wasn't that how it was grandma", she asked and the Royal mother nodded
"Then what is this new revelation, Father doesn't hate me and he has known about me for so many years, then why does he act like he doesn't care?, Why didn't he come for me for so long?, why did I need so many protection?, is my life in danger? and why is he so against me coming back home?", Hazel asked looking at her grandmother
The royal mother went to sit beside her and half hugged her. "This little girl looks so confused, lost and out of place like a goat in a jungle"
"We will find the answers to all this questions together because even I am clueless but only if we cooperate together in this my dear, don't worry everything will be fine, just have faith",. Hazel wiped her tears and said decisively
"Alright Grandma, I'm sure everything will be alright",
"That's my brave girl, you should get some rest now",
"Uhmm", Hazel nodded and The Royal mother left her chambers while Hazel just stood up to stand by the window lost in thoughts.
........
"Mom", Astrid and Klara said upon entering their mother's chambers. The Queen raised her head up from the papers she was looking at and looked at her daughters, "Yes what is it",
"What exactly are you doing about Hazel mom, that girl is getting so much attention in this palace", Astrid yelled obviously peeved
"You don't get to yell at me Princess Astrid so conduct yourself", the Queen glared at her and Astrid lowered her head
"Sorry mom", she apologized and the Queen just glanced at her before looking back at her papers
"I told the both of you not to worry I will handle it, so don't get involved",
"But Mom when will you do it", Klara asked her mother in a low voice.
"At the right time so don't bother", the queen replied not bothering to look at them again
"When will that right time be mom, His majesty has invited the etiquette teacher to start coming to teach her from tomorrow", Klara informed and the Queen raised one of her eyebrows before smirking discreetly
"I will do whatever needs to be done when it needs to be done. Now the both of you leave I have work to do", The Queen said and continued what she was doing. Klara and Astrid looked at each other then looked at their mother before bowing slightly then left.
After they had gone the Queen called her personal maid "Roman"
"Yes your Majesty", Lady Roman answered moving closer to her
"Send a message to the Etiquette teacher, I want to be the first person she sees in this Palace tomorrow before she meets that girl or the King", Marah whispered quietly
"Alright your Majesty, I will do that now", Roman said and bowed respectfully before leaving the room.
In the Royal garden
"Sister mom said she will handle it but that doesn't mean we can't teach that girl a lesson" Astrid said and adorned an evil smile on her face "she had just gotten the right idea for that".
"I don't think we should Astrid, Mom said she wil take care of it", Princess Klara said shaking her head on the smile on her sister's face she knew her well enough to know she had cooked up an evil plan.
"Come on just because mom said she will handle it does that mean we shouldn't have fun" Astrid said trying to convince her sister
"But we are going to be in big trouble if Grandma finds out", Klara said feeling skeptical about Astrid's idea.
"That if she finds out right, we will make sure she doesn't and its not like we are killing her",
"But Astrid....", Klara was cut short when Astrid covered her mouth
"Please sister we will make sure no one finds out", Astrid begged giving her sister a cute look and Klara finally relented helplessly
"Fine but I am feeling really skeptical about this"
"Don't worry no one will find out, trust me. Thank you Sister Klara, you are the best. Come on let's go I will tell you my excellent plan", Astrid said happily and pulled Klara with her while their maids and guards just followed behind them.