----------10:00 a.m. ;2th October 1748-------------
The day had finally come.
In the throne room, sitting on the spot that was perhaps "his", there was the monarch , which looked annoyed and bored .
A man, in his thirties, a little more than a meter and sixty , plump , dark brown hair with slight grayish shades, which already showed the signs of time, and eyes of a brown so dark to look almost black.
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Going back to the original story, the king was never mentioned nor described; this led me to wonder if there really was a ruler to administer the kingdom. And "apparently" there was one .
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The excuse she used to leave the Duchy was to urgently go to her mother side;the sudden leave was caused by a unexpected and alleged deterioration of her health;
So, together with Babette she went to the King's palace.
Once there, with the permission to meet the king, she began to talk:
"Your Majesty, thank you for agreeing to meet me, I am very honored. It has always been my dream, since I was a child, to be able to meet you, and now that I am here , I cannot help but be immensely happy and honored....a man so dignified, brave, wise and ...*blah-blah-blah*".
While she was talking ,or rather flattering him ,he couldn't help but to puff and yawn, her flattering seemed to be ineffective, and this was not beneficial to Isabelle.
Suddenly the king motioned to the court advisor to approach him; once close, the king whispered something in his ear.
"um...okay.... I understand your majesty".: court advisor
Once he finished speaking with the king, the court advisor in a haughty tone referred to the young woman:
"*Ehm*...Miss Devout- *cough* I mean , Miss D'alberic, the king is wondering what's the reason of your presence here, at the palace; beforehand ,you informed us that you had come to discuss an urgent matter of personal concern of his majesty ".
The court advisor paused for brief moment, then resumed: "But! , if you came here , only to waste the precious time of our beloved ruler...,then I consider myself forced to send you away!. guards!" The councilman called the guards.
*stomp -stomp -stomp*
"N-NO! wait I really came here to tell you something very important!!! It's about the safety of the king , please wait a moment!... please *sob-sob*".
At this point, for the young duchess there was no more time; it was necessary to act and quickly, so she knelt down and with tears in her eyes she began to explain .
----20 minutes later----
"*sob-sob*... and that's how I found out that the duke, my husband's father, was stealing from the royal treasury, the very person who was in charge of protecting the riches; he did nothing but steal them, out of greed ; he maintained his way of life by using your riches!!!".
"*AH!!! *, THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE!!! , HOW DARE HE PLAY SUCH A SINISTER TRICK TO OUR KING!!!":court advisor
The vassal was furious. He paced back and forth trying to calm himself down;
But strangely, the person who had the "right" to react that way; "the victim", had not reacted or even said a word. Completely impassive. He sat there, silently ,staring at her; the "poor and unlucky" girl who had just been married and , by now, linked to a family of traitors.
But who were the real traitors at this point? ... let this hard sentence be for future generation.".
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After a few minutes the king took a breath and spoke :
"Miss D'alberic, I appreciate what you've done,.... confessing such a disgusting and vile act done by a man i "thought"I knew well.
I never expected him to play such a dirty trick on m-"
"*Ah! *INDEED!!, how could he do such a thing to you!?!! ; our ruler, our sun, our guide-" Isabelle
The king after being interrupted , immediately regained control of the conversation:
"but I must say that it is strange, that a member of their family, as well as the same woman who is supposed to be in love with the son of the criminal responsible of this infamy; is "selling" her family and trying to find a way out.
Like a bastard dog that bites it's master's hand, the same one that fed him.
Now, I ask you: what were you thinking when you came here? ; what do you want in return ? , but above all , what do you expect me to do !?".
After hearing the king, Isabelle could not help but stay silent.
In her head there was total emptiness , the only thing that made her seem still present was her expression of dismay, of which she could not hide.
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A new expression on the girl's face. The same one who throughout her whole life had compared and labeled men as beasts, that apart from loving the company of beautiful women and the entertainment, didn't possess other qualities; In other words, they were stupid pigs and too stupid to realise that they were being used.
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But now, all of a sudden, that belief shattered into a thousand pieces; because in front of her was no ordinary man, not one who would throw away all his riches just for the whims of a beautiful woman , not a fool, and ,importantly, nor a man who had ascended the throne only by the simple fact that the blood that flowed in his veins "granted" him the right to do so. He was...
....a wolf in sheep's clothes.