"Of course, she can," Lady Hydra exclaimed. "On Evelyn's birthday celebration, she sang a song for her and it was written by the princess herself."
"No, no." Zadhea waved her hands anxiously, rushing to explain. "It's not me originally. I was telling my feelings towards Lady Evelyn to Mario, the artist. He got the idea and created the song. It's his."
"Oh," Lady Hydra was somehow disappointed. "Your friend is a painter and also a song writer?"
"Yeah. He loves painting and writing songs equally. He's multitasker I guess." Zadhea proudly stated. She held high expectations towards her male best friend. She wanted him to succeed in every good way.
"What about you, princess? What are your talents?" This time, Lady Sirima spoke. She was the hounorable wife of the prime minister.
He had three wives. Lady Sirima was the head wife. She was well known among others because of her cold personality more than being the wife of the prime minister.
Her heart was the hardest one to move. She rarely cried. Nope, more like she had never cried.
Zadhea blinked her eyes. What about sword fighting? Although these ladies were honourable nobles, she couldn't reveal her secret to them, not yet.
"As Lady Hydra said, I can sing. Apart from that, I can play any instrument. As for dancing, except ball dance, I think I'm not capable of it. I haven't tried actually."
"Wow! A princess who can play music instruments? It's the first time I heard of something like that. Edwin clan never had such a music devoted royalty," A gossipy lady babbled.
Zadhea flinched a bit. "I'm not devoted to music. I just do it as a hobby," She said with a fake smile that didn't reach other parts of her face except her lips.
"Then can you play an instrument for us?" Lady Hydra asked eagerly.
"Sure thing."
Zadhea commanded a servant to bring a flute. In some other countries, royal princesses practised to play instruments like violin and piano. As for Zadhea, she was okay with pianos but she didn't like to play violins that much. It's not that she didn't know, it's just she didn't want to.
The noble ladies quietly watched the girl holding the flute with her slender, long fingers. Then she gently touched the flute with her rosy, delicate lips as she moved it closer to her mouth, her eyes closed. It was like she suddenly entered to a meditative state. Her whole persona appeared calm. It was relieving to look at.
The music her flute made was heartbreaking. It was the definition of sorrow and sufferings. It rang through their ears and directly entered the hearts, touching it with agony. It was like someone was crying, telling others how lonely that person was. However, the gloominess also created a taste that was undescribable.
Years of pain, years of tears, years of loneliness gathered there.
A pang of sadness ran through everyone's bodies and all of them wept unconsciously. Prime minister's head wife, who was famous for her cold aura, also couldn't escape from it. Her eyes wet with tears. It seemed like Zadhea casted a magic spell on them.
When Queen Margaret finally entered the scene, she was greeted by the ladies' gloomy looks. She frowned as she realised that something wasn't quite right.
Originally, she wanted to delay her arrival because she wanted her daughter to handle the tea ceremony. Zadhea was the future queen of an emperor, not simply a king as they would rule both of the countries together.
Getting along with noble ladies was one of the main tasks to fulfill by a queen. Margaret wanted to test her daughter's skills of handling noblewomen. She hoped she wouldn't disappoint her but... She came to a conclusion that she was wrong.
Zadhea did make her feel disappointed.
Her daughter was a failure.
"Greetings to your highness, dear queen. Long live with endless prosperity," Everyone greeted the queen by rising up from their seats. Their voices were hoarse like they were angry.
Queen Margaret gave them a nod.
"If you don't mind, can I talk to the princess for a second?" The queen surpassed her uneasiness and asked politely.
"Of course, your highness. We don't mind," The women replied in unison.
Zadhea furrowed her eyebrows but still followed her mother silently. She knew her mother for fifteen years. With a glance, she knew that her mood wasn't that much good.
Zadhea's heart throbbed faster with each passing second.
When they were alone, queen Margaret snapped at her.
"You know what I regretted the most in my entire thirty two years old life?" She glared at the poor teenager.
Zadhea bit her lips. "Not giving birth to a son?"
It would be the most common regret among women who couldn't give birth to a single son. Whether they were poor or rich, almost everyone wanted a son, not a daughter.
A daughter meant nothing but endless worries and troubles.
A daughter couldn't protect herself, let alone her elders.
A daughter depended on her husband completely, when she got married.
In short, girls were useless unless it came to giving childbirth.
"Nope." The queen shook her head. "In fact, I never regretted giving birth to a daughter. I always wanted a daughter. It's just..."
'Your father and our whole kingdom expected a son as the heir.'
Zadhea looked at her mother in awe. Her eyes welled up with tears of happiness. Finally, it looked like her mother was ready to accept her for who she was. Zadhea wanted to hug her. In fact, she never hugged her mother in her whole life because she always felt like Queen Margaret wasn't her real mother.
Now, she was eventually okay with accepting queen Margaret as her mother.
'I'll love you as much as I love my other mother,' She vowed in her heart. 'Until I go back, I'll take care of you.'
If she knew that she could make her mother satisfy with just by attending a small tea party, she was happy to do it although it was boring as hell.
She could attend thousands of tea parties just to make her mother happy.
'I want you to be happy, mother. I'll do whatever it takes me to fulfill your expectations except marrying my fiancé.'
"I regret giving birth to you."
Zadhea widened her eyes in disbelief when she heard that part. It was the worst thing she could ever hear from a parent.
Queen Margaret didn't stop there.
"Whether you are a boy or a girl, you shouldn't have come to my womb in the first place because... you never succeeded in fulfilling my hopes, my desires. Are you even worthy of being my daughter? You are simply a shame!" She lashed out years of resentment and displeasure in one go.
"What..." Zadhea's voice sounded weak. She felt like everything was a nightmare as her air castle shattered into pieces and those pieces pierced through her heart, causing endless pain in it.
She shook her head. "No, tell me you are joking, mother. You are kidding, right?" Her voice sounded pathetic.
Queen Margaret became angrier.
"You have the audacity to question me?"
Zadhea was getting angry as well.
"Should I be your puppet then? Will you be happy if I become your puppet?"
"Mimosa Zadhea!" Margaret clenched her teeth.
"No!" Zadhea yelled. "I'm not her. I'm not your daughter and I'll never be." She stormed off furiously without looking back.
For the first time in her life, Zadhea felt pity towards the original villainess.
What a pathetic girl...
She was nothing but her mother's perfect puppet.
She did what she was taught. Maybe, she also didn't like to marry the prince. It might be her mother's work. She might have brainwashed her.
Act like a lady, live like a lady...
Get ready to become the wife of the next ruler...
Handle noblewomen as a successful future queen...
What else?
Zadhea sneered.
"Shimu," she called out to her white horse. "Let's go far away."
Her delicate hands stroked the horse's jaw.
"Your highness, where are you going?" The soldiers at the main gate to the palace questioned her politely when they saw her running towards the gate, riding her hors
e at full speed.
"The king knows."
They silently watched her disappearing into a distance as she left them with these three words.