Chapter 36: Settling In The Palace Of Glear

Soon after the wedding reception had finished, fireworks lighted the night sky and the people outside continued their festivities. The King, Queen and Dowager Queen had retired early from the celebration, leaving the younger couple to attend the guests until it was over.

After a long and tiring day, the couple were led to their own separate rooms, in the same wing. In fact, they were in front of each other. The Royal Family thought that they were still too young to officially share their "wedding night" and still young to share a room. No one was happier to hear about this arrangement than the young couple themselves. Another who secretly let out a breath was Prince Zander.

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Elizabella had petitioned to have a few servants from home come with her. The maids that she had petitioned were given thorough background checks and their Palace Etiquette was tested, days before the wedding had begun. The only one who was never tested nor seen was Walliams as he had been home with his family, since he knew that it would be difficult for him to ever see them in the future. His Lady was getting married to the Crown Prince of Glear and he would have to be by her side for the foreseeable future.

The Queen of Edalelia was even accommodating to him, since his family lives in the Palace of Edalelia. When he finally left and came back to his Lady, it was the day after the wedding and he even brought "gifts" from the Queen of Edalelia. As he presented himself to the head of Royal Security, he introduced three other Shadow Guards that were sent by the Queen of Edalelia for their new Crown Princess.

The head of Royal Security was a little surprised to see the extra people, but soon realized that another sovereign sending wedding gifts to the new Crown Princess should not surprise him. However, he was still confused as to why she had sent her specifically this gift and not to the both of the newlyweds. This matter was quickly brought to the Queen's attention who upon remembering her last conversation with the older queen, made her just sigh and dismiss the new guards.

The new Shadow Guards were formally introduced to Elizabella, who would follow her in the shadows, but not inside her own to give her privacy. Walliams, on the other hand, was being introduced amongst the Palace Guards as they were all curious to see such a young Shadow Guard. During his meetings, he kept his swishing tail in check so no one found out that he was a Shadow Panther and not just a Shadow Guard. Elizabella had told him not to tell others his background since they would really wonder how they came to know each other.

The fact that Walliams was gifted to the Crown Princess when she was young was a known fact within the Palace of Glear. But this fact was made confidential by the Queen of Glear after she had spoken with the Queen of Edalelia. Now that there were new Shadow Guards in her service, made some of the palace servants wonder about her secret relationship with the Queen of Edalelia and why it was made secret. However, their extensive training had taught them that asking questions where they had no business was easily seen as early dismissal of their cushy paycheck. No one wanted to lose the benefits that came with working in the palace.

Eventually, it became a passing thought with no outlet, so it was easily shoved to the back of their minds

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Elizabella, after a well deserved night's rest, quickly settled to her new life. Her new room was bigger than the mansion under her aunt and uncle, but not necessarily any bigger than her old room in her father's estate. Her new closet was way bigger than her aunt's and again it was not any bigger than her old closet, grant it that she had two closets, one solely dedicated to her costumes and stage makeup.

The jewelry in her closet was grand, yet it could never beat a jeweler's own collection. When she moved to the palace, she had taken a few of her favorite pieces and left the rest behind in a grand display. She had also wanted to take a few of her favorite artworks that she had designed, just so that it would be bearable to be a new location for a long period of time.

The artworks that she had designed, were mostly made from defected and discarded gems from her father's shops that he would let her play with. She had turned some of them into beads and would either sew or glue them to her art, making them sparkle and become vibrant under different lighting. Her favorites were always nature in theme as she says, "their beauty is fleeting."

Having her room more like her old rooms, brought about a sense of familiarity which also brought about a more melancholy mood, making the palace servants believe she was homesick already. What they failed to realize was that she had been homesick for far longer than they anticipated. She wondered if her mother knew of this engagement and if her father would have approved of this, supposed, happy union. If they were alive today, would she had made such a decision, to marry the Crown Prince of Glear, a stranger to her and to her family?

Even if she could not turn back the time and change the past events, she knew that the only thing that she could do at this point was to continue forward with the show. The next part of the play would be to truly solve the mystery of why they married so quickly, now that the wedding was over and done with and she had no pressure to finish preparing for such a grand ordeal. Also, why had she not formally met the King of Glear, her father-in-law? She wondered if she should ask her new "husband" since he would surely know the reason why everything was so rushed to the point that she was sure everyone was still questioning this in the back of their minds.

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Prince Maxen also rested after the long day of greeting people and found out that the Queen of Edalelia had sent his new "wife" a few more guards for her protection. What made him go in a daze was the fact that they were Shadow Guards. Even he did not own any. Grant it, that his guards were very close to becoming Shadow Guards, but the fact remained that the old queen had given her three more on top of Walliams.

He had been told by Octavius about Walliams' existence soon after they were officially engaged and he overheard his royal mother and grandmother talking about the fact that she had at least a couple of Shadow Guards, including Walliams who was gifted to her by the old queen of Edalelia. This had made him curious as to how she was able to know such a regal character in her short life, but after seeing her performance and how she handled the pregnancy scandal, he was sure that she either learned this from the old queen, or she was greatly appreciated for her smarts.

He had to admit that her way of thinking did make her a great asset to anyone in politics. She was able to sway the minds of the people with just her one performance and even though it was a love song, she quickly deterred the conversation to bullying, eventually making everyone forget about the rumors and happily celebrated their wedding with grand fanfare. He frowned at that.

"If I did not know any better, I would say that someone was behind the background making trouble since I am sure that we have the news agency all bought. Who would have the guts to say, even in passing, that I impregnated her so young?"

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In a quiet room sat a lady in the dark as she looked at the unlit fireplace with a somber expression. Suddenly, her door was knocked.

"You may enter," said the lady as a man in servant's clothes came inside and bowed to her.

"My Lady, all of our attempts to spread the rumors and dishonor the Crown Prince has failed. The new Crown Princess has been easily accepted into the Palace without a hitch," said the servant as he remained bowed and the lady did not move as she frowned while looking at the unlit fireplace.

"I did not think that that common girl was able to turn the masses' opinion around so quickly and so gracefully. Now, do you think she did this intentionally or it was just in passing? A naïve girl in love could easily do this, but from my understanding, they barely know each other. How could they be in love?" asked the lady as she seemed to contemplate while still staring at the unlit fireplace.

"Perhaps, she really is in love. After all, girls her age are quite impressionable, and being engaged with a prince could easily sway her fancy. Like you said, she is nothing but a common girl. How would she know how to do such a thing? I believe this was just a fluke. If we try again to discredit the Crown Prince, I am sure we will be able to," said the servant quite passionately with an evil grin, while the lady sighed and straightened herself before standing up from her chair.

"You are right. What would a common girl know about such things? Humph! She probably really thinks that she is living a fairytale dream, marrying the Prince and all. Now it is time for us to strike. With his age being so young, I am sure we could easily turn his image as a rebellious prince or something along the lines to take the Crown away from him. After all, he was not meant to be the Crown Prince."