WE COULD GET MARRIED RIGHT NOW...

A few days had passed with Adriele being in Kleevland, she was mostly in her room and would find time to talk with Francis any opportunity she got. As a future bride, she is supposed to keep her distance from other men and as a lady of a noble family, it wasn't considered correct to be frequently conversing with someone of a lower status than her. But the Queen had been doing her best to make her feel comfortable and Darren had rarely been around for a while now so she was a bit relaxed. Ha was at the border taking care of the attacks from Lakewiston but news says he would be returning today to participate in the sword fighting competition tomorrow. But she didn't have the mind to think about that today, for it was her mother's death anniversary today. She would normally visit her grave during weekends with her dad when he was still alive but unfortunately, he also got sick and passed away shortly after, then she was later accompanied by Cynthia and Queen Eleanor, they would visit her grave and later go to church to pray and distribute gifts like clothes and food items to the less fortunate kids or families who took shelter in the church. She couldn't visit her mom's grave today but she still could go to a church and pray for her mom's soul and she would go no matter what.

"Naina,"

"Yes my lady"

"Do you know any church which is not too far from the Palace?"

"Yes, my Lady, but why do you want to know? Are you planning on going there?"

"Hmmm,"

"But my lady, Prince Darren is not around, you're still not married yet, you won't be allowed to leave the palace until the wedding is complete without Prince Darren by your side," she said with a worrisome tone. Though she had been with Adriele only a few weeks, she had grown fond of this lady of hers, she didn't behave all high and mighty like the other ladies from noble families, she was humble, kind, and respectful to herself, and all those around her no matter the status. All in all, she was down to earth especially for someone who was going to be married to Prince Darren, royalty and she didn't want to see her get into trouble

"I'll ask the Queen, well today's my mom's death anniversary, I can not visit her grave but I have another tradition of going to church on this day, I'm sure she won't refuse me"

Naina learning how important this day was to her, she just shrugged and let it go, their Queen was a compassionate woman, she would surely agree, and with that, both women stepped out in search of Queen Delia and finally found her in the courtyard.

"Greetings your Majesty" Adriele said as she bowed to Queen Delia and so did Naina too. Delia signaled for them to rise and with a smile, she said "How are you Adriele?"

"I'm good your Majesty, how about you, your Majesty, I noticed there has been a lot of work in the Palace lately, hope you are not stressing yourself too much?" Adriele asked with a sweet and tender concerned tone. The Palace had been busy lately preparing for the contest which is to be held tomorrow, everyone had been working and the King and Queen were no exception, they King was busy inviting special guests while the Queen was making sure everything was done accordingly

"I'm okay dear, I apologize for not checking up on you as you said I've been really busy lately"

"Don't embarrass me by apologizing your majesty, you have taken care of me well since I got here." Delia smiled at her words "Your Majesty, I searched for you today, to ask for a favor from you"

"Go on dear what do you want?" Delia asked

"I would like to go to a nearby Church today"

"But why? dear, you know the rules of a marriage between two Kingdoms, the only way you can leave the Palace is if your groom takes you out or by decree of the King"

"Yes, I know that your Majesty, but..." she paused for a while and then continued "Today is my mom's death, anniversary, I can't visit her grave but I can pray for her soul like I do every year. Please may I go?" She sounded pitiful

Hearing this Delia's heart melted, for someone who lost her mom at an early age she knew how it felt to miss her. Her dad raised her alone and waited for her to grow up before getting married again, that's why he was so strict with her, he wanted the best for her, he might have done some things which hurt her but she knew he just lost his way in trying to protect her and she would always wonder how things would have been if her mom was still alive, but now that she's a parent herself, she better understands her father and loves him more for taking care of her.

"Okay, you can go, I'll talk to the King on your behalf and I'll arrange some guards for you"

"It's okay, you don't have to prepare guards for me, many people don't know my appearance but if I am seeing with Royal guards they will be able to guess who I am and with the threats lately I don't want to worry you guys"

"But I will be more worried if you are not protected"

"I have Francis with me, he has been my bodyguard since I was young, he'll take care of me and Naina will accompany me too,"

Delia thought for a while and then nodded, and said "come back early, it's not safe for you outside"

"Thank you, Your Majesty"

"You're welcome"

Adriele and Naina bowed and left there to go prepare to go to the church and as Delia watched their backs as they walked away she gave a satisfied smile 'she's a good girl, I now see why Darren chose her' she thought to herself.

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Darren went to the border because there was a dungeon break, and he had to go check it out. On arriving there, he went to the different cells in the dungeon which were broken out of. After studying the place he discovered that it was done deliberately. But of course, it was done deliberately, the prisoners wanted to escape, but that wasn't what he meant by deliberately. There was someone amongst the people here who helped them get out and it was just a trap for him, but Darren could trace their idea and even if he didn't know what they were specifically planning to do, he would still be able to beat them at their own game. Apparently, the plan was to make themselves seen in public once in a while and draw the attention of the army and have Darren pursue them, then later lure him to their den and kill him but they had underestimated Darren. He trapped them in their own nest. There was a total of eight people who escaped, he caught four, killed two, and let the other two escape but not before he had assigned a member of the King's Guard to follow him and now he's coming back to the Palace.

In the carriage, he could hear a lot of noise coming from outside and he looked through the window and asked one of his guards what was going on,

"Your Highness it seems there is a commotion at the market, I'll go check it out immediately," the guard said and Darren nodded, after a while, he came back and reported what had happened. Darren shook his head and said "Take some more guards, get a Doctor and attended to the people, and yes tell the officers who were on guard today to report to the Palace when you are done, they need to answer for this" Darren said and signaled for the coachman to continue. On reaching the Palace, he headed straight to Adriele's room to ask her about the progress of the cure, since the day they got back from the forest he had given her time to come up with something and she had promised to do her best and he did miss the girl. Well, he missed the way her face would get red with anger every time he talked about their marriage, but when he got to her room he didn't find her and asked where she was. After knowing where she was, he got furious and worried and he stormed out of the Palace

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In the second row of the church, Adriele was head bowed and praying.

"Mama, Papa, can you see me, now? please direct me on what to do. You always told me to think about others, are you mad at me for putting my happiness on the line?. Anyway, I pray you guys are happy where ever you are.

" My Lady my lady, we.. we have to go, now" Naina rushed in and said frightened.

Though a bit startled Adriele asked "Why? Is there something wrong?"

"Yes my Lady, there has been a commotion in the market with a lot of casualties, we better go back before you get hurt"

"Seriously? Take me there" Adriele said rising on her feet

"But, my lady, it's dangerous," Naina said running behind her.

When they were outside she asked, "Where are they?" and Naina had no choice but to point in the direction of the people who had gathered after the commotion.

When she got there, what she saw pricked her heart. People laying helpless on the road with wounds and cuts all over their bodies but what hurt her most was the child crying for his mom, he seemed to have been lost when the commotion began. She turned to Francis and Naina and asked them to bring some things for her and they immediately left to get them while she went over and picked up the crying child

"Hey, little one, don't cry anymore, okay," she said as she patted his back and the child stopped crying "There, that's a good boy. Now tell me, what's your name?

" My name is Nathan"

"Where is your mom?"

"I don't know, I lost her when they started fighting"

"Is that so, ok, do you know your mom's name, Nathan?"

"Yes, sister, her name is Isabelle Kyna"

"Okay, we'll find her later okay, now we have to clean your wounds," she said and the child nodded. Naina and Francis came back with the things she asked for and she started tending to the people. When she was almost done she felt a pair of eyes burning gaze at her and when she turned to look it turns out to be

Darren, what was he doing here.

She backed away and pretended to not see him. She was in no mood to handle this man now, so she started walking away and he followed her. As he got close he said,

"Stop running Adriele", he said walking towards her

"I wasn't going to run," she said taking a step back

"Then why did you leave the palace today without your guards," he said cornering her, with his hands on the wall on each side of her body. He scanned her from head to toe.

Noticing this Adriele pushed him away "Pervert"

"Me?" Darren asked as if not knowing what she meant, "how can I be a pervert we're, getting married in a month"

"Yes in a month not yet she retorted. Only to have him laugh and say "Are you sad? We could get married right now he said looking at his surrounding then with a smile he said, "There is a church here already so..."

How did I end up with this narcissist man? Adriele thought to herself.

"Oh, yeah, it's no longer a month we'll be getting married in at least two weeks from now. Go to my carriage I'll take you back"

"What about Naina and Francis?" she asked

"They will go the way they came" that was all he said and then he motioned for her to walk to his carriage.

"And one more thing, there is a kid there, he's lost, his mother's name is Isabelle Kyna, please help him get back home." she pleaded, and Darren nodded