Chp.12: Beat

The night was dark and the maids had arranged the bedroom chamber so that queen would have a very comfortable sleep.

Perhaps they also prepared for the king, thinking that Duncan may come that night. The guards stood outside the queen bedroom chambers and the maids waited until late in the night to welcome the king if he showed up.

They were mostly sure that Duncan would come but noone showed up after all.

Instead a letter came very little at night. "Ask the queen to be ready, I will be coming." The letter read.

Lara thought that the letter was sent by the king and thus made all the preparations accordingly. Of course she didn't wake the queen up thinking that she would do so when the king arrives.

But it was soon dawn. The sun rays made their way through the windows and entered the Grand Eastern Palace. It was beautiful. The marble floor, the pillars and everything looked like they were the parts of the heaven which fell down when heaven broke.

Lara wasn't able to sleep well the entire night. "He didn't show up after all. He is a liar." She said as she tossed herself on the bed in the maids dormitory and went to sleep early in the morning.

As for Regina, she had a very good sleep at night. The most comfortable and serene one she had for a really long time.

*yawn* "Wow, what a precious morning." Regina mumbled as she woke up from her sleep and sat on the bed.

The rain had stopped maybe a long time ago late at night, and now it was a bright day. Sun was shining beautiful and the sky had a peaceful blue colours.

The birds were chirping as well, which made Regina suddenly realise that indeed she was somewhere far away from the D'Azure mansion.

Mornings in the D'Azure mansion were never so peaceful. Instead they were opposite of it. Regina had to sometimes even stay on guard in a secret place around Rachel's bedroom, to attack anyone who intrudes the premise of her room.

Regina never got to know why the count was so protective of Rachel. Perhaps since Rachel was the only heir and also maybe because she had a frail personality.

But still there was always a gap that Regina couldn't fill up with her logical understanding. She could never really put a reason on why such kind of protection was needed. But after all, Regina had to do her job. And one of the many things her job taught her was, 'To never mind anyone else's business.'

So all these years she kept on quitely doing her work. And even now in the palace, she had to work. To inspect any kind of loop that would later on prove to be a problem for Rachel, and also write reports to the count secretly, to maintain the facade that she had created.

But then who was Regina? Why was she so desperate when it came to work for the count? And why was she a part of such a big scam that a mere aristocrat was trying to pull off against the royal family?

-----

Regina was a poor kid. She was born to a prostitute mother and her father was some criminal as her mother always told her.

Her mother always told her stories of her father's bravery, and how he was wrongly accused of being a criminal, but Regina was never affected by such stories since she had never seen her father.

She grew up in the black market of Kuravos and had nothing else that was really useful for her life there. Being a prostitute, her mother was never able to provide her the life she wanted to.

Regina grew up among the thugs and the goons in the black market. And that made her a perfect candidate to work for 'Dashin' - a secret assassins guild.

She wasn't much intrested in all the things people did in the guild since she had her one rule in life - 'Should live on my terms, and never become anyone's servant.'

Being a capable person, she trained and trained. Her mother thought working for an assassin guild is far better than lying down to give pleasure to someone else. She didn't want her daughter to become a prostitute, not even by mistake.

And thus she was fully trained by the age she was seventeen. She was a master of using knives and short weapons which made her a deadly assassins in close range.

Everyone feared her. Everyone feared 'Urara', her assassin name.

She always had a record of 'clean task complete'- a specific classification when the assassin never leave any clues behind and ties all the loose ends before leaving.

There was never a single suspicion against Uarara of Regina.

"You are the ace of Dashin, Urara. You must keep growing." The Big Man, one of her trainers, always told her. And that motivation was all she needed.

Until one day an odd request came in, "Count D'Azure wants to hire Urara for next five years. Please write back if you want to negotiate further on the terms."

Eveyone in Dashin was actually shocked by this request. And there was more than reason for getting shocked.

But anyways eventually she was put on the assignment.

----

Present day in the Eastern Palace.

"I am so sorry your majesty, I tried waking you up last night for dinner, but I didn't put enough efforts." Lara said, as she was almost zoning out. She was pouring Regina a cup of tea and she was extremely tired.

"Why are you swayinh like that? Are you tired? Or are you sick perhaps?" Regina asked as she sipped the tea calmly.

Lara was barely even able to understand Regina's question.

"Don't worry Lady Lara, please have a seat." Regina said in a polite tone. "Huh? How could I? I am sorry your majesty!" She said with a shocked expression.

"Oh no there is no need to worry. And I am not offering you a seat for free." Regina explained calmly as she placed her tea cup back on the table.

Lara understood what Regina meant and took the seat in front of her.

"So perhaps you may know what I want to ask, right Lara?", Regina asked.

"I won't dare to make a guess your majesty."Lara replied a little meekly.

Regina chuckled on this response and asked her what she had in her mind for a long time now - "Who are you all working for?" She bluntly asked Lara.

And Lara was left stunned.