Chp.21: New

Regina's eyes - calm but in hopes, looking forward to Claudia's answers and Claudia's eyes were dreadful. Beautifully dreadful if that is the right word.

Claudia smirked looking at Regina and in that very moment her smirk turned into a full fledged smile. "I am sorry your majesty. I apologize for the hospitality that you didn't like. I should've been careful." Claudia said.

Regina could tell that she had carefully picked her words when she wanted to insult her. Claudia opened her arms and welcomed Regina and her maids inside the room.

Regina took a moment of stop, and looked at Claudia. "I am not upset because I didn't like the hospitality. You didn't intend to be hospitable. That was upsetting." Regina said and entered the room.

Few minutes have passed away.

Regina and Claudia were peacefully sitting down at the table. Claudia spared no effort to organize a feast under the name of tea party. Regina also looked at all the things Claudia had prepared.

They were having a warm smile on their faces but it was clear that both of them weren't genuine about it.

"I hope that the refreshments and treats I prepared for you are upto your liking." Claudia said with a smile as she progressed and picked up the tea pot to serve tea to Regina.

Regina, with her modest expressions, expressed,"It's really a very significant day for me. Significant since I have an invitation from princess Claudia."

Claudia smirked at her remark. She poured tea for both herself and Regina and delicately placed down the cup.

"You are making it hard for me your majesty. I have invited here to have a simple tea." Claudia shrugged her shoulders and picked up her tea cup.

Regina also picked up her tea. And sipped it.

The room was magnificent. Filled with books and precious artifacts, it was warm inside. The rain was locked out with huge glass windows that covered one wall. The balcony was massive as well.

Regina quitely observed everything. The ticking of the clock in Claudia's room made it all the more obvious that time was passing by in it's normal pace.

But for some reason it felt like eons had passed away since she entered the room, Regina felt. The maids stood there behind each one of them, behind their chairs and they were also alert and on guard to take any orders at any time. After all it was the new queen and the royal princess of the empire.

"Oh, simple tea you say?" Regina calmly placed her cup back down and looked at Claudia. She knew those eyes.

The eyes of a hawk.

Sharp gaze and dreadful intentions. But on the other hand Regina had no reason to back down from this conversation. Or even more, after having an awesome cup of tea she was ready for a battle of words.

Claudia was calm. She was trained to potray so since she was a member of the royal family. Calm demeanor was one of the basic things she learned as a part of politics.

"Yes your majesty." Claudia said with an assuring smile.

"Then I guess I have no reason to stay nervous." Regina said as she accompanied her sentence with a small laugh.

"Were you nervous?" Claudia asked. "Guess that is inevitable since you are a count's daughter after all and not ..." She stopped herself.

"Oh no princess Claudia, please continue what you were saying." Regina said casually looking forward to her comments.

When Regina said this, Claudia was caught off-guard.

"Isn't she Rachel D'Azure?" Claudia thought. She was a little panicked since she expected a much more childish reaction.

Rachel was the one and only daughter of Count D'Azure. Thus it was always so that she was egoistic when it came to money and status. Also she was nick named as 'Spoiled Lady' since she thought ahead of herself and lived in her small world of shiny things.

It was a major turn off when she accompanied her father to social gatherings as a child. She always used to create some or the other kind of a scene and never understood the reasons why everyone used to chat nicely with her.

It was only since her father was Count D'Azure. There was no other reason to entertain her in most of the social gatherings. And thus most ladies and houses stopped inviting her altogether and only invited Count D'Azure.

But one day everything change. After the two years that Rachel did not show up for the social gatherings, she was already at the age of debuting in the high society.

Her father and mother arranged a grand event for her debut ball and invited everyone. Even the royal family of the empire. It wasn't just a birthday party, but the count had clear intentions of finding Rachel a groom.

All the guests and the ladies who invited her in the past as a child, were really afraid of what would happen in this ball. Her nature and personality were already rotten and moreover they wouldn't lift their fingers to complain since that would only spoil their relations with the count.

But this time everything was diffrent. The lady that walked down the grand stairs alone had a charm.

An elegance that everyone could clearly see reflecting from her walk. Her confidence.

Only a couple of people didn't attend her ball that year and they were Princess Claudia and her mother, empress dowager. The count was a little upset since he really wanted the empress dowager to attend. He even told this to the king as they were standing there beside the stair case when Regina went to have a chat with the ladies.

The king just laughed away the count's complain and then they moved on to talking about a new topic.

The only thing that remained as the highlight of that evening was - Lady Rachel looked as if she had changed. Not particularly changed but turned to a totally new person.

And people loved this new Rachel more. She was cool and above all the looked as if she was trained by a very top notch coach.

"You are ready for the drama sweetheart. " Her father whispered in her ears.