Chp.23: Bull

This was the second time both of them were seeing each other.

"She looks perfectly fine." Duncan thought to himself and let out a sigh of relief.

"Good afternoon Sir Gordon." Regina said giving him a bright smile. And immediately clicked to him that he is supposed to make a bow to both Claudia and Regina.

"I pay my greetings... " Gordon was saying but Regina interrupted him. "There is no need for that Sir Gordon. But I would love to know the reason why his majesty and yourself have decided to crash our tea time?" She asked with a confused look and smile.

"Ah ... um..",Gordon was already having a hard time since he was just dragged there by Duncan. So he kept looking at Duncan but to his surprise, Duncan had already calmed down.

"I would love to join you ladies for a tea." He was already settling down on the table.

"Hey..." Gordon's expressions screamed as he was having a hard time answering the queen's questions.

But Duncan just actively decided to ignore him.

"Oh ... uh... I apologize your majesty. But even I am trying to figure it out. Please guide us with your answer your majesty. ", Gordon quickly turned the question to Duncan's side.

Regina who was anticipating some answer from Gordon gave out a spontaneous giggle. "You are indeed very intelligent, Sir Gordon." Said Regina with a smile on her face.

"Please join us sir Gordon. We would love to have you here." Regina showed Gordon a seat for him to settle down. He went ahead and sat down already.

Duncan was already seated there with an ice cold expression. Claudia also went ahead to take her seat and pour a tea for both Gordon and Duncan.

The maids also quickly arranged the plates with refreshments for both of them. It was warm inside and cozy.

The rain was still pouring heavily and Regina wanted to talk to Duncan.

There were more than one thing that she wanted to ask him. Her reason for staying in Eastern palace.

Why he didn't come to her palace last night?

Why did he didn't show up for the wedding?

Why ....?

There were many things that she could ask him. Rather many things she actually wanted to ask him but there was a wall.

There was a wall that Dunacan purposely raise between them. And for Regina, breaking these walls was her mission.

Because the first step to clear out all the enemies in the palace would be turning Duncan into a good friend.

He was Rachel's husband, he was the son-in-law of the count and most importantly he was the king. The current ruler of Kuravos empire. And that made it all the more important to stay close to him.

"I need to talk to him. Otherwise all my plans will fail." Regina thought as she quietly observed Duncan, who sat across the table and was sipping his tea.

"He looks tired?" Regina thought to herself. "Should I ask him the reason?" The train of the thoughts continued.

She pondered over the same thing for quite some time. The pindrop silence in the room provided even more of a favorable conditions for her thoughts to go to places they shouldn't be going to.

But in a moment she realised and shook her head lightly..

"What am I even thinking? I need to focus now." Regina gave herself a little warning. "Duncan thinks I am Rachel and I am here on a mission." Regina continued. "I must stay alert. Even though it's Duncan in front of me."

Claudia finished eating her peice of pie and placed the fork down. The sound of the form beside the plate and on the table was more than subtle.

Maybe it wasn't intentional, but it was enough to get Gordon's, Duncan's and Regina's attention towards her. They quickly and instinctively turned their head towards her.

"So now that I have your attention..." she began with a little bit of formal speech in her tone. "I wanted to discuss with Duncan about the ball that is going to happen very soon." Claudia almost announced it in front of Duncan.

As for Regina, when she was going through brief records she already got this little peice of information.

It was very rare and most importantly it was something only palace insiders could know and that was - That Duncan and Claudia have really bad relationship.

It is even worst than what Duncan has with his stepmother, the empress dowager. And that made this whole situation intriguing for Regina.

She knew that Duncan would never just dash into the princess' room for a random chit chat. That means he was hear for something else. Regina took sometime to analyse his status in that time period.

She looked at him from head to toe and she observed a lot of things. Wet and soiled boots, ruffled hair, his regular watch in his left pockets of the pants was also absent. And moreover the most important thing that was missing was - The uniform's coat that he was supposed to wear when he was working in the knight's building.

"That clearly means that he rushed here." Regina smoothly reached to her conclusion. "But now the question that stands is - Why?" She decided to deeply ponder over this doubt that had just popped inside her mind.

Meanwhile Claudia and Duncan were trying very hard to have a very civilized chat.

Claudia went ahead with her questions and was waiting for Duncan's explanation and that's when Duncan opened his mouth to speak.

"Duchess, I wish you take a proper appointment with me to discuss the state affairs." He coldly rejected it.

Claudia wasn't even fazed by his rudeness. "How is this a state affair? The ball will also be for welcoming the new queen." Claudia went ahead to state her questions once more. "And by new queen, I mean your wife Duncan. Then how is she a state affair?" Claudia asked.

The question was itself very cunning and moreover there was no right answer to it. Either ways and Duncan would still end up hurting someone or the other. Knowing this very well, Duncan had to figure out a middle way.

"This damned...." Duncan thought to himseld as he looked at Claudia with hate in his eyes.