Chp.25: Monsters

She turned around.

"I have a question to ask." He said as she turned around.

"Yes?", She asked in a polite voice.

Duncan walked upto her.

"I demand you to have a dinner with me tonight." He said.

She looked at him with a puzzled expression.

"But I will be having tonight's dinner with you your majesty." She said in the most obvious tone.

"Huh?" Duncan couldn't recall anything what she was trying to say, until he realised the letter he had sent her in the morning.

His expressions went from being stupidly forgetful to instant embarrassment in a moment. Regina did enjoy it but she couldn't react much since she was standing in front of the king after all.

"If so, then I will see you at the dinner." He said in a distant cold tone as he would speak to any colleague. There was no hint of feelings, moreover Regina wasn't even expecting him to show any feelings. It was convenience marriage after all and she had a mission to complete.

"I am honoured your majesty. I will be taking my leave now." She made a bow and left.

----

Few hours ago.

Since it was pouring, the carriage took some time to reach the Eastern Palace.

Duncan along with Gordon, whom he dragged there with him, were heading there. Duncan had a desperate wish and Gordon, well he was just trying not to be rude to the king.

Duncan explained his reason - "He wrote to the queen yesterday." Duncan said with anger in his eyes.

Gordon snapped.

"What did that bastard do?" He asked the question once more crumbling a peice of paper in his eyes.

"He wrote that he visited the queen last night." Duncan said gritting his teeth.

Gordon's temper was rising. "Can't that peice of shit actually give us some break?" Gordon said trying to hide his anger in his polite tone.

"I want to see the queen right away." Duncan said in a desperate tone. He was worried, it was reflecting in his tone.

All the questions that came to him before - "Am I truly married? What if this is a dream? She is a count's daughter, what if she throws a fit since I didn't go to the Eastern palace yesterday?" A lot of such thoughts slowly got tangled into a web of mixed of emotions.

And he kept on thinking and thinking and one thought appeared out of nowhere, "Is she really my wife? Or is she Desmond's? Or what if she is nobody's wife?" - These questions now felt like a curse to him.

They proceeded to the Eastern palace.

It was inside the premises of the grand castle that the Amalde royals owned, but with the heavy rain and the desperation that clenched Duncan's heart, the road seemed longer than it had ever been.

Gordon decided to keep quite and Duncan kept looking outside the window. Although he wanted to see the letter that Duncan actually received, it was the worst time to ask for that.

The precise reason why he wanted to see the letter was that, if he could see the writing in the letter he could tell when exactly it would have been written and the mindset that the person had while writing it.

Like that they reached the Eastern palace. The guards made an announcement of their arrival and both of them got down the carriage.

Duncan immediately rushed inside the palace without a second thought of how he looked? How he appeared to everyone?

He just went inside the palace and everyone was stunned.

The cheif guard of the palace asked Gordon - "Sir, why is his majesty rushing inside?" The guard asked making a slight to Gordon.

Gordon who patiently walked inside behind Duncan looked at the guard - "Oh! That's even my question." He said shrugging his shoulders.

Duncan was almost panting as he stood in the middle of the grand castle's entering premise. He hadn't been there in the longest time but the pillars were still standing tall.

The chandeliers were changed to the latest trends and the entire place was cleaned up. Suddenly a voice spoke in his ears - "Why didn't you come here last night?" That voice questioned.

He snapped back to reality and realized that he was here. Already here, standing in the middle of the place he was always trying to actively avoid.

"Your majesty please allow me to lead you to the parlour." The butler spoke trying to stay a little cautious.

"Oh... I want to directly meet the queen. Call her here." He demanded. And all the servants could feel a chill running down their spine.

This was Duncan Stephen Amalde, the king of Kuravos, and he was known to be cruel at times when he couldn't quite get what he wanted.

The maids were definitely feeling like they could die any moment but one of the male servants said - "If I may speak..." he said bowing in front of Duncan nervously and fidgeting and shuffling his fingers.

"Yes... go ahead quickly." Duncan said in a very irritated voice. It wasn't particularly due to the servant who was delaying him or the letter he received, it was just the overall situation that made him really fuzzy.

"Her majesty, left the palace a few moments ago." The servant mustered up his courage and said it out loud. And everything felt like it had come to a stop.

"What did you say?" Duncan said with a cold voice. A dreadful voice.

"Uh... your majesty... her majesty left..." the servant was trying to say when Duncan stopped him and asked, "Where did she go?" He said in a mumbling voice, "Where did she go?" He yelled.

Everyone flinched and even Gordon was scared at the current scenario. "She went to the Central Palace." The servant added with his nervous voice.

Duncan finally lost his patience. "Arrange the carriage to go to the Central Palace." He yelled and Gordon flinched.

"Yes your majesty." Gordon along with the guard ran out the main door of the palace and arranged the carriage. They rushed towards the Central palace.