Chp.40: Him

Sometime had already passed, and Regina found herself on a soft and comfortable place.

"A bed?" She thought as her hands felt the soft balnket that was on her body and she slowly regained her consciousness.

"Where am I?" She thought as she couldn't help but regain her consciousness slowly. She tried waking up swiftly but that was of no use.

She felt pain inside her head. A splitting pain that made her feel she could die any moment. Her throat was also crumbling and twisting togther. It wasn't peaceful, she was feeling pain she hadn't felt for sometime now.

"Aaah. Why is it so tough? Why is it aching so much?" Regina thought as she slowly pulled up her body to sit up straight.

She was struggling to even open her eyes completely, she pressed her head from one side.

"It is not real pain." A voice came to her. Desolate and cold. Unfortunately she recognized that voice.

She looked around trying to make out where it was coming from. She had been in this room before. She knew this place, she had been there only last night and she was there yet again.

"It isn't real pain. Stop struggling." The voice said once again.

He was sitting there. On his usual chair, the place she has seen working more than ever since she came to this place.

"What do you mean it isn't real pain?" Regina asked Duncan. Duncan turned towards her, and got up.

"What I mean is that..." he walked towards her with what looked like an Ice pack. "Here take this." He tossed it to her and she catched it naturally.

"Good reflex." He said.

"Thanks." Regina said spontaneously.

She placed it on her forehead. "Hey wait, don't shift the topic." Regina yelled at Duncan.

"Don't shout. It's fine." Duncan said taking her lightly. He came and sat near her on the bed.

"It's Szarni." He said calmly.

"Szarni!" She almost squeaked.

"You know Szarni?" Duncan asked her in a surprised tone.

"Uh.. um ... no." Regina felt guilty for no reason.

"Oh.. ofcourse. You wouldn't know." He said shrugging his shoulders.

"I know it you dumb idiot." She thought to herself as she smiled like a fool looking at him.

"Szarni is a poison. It is found in the Northern Mountains of Kuravos." Duncan said trying to explain about the poison.

"Oh, is it?" Regina asked.

"Yes. And it makes the person weak and hallucinate a bit before finally becoming unconscious." he explained further.

Regina just sat there nodding her head like an idiot.

"But the reason it is one of the fatal poisons is because, it gets stronger the more pain you feel." He said with a big sigh. "Thus, if you stop struggling against the pain inside your body, it will slowly subsidize and you will have to vomit all the things you ate to throw it out." He said in a serious tone.

"Of course. Ofcourse I know about Szarni and it's scarcity in Kuravos." Regina thought as she couldn't deny the fact that she was afterall in the royal palace, where nothing is rare.

Which brought her to an important question.

"Who was that man then?" She asked Duncan outright. Although she knew it might prove to be a fatal blow since she is not much used to Duncan and doesn't know his temper apart from the facts she studied while training.

"That man.." Duncan took a little pause before announcing his name.

"He is Desmond, Duke of Swontok" Duncan said right away.

"He is Desmond?" Regina asked in a probability thinking that she thought it would be much harder to figure out his identity.

"Yes. He is Desmond." Duncan said nodding his head.

"So being the duke of Swontok means he has the direct access to poison the queen?" Regina asked authoritatively.

Duncan knew that this question would definitely come up. And he was prepared for it. He was prepared with his necessary explanation and Regina was gladly looking forward to it.

"He is a complicated person." He started off with that sentence and suddenly it intrigued Regina's intrest to listen more.

"You may have heard about him being the only daughter of Count D'Azure." He made a plain assumption. "Nope. Never heard of him." Regina thought to herself as she sat there with folded arms shaking her head slightly. Duncan decided to go ahead.

"He is a bit notorious. I ask for forgiveness in his regards." Duncan suddenly went in a total apologizing mode.

"Huh? Don't be ridiculous!" Regina thought to herself but before she could speak anything Duncan continued.

"He is just.... he is all alone. So he does these things. Please be considerate with his behavior just this time. I promise this won't happen again." Duncan apologized shamelessly.

"Wow. Aren't you being a coward for a king." Regina said shrugging her shoulders. This sentence peirced through Duncan's heart. But his hands were tied and his mouth was almost sealed.

He stayed quiet with his eyes down. "So you aren't going to say anything at all. Who is he to you huh?" She yelled at Duncan. "Who is he that you are ready to give up on your wife, your mother's palace and your position as the monarch of this kingdom?" She yelled. She was almost roaring at him as he sat there as a puppy.

"Don't stay quiet and still in front of, answer me Duncan Stephen Amalde, the King Of Kuravos." She shouted.

He still didn't say anything, he didn't even look up at her.

Regina was getting furious every passing second. She couldn't understand why this was happening with her, why was she so angry at the person in front of her. But she was.

"Why am I bothering myself with these things. He is nothing more than a working colleague for me. Afterall, all this, this palace, these people, this husband, they aren't mine. This isn't mine. So why?" Regina was asking herself inside her heart but she was furious she couldn't stop at all. And Duncan's stand on all this made her even more engrossed in this petty anger.

"This is none of my business. I should just report everything that happened her to the count and my job ends." She tried convincing herself.

"Tell me your majesty. Why take this matter so lightly? Shouldn't we imprison the person who tried to poison your queen?" She kept asking questions. Louder and louder her voice got as paler Duncan's face became.

"Why bother with these stuff. Stop, Regina. Just stop." She wanted to calm herself down.

"Regina." She yelled at herself inside her heart.

"Rachel." Duncan said in a loud voice.

There was a sudden silence in the entire room. The rain sound remained constant.

"Stop. Lady Rachel, please stop." He said looking in her eyes. His gaze sharp and the frown on his forhead deep.

"Give me sometime. Sometime before I'll tell you everything. This is my promise as the king." He said with an assuring tone. He looked in Regina's eyes.