Chp.48: Casket

Two years ago at the D'Azure mansion.

"It is my honor to serve you,your highness." Regina said. Unlike her typical clothes when she wore luxurious gowns, pretended to be Rachel in fancy ball rooms and talked with utmost elegance, when she was there with Rachel she wore a a body suite.

Adorned with a sword at the belt, knives at the thighs and daggers in her jackets.

Rachel looked at the person who stood there beside her and chuckled, "There is no doubt you are diffrent than me." She made a comment.

Regina in her very diplomatic stand, decided there is no need to reply back to the comment.

A few moments passed, Rachel sipped her tea and Regina stood there. Being a commoner, and according to Kuravos laws, she was not allowed to sit in the presence of a noble.

So be it! Was what Regina thought most of times when she came across all these customs and traditions. Afterall she didn't consider herself a revolutionary or any public figure to actually raise voice against all these rules and laws.

What an irony indeed.

"Tsk, tsk, so very typical of you Regina. " Rachel said as she placed her tea cup down and picked up a pastery.

"I am sorry your highness for not being as entertaining as you thought I would be." Regina said in her generic form of answer.

"See, this is what I like and hate as well about you." Rachel said.

She was quite enthusiastic and energetic at times like these. When the days are bright and the sky is blue and the birds are chirping to make it all a bliss.

Rachel was indeed one of those spoiled brats with a rich father. And moreover she would become completely unbearable to be with, but during those times, those five years that Regina stayed at the D'Azure mansion, she noticed one thing.

'People are never Black or White. People are always Grey. Humans can't be classified as Good and Bad, that particular way of separating individuals can never exist.'

The bad, the good have always been the words she had heard a lot. In her line of business in being an assassin she was always termed to be the bad guy for some and the good guy for some.

But it was when she finally could experience the noble lifestyle she realised thag these classifications are rubbish. People are selfish and they behave according to their necessity.

Rachel D'Azure wasn't just a character she had to play anymore. Count D'Azure made it so that Regina stayed with Rachel most of the times and knew who Rachel was.

He was smart enough to plot certain strategies very early in this game.

"So since I am in a good mood. How about I bestow you with a gift?" Rachel came up with this vague idea. She thought doing these abrupt things were fun.

"That would be totally unnecessary your highness." Regina said politely declining all the abrupt ideas that came from Rachel.

"That's not how it works Regina. I am the one who decides." This was the bad quality that Regina often thought about.

She let out a sigh and nodded.

Rachel was already engrossed in what she should be giving Rachel. She roamed around in her room, almost forgetting her tea and pasteries and suddenly stopped.

"Hmm... this looks pretty." Rachel said as she opened a little casket she found in her wardrobe.

"What is it your highness?" Regina asked out of curiosity.

"Look at you, acting all chummy now." Rachel joked and giggled.

"Eh?" Regina was often caught off guard with these comments of the lady. Anyways they both were now focused on the little casket.

That's when Rachel picked up a necklace. It had green emralds and was studded with diamonds. Anyone could tell that this necklace has been imported in Kuravos.

"That's a beautiful artwork right here, isn't it?" Rachel asked as she picked up the necklace and held it up at their eyesight level with both of her hands.

"Yes, indeed it it." Regina agreed as quickly as she could. This was afterall Regina's weakest spot, Shiny Things.

"Right?" Rachel got more excited with this response. They adored the necklace for sometime. And somewhere Regina started to feel hopeful that maybe she will be bestowed with that necklace.

"So here you go." Rachel handed over the thing she wanted to bestow upon Regina.

Regina was again caught offguard with her little mischievous pranks as Rachel handed over the casket to Regina.

"Eh?" A spontaneous question like tone cams out from Regina's throat.

Rachel giggled as she saw Regina's expression.

"This casket is precious to me." Rachel said this time with a serious tone.

"If so take it back and give me the necklace." Regina thought to herself.

The room suddenly felt silent and cold. Like a desolate place that has never once seen the light or the warmth of the sun.

Regina felt it.

"I will take care of this casket your highness." Regina said with a bright smile. Rachel returned a dry smile to Regina.

Regina thought to herself that perhaps she opened that door of Rachel's heart that she wasn't supposed to.

Rachel said, "One day, when I'll need you. I'll send this necklace to you." This sentence seemed vague and unnecessary from Regina's point of view but she still decided to listen to what Rachel had to say.

"Keep this casket with you. When I send the necklace to you, just remember that I will be needing you the most." Rachel said as she looked in Regina's eyes.

They had the same faces, same eyes and same hair. But when they looked at each other, it wasn't as if they looked in the mirror.

It was more like they were aware that the other person is a diffrent soul and souls can never be the same.

Faces can be, but souls can never be.

Regina realised the depth of the situation and decided to go along with the flow. She nodded and said, "Yes your highness, I will remember."

________________

Present day at the Eastern Palace

"Are you Urara?" Regina's eyes wide open as she quickly grabbed Ellies neck. She stood right up swiftly and didn't hesitate.

She was choking the made right in front of her.

"So you were more than just a maide?" Regina asked in a deep and threatening voice.

"No, no your majes... your majesty..kuh kuh" Regina was choking her very bad. Her swift moment and tight grip was even more firm. Despite of the fact that her body was all wet due to the water, the bathtub had lathered soap and the grip of her hand should now have become were slippery.

"Who send you here? I want to know." Regina said as she clenched her teeth. Only one thought occupied her mind now - I must kill anyone who might become a threat to me in this palace.

"I ... I was sent by... kuf kug... Lady Rachel." Ellie struggled to speak.

"Lady Rachel?" Regina didn't want to believe the words of a maid who knew she wasn't Rachel. It was like the maid knew too much, for her to stay alive.

Ellie probably was ready for this situation as she handed over a necklace from a pocket even while Regina was choking her.

"This..." Regina immediately let go her grip and held the necklace in her hand. Her expressions changed in a fraction of a second.