Chapter 23

"Honestly, I would be jealous of her too if I were in your position. You did everything you could to outshine her and her doing nothing has outshined you. Thank you for the motivation, Annabelle. Your situation really lifted my spirit," Amelia innocently smiled and then tried to walk past Annabelle but the woman harshly grabbed her hand.

"Thankfully, I have a rule of never being rough with a pregnant woman so let go of my hand before I throw away all of my morals. Let go," Amelia repeated a second time but she wasn't going to do it a third time.

"You've talked shit about me the entire time I've been here-"

"Temper temper Annabelle. You really have to fix it. Maybe the reason my father rarely lets you go out in public is because of your inability to fight with your words instead of your hands. I can have someone fix it for you right away," Amelia yanked her hand away.

"You're one to talk about the reason behind someone's actions. The reason you keep poking at me and downplaying my relationship with your father is that you don't like the idea of him treating an outsider much better than his own daughter. You want to believe your father won't make me queen. You don't like that I stole him from your sweet mother," said Annabelle.

"How many times must I say I don't care about your relationship with my father? My father belongs to the kingdom. For all we know, I could have many siblings out there running around. What I don't like is how you keep trying to force your way into my life when I have asked you to become blind when I am around. I give out what you give to me, Annabelle. What is so hard to understand?"

"There are many days where you start with me first," Annabelle reminded Amelia.

Amelia shrugged her shoulders and said, "I like to get our arguments over with quickly. It's not like you'll see me and approach me to have a pleasant conversation. Now, if you would excuse me, I don't want to keep a pregnant woman standing on her feet for too long. Goodbye," Amelia smiled, seeing someone she loved walking up to them.

"We are not finished talking," Annabelle said through gritted teeth. She tried to grab Amelia again but this time Cyrus smacked her hand away. "Are you crazy? How dare you smack my hand?"

"It's my job to get rid of any danger around the princess. Please refrain from grabbing her hand so much. You might bruise her delicate skin," Cyrus stared directly into the eyes of Annabelle.

'Delicate skin?' It was weird for Amelia to hear Cyrus say such a thing.

"I will tell the king of this-"

"Why are you going to annoy my son when he has more important things to worry about?" Margaret Blackwell, the mother of Richard Blackwell, asked as she went in the middle of Amelia and Annebelle. She walked with an entourage of ten people consisting of three maids and seven guards.

"Lady Margaret," Annabelle bowed, changing her attitude now that the king's mother was here. She was trying her best to get closer to the woman but it was all in vain. Margaret ignored her the majority of the time.

Margaret Blackwell moved away from the castle after her husband died and her son was crowned the new king. However, she still had a lot of influence in the castle. She was probably the only person Richard was scared of. Margaret was the epitome of class when it came to being a royal.

"Good day grandmother," Amelia bowed her head.

"Good day child. Why is there such a conversation happening so early in the day? Normally these things wait until dinner to be spoken of. My, how the castle has changed since I have left. Would you like to have some tea with me, Amelia?"

"As always grandmother. If I knew you were coming today I would have picked out your favorites and had them set up. Gina, please prepare us some tea and snacks," Amelia ordered Gina but Margaret had other plans.

"Allow my maids to do it. I've become tired of their presence hovering around me already. None of them intrigued me enough. Bring us some tea and snacks," Margaret said to the three women behind her.

They bowed before leaving with one guard to make sure nothing was being done to the tea or snacks.

"What do you want from me?" Margaret finally acknowledged Annabelle's pleading eyes. To Margaret, Annabelle was similar to a wet dirty dog trying to make anyone pick it up and take care of it.

"I would also love to join you for tea. You might not have heard the news but I am carrying your grandchild. The doctor says I might be two months or a little over that." Annabelle planned to use her child to become closer to Margaret.

"My son has told me of what his affairs have led to. You should be off your feet rather than walking around drinking tea," Margaret replied.

"Aren't you going to sit down and drink tea," Annabelle said a little confused as to why they would walk around drinking tea and eating snacks when there were plenty of tables for them to take a break.

"I plan to but I don't want to make a pregnant woman walk more than she should. Retire to your room and have some rest. These early weeks are when you should take care of yourself."

"Wait, I don't see why-"

Margaret held up her hand stopping Annabelle before she could continue."Listen here, a child will not make you gain my favor. Frankly, I am more interested in my grandchildren who are legitimate. The ones who come from the union of a king and a queen. I am not particularly fond of anyone who looks to kiss my ass so please refrain from sending me all those flowers."

"My husband is dead and I only wish to have so many flowers around me when I am dead. Do something worthwhile to get my attention. And no, screwing my son does not count. I've seen enough of his mistresses to not be interested in getting to know none of you."