Chapter two: Rules II

Queen Denville paused on reaching the king's chamber, she cocked her neck slightly and saw Ciellé obediently standing behind her. She sighed and announced her arrival to the chamber Man.

" Her highness, Queen Denville is here, your majesty" he announced and Denville walked into his chamber. Now, did she say her room was big? Bid enough for her entire house to fit in? If so, then this room she is now in could hold in her entire village. She gwaked and touched some artifacts until she bumped into something hard " Sapphires!" She exclaimed almost falling on her back, when his weakling arms caught her from falling.

She had her eyes shut due to the thought of crashing hard on the floor, until she felt that strong and cold grip. She slowly opened her eyes and...." O my!" She shrieked, jolting away from him. She felt a gush of awkwardness run down her spine, bull, to think he was her king charming.

King Howard stared at the näive girl in front of him as she rubbed her nape shyly, and her face as red as the red moon. He chuckled and moved away from her. "Is this how you perform the royal wake? My queen" he suddenly asked , watching her every expression.

" I -uh -i.." she stuttered " I - I am truly sorry sire, I -" she paused and poised to bow " good morning, your majesty. I Queen Denville perform the royal wake by asking how his majesty is fairing and how your sleep went" she bowed and kept staring at her reflection on the tiles. King Howard turned around and gazed at the brown head in front of him, it definitely reminded him of someone.

" Ha..ha,ha" he laughed heartily but rather confused Denville,as she was now staring at him blankly. King Howard groaned in disapproval.

" Come on, don't just stand there, come give your husband a warm hug" he said and Denville flinched ' I should just run off' she thought as she lazily dragged her feet towards the king. " Hurry, this old man can be so impatient" he grimaced with open arms. Queen Denville thought she was walking into her own dreary land willingly.

It's true that she needed or maybe wanted to be called Queen, but this.... Staying in the arms of an old somebody, never crossed her mind, guess it all came with the acts, and she was sure that she needed no such muse

She paused abruptly, few inches from the king and leaned forward to hug him, the king infact drew her in and embraced her instead. His touch, his body, his scent...oh no, he smelt so old and musky " hummm, sire?" She squirmed pretending to be out of breath " I -i - can't - Brea - breathe"

" Oh" he said and released her.

Now, that was one violent hug, she needed none other, except for a long warm scented bath. " I hope you slept well, my queen?" He inquired grinning at her. Denville stared at him aloofly, she was starting to have her regrets.

" Oh, my night - it was quite splendid" of course it was, since she escaped spending it with him " I learnt you were preoccupied and so skipped our first - uhm - night together" she added and watched him walk into the inner chamber.

" Yes I was, but I promy not to keep you waiting" he replied after sitting on one of the golden chairs " oh no!" Denville exclaimed, and suddenly realized the mistake she had made, since king Howard was now glaring at her. " I..uhm..." She paused and moved into the inner chamber as well " I meant to say that you shouldn't put pressure on yourself my king, your health matters most, and so you can keep me waiting as long as as you want" she said and smiled at her brilliant head inwardly

King Howard creased his brow " well, never heard of a bride who is to be bedded asking to be kept in waiting"

" I'm such a considerable wife then, aren't I sire?" She asked and even laughed strangely " he,he,hehe..he -i could infact wait till eternity" she said again, laughing more loudly. Yes, let's keep this up, she thought. He narrowed his gaze on her " you are quite bemusing"

" Oh, and a jester too? You are also quite lucky sire to have such a talent as your wife, ha,ha,hehe" she continued laughing and then hiccuped, a sign that shows she was pretending.

" Uhmm" he replied curtly not noticing the clear sarcasm in her tone. " Sit" he instructed " thank you, your majesty" she sat and adjusted her cloak.

Denville was once again caught up in the beauty of the room, she resumed back to gwaking bit not touching. Howard however, saw the interest in her eyes and smiled .

" You did love your chamber, my queen?"

" Yes, it is appealing to the eyes, infact the whole palace is" she replied after been defocused. His gaze fell on her dress for the first time. " I see my sister has made you wear her horrid color"

Denville looked at her dress again as if she wasn't aware that it was yellow. "Oh,yellow"

" She lives and dies for it" he spoke.

She shrugged slightly " it is a gorgeous color, I would pick it a million times. The royal grand princess Agnes is sure fashionable" she grinned almost choking on her own sarcasm, it seemed as though she had reached her limit. She sighed.

" You two would get along"

" You wish" she thought as she gritted her teeth and brushed off an invisible tear off her eye lash. " The Court lady says you arranged me maidens from each districts of Northernland. I sincerely appreciate that " she bowed slightly.

"Oh" Howard whispered " don't thank me" he added aloud.

" But I have a request to make, sire$. Denville said with serious expression. He sighed and squeezed his mouth " I promise it's nothing much" she insisted keenly.

" Go ahead"

Denville sat up and put on her adorable look, one which was irresistible, until, it suddenly vanished. What could the old man possibly make out of her secret weapon, it wasn't befitting of him to see, she thought and rather cleared her throat.

"I would like to send for my household maiden to serve in my court as well. She watched me till I grew"

"How old is she?" He asked

" She is twenty-seven years old, six years older than her lady"

" You aren't a lady anymore, you're her queen" he corrected while she twitched her mouth in a nonchalant attitude.

" She is loyal, I can vouch for her, although...." She paused and glared at him. He flinched a bit and awaited the word "although what?"

" Although--" she paused again and thought if she could trust him and tell him the entire truth, as expected his eyes were convincing, and she could almost thwart her whole plan. King Howard sensed something off and was immediately alerted on his seat.

" You do not seem to be convincing me of bringing her to the palace to serve in your court, my queen" he said staring intest at her. She narrowed her gaze on him in return and made to talk, when, stop! ' Christ, I almost fell for that' she thought and shook her head rigidly.

She rolled her eyes softly " she's an orphan"

" Oh" he muttered unsatisfying " I see. Took you two minutes to say just that" he added getting up clearly losing interest in further conversations. " I'm being reminded of how they died whenever I talk about it. It's a hard experience for us both" she said and rose to her feet as well.

He sighed and walked out to the outer chamber " her loyalty will be tested when she arrives" Denville, who was already following after him nodded affirmatively " of course sire. Thanks for your generosity" she bowed deeply " I shall take my leave then" she added and saw him nod, then walked out of the chamber.

" Whew!" She sighed and finally blew air on her forehead " what's next Ciellé?" She faced Ciellé who had been waiting for her at the entrance ever since she went into the chambers. " Your highness, it is time you visited the royal grand princess in her chambers.

Great! Just as she thought of freedom, it got blasted, could her day get any worse? She humphed and nodded. Just you wait, just this once I tell you Ciellé, I will never ever meet with that yellow freak! She thought almost aloud. Ciellé faced her, thinking she heard her say something

" Hummm Ciellé?" Denville smiled coyly " let's go see my sister-in-law!" She yelled and laughed weirdly, causing Ciellé to wonder what she was cooking up in her head.

ᕙ( ͡◉ ͜ ʖ ͡◉)ᕗ

Her nose cringed as she walked into the chamber, all she could do was to pinch her nostrils together. The smell of garlic filled the entire chambers and it made her tummy rumble. She grabbed Ciellé by her hand and turned around to run out.

" I'll puke if we do not get out of this place Ciellé - hurry!" She pulled and was as well pulled bacj " Ciellé!" She yelled in between her gritted teeth. Ciellé shook her head vigorously " No your highness, the royal grand princess knows of our presence already, it'll be rude of us to leave now"

" Haargh - what is she? A Svengali? Is she trying to perform some sort of hypnosis on me with the garlic aroma? I hate garlics!- oh, to think I was done with yellow" she smacked her head and turned around angrily

" We can be gone before her bath is over Ciellé, we'll just say something came up" Denville said staring vat Ciellé with pleadful eyes, forcing her to escape with her. " Your highness" Ciellé said softly and held her hands " you have to meet with the Royal grand princess now, it's tradition"

Denville finally surrendered and drew her hands out of Ciellé's.

" There is simply no point discussing my escape plan with you, cause with or without you, I'm leaving" she said and turned to leave.

" Your high-"

"Queen Denville, weren't you going to pay your respects?" A thin voice suddenly chipped in as a silhouette appeared behind her back. " Royal grand princess Agnes?" Denville muttered as she slowly whirled around,and, o my world! Denville gasped in horror. She moved closer to her and was tempy to touch her face.

" Did you take your bathe in a tumeric pond?" She suddenly shrieked, grimacing at the yellow fave in front of her " No ,I bet it's in a yellow paint- o my goodness!" She exclaimed smiling stiffly at the coloured face in front of her . She stole a quick glance at Ciellé and saw her chew her lip in disappointment.

" Oh!" Denville squirmed and bowed " greetings royal grand princess Agnes"

" Grand princess Agnes" someone corrected.

Denville looked up and saw the annoyance on her face, of course she had clearly heard the irritation in her voice as well " he-he" she chuckled strangely. " You do look beautiful with that face, grand princess" she added and grinned.

Princess Agnes humphed and touched her face proudly.

" Well of course I did take my bathe in tumeric extract" she sat and picked the cup of garlic tea before sipping it.

'Haaa.....that explains why you are looking so much like jaundice' Denville reasoned and smiled unconsciously. " You must really love my face, seeing how you're smiling while staring intensely at me - prrrr- you almost even touched my face"

'Says who?' Denville thought again and scoffed.

" You don't scoff at your elders" grand princess Agnes warned and dropped her tea furiously.

Denville cocked her head and sat as well "the grand princess must be mistaken as I never scoffed "you did!" Princess sneered sharply.

"Oh I didn't- I only sniffed" Denville replied calmly instead.

" You lie to your elders now-are you saying I am blind?" Princess Agnes yelled rising up to her feet. Denville rose as well " well am I not allowed to sniff again since a certain somebody is bent on ruining my olfactory nerve with garlics! - and I didn't think you were blind-do you put words in the queen's mouth now!" She breathed heavily and leered angrily and Ciellé just watched with crossed limbs.

Princess Agnes narrowed her gaze and thought on what to say for a moment "where are your manners?" Denville stepped closer almost hovering over her "do not question the queen, it is called ill-manners" she eyed her sophisticatedly and swept her cloak across her face " I shall take my leave, grand princess Agnes" said and nodded at Ciellé who immediately followed after her. On reaching the entrance she paused and turned around

" For your information grand princess Agnes- my manners are back in my village" she winked and walked away.

'Yeah! Scored one point!' she screamed in head and wriggled weirdly, as she walked through the corridor swaying victoriously.

Princess Agnes scoffed and dazed astonishly at the brown head that walked out of the chambers " Mulan!"

A court maiden immediately rushed out of the inner chamber and bowed " yes your highness"

" Did she say she left her manners back at her village?"

" Certainly" Mulan replied firmly.

" Oh" princess Agnes snorted " I see- then someone has to bring them back to her" she clenched her fist and suddenly burst into a hysterical laughter.