19 On the day she was called chubby...

"So… what happened, Tia?"

A beautiful morning of spring when the flowers were blooming on the back of the Palace garden, the Queen had asked Tia to come over to her private studio. Her main purpose was to understand why Anne had pushed Collin into the pond. The little evildoer never told a word to anyone, not even when she was punished.

Queen Elisa remembered well that day. Anne was taking her usual walk with her 'darling' or so she liked to call little Henry when the Duke of Eylos' arrival was announced.

The King and her were also sharing a beautiful moment together walking in the garden while the tea party preparations were about to finish. Well, of course, the overprotective man, aka her husband, was following or more like spying the two little darlings. What a jealous man… sigh.

Then a regal man with golden beautiful eyes came to greet them. He was smiling gently while walking towards them. Then he bowed with such manners that he would leave in shame any princess.

However, Elisa had never liked the elder brother of her husband, she had always felt he was scheming something behind their backs, waiting for the right moment to attack. No one could be that perfect, or well mannered for nothing. She even knew that her husband also had some kind of apprehension towards his elder brother but he always avoided the topic.

"I don't know, Your Highness… they were talking alone and I was just following them from behind…"

"Why were they walking alone? Weren't they following Master Ives to the training camp?"

The Duke of Eylos didn't come alone, he brought with him his younger son, the little Collin. The smiling little boy that always followed his father even daring to imitate his manners.

They were about to begin the party so she let Anne accompany Collin for a while.

"Yes, Your Highness, but Master Ives left earlier. He had to oversee the training of the new recruits. He dismissed all the students for the day."

"Then… where did she and Collin went?"

"That…"

"Tell me, Tia."

"Princess was called to the tower to see Moira," Tia knew that something bad happened there, Collin had arrived later from changing clothes and Anne was 'tasting' Moira's cake… well, more like making Callum taste it first.

"Then…"

"Then… then Young Master Collin was a bit… was not that comfortable with Master Callum and little Moira around…"

"What? What did he say?"

"No… nothing, is just that his words were… I could not understand them, Your Majesty… but I felt… I felt they were disrespectful and at the same time… not."

Tia didn't know what to say. Indeed, Collin was speaking in riddles, difficult to understand if he had a smiling and innocent expression, but the feeling was definitely not right.

Tia thought that Collin was a little angel, with his golden eyes and hair from the first moment she saw him. His smile was always cheerful and his face adorable and kind. It could warm anyone's heart… but something was not right. The way he said those words was in no way right… but… how to explain.

The confusion on Tia's face was understandable. Elise knew the cunningness of nobility, if they wanted to twist words and send a hidden insult, their skill had to be honed over the years to not give anyone a chance to retort them.

The little boy had the best teacher of them all. It could only be expected that any child would be left in a state of confusion… well… cough… not every child.

"And… Anne, what did she say?"

"She… she said nothing."

"What?"

"She looked as confused as me."

"What did she do?"

"She smiled at Moira's cake, then Knight Thomas came to announce the start of the party. We left with him."

The Queen was now beginning to understand but at the same time not… she could be a bit certain that whatever that little boy said to Moira and Callum incented Anne to push him into the pond, but why… why did she have to do it in front of everyone? This was not her style… or maybe, yes, she wanted to be seen as an evildoer, though that never happened.

Elise was thinking hard about the intentions of the little girl and many complicated reasons came to her mind. A headache was coming her way.

There must be something… something else.

"Tia, do you remember what did Collin say?"

"Yes, Your Highness, he said a small phrase, something like he admired the princess's skill and nobility in fostering faith in obstinate and useless cases. Then he picked the fork to take a bite of a piece of cake but… but he never ate it. And…"

The Queen was a bit angry, she could imagine the face of Anne, now she was feeling a bit regretful for punishing the little evildoer.

"And…"

"We were called to the party, Master Collin was called for a bit a moment, and when he returned, Princess Anne was already waiting on a table eating her fruit tart and…" Tia gulped only reminding the scene. "Collin came to the table and took the last piece of the fruit tart. He said he wanted to help the Princess show humility as she looked quite healthy and… and prosperous. But…"

'He called her fat,' Tia wanted to convey on her eyes.

'He called her fat,' the Queen now knew the reason behind.

"Call for the doctor and chefs right away!"

The Queen will never allow some golden fish to insult her little evildoer. However, it was true, she was getting a bit… chubby.