Notes: I'm back as soon as I promised. Let's jump right into the chapter to find out about Regina's plan.
Robin muttered to himself when he was stuck in the middle of the forest. "Foolish Robin! As if you've never seen a woman as beautiful as her? Are you really that stupid?"
A voice echoed in his mind. Of course, you have never seen a woman as beautiful as her!
Despite his desperation, he reluctantly accepted this fact and looked at where Regina had been standing a few seconds ago. He could picture her black hair, her chocolate eyes, her smile in his mind. He could smell her as if she had never been gone, as if she was still there. He slowly picked up the piece of cloth she had just thrown on the floor, and looked around to remember the road he had come.
He wasn't sure how much time had passed, but hours later, thanks to his sharp memory, he was able to find Will's house. The feeling of regret he had felt along the way was instantly gone, too. Now that he was safe, he could go back to enjoying the meeting with her.
"Robin! Where have you been? It's evening." His friend, who saw him, was alarmed. He probably thought something had happened to him after all these hours. It did happen, actually, but it was a good one.
"You told me the Enchanted Forest was dangerous, not what's in it." He was gasping as he slumped into the seat. He was exhausted.
"Do you always do your own thing? You should have listened to me instead of wasting your time with wordplay. Tell me what happened?"
He replied to his authority. "I ran into someone in the woods. She had a broken wrist. I helped her and carry to her home. Then she magically healed herself and left me there. That's what happened." She told it as if it were nothing, but it was perhaps the most important event of his life, he just kept it to himself for now.
"There aren't many people who can cast spells around here, Robin, do you know her name?" A wave of suspicion began to spread.
"Regina." If Regina had heard, she'd have thought she'd never met anyone who pronounce her name more eloquently than him.
"Regina? The queen Regina?!" The doubt in his voice gave way to fear. "As soon as you set foot on this land, I appreciate you finding the worst way to get yourself in trouble. How do you look so normal?
"Dude, I'm glad you appreciate my talents, but I can't do the same for your prejudice. She wasn't a queen, she didn't go to palace. She was perfectly normal except that she was the most beautiful woman I've ever seen."
"I'd say you were lucky you didn't meet the queen, but if you're fascinated by the beauty, I don't think you'll be happy about it." Will said, mocking his friend when he finally relaxed.
"If she like you said, why are you so afraid of her?
"Behind every beauty there is no flower garden, Robin. Behind that woman's beauty is a hell."
"I don't understand anything you're saying." Robin rolled his eyes. "I'm disappointed that you believed the rumors spread to bring down a powerful woman. As far as I know, Queen Regina rules the Enchanted Forest, right?"
"It's true, the king is old now, he has left the management to the queen for a while. She takes care of many things. There are a few points that you're actually right. I've never heard of anyone harmed by the queen, on the contrary, the people's every wish is met. Nevertheless, there is something about her, Robin. No one can explain, but something that will make everyone fear her. Try not to make her angry while you are in the palace, I want to find my friend in front of me when I see you again."
"Your worries are unfounded, my friend. I'm sure we won't have a problem. I don't even think the queen will deal with me." Oh, he was so wrong about that.
The queen watched her reflection in the mirror that adorned the wall of her chamber. She couldn't see the gleam that Snow said had illuminated her eyes. What she saw in the dark orbs was just a vengeance fire. Knowing that she was running out of time, she left this topic for later and waved her hand gracefully in front of the mirror. A face vaguely appeared in the purple color of her magic.
"I'm looking for a shepherd named David, he is seeing Snow. I want to know everything about him." The face disappeared from the screen as soon as the velvet voice commanded.
A minute later, the mirror reappeared, and he bowed his head respectfully. "Your Majesty, the man you are looking for is David Nolan." On the surface of the mirror, a blond man was seen working in the dirt in his small garden.
"His father died when he was young, he lives with his mother. They only have a farm, they barely make a living."
"Only this?" Her furrowed eyebrows matched her flaming eyes.
The mirror knew that things wouldn't go well for him when his queen wasn't satisfied, if he could, he would add meaning to the man's ordinary life and would like to prove that he was worthy of his master. "Sorry, your majesty."
The queen didn't have time to vent her anger when the door knocked softly. She shouted sullenly as she turned the mirror back to its ordinary shape and walked to the center of the room. "Come in!"
Her personal guard, Graham, entered and bowed before her. "You commanded me, your majesty."
"I'm going to give you a task, Graham." She said as she is approaching him. "Be careful, no one should know. Not even the king."
"You know you can count on me, my queen." Right, she trusted Graham. But since the list of people she could trust consisted of only three people, and the man was the last on that list, she still felt compelled to warn him.
"I want you to watch Snow White, she's seeing a shepherd. I want to know even the breath they're taking. She's going to meet him soon. Follow her, then come to me."
After Snow left his stepmother's side, he swept away to meet David. She exited the palace very carefully, checking behind her, sure she wasn't being followed, but what she didn't know was that Graham was way better than her.
Having successfully worked out the plan, Regina couldn't wait to take her next step. She wanted everything to happen at once, for her stepdaughter to writhe in pain as soon as possible. But good things take time, After 12 years of patience, such a short time didn't matter to her.
Still, just sitting and waiting was not an action for her. Let her stepdaughter cry into her lover's arms, let her guard gather information for her. Meanwhile, she was going to confuse her husband, who was walking in the garden.
"Did you talk to Snow? Did she have a loved one?" He wrapped his arm around her slender waist as they were walking.
"I talked with her." Regina stopped, and taking a step back and breaking free from the king's arms. "She will meet the prince, she respects your decision."
Just as she knew from the king's pleased expression that they were going to continue this conversation, Regina's eye caught Graham, who was walking through the woods into the garden. Her savior was approaching them. She slipped out of her husband's focus and turned to her guard.
"My king, my queen ..." He gave a gentle greeting.
"Looks like there's something in the woods today that attracts you all." The old man said.
The fact that he was so obsessed with things made Regina want to roll her eyes, but she didn't. She was completely on her guard, wondering what news he was bringing.
"Our Queen had sent me on a mission, Your Majesty." He turned to Regina. "I brought the bird, my queen."
"Bird?" The king asked.
She wiped her sly smile from her face before turning back to the poor(!) man who had no idea of any of her plans. "Graham caught a bird for me."
Graham took off his backpack and held it carefully in his hands. He handed the little cage with a white bird inside to the queen. Regina gazed at the bird with admiration as she wrapped her graceful fingers in the thin wire. She realized that the man beside her was watching the little animal with the same expression. The two admiring glances had a very important difference from each other. The man admired the beauty of the bird. The woman, on the other hand, was fascinated by the fact that its fate was in her hands, inside its cage.
"A very elegant bird." Leopold said. With a sudden thought in mind, he moved closer to the cage in his wife's hand. "It looks like Snow."
Regina laughed at the analogy. Even a broken clock was right once a day.
"I listened to some needs of the people while coming, Your Majesty, I will convey them if you are available."
"Let's get it done now, Graham. It wouldn't be right to keep the public waiting." She smiled. Couldn't wait any longer.
"Let's get to the real bird." Regina said in a whisper to Graham when they were far from the king. "What happened?"
"They met in the forest, my queen. The princess told the man that the king wanted to marry her off. They talked about an escape plan, but Snow White was not very positive about it. She believes you will help."
It didn't matter what Snow or the shepherd thought. After all, it was what she wanted. There was only one thing the Queen was interested in. "Was she sad?"
Graham knew that the queen disliked neither the king nor his daughter, and although he didn't know what her plan was yet, she was clearly enjoying herself, which he didn't find odd. "Too much, Your Majesty. She cried all the time."
"Where is she now? Has she returned to the palace?"
"She was going to her room." Graham replied.
Regina left him there and entered from the imposing gate of the palace, not in a rush for anything. She had waited twelve years. That revenge would be taken slowly and savored.
She would have danced happily if she wasn't embarrassed, she felt happy for the first time in a long time. She could never have imagined that today would be this beautiful, destroying Snow's happiness was even more wonderful than she thought.
She reconsidered her plan as she climbed the stairs, everything was going flawlessly. Snow was going to have a marriage she didn't want, just like herself, and she would leave the kingdom. She was also planning to cast a spell on the prince she was going to marry and destroy all his good qualities. She would turn him into the person who would make the princess the most unhappy.
She still hadn't made a decision about getting rid of the king. If Henry wasn't involved, she would've ripped out the man's heart and turned it to dust without hesitation. Unfortunately, her son loved his father very much. Would he be able to endure this pain? When she thought of her own father, realized that she missed him so much.
Deciding to think about Leopold later, she focused on her mother, who enlarged her by pressure. The woman who took away her childhood, youth, her whole life; killed the man she fell in love with and her father... The last time she saw her and her collaborator sister Zelena was ten years ago. She knew they lived in misery. She told the king that they were dead and sent them both to the farthest corners of the kingdom from her. From time to time, Graham would check and report to Regina that their life was not going well.
When she came to Snow's room, she was pulled out of his thoughts and knocked on the door slowly and entered. She expected a sudden reaction, but her pounce on her was more than she had expected.
"Regina, please tell me you convinced my father." She said with her teary eyes. It was clinging to her stepmother's hands.
"Come, dear. Let's sit down and talk." She sat her down on the chair.
"Something bad happened, I know." Snow said, understanding Regina's sad face. Had she seen her real face, she would have thought she would marry with David tomorrow.
"Your father wants you to marry the prince he sees fit. If you resist, he will kill the shepherd boy." She said coldly. Maybe she shouldn't have said it so abruptly and directly, but no one had gotten her used to Daniel's death, it all happened in a flash. So it was completely comfortable.
"B-But..." Snow started to cry even more, almost screaming, and her words were becoming more and more meaningless.
Regina wanted to erase that voice from her mind. She didn't know whether she was torturing her or herself. She had spent almost all day taking care of this girl and his father, and she missed her morning walk in the woods so much. And maybe Robin...
"Enough!" She said sternly. This anger was not for Snow, it was for herself. She wanted to stop thinking about him.
"Regina?" Snow turned her teary eyes at her, cowering back in fear as she thought she was shouting at her.
"I did not tell you." She said gently. "Snow, I need you to calm down now."
It was time to do the magic. Without thinking for a moment, she raised her hand above her head. Her fingers traced a path through her black hair. "You will forget I told you this, it will remain your own thoughts in your mind. You will not go against your father and accept this marriage, even the worst situations in your life. You will have no objection and no way out for anything. Do you understand me, Snow?"
Snow took a deep breath, blinked, and nodded slightly. When she regained consciousness, she wiped her tears and smiled bitterly.
"Come on, dear, let's go tell your father you want to meet the prince."
Finally, the bird got into the cage...
Notes: Yees, we learned her plan, what do you think? Will Regina be successful?
Next episode Robin is coming, we'll see what happens.
Until then, take care of yourself. 😍
