Mia had been giving Clarisse the "evil eye" all week. When they were working together in the office, Clarisse would be explaining something important and Mia would just sit there, pretending to be looking out the window. When they were seated at the table for dinner, Mia would just stare evilly as she ate. In the evenings, she would spend her time talking to everybody else but her.

Clarisse was being stubborn too. She tried apologizing once, but that was only because Joseph had forced it out of her.

It was the next day and Clarisse was to give her speech to Genovia. She knew pretty much what things she was going to say, but wasn't quite sure if they were the right things. She planned to tell them a bit of the truth mixed in with a bit of the twisted-truth. She had told Joseph two days before to invite the press and the entire population of Genovia to attend the meeting at the town square.

There was a large stage set up on the side, which she would give her speech from.

Joseph and Mia walked on stage first and sat down in their allocated chairs. Clarisse was waiting backstage, still trying to decide if she was going to tell a mixture of truth and untruth or if she was going to speak straight from the heart.

"Announcing Clarisse Renaldi, former Queen of Genovia!"

Clarisse couldn't move. She was nervous for the first time in years. She listened as her name was called again and again, but still did not move. Joseph was getting suspicious, so he ran backstage to see what was the matter.

"Clarisse, my dear. What's wrong? Why aren't you out there?"

"I can't. I can't go out there and lie to them," she spoke with such hurt in her voice, "They've spent most of their lives looking up to me and respecting me."

Joseph tried to think of something to say which would both comfort her and give her a gleam of hope, "Then don't. Don't lie to them. Tell them the truth. Tell them everything. Tell them how we found ourselves accidentally falling in love. Tell them how we bought happiness and meaning into each other's lives. Tell them how good it felt to finally kiss the only person you've ever loved for the first time. I'll be right here beside you."

She smiled as he kissed her forehead and held her hand. Her name was announced once more and they came out together and walked to the center of the stage where the microphone was. They stood in silence for a minute until she spoke.

"My fellow Genovians, I have summoned you all here on this wonderful autumn day to talk to about love.

In 1962 I met a man and married him a week later. You remember my husband, Rupert."

"KING RUPERT, MAY HE REST IN PEACE!" The crowd chorused.

"You all saw Rupert as a loyal and loving king, father and husband, but I only saw him as a king, a father and a friend. Rupert and I were never in love like most of you thought; we were merely two friends who played happy families in the public eye. We shared very little intimacy and spent hardly any time alone together. I would be lying if I said we didn't get along well, there was fondness there but that was all. I felt empty and unhappy for years and often pondered the reason for my existence. I needed to be fulfilled.

May I ask anyone who has ever been in a loveless relationship to raise their hand?"

A few people did.

"Keep your hand up if that relationship involved marriage."

Many people put their hands down.

"And is it really a happy way to live?"

The people shook their heads and talked among themselves until Clarisse asked for silence.

"In 1967, I met a wonderful caring man with whom I fell in love with and believe it or not, married 37 years later."

The people talked among themselves again, after realising she was talking about Joseph.

"He made me feel special and needed. He showed me why life was worth living. He bought happiness and fulfilment into my life and for that, I am truly grateful. Now, It is true that he and I did have an affair while I was still married, but I feel that it was well worth while, because I was happy for the first time in years."

She kissed Joseph and the whole crowd started talking to each other again.

"Excuse me, I haven't finished yet. I haven't gotten to the matter of the abortion. To clear things up, yes, Joseph and I did sleep together during my marriage to King Rupert and yes, I did fall pregnant from it.

I had a hard time deciding what to do about it, but decided that in order to save my family and country from humiliation, I would to give it up. After that, I told Joseph that our relationship was to be strictly business. He wasn't too happy because he wasn't sure what he had done wrong; he didn't know about the child, you see.

It was the best-kept secret in Genovia.

At this point, Ladies and Gentlemen, I would like to ask you all for your forgiveness. If I could earn your forgiveness, I would feel much happier."

They were hesitant and Clarisse was getting worried, "Joseph," she whispered, "What do I do? I don't know what else to say!"

Mia noticed that her Grandma was distressed, so she swallowed her pride and stepped up to the microphone, "People, what my Grandmother is trying to say is that if she can give up on the only man she ever loved just to make her country happy, then her country should be able to give up their love of being angry at her and forgive her for making that one mistake. She was your loyal queen for over 42 years and now that you've found out one dark little secret from her past, you're turning your back on her. She would never have done that to you. She wouldn't hold a grudge against you if she found out your darkest secret. How many people have ever done something so horrible that they wish they could take it back? All I ask is that you forgive her and make her feel as welcome as she has made you feel over the past years."

One person in the crowd started clapping. The rest then started cheering aswell, "Cla-risse! Cla-risse! Cla-Risse!"

Clarisse had tears streaming down her cheeks and a big smile on her face. Mia stepped down and ran into her arms.

"Thankyou, my dear."

"You're welcome, Grandma."

Joseph (feeling left out) joined in on the embrace, and then they all walked to the front of the stage, hand-in-hand.

Clarisse was glad when everything went back to normal, and she felt on top of the world, once again.

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The End.

Thankyou to all who have reviewed this story. I enjoyed writing it and this last chapter took me about 2 nights (4hrs or so) to type, because I was having trouble with Clarisse's speech.

Pretty soon, I will write a sequelish kind of story but it's not really a sequel because it's just a slightly more detailed and changed version of Clarisse's story (as asked).

Yeah, so thanks for reading and keep an eye out for more in the future…I might start writing it now, actually.