oO0Oo
Day One: 1991, Genovian Palace
It's a nice normal day for the queen as she held up her tea cup and walked towards the balcony, trying to enjoy the sunrise as she knew exactly what this day meant to her people, and to everyone else in general.
She took a sip of her tea as she stared at the rising run between the infamous lumps on the horizon of eastern Genovia. Trying not to mourn over the marriage she mindlessly entered barely thirty-seven years ago.
It's like avocado….
If unripe, it's awful.
If ripe, then less awful.
Queen Clarisse Renaldi sighed as she shook her head, You're being too poetic.
She looked at the ring around her finger and gave herself a bitter coy smile, But it's true though…
At the very corner of her eyes, she caught a glimpse of someone she never saw around before. Someone new tending to her roses with bare hands and some garden tools shining through the first rays of the sun. Someone skillfully cutting a withering rose out of her shining red bush, surprising her with his successful prevention with the thorns.
At this moment, observing his clothing and admiring his agenda. The queen no longer knew where to be surprised. To his unusual visit, his security attire or that she is staring rather longingly to a he.
He, that is not her husband, nor her brother or anyone in relation.
He, who is a complete stranger in her address book, her knowledge and life.
"Your majesty?" a voice called as she blinked away to the mysterious man and turned to her newly appointed maid, Olivia.
"Yes, Olivia?" she asked, trying to regain her composure. However, she's not quick, nor does her maid have any filter at the moment.
"Is everything alright, ma'am?" Olivia asked as she fixed her employer's bed, unaware of the personal and hard question she dropped at her queen.
Queen Clarisse felt glad that Olivia's not facing her at the moment because if she is, she will see the perfect calm facade directly fall as the queen hastily thought of a witty remark to close any other questions.
"We are at a running palace, Olivia. Whatever time it is, alright and everything will never cross positive paths."
Olivia turned to smile and squeak a small apology as Queen Clarisse turned to hide her small triumph, seeing the mysterious man again.
"Olivia," she called as she kept observing the man tending her roses, "I don't remember Vincent having another man at his security unit."
Olivia walked nearer to her queen out of the balcony, peeking at whoever her queen stares at with a respectable distance as she spoke, "He didn't, your majesty. He works for the secret service."
"Is there some new security installation or something that he's required to do intense gardening at my personal lawn?"
Olivia silenced her snort and smiled her giggles as she folded the bedsheets and replaced them with new ones, "No, ma'am. But he's here to do the usual."
Queen Clarisse remained staring at the secret service guy, still clueless for his agenda. But she won't tell Olivia of course.
"I see.." she mumbled and raised her eyebrows when she saw a certain thing she knew she'd seen before.
That bronze cufflink.
For sure there are a lot of identical cufflinks but she's certain there is no duplicate for the one he wore. Frankly, she's wondering how it landed there on his ensemble.
"Your majesty?" Olivia asked again as the queen turned to her.
"Yes Olivia?"
"Will you have your breakfast here or with his majesty down stairs?" she asked.
"Is his majesty alone down there?"
"He's with Vincent and Greg, ma'am."
Greg? That's new.
"And I presume this Greg is…. someone new to our security team?"
"He's the new head of our secret service, ma'am. He's here with his second, Joseph." Olivia stated as she lowered her head, avoiding to get curious for the slight confusion in his mistress' gaze.
"So he's also new to the team." The queen pointed out as she left the balcony and gave Olivia the tea cup as she changed her shoes and picked her scarf, "I'll have a small amount of breakfast in my office and I would like a word with Joseph."
"Joseph, ma'am?" Olivia asked.
Queen Clarisse left her wardrobe and looked at herself in the mirror, "He's parading himself cutting withering roses out of my bushes, I would like to thank him for his extra efforts."
Olivia nodded and curtsied as she left her majesty's room in a haste. The queen soon followed in calculated and calm steps as she was greeted by some staff passing by.
Holding the knobs of her office, she plastered a smile and opened the door as Marina, her assistant, and Charlotte, Marina's assistant, greeted her with a room full of flowers, chocolates and cards.
"Good morning ladies!" she greeted as Marina quickly walked to her side with two bouquets.
"These came from the Prime Minister and Lord Berlwook, ma'am. Prince Pierre sent a small one in a vase so we put it on your desk and Prince Philippe sent boxes of chocolates that are under the desk, ma'am. Lady Sophia would like to ask if you are coming to the ball this evening and the chef would like to know what will happen to the pigs sent by the farmers for her majesty's table."
"Send everyone my deepest appreciation for their lovely gifts and tell Lady Sophia that it will depend on my night schedule. Are the pigs dead or alive?"
"Ten dead meat, ma'am." Marina said and sneezed as she arranged the flowers on the side tables of her majesty's office.
The queen sat behind her desk and admired the new flowers from her son and said, "Roast five and send them down to the local festival. Two will be for the staff so it's up for the staff what to do with three dead pigs. Two will be for his majesty's banquet while the remaining one will be for dinner or if preserved, shall be cooked in the near future."
Marina jotted down the queen's decision as Charlotte finished sorting out the letters and gave them to the queen.
"Your majesty," Charlotte called as she nervously spoke, "I- I saw somebody cutting roses out of your garden."
The queen looked at her aid's assistant and smiled, "Thank you for reminding me, Charlotte. Uh- Marina?"
"Yes ma'am?"
"I would like to have a word with Mr. Joseph from the secret services." the queen spoke as a knock came to the door, revealing Priscilla with her majesty's breakfast.
Marina nodded and curtsied as she grabbed Charlotte with her and they left the room.
"Thank you, Priscilla." Queen Clarisse smiled as the maid curtsied and left.
Another knock came after some good five minutes as the queen dabbed the napkin on her jaw, already done with her first meal.
"Enter."
"I was quite curious why he didn't accept the promotion and remained on his rank." Greg said as he and the palace's head of security, Vincent, left the dining hall.
"He must be still crestfallen to Chris' death. Tell me, is it true what they say? That Chris and Joseph had been together?" Vincent asked.
Greg pinched the bridge of his nose and smirked, "I thought palace staff never gossip?"
"Never in the plain sight of our employers. Now spill what you know."
"It's never impossible," Greg spoke as he peeked to the gardens, "Where did Joe go?"
Brandon, her majesty's dog, passed by followed by a distressed Felix.
"Hey, Felix… where's Joe?" Vincent asked.
"I last saw Olivia and Marina talking to him. It seems Her majesty caught him doing one thing nobody dared to do while visiting the palace." Felix said as he struggled to hold the queen's akita.
Melanie, her majesty's poodle, suddenly came out of nowhere and ran out to the gardens. Brandon ran to her as Felix released the leash, letting the dogs run around the bush maze.
"Anyways, welcome to the palace! Greg- isn't it?"
"Thanks," Greg said and looked around as he breathed deeply, "Her Majesty wouldn't fire him, won't she?"
Vincent and Felix exchanged looks as Felix shrugged and ran to stop the dogs from spreading mud.
"I don't think so." Vincent said as he and Greg walked towards the direction of the queen's office, "Her majesty is usually very open minded."
"So her majesty's not that cold-hearted after all…" Greg sighed in relief as Vincent smiled and shook his head.
"I said she's open minded. When it comes to her other assets.. that- I can't really say," Vincent said as he looked around and whispered, "Come on, Greg. You've got to know something about Chris and Joe."
"What is it with their relationship that almost everyone, except for the king, asked me about those two?"
"If you really know less than I do, here's what I know. You see, Chris was the king's distant cousin and he was once betrothed to the queen. But he came out so the queen wed the king instead." Vincent said as they turned to a hall, "Remember that mass forced resignation of the palace staff?"
"Exiled from Genovia, because of security leakage and stealing issues I heard." Greg said.
Vincent nodded as he spoke, "Well it's partly true. Before the attempt murder of Prince Pierre the then Head of Security, housekeeper and butler found out the separate extramarital affairs of their majesties and threatened to use it against them. After the attack of Prince Pierre, the personal investigators concluded that the HOS leaked the details and countless abuse and salary cutting issues were opened. So half of the palace staff were forced to resign and be exiled due to lack of loyalty to the monarchy."
"And the extramarital affairs?" Greg asked, "Their majesties managed to keep it here while also replacing unloyal staff?"
"If the people discovered that they're responsible for the attempt on the prince, no one would believe any word they say and their majesties would be seen as merciful for just sending them out instead of executing them." Vincent said as he smirked, "It's a cheap shot but as I heard to those who survived, no one would ever want to see Her Majesty crossed."
"Just like what my grandfather used to say, 'Thou shall never anger a woman who is silent all times. Thou shall respect women because like men, they're all the same, but only better.'" Greg said as they stopped in front of an unguarded door.
Marina exited the opposite door and squealed when she saw the two men, "Oh hello you two!"
"Happy Valentine's Marina," Vincent said as Greg raised his eyebrows.
"Marina?"
"We never greet coworkers at work," Marina smirked at Vincent and turned to the other, "What a surprise, Greg. How's Bulgaria?"
"Tough training," Greg smiled, "You look well now."
"Got a tough training here myself," Marina said as she looked at the queen's door, "Oh god, I fear for his life."
"Who?" both men asked as Charlotte left the same door Marina came from.
"Lady Spencer called to ask Her Majesty if she's coming to the festival." she said as she looked at the door, "Poor Joe."
"What did you say to Lady Spencer?" Marina asked as Charlotte looked at her and said:
"I told her that Her Majesty is busy…"
"Why would you say that?" Marina said as she hurried back to the assistants' room.
Charlotte looked confused as she turned to Vincent and Greg, "Is there something wrong to what I said?"
"To both of us there isn't. For Marina, there's always wrong with whatever you say." Greg said he turned from the door to her, "What's a butterfly doing around the palace?"
"Oh… I forgot. I'm Charlotte, Marina's assistant." the young aide smiled as she struck her hand out, "You must be the Protection Force's head."
"Finally someone who calls us by our given name." Greg smiled back as he shook her hand, "Greg Wilson, Charlotte- or Char? Lolly?"
"Oh- just Charlotte please." she smiled, "I'm not very fond of being called with a nickname."
"Ooh- okay," Greg said as he looked from Charlotte to the queen's door, "How long has Joseph been there?"
"More or less thirty minutes," Charlotte mumbled as she sighed, "I felt so guilty now."
"Why?" Vincent asked.
Charlotte sighed and turned to him, "I told her majesty that someone's cutting roses off her garden."
"I assure you, Charlotte.. It's not your fault." Greg comforted as he awkwardly patted her back.
"But I assure you it is when he got sacked." Charlotte breathed, "If that's even possible… though I think it is because she's a queen."
"An ordinary man would leave shitting his pants," Vincent muttered, "But Joe's no ordinary man. So cheer up, dear girl. He'll be fine."
"I asked you where you got those cufflinks," Clarisse said as fumbled the edges of the paper she recently signed, "Don't make me repeat it thrice."
"What is it with my cufflinks that piqued her majesty's curiosity?" Joseph asked as he observed the strong walls around her shook violently.
Of course that's a metamor to what's really happening inside her head but he knew he touched a nerve so despite her calm poker face, he assumed that's what really happened.
And he assumed right.
Somehow, innocent questions easily trigger and take off that queen persona, to reveal a woman wanting to love and be loved back.
"She needs to feel loved, even for just a day each year…"
Joseph blinked to shake off the words spoken by a dead man's, dead lover's last breath.
"Why are you cutting almost dead roses out of my bush?"
"They need to be away from those who aren't dead yet," he answered without missing a beat as he looked at the withering roses, "Withering is not contagious but it affects the whole. Same applies to a human heart."
"Are we going anywhere with this pointless unrequited flirting?"
"Wrong question, ma'am." he said as she raised her eyebrows and looked at him.
She never met a man who answered her like that before. Not her sons, not her sister, not her husband nor Chris would dare to straightforwardly tell her she's wrong.
No one believed she would ever be because if she is, her flaw is still justified.
Joseph felt so satisfied seeing her face show tidbits of emotion he knew deeply reflects on her mind. Chris was right after all…
….. he will indeed enjoy spending time with female monarchs, especially this monarch.
"This pointless unrequited flirting is labeled in a wrong way. It should be an unrequited life educating."
"I require no life education from a person who touches what isn't theirs and uses things specifically made for someone else." the queen spoke as she crossed her legs and rested both her hands at the edges of her table, "And letting you get through that unrequited path will never do anything good for anyone."
"It will if you joined me, ma'am." Joseph spoke as he looked at the cufflinks, "And thus the path is no longer unrequited."
"Why would I get through something I don't want to?"
"You're not getting through something you don't want to, ma'am. You are getting through something you skillfully avoided for many years."
Second time, she thought as she raised her eyebrow once again, How dare he…
Joseph hid his smile as her facade slowly crumbled down under his eyes, "And to answer your question, it's simple. Because I told you so."
A/N: WHAAAAAA I am starting another story! Again! Okay, I know I have two other stories in this fandom but please bear with me and my unstable imagination. Inspiration hits me when I'm hungry and recently poverty strikes so here I am! Anyways, I hope you enjoy! This will be- originally- just a small quick story for Valentine's and I hope to keep it that way. Please r&r if you'd like me to continue- I would anyway but I'll try to be more 'quicky'. Happy Valentine's Day everyone!