TILL MY SECOND LIFE

CHAPTER:7

Salvina Dasya walked through the corridors of the palace; she loved her new gown. It was beautiful and it matched her spotless skin. She was happy ... her wedding would be tomorrow; she will be the king's wife. She blushed and twirled around. She looked at her doll shoes and smiled widely. The king had a good taste in clothes and shoes, she liked it. She walked past the closed chamber with wild door patterns, she stepped back to gaze at the door. The patterns were those of an ivy plant and grape vines. Wow, what was the philosophy behind such a pattern?She narrowed her eyes, oh so it was talking about poisonous beauty. Inviting, beautiful but very dangerous. Oh, so that was it? That was easy to fathom. She turned to leave but someone grabbed her shoulder and pulled her into the room. She was in daze for a second, she blinked rapidly then coward immediately she saw who was standing in front of her. She lowered her head and bowed deeply.
"Greetings queen mother"
"Rise" the queen demanded and Salvina obeyed.
"I heard you will be wedded tomorrow?"
"Yes your highness" she answered obediently.
"How do you feel about it?"
"Of course am happy your highness, I would be the king's wife"
"The king's wife? You want to be just a wife to the king?"
"Yes your highness, handling state affairs is tiresome, it would be pleasant if he knows there is a wife to go back to after such a long and tiering day"
"Valiant kingdom needs a queen, not a king's wife!"
"I know your highness, that is why I will be his wife. A king is free to marry more than once, he can marry a queen. I will be his wife"
"If that is so, then we will have to cancel the wedding. We need a queen; the first wife is the royal queen. If you only want to be married as a wife, then it will be after we find a queen for Valiant Kingdom"
"I understand your highness"
"So, what is your decision?"
"I will do as you say queen mother Helina"
Helina smiled in satisfaction and waved her hand in air "Lift your chin my child, let me see your face"
Salvina obeyed but didn't look her in the eye.
"I didn't look at you closer than this the previous time I saw you. You are such a beauty ... you will sire beautiful prince and princesses for the kingdom no doubt"
The door opened; king Osbert walked in holding his sheathed royal sword in his right hand. He was confused to see Salvina in his mother's chamber. He knew she feared the queen mother. He approached her and pulled her behind him, in response, she clung onto his robes.
"You are behaving like mother hen, my son""I know you; do I really have a choice?" Osbert asked.
"I was getting to know her, she is such a beauty"
"Do not covet my pearl, mother" he warned playfully. The queen smiled motherly at her son.
"How are matters going?"
"The king of the south signed the peace treaty. We are in good terms now"
"That is a relief, you can now focus on preparing the wedding. I can't wait to see the queen ascend her throne"
"I thought you were not satisfied with my choice"
"I changed my mind, she pleased me. See now am out of bed. All well and healthy"
"Good then, can I take my wife with me now?"
"Go ahead" Salvina bowed to the queen and followed Osbert outside. They walked side by side to the garden at the back of the palace. Salvina sighed and finally let go of Osbert's cloth.
"Now you are letting go?"
"Your mother is scary" she simply said playing with flowers
"How scary?"
"Very scary, it is hard to talk to her. Her eyes are like hot daggers sinking into your flesh"
"Hold it, I can't catch up with the philosophy little one" Salvina knew he was just messing with her, she shook her head gently.
"I wish the world saw how wicked you are, they think you are some kind of deity sent from the sky"
"Am I evil?"
"You tease your wife even when she is freaked out like this" she answered pouting at him and walked off and sat in the grass. Osbert followed and sat beside her.
"You are not supposed to be in my sight the day before the wedding"
"Close your eyes, then" he pinched her nose till it turned pink, she rubbed it and slapped his shoulders.
"It is your fault why are you pinching my nose? I was going to hide but you seem to be my shadow, you can't even go a day without seeing me"
"Are you bragging?"
"What more can I do? The king fancies me"
"Wow, you must be lucky"
"Lucky? I had no idea he is such a baby, otherwise I wouldn't have walked into the lion's den"
"You already did" she didn't answer for some minutes, she was busy making a ring with grass. She plaited it with care then looked at Osbert.
"Give me your hand" He furrowed his brows but lent her his hand, she placed the ring in his hand.
"Are you proposing? But I already did months ago"
" that was you too now it's my turn... will you marry me, king Osbert?"
"Do you propose to any man?"
"You are not any man, you are my man" He blushed, she didn't seem to notice the beauty and weight of the words she had said. He smiled at her and stroke her hair.
"You are beautiful"
"One thousand and one"
"What?"
"Since I came to the palace, you have said that one thousand and one times"
"Did I?" he laughed at himself
"Then you must be very beautiful"
"One thousand and two" she grinned "Now, will you marry this beauty, King Osbert?"
"Do I have a reason not to?"
"As I thought" she responded proudly. "Now we can be silly together, lonely together, frustrated together, tired together, overwhelmed together and be happy together"
"Your mother did you wrong by educating you, you are too spoilt for your age"
"Who is spoilt? Me? No way ... I am turning sixteen next month"
"Spoilt"
"Come on, you think am a kid? Should I kiss you then?" His eyes widened and he scooted away from her, she laughed hard.
"Seems am not spoilt, am just informed. It is all the reading that made me know of a weapon of teasing a man who is about to fall in love with you!"
"Fall in love with you? Come on wife, do you think I will fall for you?"
"You are already struggling not to... am I wrong? Of course you wouldn't, answer... that is the third evidence."
"And the first, is?"
"Your eyes tell" she said nonchalantly and stood up running off. My eyes ...what was that, she must explain what she was saying.
"Hey, wife, explain, what is in my eyes?" he rushed after her, but her slim figure was to her advantage. She sprinted away like a hare back into her chamber. Osbert watched her back as she disappeared off, educating a child at a young age was not an entirely wise idea. She was spoilt ... and cute. He couldn't help but smile at himself.
"Your highness, does she flatter you that much?"
"I am surprised myself, she is cute" he said dreamily, he suddenly turned around. His body guard was smiling at him sheepishly. He cleared his throat awkwardly, and begun heading to his chamber.
"You will miss her, right? You know she will be gone for twenty-four months."
"does it have to be that long? A month is enough, right?"
"You also had to train for twenty-four months as well"
"It is annoying" he said with a pout walking into the chamber, he turned left and entered the study."Did you contact the merchants? Is the testimony the minister of trade affairs giving aligned with what is actually happening?"
"Yes, the testimonies are similar, but it seems like there is something in the dark"
"What exactly?"
"The amount of food that was required to be delivered to the refugee camp in the south was supposed to be fifty sacks in each of the eight carts, But the last two carts had forty sacks"
"Where did the others disappear to?"
"That is what the minister in charge of crime and justice is trying to find out. The detectives and the assistant general are also out there trying to figure things out"
"That is good" he sat down and pulled out a scroll and read through "Why does she have to go?"He wouldn't even go a minute without thinking about her?
"She needs to learn how to be queen and serve the people. Etiquette and how she should relate with everyone in the kingdom, your highness"
"But I can teach her!" The guard giggled, his highness has become so clingy. He was beaten to pulp.
"You are busy with state affairs your highness, let the female scholars and teachers handle this. You can't teach a woman how to behave yet you're a man!"
"I can't see any issue with how she is behaving right now, she is cute!" The guard cleared his throat awkwardly scratching the back of his neck. He wished he would be off duty too so he can go to his wife as well, his highness was not making things easy for him.
"I should go to her before she leaves!"
"You can't your highness" Osbert sat back looking at him with a confused gaze.
"Why?"
"You will wed her tomorrow, you should not meet until then ... the preparations are in progress ... you shouldn't be here either, the men are waiting for you on the other side. Actually, that is what I had come to tell you, your highness" the guard bowed slightly. Osbert, groaned stubbornly and almost stomped his feet like a child. The guard was only enjoying the free entertainment.
"Okay then, let's go"