Strings Attached ✨

34. 'Mom'

Ruh~

A knock on the door interrupted our exchange.

I looked at him, signaling him that I was going to open the door.

As I opened it, an attendee stood infront of me.

"Yes?" I inquired.

"The queen mother has asked for you, her majesty." ....she spoke out, and bowed before taking her leave.

As she left, I turned to look at Agastya with a questioning glance.

He simply shrugged and asked me to go ahead. It was getting me nervous again, but, this time I decided to take control instead of just being afraid.

I went ahead, strolling down the hallways till I reached the queen mother's chamber. I raised my palm to knock at the door but it opened before I could do it.

"Come in." she said sternly. Her eyes were scrutinizing and made me feel arrested just with a glance.

I bowed slightly and entered, remembering to keep my posture straight while doing so.

She closed the door behind me.

I stood quietly waiting for her to begin, and she did.

" What did you even think you were doing? Thanking everyone for 'giving you a chance'? This isn't a caretaker job that you get a chance in. The throne is a matter of immense royalty and you talked about it like some trivial gamble. I'm utterly disappointed at your choice of words. If you're going to talk like the masses, the royalty wouldn't hold any significance."

Tears threatened to fall out of my eyes, but I held back. This needed to be addressed and my perspective needed to be known.

" I'm sorry, but I did what I thought to be appropriate. I understand that addressing the opportunity as a mere 'chance giving' might have lowered the image of the throne and I'm ready to do whatever it takes to restore that image."

I took a deep breath.

" But, I do not accept that my language was inappropriate by any means. Yes, it was indeed the language that the masses use, and that makes it more understandable. It makes them feel more connected to the throne and the crown that rules over them. This, according to me, should hold precedence over anything. You said that the language differentiates the royals from the masses. However, it is not clear to me why we desperately need to be different in some manner. What is wrong in just being one of the people? Just one that is chosen to rule over them but not any different than them. We all have the same anatomy."

I took one last pause before summing it up.

" I'm sorry if I'm defying you in any way, but, I'd like to hold the integrity of my thoughts in such matters."

I finished, and that had left her visibly stunned. She took a brief moment before she opened her mouth to speak, but closed it again. I stood at my place, matching her eyes and holding my ground.

In that moment, I really felt like the queen that I was to become for once. It felt nice.

She nodded once, very briefly.

" Then, if you've already decided how you want to carry this out then it seems I'm useless here." She said it in an odd tone. A tone that tried its best to hide its pain and asserted a dominance still.

And I realized what it was about. It was indeed the throne, and she was not ready to let it go yet. It was as if she'd lose all her powers all of a sudden and couldn't bear with it. It was evident that she'd thought about it before and had struggled to deal with it.