Her Life with the Prince (Completed)

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Queen Eva's portrait was one of the biggest and most beautiful pictures inside the palace. It was located in the main hallway on the second floor, but you could see it immediately once you entered the main door on the first floor.

I was always glancing at her image, but not that attentive, unlike for the past week since Katherine told me about the mysterious death of her. Including her relatives, Lady Sarah and their families.

What was it to me? I did not know. Something inside me wanted to know why or how. Or was it really she was killed by his husband, late King Henry? The rumor about the real cause of her death was not new, however, it was different when someone elaborated to you the story. The story behind that rumor.

I took a deep breath, while observing and admiring the paint in front of me. Queen Eva had eyes like the sky. If you were going to look at her, you could see first her blue eyes, how they were perfectly made. Her blonde hair was a light shade, almost white. But she looked young in this picture, so I doubted that she was old enough to have white hair. Therefore, it was the natural color of her hair. Her thin pink lips had a small smile.

She wore a white ancient gown and there was a crown on her head. Green was her background. I realized that King Gregory got nothing from her features. Even the siblings of His Majesty. On the lower left corner of the painting, 'Queen Eva' was written and below it was the signature of, possibly, the painter.

"Let's go?" Katherine popped out somewhere, and I almost jumped in surprise.

Touching my chest, I said, "You scared me!"

"Sorry," she grinned, "You're thinking so deep that you didn't notice I'm already here."

I looked at the portrait again over my shoulder, "I'm really curious about Queen Eva."

She sighed and tapped my shoulder. "I have a feeling that it was my liability," I stared at her with wrinkled forehead, "I shouldn't tell it to you if only I knew you'll become that obsessed."

"I'm not obsessed, Kath," I defended and shook my head, "I'm just having a feeling that there is something wrong with her."

"With her?" she echoed my last words.

"With her, you know," I lowered my voice, "Death."

Katherine gasped and looked around, "Shirley, you're stress or something. I think, we better get going now, so we could finish our paperwork early." She was like that since last week. Since we talked about Lady Sarah and Queen Eva's connection. When I was talking about Queen Eva, she might change the topic or never paid attention to me for the next hours. She was avoiding the topic, and the look on her face was telling me that she was regretting all she said to me.

I just nodded, and dismissed the questions forming in my head. We walked down the stairs. She was talking about something, but I did not pay attention because I glanced back to the portrait. What have they done to you, Your Majesty?

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Katherine and I went to a bank near the palace to credit our remittance with the respective accounts of our families. Her family was in Manila, while mine was in Chicago. We entered the glass door of the bank after the guard greeted and inspected us.

We filled up a form of deposit. Katherine taught me what to write, even though I had common sense, to avoid any errors.

"What do you feel about your first salary?" She asked, as if an interviewer from a company.

I smiled, "Of course, happy."

"I can see it in your eyes, I know, Shirley, how much you desired to help your family," she got the slip under my hand, and read it. "I think, you wrote all correctly. Call your family now, so they'll know that you'll deposit the money in their account."