CROWN PRINCE | LES MISÉRABLES

59.

I was crying by the time we left the palace. I was not upset, I was just plain angry. How could he yell at an innocent boy? A boy that only wants to stay with his parents!

"Stop crying."
"Shut up.", I yelled.

"You do not dare to cross an angry mother. A mother that would give her life for her son. This is what a real mother is.", Delilah said.
"Annelise, you have done it."
"What? Yelled at the King?"

"You have put him in his place. No men, not even to think a woman, had dared to speak like that to him. You, Annelise Mathilde Robillard, have dared to speak with the heart of a woman."
"I guess I did."

***

I was praying for my sister. Yvonne had passed just two years ago, yet was still greatly missed.

"Do you think God will hear your prayers?"
"Your majesty."
"Please, no formalities. It's just us and god.", she said.
"I hope so."
"I doubt. You have given birth to a bastard. You're not married. Oh wait, I forgot: you're to be married to my husband.", she said sarcastically.

"I do not know what you want from me."
"Of course you do. You believe that with your youth and beauty, you can take everything that your little heart desires.", she yelled.

"I am the woman he chose. My son is not a bastard. He's our everything. If he's a bastard, then what exactly is your daughter? We both know, that Bastien is not the father.", I said.

"God will judge. He will do what is right."
"Do you think that God will not judge your actions against the Crown Prince?"
"I do not understand."

"I believe you do. You have harmed him, broken him. I built back up and I made him much stronger. I give him the love you should've given him. But you can't love. Your heart is ice cold. There is no space for a thing called love.", I said, storming out.

It was finally out. I said what I needed to say. She had broken him, thought she won. But he came back much stronger, and she was not expecting that. The love for Timothy gave him a purpose as he had said. We loved him and we would do everything in our power to keep the bad away from him.

It wasn't going to be easy, I know. But the love of a woman could conquer all. If I needed someone to rely on, I could always count on my sisters. They were my rocks. I got home from church and let out a frustrated scream.

"That doesn't sound too good."
"Oh, it was your wife. I finally told everything I kept bottled up."
"What did you say?"
"That her daughter is as much of a bastard as our son. And God would judge her, based on everything she had done to you. I called her coldhearted and she had no space for a thing called love.", I said.

"What a woman!", he mumbled.
"I am incredibly proud of what you have become. I remember when you were the shy, innocent little girl, who longed for true love. Now you're an independent woman, telling the stone-hard truth.", he added.

I smiled. I had come a long way. I used to be shy and now I was outgoing. I used to let people talk over me, but now I was in charge.

I would be the one who'd be setting the tone. And I wasn't afraid of confrontation. I was the woman I had always wanted to be. Just like my mother, Mayjah Robillard.