The Reincarnated Royalty

Chapter - 32

Melanie quickly ran to her mother and sat beside her. "Mother!" She yelled as she held her fragile body covered in blood. "Melanie?" Her mother weakly opened her eyes and looked at her. "Don't worry mother, I will save you." She was about to get up but her mother held her hand. "I won't make it." She said to her and tears started to fall from Melanie's eyes. "Don't say things like this!" She said while tears blurring her vision. "I love you, my daughter." The queen said to her and smiled for the last time before taking her last breath. "NO!!" Melanie screamed and hugged her lifeless body.

"Mother, is this dress fine?"
"It's good but red color suits you the most."

"I am seeing a change in my daughter, a good one. Is there any special reason for that?"
"Actually mother, I..."
"Oh my, I am seeing my daughter flustered for the first time. Have you found a prince for yourself?"
"I am so happy for you!"

"I can't wait to see you in that elegant wedding dress."
"It was your father's dream to walk you down the aisle and give your hand to the person you love."

"I just want to see you happy, Melanie. No matter what you do I will always support you as long as it's right."

"Princess!" She heard the sound of sword clashing and looked up to see James standing in front of her protecting her from Kevin. Her eyes went wide and she got up. The realization hit her and she went in front of James. She took out her knife and put that on Kevin's neck. "Why did you do it?" She asked him with her eyes darkening in anger. "You disobeyed me by visiting Claire." He said to her and just shrugged his shoulders.

Melanie dug her knife deeper into his neck making a cut. "If you say one more word, then I will make sure to keep that head of yours in your own hands." She said to him and backed away. She held her mother's dead body and looked at him directly in the eye. She laid her mother's body near the throne and took the crown of the Queen. She put that on her head and glared at him.

"I, Melanie, as the queen of Callios, declare an open war on Sinsila."

Kevin's eyes went wide but later his face had a huge smirk. "Accepted." He said and was about to go from there when he looked at James. "Looks like I have lost one talented soldier, but don't worry because I have thousands of them more like you." He said and went from there.

Just as he left, Melanie fell on her knees. "Queen!" James went to her. "Prepare for the funeral." She ordered him and he nodded his head. She looked to the side and saw her mother's dead body with a huge sword cut. "He'll pay for this." She curled her hands into a fist and got up.

She did not spend much time on the funeral rituals and quickly went to make strategies for the war all by herself the whole night.

Next morning, Claire heard the door of her cell being opened and looked to wards that direction. She looked up and saw James standing there who was opening the chains tied around her. "Who are you?" She asked him. "James." He replied and she realized that he was the mysterious guard of Kevin. "Did Kevin ordered you to come and take me?" She asked him. "No, it's the queen's order." He replied. "The queen?" Claire was confused. "Princess Melanie has claimed the throne." He told her and her eyes went wide. 

"She told me to take you out of here as soon as possible as the war can start anytime." He told her and untied all her chains. She got up and looked at him. "The war?" She asked him. "This is hard to explain but Callios and Sinsila are at terms of war and my duty is to take you back to Andria safe and sound." He said to her and told her to follow him.

James took her to a narrow passage and they both sneaked out. He made her sit on the back of a horse and rode off to towards Andria. "Why are you helping Callios if you are from Sinsila?" Claire asked her. "I am not from SInsila." He replied to her. "Then?" She asked him. 

"Andria, I am from Andria." He told her and her eyes went wide. "Andria?!" She asked him once again just to be sure. "Yes, just like princess Julia, I was also taken from Andria for prince Kevin's benefit." He told her and she became more shook. "You and Queen Melanie are my true rulers, queen Claire." He said to her. "Queen?" She looked at him in more confusion. 

"The king of Andria announced you as the queen before he died." He told her. "Father? He died?!" She yelled at him. "Just the next day of your wedding, he had an heart attack and died that very instant. His last words were 'queen Claire'." James told her and Claire became speechless. Tears began to flow from her eyes unconsciously and she went into a deep grief at the loss of her father.    

"I am not desperate to marry you off, I just want both my daughters to settle as soon as possible because I do not know for how long I am going to live because of my bad health."

"Neither do I consider any of you both weak. I was just scared to loose you two just like I lost your mother. But seeing you today made me realize that I was wrong. You are just like your mother. You have the same emotions in your eyes just like her. Today, I realized that you can take care of this kingdom and be a powerful queen. So, this is why I have decided to make you the heir of my throne."

"I have made a lot of mistakes in the past. I know I cannot do anything to make it up for them but can you please try to give your father one more chance?"
"You do not need to ask for another chance from me, I might get upset with you but I can never hate you."

"You lost your mother because she died, but you lost your father too because I never tried."

"Now I have lost you too, father." Claire said to herself and looked down while tears still running down her face. With that they both reached Andria and saw everyone already present there. Without wasting any second, Claire went to Ray.

"Ray!" She called him and turned around to look at her with wide eyes. He came and ran to her tightly hugging her. "Claire!" He was beyond happy to her safe and sound. "Are you ok? Are you hurt somewhere?" He bang checking for any wounds but found only one on her wrist which was bandaged. "Who did this?" He asked her. "That's not important, the thing which is important right now is you knowing the truth." She said to him.

"The truth?" He asked her. "Yes." She took out that ring and handed it to him. "A ring?" He asked her. "Form Queen Melanie." She told him. "I do not want to hear anything about her." He said to her and gave her that ring back. "Ray please! For once listen to me!" She pleaded him. "No way I am going to do so. I have no ties with her now." He said and turned around to go from there.

"She could die." Claire said making him stop on his tracks. He turned around to face her with wide eyes. "What did you just say?' He came back to her. "Callios and Sinsila are at war." She told him. "But why?" He asked her. "Because she protected me and in turn Kevin killed her mother. She wants to take revenge for that." She told him and Ray looked at her with wide eyes.

"The truth which I want you to know is princess Melanie was not the one at fault. It was Kevin who forced her to abduct me. She never wanted to do this at the first place. She is the one who helped me get out of there. She never betrayed you!" Claire told him everything and he kept listening to it with guilt filling up his heart. 

"Falling for you was the biggest mistake which I ever did."

His own words were ringing in his head and he felt helpless. "I have to go to her right now."