A Tale Of Shadows (Wattys 2023) - REPLACED BY DIVINE ASCENSION

Chapter 17 - Happenings In The Court

In the month that followed, nothing of much importance had happened. Melinda was still renovating buildings that had fallen into ruin, organising the Winter Ball, as well as visiting the royal court, where she would talk with other noble ladies like herself about matters that tended to be rather insignificant. Those were the things she focused on the most to distract from her impatience, which always left her feeling as though winter would never come. At the time, it was September, and the ball was supposed to be held in December. It's in only three months, she reassured herself as she entered the court once more, holding her newborn child in her hands, which to her was a lifechanging event. She was not infertile after all. She had a child at last. After this miracle, all kinds of positive things could ensue.

The other aristocrats were all chattering amongst themselves, their heads turning in her direction as soon as they heard her footsteps. She was wearing the dress Malcolm had sewed her, which perfectly matched the colour of her lips and the scent of her perfume, which was made out of pink roses. Many people were admiring her appearance and the grace in her walk and smile. She even looked more suited to be a socialite than some people who had been socialites for their entire lives, including Lady Susanne of the Hertford province, one of the more prominent of them. When it came to Susanne, she tilted her head to the side, grumbling about how Melinda always seemed to be better than her at everything, as she was wont to do. 

Soon after, they noticed that she was holding a baby girl due to all the giggles that were coming out of the infant's mouth. They flocked to her side in an instant, admiring how sweet the little lady was. Although she was drooling and letting out inarticulate sounds, they knew that someday, she would become as refined as her mother.

"What did you name her?" chirped a woman from the crowd whom Melinda immediately recognised as Jane Grant.

"Griselda Melantha Bellerose," Melinda responded, smiling brightly.

"That is a very lovely name."

"Thank you, madam," Melinda said with a chuckle.

She would have continued the conversation if Susanne hadn't pulled her right hand, even though she could have easily warded her off. While trying not to roll her eyes in front of everyone, she wondered what that insignificant woman could want from her. She woke up from her thoughts when they had reached the other end of the room, which was also when May glared at her. For several seconds, they stood there in silence until Lady Susanne decided to commence talking at last.

"Where did you get that dress, and where did you get that child? I do not wish to sound like an individual that has lost control of their mind, but I have doubts when it comes to your credibility," the other woman asked, her eyes wide open.

Melinda smirked. "You sounding like an individual that has lost control of their mind would mean that you had any control over it in the first place."

Susanne furrowed her eyebrows. "Listen to me, Mrs Bellerose. You being the Queen does not mean that you are beyond questioning. Oftentimes, there are people among every rank we ought to question, and perhaps if we do enough questioning, we will find that I was right and that I should take your place."

"What do you assume being the Queen entails?" Melinda inquired, her face and voice becoming cold as ice.

"I believe this is pretty easy to answer. Being the Queen entails intellect and power."

Melinda gave her a soul-piercing stare. "And I believe that your answer is pretty simplistic, dear Lady Susanne. Besides, how much intellect and power can you be proven to possess? A truly intelligent person would never announce their intentions so openly and brashly, and a truly powerful person would not fall into petty, envious despair due to their newfound irrelevance. If anyone is to replace me at any point in the future, it could never be you. After all, how would an uprising of yours look?"

"Perhaps you are somewhat in the right, for hosting an uprising against you would be a difficult task to perform at the moment. In a few years, however, the circumstances may change completely, if enough proof is gathered to show all the unsavoury things you do. I even used to be quite the relevant woman before you took that away from me."

Melinda blinked twice. "What you could have against me as a person other than the things I might be doing in my bed, which, I repeat, you do not know whether it is true or not?"

Susanne's face began to turn red. "You do not sound like you are taking me seriously at all."

"And why would I?" Melinda shrugged. "Unless your moronic actions somehow manage to disturb me on a way greater level than they do now, why would I ponder this trivial matter half as much as you do? I suppose you do not have a satisfying answer either and are only doing this since you cannot turn the energy you spend on your jealousy into productivity. Farewell, and in the meantime, think carefully before you speak."

As Susanne was left to stand there alone with a gaping mouth, Melinda noticed that two ladies were watching the whole thing attentively. She was surprised to recognise them as Jane Grant and Theresa Ratchet. She had thought that Jane and her were friends and also that she had not been foolish enough to allow Theresa's suspicion to be drawn towards her. She had no idea what could be happening.

Immediately, she got out of her trance, for there was no time to focus on that. Instead, she started to listen to what they had to say, attempting not to miss a single detail. To appear not to be doing anything unusual, she sat by the table in utter solitude, drinking nettle tea while those around her were in the middle of a conversation so distanced from her, it might as well have been in another world. She tilted her head to the right, not moving her gaze from them.

"Hey, Theresa, is there something about the relationship between Melinda and Susanne that they cannot tell to anyone else?" the first woman asked.

"Of course, there is, Jane, and it is overwhelmingly apparent. The question is what and why," Theresa responded in a grave voice, removing strands of her brown hair from her eyes.

Jane scoffed. "Lady Susanne always seemed like the type of person to create such nonsense, thus I shouldn't have been so surprised. The only thing that surprises me is that she is going against Queen Melinda, who is better than her to the point where she could never stand a chance against her. There should not be anyone idiotic enough to try it."

Theresa placed two fingers on her chin. "Queen Melinda is an understandable target, which is something that I wouldn't have expected myself to say months ago. She acts normal for the most part, but her aura is much colder and more mysterious than it used to be, and not solely due to the tragedy she lived through. It is not like she will, say, hiss at someone with ease, but she stares at things and people weirdly and wanders into deep valleys of unknowable thoughts whenever she presumes that no one will notice. Also, her steps can be heard for hours in her study, sometimes resulting in peculiar lights I cannot further describe while doing who knows what. There is also the unnatural way she processes her grief. Right after her boyfriend died, she married someone else, someone who was close to both of them, and not even three weeks later, he died, and after a while, she began to consider marrying Maguire. Do you grasp what I am trying to say?"

Melinda turned away from the two of them for a moment, not being able to believe what she just heard. It was only natural for Theresa to be doubtful of her when it came to her relationships, but she was stunned by all the other proof that had been gathered since it was not easy to collect. After getting out of her trance, she tilted her head again.

"Jane, I presume we ought to leave at once. She seems to be looking in our direction," Theresa whispered.

As the two of them turned to see if she was indeed there, she vanished, and could not be seen in the room at all. Theresa suspected that she was walking amongst the large crowd before she came out of the door in a hurry, yet she decided to talk to Jane about mundane topics, knowing that going after Melinda there and then would hinder her investigation. Until she could properly do so, she had to gather more proof and watch out for what the person in question might do about her.