Two Birds [ONC 2024]

Truth Reveal

The Queen's eyes sparkled.

"Oh? You say you're interested in girls?"

I nodded.

"And does King Evans know about this?" she inquired further.

"Of course not," I sighed.

A large and cunning grin grew across her face as she glared at me with pleasure. Her glare trembled me to the core and I knew that she was up to something not so good.

"You will marry my son," she declared.

I shook my head in frustration. "I won't. I'm going to tell my father of what your son really is and then it's all fixed." I began walking back towards the palace interior, determined that I was going to end it then and there.

"Unless you want me to tell him about your fancies," I stopped in my tracks, "you may inform him about my son."

My world shattered. I turned to face the Queen in rage while she maintained her stoic posture, a wicked smirk on her face.

"You won't do that," Catherine said.

"Oh Princess, I promise I will," the Queen laughed. "All I ask is for Jane to marry my son. Is it that big of a deal?"

I was speechless. How could she blackmail me using my own insecurities? How could she stoop to such an extent?

"How can you destroy her life for the sake of your son's?" Catherine yelled. "How can you be so selfish?"

"Oh dear, you'll understand once you're a mother yourself," Rosa said sweetly. "No girl in her conscious mind would ever marry my son. Not even a maid, and if she did, it would all be for his money. While Princess Jane, she has always had enough of wealth, or rather more than what we have in Netherlands. It's quite profitable to get my son married to her."

Walking up to me, she said, "You made your mistake by slipping out your tongue and revealing your dirty little secret. Now I'll use it for my benefit and ensure that you marry my son. You should be happy that I'm ready to marry my son to a wretch like you, who seems to have interest in women." Saying which, she walked off inside the palace, leaving me broken from the inside.

"Why would you say that?" Catherine asked turning me around. "How could you've revealed such an information to her?"

"I-I don't know," I trembled with fear. "I-I just thought m-maybe if-I-"

Catherine embraced me as I stopped stuttering. She gently rubbed my back and tried to calm me down.

"Don't bother," she said. "We'll find a way out of it."

"But how?" I asked.

She thought for a while. After which, her eyes sparkled with an idea.

"What if instead of informing King Evans about him," she indicated towards the silly man who was now trying to pull up some grass, "we'd rather show it to him."

"But how do we do that?"

"All we need to do is to make him do something foolhardy and that would be more than enough," she answered. "But we need to take care of Rosa or she'll ruin our plans."

"So what should we do about her?" I asked getting impatient.

"I'll distract her while you may do something convincing."

"But what?" I asked further. Catherine wrinkled her nose in frustration.

"Use your brain!" she poked my temple as she made her way inside the palace, leaving me alone to deal with Henry. Thankfully, Steve came to my aid.