*Elizabeth's P.O.V*
"Come on baby, time to go," Mommy holds out her hand after she finishes talking to Mrs. Kreuger but I shake my head, stepping back. Mommy raises an eyebrow, seeming confused and a bit mad with my sudden defiance.
"Can't, need to stay so I can convince Mrs. Krueger to work for me," I whisper, playing with my dress nervously as I glance over at Mrs. Krueger with a small hopeful look. She chuckles slightly as she holds out one of her hands to me. I rush over to her, letting her take my hand as she bends and brings my hand to her lips and presses a kiss to the back of my hand.
"I can't work for you sweetheart, that would be very expensive and I don't think your allowance could afford to have me hired at all times," Mrs. Krueger says, making me open my mouth to argue but mommy sweeps in before I can and cuts me off.
"I'm sorry, Elizabeth is usually never this clingy with people she has just met. I think she must really like you but we wouldn't want to take you away from all these kind people to hog you to ourselves," Mommy says as she scoops me up, resting me on her hip. In the process of picking me up, she completely ignores the fact that I am trying to speak over her to protest Mrs. Kreuger's words. I whine, squirming as I try to get down but I freeze when Mommy repeatedly pats my bottom warningly.
"See you again?" I ask Mrs. Krueger weakly as I hold out my hand, giggling when she presses a kiss to it again.
"Of course you will! I need to make sure that my new favorite client is being properly taken care of," Mrs. Krueger says after a moment, my heart speeding up as I hear her words.
"Once a month to start with should be good. That way I can make sure no situation like the one you came in with will ever happen again! One of the receptionists at the front will help you set up the appointments..." Mrs. Krueger continues, making my heart drop as there's no way I can make it out here once a month! Looking at mommy, for once I actually do want her to step in and help me resolve this crisis!
"I'm sorry... There seems to be a bit of a misunderstanding. We aren't actually from around here and we are currently only passing through for a family event. To come to you normally would waste an entire day and require a lot of preplanning. I am usually quite busy so can't commit to anything past bringing her in if we are in the area unless you would want me to just send her all by her lonesome. I think we both know she is far too young for that though..." Mommy says with a hidden wink in my direction that makes me question why I wanted her help to begin with.
At first I want to refute her words because I am not too young to ride all the way here! I can make it here easily! Then I remember I don't actually want to ride all the way here by myself once a month because it would be even more boring than a meeting with mama and trust me, those are boring! The worst part is she even tests me after so I always have to pay extra close attention despite how boring they are!
"Oh? And where exactly do you live that you are an entire day away?" Mrs. Kruegar asks with lots of suspicion. Wanting to shout out the palace because that is where I live, mommy covers my mouth quickly and murmurs something about wishing she had one of my old pacifiers or something, but surely I heard wrong, right?
"We live in Rahti. You might have heard of it... it's named after the lake shore it's built on and is home to Lakeside University? I'm pretty sure they are famous enough to be known around here..." Mommy says before removing her hand as I blush, remembering only now that I am supposed to be a child so would be living with her, in her new estate. I also shouldn't tell people I am the queen, living in the palace because that would be so very embarrassing after everything that happened! Though I doubt anyone would actually believe me with how today has been going… they probably would just tell me how cute I am and how I can be whatever I want or something like that!
"I know where Rahti is, though not from the university. It's really grown as a merchant hub recently so all the shop owners keep talking about how all their products seem to end up there before coming here. What was that merchant's name again..." Mrs. Kruegar asks before getting lost in thought.
"Are you talking about the Roth Company? Run by Alfred Roth by chance? That's the only company I can think of in the area that has really expanded in the last couple years at least. Though I don't really keep up with that sort of thing..." Mommy lies with a fake chuckle! She does too keep up with that!
She knows every merchant company and what they specialize in! She especially knows her stupid husband's company because she practically runs it now! Why do you think it all of a sudden is taking over everything? Mommy can be ruthlessly vicious when she wants to be so keeps causing all her competition to go out of business! You have no idea how many complaints I have gotten to stop her but what do you want me to do about it? Force her to turn her viciousness onto me? No thank you, you can keep it!
"Ah, yes! That's it! I swear I see their seal on everything around here nowadays. I feel like with how much everyone buys from them, we should all just come together and get it shipped at once for one flat fee! Would probably save us a bunch of money doing it like that too!" Mrs. Kruegars says with a chuckle as she moves on to helping her next waiting client.
"I'll see what I can do... Do we just pay upfront?" Mommy asks with a chuckle that makes it seem like she's only joking even though she really could help with that! Lost in her work now, Mrs. Kruegar just waves mommy off with her hand, not bothering to answer her question with words. Before mommy can say anything about it though, a different lady comes and addresses mommy...
"This way, ma'am. I will check you out right over here..." The lady says, gesturing mommy to her register. Mommy just follows, carrying me and refusing to put me down despite how much I protest!
After she pays and leaves a generous tip, we leave the salon and mommy pauses outside. She looks around for a minute before setting me down finally! Taking a couple steps away because I know confidently where we need to go now, mommy pulls me back to her and actually picks me up again. I squirm in mommy's arms the entire time, especially when I think I know where mommy is heading and I want nothing to do with that shop!
My squirming gets so bad in fact that before we enter, mommy actually puts me down while keeping a hand tightly on my arm to hold me close and uses her other hand to lift my chin so I look up at her!
"You are this close, young lady! This close to me taking you to the nearest bench and reminding your bottom why you should be behaving! Or better yet, taking you to that family bathroom right over there and removing that padding you are so conveniently wearing right now for it! Nothing like a bare bottom spanking over my knee to get you behaving again!" Mommy whisper yells at me while holding up her fingers so they are practically touching each other in front of my face. Gulping because that's really, really close together, I make the wise decision of keeping my mouth shut for fear of making them touch!
"I swear, Beth! I feel like I really am dealing with you as a toddler ever since we got to that inn last night! Use your words, Elizabeth! Be a big girl and use your words! If you wanted down, all you had to do was ask! I don't appreciate you purposefully trying to make me drop you, especially in the busy street that everyone is trying to walk on! You know better than that! I am also not going to fight you for every step or chase you down because you don't want to do what I want. I raised you, Elizabeth! I know what you are like!" Mommy lectures with a stern look in front of everyone passing by. She's even so loud that a few people even stopped to see what was happening!
It was very embarrassing to be yelled at like I was a child again in front of a crowd so I just stare at the ground while squeezing the hem of my dress until mommy sighs and picks me back up. Too embarrassed to do anything but hide my face in her neck, mommy lets me and even comforts me by holding me close. That's why even after I hear the bell of the door opening, I still no longer fight mommy as she carries me into the store even though it has trainers just like the one I'm wearing on full display!
YOU ARE READING
Queen's Adviser
FantasyElizabeth has been ruling her kingdom for 3 years now. She's gone through countless advisors in those 3 years. When she's finally ready to give up on finding herself one, she meets Zelene.
