Castle Walls

Chapter Four

The Stranger

Regina woke up the next morning, exhausted and still sore. She looked around her room and stretched, moving her hands above her head. She yawned before sliding her legs off the side of the bed, sitting up. She pushed off of the bed as she stood up. She realized that she was still in her dress from the day before. Sighing, she went into her bathroom but she noticed that her maids had already made a bath for her. She smiled lightly at the thought of a warm bath.

She walked up to the marble furnished tub and she untied her corset, letting her dress fall down to her ankles. She stepped out of her dress, slowly putting one foot in the water at a time. She bit her lip as she felt how warm the water was still. She slowly laid down in the tub, humming lightly as the warm water submerged her cold skin. She closed her eyes as she finally felt relaxed in the tub. One of the only time she ever felt relaxed, unless in her garden.

After half an hour of soaking and resting, she slowly stood up, getting out of the bath. Still naked, she walked over to her wardrobe and pulled out a red, skin tight dress that draped across the floor. Regina put it on slowly and tied her black corset. She looked in the mirror and saw how amazing the dress made her body look and she smiled. She walked to her vanity again, like she always does and brushed her hair, but standing up, considering it hurt too much to sit down on a wooden chair.

When she was finished she put on some black and dark red heels. She let her hair fall down to her rear before walking to her chamber doors, opening them and looking at her guards. They looked at her up and down. For some reason when the men looked at her, she felt a little bit better, a little more confident.

Usually she would feel sick when men's eyes were on her, but she knew that she needed to get through this horrible life and she couldn't just let this ruin her life, she had to survive. So instead of letting those thoughts fester, she pushed them to the back of her mind, bottling up her feelings. She smirked, placing her hand on her hip, walking towards one and he swallowed hard as she approached him.

"G-good morning, your Majesty..." He said stuttering, mesmerized by her beauty.

Regina liked to know that these men thought of her as beautiful. She needed to feel beautiful.

"The King and the Princess are waiting for you, your Majesty...." The other guard said.

Regina nodded and started walking down the hall, her hips swaying as the guards walked behind her, watching her, looking at her rear.

Regina went to the entrance of her castle, seeing her husband and Snow standing at the door waiting. Regina's smirk went away immediately, walking up to them and Leopold glared at her, but Regina looked away pretending not to notice.

Snow walked up to Regina, earning a disinterested look from Regina. She didn't mean to dislike the child, but it was difficult when the King favored her. Regina tried to cover her look with a simple, fake smile.

"Are you excited for the market Regina?" Snow asked innocently.

Regina nodded, smiling at her. Leopold looked at his guards, nodding and the guards left to fetch the carriage. The three of them walked out of the castle, down the stairs in the front and stood at the bottom waiting as the carriage approached them. When the carriage came to a halt, Leopold let his daughter in first. Right as Regina was about to enter the carriage, Leopold cut her off and entered the carriage first. Regina glared at him. A guard held out his arm for her, to help her in the carriage.