I am Reborn through Revenge

An enemy's enemy is a friend.

***Anon's POV***

I had told Brady to meet me at the back of my quarters, just where my swimming pool was. The sun was already above my head. Everywhere had a combination of clarity, quietness and hotness. I was not sure if Brady had been here when I wasn’t around. I wasn’t sure if he had come when I was with the crown Prince either.

I just had to hang on a little longer to make sure that we don’t miss each other in case he comes around. For now, it was too risky for both of us to meet at the brewery's canteen because up to this moment, I had no idea at which point the conversation I had with him in the canteen leaked. So I thought that staying at the back of my quarters would be the best place we could meet and talk to each other without bothering if anyone was listening. I sat down on a concrete block under the shadow formed by a tall branch of an orange tree. It blocked the light coming from the sun from hitting me directly where I sat. The sun was gradually getting hotter when I finally decided to head back to my room. I had already assumed that Brady couldn’t make it or maybe he had been there when I was at the field. But I was sure we had agreed that he must give me information about his brother at the pool side that very day. I had already decided to go when I saw Brady walking up to me. He was hurrying, wearing one of his most favourite shirts and a pair of black trousers. He was looking searchingly around with his eyes flickering. I assumed he must be looking for me.

I whistled at him and then he looked. “Here” I shouted, waving.

He paced up quickly and stood just opposite me.

“Brady” I called him.

“Sir!” he bowed.

“You are sweating.”

“Am I?” he looked at himself, frankly assessing.

“Hmm.” I nodded.

“You know. . . I had to make sure no one followed me here.”

“Okay. Did you meet him?”

“I did,” he said. “Yesterday night.”

“In person?”

“No.”

I sighed. “What did he say?”

I suspected a kind of muffled laugh on his face that he was trying to suppress. “He said eh—m, not interested.” He frowned.

What? What could be his reason?

“Why? Did you ask him?”

Brady looked away and put an index finger on his face, wiping away sweat. He then looked back at me and started smiling. “Why are you smiling, Brad?” I asked him. His eyes were gleaming.

“He agreed to meet you, Sir.” He busted laughing, controllably.

I growled and squealed at him. “Maybe you want to cool off inside this pool water, uh?” I asked him. “When is he planning to meet?”

“Tonight.”

“Tonight?” I asked, raising a brow.

“Yes, tonight.” He jerked up his shoulders.

“Where?”

“He gave three locations,” he said and inserted his hand in his pocket and brought out s**t of paper. He handed it over to me. “He wrote it in there.”

I took the paper from him and went through what was written in red inside it. It says:

First location: Market Square, the first house at your right. Nightfall

Second location: The butcher's street, third house by the left, nightfall.

Third location: The Goldsmith Street, third house by the left, nightfall.

“I don’t understand Brad. Why three locations?” I asked him, raising the paper.

“I don’t know.”

“You don’t know?”

“Aye! Sire!”

I stared at the paper for a while and then started thinking. The only probable reason that I could think of about why Brady’s brother gave out three locations was because of TRUST. If it was about trust then that was quite understandable but I couldn’t believe that I had to go through all this stress to meet him. Besides, he wanted me to meet him at nightfall in all the three locations he gave which means that my safety wasn’t guaranteed. I began to develop uneasiness within me. I was on the verge of deciding not to meet him again but then I remembered that he was among the few people who wanted what I want; revenge. One of the few persons who had the same enemy I had. You don’t joke with the enemy of your enemies you know. They make the best friends, sometimes.

“Okay, Brad. I will meet him.”

“Are you sure about this?” he asked, looking at me worryingly.

“Yes. I will meet him. I will be needing him more than he will be needing me. So I need to get to him first before he does something that may get him in trouble.”

Brady nodded. “You are right, your Highness. Do you need me to do with you?” he asked.

“I don’t think so. If he had wanted someone to follow me, I don’t think he would have given out the three locations at a time” I told him. I then squinted my eyes at the piece of paper again, trying to memorize the locations. I then tore it into shreds. “He might be watching me from somewhere. I don’t want him to run when he notices that I didn’t come alone.”

“Okay. Good luck!”

***Marie's POV***

Marie had already gone back to the palace. She would have stayed longer with madam Alice but she wasn’t happy with her conversation. So, to avoid getting herself into a more depressed mood, she decided to go back at sunrise. She had officially resumed as the official royal messenger so now she was willing to work more than ever. She had already received news that she should meet Angie at once when she comes back from the short holidays she was given. Angie was aware she had but she sent words to Marie to wait for her at the lobby that leads to the Queen’s room.

Marie stood in the lobby, supporting her back against the wall. She wasn’t too far from the Queen’s room and obviously wasn’t too far from the prying eyes of the four soldiers guarding the entrance either. At the moment, she was least interested in getting close to the Queen’s door (Not when those heavy men guarding the door were there). She heard as the door clang open and she looked and saw Angie coming out from the door with a tray in her hand.

She approached Marie. “I wasn’t expecting you now. Are you back or. . .?”

“Yes. I am back.” Her voice was warm.

“But you know you still have today. I told you, right?”

Marie nodded.

“Okay then, follow me. There is some little work you need to care of and then you need to see the office where you would be staying for now.”

Marie was surprised that Angie’s voice was a little bit friendlier than it sounded the last time she spoke to her. She had been expecting to hear “Lucky Princess” from Angie but she didn’t say it. Or maybe she hadn’t said it yet. Marie followed her to the kitchen where she gave the tray to the maidservants to wash them. Yes, the maids? Marie recognized some of the tired faces of some girls in the kitchen. They were the same faces she saw the day the Queen asked her questions on her first day in Zahrin. The sight of them made Marie start wondering again why she was the only person among the girls that’s wasn’t working in the kitchen. She followed Angie until she came to a room that Marie assumed would be the office Angie was talking about. She wondered why there were no guards while they were on their way to the room and also why the room was the last place you will see in a long lobby. They finally entered and she began to scan through the things that were in the room. Everything was at her disposal and was kept in the right places and possibly in the right amount.

Books. Shelves. Paintings. A single table. Chairs. Books were the only thing that wasn’t in the right amount—there was too many of them. But she was going to be dealing with books anyway so why bother?

“This is your office,” Angie said, looking around the room for a moment and then back to the table. “If you look at the table, you will see that I itemized the books into three parts. The first one goes to the library. But that should be delivered next tomorrow because there are more of it coming. Meanwhile, the second and the third would be taken to the royal bookstore anytime today.”

Marie looked at the books and then turned her gaze to Angie. “Do I need to separate the second and the third books when I deliver them?”

“It’s not necessary. When you get there, they will sort it themselves but don’t join the first one with the rest.”

They? Does Angie think that more than one person was working in the bookstore? Marie queried in-between thoughts. Or does it mean that it’s not only Norman that works there? Maybe she was made to believe that it was only him that stays there or maybe not—maybe Angie doesn’t even know.

“Okay.”

“Yes. Like I said, these ones here,” she said, pointing at the first set of books, “are romance novels the Princess borrowed from the library. Make sure you give it to the librarian so he could sort them and put them back on the right shelf. . .It would have been easier if you know how to read though. You wouldn’t have been a bother to him.”

Marie traded a glance with her but quickly looked away—Angie’s eyes and face were too mean and serious for her to look at for a long time. “Okay” she simply replied.

“As I said, don’t deliver them today. There are some books I’m yet to collect from the Princess.”

“Okay.”

“Alright,” Angie said, and looked around the room again. Glancing up and down, pouting her lips. “Good luck, Marie.”

Marie looked at her, her face expressionless. Good luck? Did she just call her Marie? That was surprising. No longer lucky Princess? Something about Angie had changed just recently. What could have made her to change? Was it because of what she told her the last time? Marie couldn’t understand why she was being nicer to her than she had always been.

“Thank you” she replied.

She watched her left the room with footsteps placed almost noiselessly. When Angie was gone, Marie sighed deeply and rubbed her hands at her eyes.