I am Reborn through Revenge

Lucky Princess

She looked at Angie with a narrowed gaze. She almost returned it in the same manner but Angie’s face was a little more serious than hers.

“Are you busy?” Angie asked, her voice sounded like she was talking to her child.

“No.”

“Then come out, I need to talk to you.” Angie didn’t look like she had come to deliver any good news.

Marie quickly walked out of the door and she stood next to her, facing her. Angie crossed her arms. “You have some good news,” she said.

Good news! What could that possibly be? Someone that brings good news shouldn’t have knocked at her door like that, she thought. It was a good thing she didn’t say it out loud. In fact, she wouldn’t have been able to say it even if she wanted to.

“The Queen had provided you with a better accommodation right inside the palace. In addition, she also made another room available for you. The room is the office of the royal messenger so. . . uh—m, it means that from now on, you are going to have your own office where you would carry on with your job. Remember, it's for the progress of this kingdom.” Angie was calm as she spoke but her voice. . .carried bad energy. Marie could see an irate gaze snapped from Angie’s eyes when she was speaking to her. She was sure as hell that the news didn’t fit down well with her. She was a woman and so was Angie so it was no brainer for her to figure it out. She didn’t need someone to convince her that Angie was jealous of her promotion.

“That’s a, that’s good news. I promise to serve this kingdom with the best I can offer,” Marie said and bowed.

Angie chortled.

What could be amusing about what she said? Marie asked herself, confused. “No doubt, you are shooting your best shots,” she said and uncrossed her arms. “I think you will be able to achieve that if you would stay away from hugging people around you know.”

Marie's eyes flicked up and down. Her heart was buckled with thoughts that instant. Does it mean Angie saw her when she hugged Prince Anon or was it that someone saw them and told her? What about the Queen? Is she aware too? Angie must have told her, she thought.

“I know what you are thinking lucky Princess,” she said and leaned closer to Marie. She pressed her hands on Marie's chin and patted her twice. “You don’t have to worry, I have not told anyone—yet. Though I don’t blame you, I would be greatly troubled if I were in your shoes. You have some guts!”

Marie stood motionless, looking at her while she spoke. She didn’t know what to say to her. Her heart throbbed slightly when she heard her say that she hadn’t told the Queen but then she also heard her when she added “Yet”. So it means that if she didn’t tell the Queen then, doesn’t necessarily mean that she won’t tell her later. Yes, Angie wasn’t threatening her or anything like that for the moment but she knew Angie had found a good reason she may use in the future against her if she wishes to blackmail her, she thought.

She watched as Angie brought out a document from a hidden pocket of her faded brown gown. “It’s a pity you can’t read lucky Princess. You need not worry, I will explain it to you. This document here is an official certificate given to you by the Queen. As you can see, it has a royal seal stamped on it. This is to certify that you, Marie whatever, is the official royal messenger of Zahrin. I think you should keep this letter well preserved. It is an honour to be served with one.”

Marie didn’t know exactly how to react to the news. The conveyer of the good news had made it appear like it was bad news to her. Her heart pondered instead of relaxing, her arms trembled instead of settling, her eyes flickered instead of damping.

“Thank you,” she said and collected the certificate. She didn’t bother to look through it but it was white paper. The write-up was written with a spot of dark ink and there was a seal in red at the bottom right which should be the royal seal Angie talked about.

“You will have today and tomorrow as a day off work. I guess you should move your things today and then have time to relax tomorrow. There’s heavy work ahead of you Princess. A heavy work. So go get it going.”

“Thank you.”

“I think you are thanking the wrong person. I am not the Queen who promoted you and like I said before, if I were in her shoes, you would never be noticed. I wish I knew what you two had discussed the other time. Because if I knew then maybe this insanity wouldn’t have happened,” Angie said.

Marie's eyes darkened, body boiling. She already had enough. The insult was way too much that she could bear. She thought of reacting. She knew that if she allowed this to linger, it may degenerate into something more significant late. It was time for her to confront her fears, she thought. “Are you jealous of me Angie?” she asked. Angie was visibly older than Marie so she kind of kept her voice in such a way that it wouldn’t look like she was insulting her back.

“Excuse me?” Angie frowned, raising her brows. “What did you just say?” she asked.

“You heard me right Angie. You know, I have checked this over and over and over again but I couldn’t just tell why everything about me makes your life feel uncomfortable,” Marie said. She crossed her arms. “I have never had any issues with you. My first time seeing you ever in my life was here, in the palace. So I was wondering, why would you be over-concerned about me if not that you are jealous of me?” Marie said softly. She tried to maintain her meekness so that she wouldn’t end up saying what she didn’t want to say.

Angie snorted. “Don’t flatter yourself, lucky Princess. You’ve got nothing that I should be jealous of.”

“Luckiness. . . Yeah, I think that’s what I have that you don’t have. You are afraid to witness the pace at which I am going, girl. I know that you have been here for years possibly but you have not been promoted from a mere maiden servant you are to anything else. But for me? I have barely been here for few days and have gotten promoted to the rank of a royal messenger. I have been given an office, an apartment and I was even-handed over an official letter that designated me as the royal messenger. You see? Isn’t that called luckiness? Or was it a miracle?” she asked.

Angie’s eyes widened, flaming with horror. Her breath became sporadic and she was noticeably sighing. Marie saw as Angie's hand moved towards her then she heard a heavy sound on her left chin as Angie slapped her. Uncountable stars flew around her face and she couldn’t see where Angie was standing for few seconds. It was obvious that Angie couldn’t contain her anger any longer so she decided to shut Marie up and teach her a lesson in a language she will understand.

“I think you should be more concerned about your self Marie,” Angie said. Her voice sounded as if she was the one that was slapped. “I wish you know where you are or how things are run here. All golds may glitter but not all things that sparkle are gold. If I were you, I would distance myself from all these debacles while there is a luxury of time left for you to do so.” Angie rubbed at her brows and laughed. Marie remained silent, probably still haven’t recovered from the hot slap she was given. “This advice, Princess, would be the greatest gift I would give you. Please, do consider this as an act of magnanimity.”

She gently turned and started walking out. Her long brown gown swayed along with her footsteps as she hurried away with anger.

Marie stood there motionless and sad. No matter what rank she was given, Angie was still her senior, and starting a fight with her would not end up well, she thought. Angie was more experienced than her and she had by far stayed in the palace longer than Marie had so it is above probability that she would need her help in the nearest future. But again, the words Angie spoke to her were somehow bickering on her heart, she wasn’t relaxed no matter how hard she tried.

Marie had never wanted to be in the palace in the first place, and now that she had succeeded in coming and never wanted to go back again, Angie out of the blue was acting like she had made a bad decision. But was there an element of truth on what she told her or was it all born out of jealousy? But again she remembered that she had heard Prince Anon utter almost the same words, the same advice to her though in a different light. Different from how Angie presented hers. Had she made a costly mistake in her decision of coming to the palace or what? What was it that they were not telling her? Why did the Prince and Angie say the same thing in a different context?

Then she looked at the paper she was given by Angie. She brought it closer and she went through it. ‘This doesn’t make sense. Marie, think. Why are things moving too fast?’ she mumbled loudly. Her shoulders sagged and her eyes glittered darkly. Who could solve the pieces of the puzzle for her? Who could possibly answer her questions?

Finally, she remembered something. Angie told her that she would be getting a maximum of two days off work so for the record, she had the whole day and possibly the next for herself. She decided she would visit Madam Alice. Maybe she would be able to tell her something she needs to hear, she thought.