The King's Unbreakable Wife-Chapter 30: His way (1)

"Another hour of smiling before the queen," Hazel said as she put on her earrings.

She stood in front of the large mirror in her bedroom, getting dressed for dinner. After being given time to either stay in the garden or rest in their rooms, Hazel spent the rest of the day inside her bedroom, looking out at the view from her balcony.

She was yet to have a conversation with Linda about what was said when she left earlier today and she hadn’t heard from Helena since she went off to meet with the queen. Hazel wasn’t curious about what the queen wanted Helena for since her sister was going to brag about it at some point.

Hazel hoped that the queen wasn’t looking for Helena to keep what they spoke of a secret for long. Whatever happened between Helena and the queen, Hazel hoped that her sister was fine. She was not here for long but she found the palace to be a strange place.

They were to play along with what the queen wanted and Hazel was yet to be excited. Then there was Tobias.

"Will he pick me again?" Hazel wondered.

Her time alone with Tobias went well, but Hazel didn’t know if to take him seriously that he would pick her each time. He could be teasing her. Looking to get her excited only to pick someone else tonight and the days after.

"It is not like I want to be picked," Hazel said, sticking to the fact she wanted Tobias to share his time with all the other young ladies. "He won’t pick me tonight. I hope he does not."

Hazel wasn’t a fool to not know that if he picked her a second time in one day she would become a target. If he picked her tomorrow, it would start to spread around that she might be the next queen.

Something Helena hated would happen as all eyes would be on Hazel if she were picked again.

Even if he did pick her over and over again, Hazel didn’t think it was set in stone that she would be the next queen. The selection could always have a twist in the end with someone else picked. It wouldn’t be the first time it happened and the palace was shocked.

Hazel couldn’t do anything if Tobias continued to pick her, but if this was some game, she wanted nothing to do with it.

"I’m getting ahead of myself. I’ve not made it for dinner and I am already thinking about what will come from tonight. Relax Hazel. Hopefully, he was joking," said Hazel.

Finished with getting dressed for dinner, Hazel gave her dress choice one last look over and then walked away to sit on the bed to await when her maid would come to take her to wherever they were going to have dinner.

Hazel hoped they would be going into the garden tonight for dinner as she wanted to see the garden lights up close and also see if there were truly flowers which bloomed better in the night. She wanted to see exactly what in the palace was true and what was made up to make it sound better than it was.

Just as Hazel sat down on her bed there was a knock on the door followed by the familiar voice of the maid assigned to her. Hazel stood up right away to not be late.

She opened the door and found the maid waiting patiently for her.

"Hello-"

"It is time to meet with the queen and prince for dinner. It is important that we are on time so please see to it there is nothing you will need to return to your room for after we leave. The queen wishes for me to remind you that the prince will go off with a young lady of his choice to have dinner in private while everyone else will be in the dining hall," the maid relayed the message.

"I understand," Hazel said, stepping out of the room and closing the door behind her. "Since you are tending to me, I should at least know your name. You didn’t answer it before."

"My name is not important. You only need to ring the bell and I will come to you," said the maid.

Hazel found it to be foolish that the name of the woman taking care of her for the next six days could not just simply be shared with her. She doubted that it was the maid’s own doing and that they were all instructed that they were to just be a maid.

Hazel bit her lip to refrain from saying what was on her mind. At home, she knew the names of all the servants helping to keep her home in order. What harm could come from knowing the maid’s name?

Was someone worried that if names were shared it would lead to the maids becoming close to the girls they were shadowing for the seven days and then the maid’s loyalty to the queen would be waived? Was someone worried about the maids and women in the selection becoming close and then secrets of the palace would be exposed?

Hazel could only smile and hold back questioning why she couldn’t receive a name even if it would be fake.

"Please lead the way," Hazel said.

She wasn’t going to do much talking with the maid from now on since it was like this. From the very beginning, she knew the maid wouldn’t be her friend and everything witnessed would be taken back to the head maid who would eventually share with the queen.

"Hazel!" Helena called to her sister. She inspected her sister’s dress and found it to be lovely for the night.

Hazel had great taste in knowing what dress to wear for every occasion. Hazel seemed to be sticking to the order she made of the dresses she would wear, but Helena had decided to switch up her order. She wanted to surprise everyone with how she looked. Even Hazel.

Hazel noted that Helena’s dress wasn’t what she said she was going to wear to the first dinner. After hours and hours of having to listen to Helena explain why the dress was perfect for the first dinner, it was not worn tonight.

Hazel knew right now that something the queen said had gotten to Helena’s head and if whatever Helena was looking forward to didn’t go her way, Hazel would never see the end of Helena’s tears.

"You look as though you have something good to share, Helena," Linda said as she approached the two with her maid behind her.

"I do, but as Hazel said, we should have our secrets. We should leave now so we won’t keep the queen waiting. The others are starting to come out of their rooms and I want to be the first to arrive. I’m going first," Helena said and then walked off with her maid to be at the front.

She had to be on time to listen to everything the queen had to say and then enjoy the moment when the prince would pick her.