The following morning when Diana woke up, she felt more energetic than she had felt the past few days. Perhaps it was because of the marriage and she felt more at peace. She smiled and rolled to the side, expecting to see Calhoun but she was met with an empty bed.
"Great, the first morning as a married couple and he's not even here." She murmured. "I don't even know what and what not to expect from this man!"
She heard a knock on the outer door and she had to instantly pull herself together, knowing that Calhoun would not knock on his door. She got up and picked a robe from the door to cover herself up first.
Then she walked to the door and opened it. A new and unfamiliar face smiled at her. The lady looked so pleased to see her and her smile was too nice. Diana just had to smile back for the sake of her sanity. She felt like some sort of celebrity who was before their favourite fan.
"Good morning, my lady!" She greeted me enthusiastically. "I brought you breakfast. Well, it was Alpha Calhoun who was supposed to bring the meal but he got cut up in something so he asked me to deliver it to you with an explanation and a word of apology."
So he went to get me breakfast in bed. Diana felt more peaceful knowing the initial reason for his disappearance. Well, does he not know how important his presence is in the castle? The moment he is seen, troubles tend to fly from every which way.
Diana pointed to the table by the corner of the room. "Keep it there."
The maid went and dropped the tray of food on the table and stood, waiting for Diana's next command.
"Oh, anything else?" Diana asked when she noticed the girl was not leaving the spot.
"My lady, I thought you would be surprised as to why there are new faces in the castle tonight!" The maid announced. Diana felt the girl's bubbling excitement so she allowed her to be excited if that made her comfortable.
"Oh. Considering that I have only seen you, I can't say if there are that many new faces that should cause a wave." Diana answered.
The girl giggled. "You're truly wise as they say. It's my honour to meet you, and please when you're asked later to choose who would be your servants, please choose me." She begged.
"Oh," Diana muttered. "How did you know I was going to be asked to choose my servants?"
"I overheard the other servants speaking about it and I told them that I wished I would be chosen by you, but they laughed at me and said it could never happen. Well, as fate would have it, I was actually on my way here to beg you to shame them but I didn't know how to do it."
"I got here three times and left because I didn't have the bravery. Not until King Calhoun stopped me to send the meal here."
Diana smiled. "Okay, what is your name?"
"My name is Rachel." She answered. Her big bright eyes were boring into Diana's.
"Rachel, how old are you?"
"I'm sixteen years old." She answered happily.
"Oh. Sixteen? Aren't you too young to be working in the castle? What about your parents?"
"They died during the war, it's just myself and my three younger siblings."
"Wow." Diana was stunned. She had assumed that since the main battle was before the castle, it wasn't going to affect the town. She had to speak to Calhoun about this.
"Oh. How old are your siblings?"
"The oldest is twelve, a boy, the next is ten, also a boy and the last is four. She's a girl." Rachel explained.
Diana nodded. "Alright, Rachel. I will speak to my husband to do something about this. For now, you may leave. Oh and please inform Ellie to bring Coco to my room."
The girl bowed and left the chamber. Diana followed and shut the door. She was awed by Rachel but she loved the girl's boldness. She was going to find out what talent the girl had and would give her special employment.
She was brave enough to take care of three kids after their parents had died. Diana felt more than pleased. She walked over to the table and sat, and began to eat. When she had gone halfway, she heard a soft knock on the door.
"Come in." She answered.
The door slowly opened and in came a guilty-looking Julitta followed behind by Ellie holding Coco in his arms.
"Julitta, Ellie, what's up?"
"My lady." Elizabeth bowed. "I brought the prince."
Diana asked for him to be put to the floor and Elizabeth did as she was told. Coco stood and began to walk slowly to where she sat. Julitta was too wowed but Elizabeth was not.
"Yes, why are the both of you still here?" Diana asked.
"Um, my lady... I know it's almost inappropriate to bring up such a matter, especially at breakfast, but I do have to tell you that Julitta has been feeling extremely guilty since and she wants you to forgive her"
"Forgive her? It's not my life which she almost took." Diana exclaimed. She swallowed down the meal in her mouth. "It's not me she should be apologizing to."
"We thought you would say that, but she has apologized so much and I've forgiven her. I want you guys to make up too, my lady." Elizabeth said with utmost respect, Diana could not resist her sophistication.
"Oh alright, can you both just allow me to enjoy my breakfast in peace?" Diana rolled her eyes.
Julitta smiled. She took steady steps towards Diana and hugged her from behind. Diana did not push her away. Rather she said something that caused her to freeze.
"Next time you pull such a stunt, I will disown you completely. Now it's just a silent treatment. But that day, we became strangers who never met on the train. Deal?"
"Deal." Julitta squeaked. She turned to thank Elizabeth in her heart and Elizabeth nodded slightly. She left the chamber, leaving just Julitta and Diana.
"You ought to leave soon. Calhoun would certainly not be pleased with me for being with you so early." Diana stated.
Julitta sighed. "You don't still believe that I made advances at him, do you? I want you to be honest, as for me, I find your husband scary. There's no way I'm in love with him."
"Also, he had to remain with you. But do you believe me?"
"Julitta, he clearly said he lied about it." Diana chuckled. "What's there to believe?"
"He has been lying a lot these days too." She mumbled. "He wiped out all the former servants in the castle, aware?"
Diana was unaware and she was somewhat furious. But she managed her emotions and made it look like she did not care about what was being said. If Calhoun did it, then it means he has a reason for it.
"That's fine. You may go."
Julitta smiled and left the chamber too. Diana simply shook her head while she enjoyed her meal, occasionally feeding smaller bites to Coco.
After a while, she had her bath and decided to stroll to her former apartment where she lived with Thomas before she married the king.
She dressed Coco to go with her and while she was leaving, Rachel caught up with her.
"My lady, the king... He's calling you." She said, out of breath.
Diana scoffed. He stays away all morning and when she decides to do something with her day, he decides to stop her. She didn't complain, she followed Rachel back to the meeting room.
"Good morning Felix, Evander." She greeted.
Felix smiled warmly at her. "You seem to glow a lot more, is it the newlywed thing?"
"Haha." She laughed lightly. Why would Felix be teasing her? "I don't know what you're talking about, I didn't notice any changes."
"Of course. Play humble." Evander chipped in and they all laughed over it. "You're supposed to be in this meeting. Where were you off to?"
"Oh," Diana muttered. She had forgotten that as Luna, she had to attend whatever meeting they had about the safety of the pack and the kingdom too because she was also the queen.
She sat close to Calhoun, holding her son close by. "So what's the matter?"
"We heard a lot of complaints last night from people who lost their families during the war," Felix said. "We didn't know that so many people were affected by the war."
"Yes, I was going to bring that up as well. I have met quite a lot of girls who feel their lives have changed so drastically since after the war."
"Do you have any suggestions on what to do for them?" Calhoun asked.
Diana stuttered. She? Had ideas? On what to do for those affected by the war? Wasn't she new to this thing for her to start giving ideas?
"Well, we can organise a meeting with all of them and get to know what their problems are. Then we can group the problems into groups of similarities and then find a common solution for each group." Diana suggested.
Even Calhoun found wisdom in it. "That's alright then. Felix and Evander, get to it. We shall do just that. You two can discuss the ways to make it happen. I will be accompanying my family to their earlier destination."
With that, he stood up and walked over to where Diana sat. He first grabbed Coco from her hand, then he helped her up and they were soon on their way out of the castle. Calhoun was going to drive them.
"Where were you planning to go?" He asked.
"Um, I was headed to the house I used to live in before coming to the castle. I wish to see if there's anything I could find which I need, then maybe we can clear the house and gift it to one of the -"
"Pretty as that sounds, I would like for the house to remain in our possession. It's a memory to us and must not be tarnished." Calhoun said.
"Also, did you get breakfast from the new maid?"
"Yeah, about the new maid. Why are there new servants in the castle?" Diana asked.
"The old ones left," Calhoun replied in a heartbeat.
"Left? To where? And... All of them?" Diana asked. She found his answer to be sudden and weird.
How could they all just go on the same day?
"Well, let's say we let them off. There were too many spies and corruption among them. We had to let them off." He answered.
Somewhere, Diana felt like the letting off didn't mean the usual way but rather, it was the killing way.
When they reached, Calhoun came out to help Diana out of the car.
"My lord!" A woman greeted me instantly. "Ooh, my lady! You have a different glow! It must be the pregnancy."
"Pregnancy?" Diana repeated. "What pregnancy?"
Calhoun chuckled. He guessed right. Diana had been pregnant and that was why her reactions were so unpredictable.
"You're pregnant my lady." The woman stated, laughing. "Finally, our prince shall be a big brother."
Diana could only chuckle. She was blessed in her life. As they entered the house, she could not help but count how lucky she was to have gotten entangled with someone like Calhoun. It wasn't easy but she was grateful for the journey.