Chapter 4 :

Alexa's POV

"How was your visit at the market, Alexa?" My father-in-law asks as we eat our dinner.

"It was good." I reply hesitantly. It's partly right and I don't want to talk about the other part.

"I heard the general, Roy, helped you with some accident." He inquires and my heart skips a beat.

I take a glance at Isabella and see her getting furious as we talk But father-in-law reminding us of what happened earlier is like pouring fuel to her already buring fire.

"Y-yes, I lost my balance while getting on the drawn and he helped me so that I wouldn't fall down and get hurt." I reason out trying he would leave that topic.

"That's good. I think we should invite him for lunch tomorrow for helping you. We, royals, never receive help from someone and in any uncertain situations, if we do receive we have to return the favor. I'll send him a notice and invite him for lunch." He says and get back to eating.

But my already low to zero appetite dies down completely. Scratching sound resonates in the room and I turn to see Isabella standing up from her seat.

"I'm full. Thank you for the food." she utters and without waiting for others to respond, she walks out of the dining area. I see her plate and she haven't touched her food at all.

"What's wrong with her? she has been acting weird lately." Mother-in-law remarks and her husband shrugs before they continue to eat.

I push the food around the plate as I don't want to eat it anymore,, but I don't want to leave from here until the others go. So, instead of walking away like Isabella did, I play with the food. When the others finish eating, we get up all together and walk to our respective chambers. The door guards open the doors as soon as they see me and close them back once I enter inside. My eyes scan the whole room for Isabella but I don't find her anywhere. I frown thinking where could she be. Just when I walk to the door to ask the guards about her, I hear a knock from outside.

I shout a small come in so the person standing on the other side could hear me and get into the room. A second later, the door gets open and there comes Rema into my vision.

"My lady, would you like me to prepare a bathe for you?" She questions and I think for a minute before nodding at her.

"Is queen taking the bathe now?" I ask her thinking that maybe what she's doing.

"No, my lady . The queen haven't returned to the chamber after eating dinner. I was informed she went to the garden to breathe some fresh air and have some alone time." She explains and I nod at her, telling her to go and make arrangements for me to bathe.

She bows before taking a step back and leaving our room. I wait for Rema's call as I sit on the chair by the window. The night sky is too dark while the moon laminate the light and the stars twinkle making the night look so beautiful. The wind is mild as the trees swing from one side to the other. Isabella must really be having a great time at the garden.

"My lady, the bathe is ready." My thoughts are put to a stop by Rema's voice.

Getting up from where I sat, I walk to the bathe area and get into the tub before discarding my clothes. I let my whole body soak into the warm water and enjoy the touch of clean water on my skin. Closing my eyes, I make up my mind to stay here for sometime. However, my eyes gets open almost immediately as today's incident strike my mind. Everything was going well and I was actually enjoying the walk around the market as it was my first time visiting a place like that. I never had a chance to roam like this at my parents place.

For whatever reasons that I don't know my family never really bothered to involve me in any of the events or visits they made. Truthfully, at the beginning I would feel alone and always thought why my parents would leave me in the palace while my brother and sister were taken everywhere. But gradually I stopped thinking about those things and made my room as my safe heaven. That kinda made me distance myself. From people and till today I get anxious when I'm in a crowd.

A mere touch of another person brings shivers down my body and not in a good way. Even today, when the general touched me while he was helping me made my skin burn so as soon as my feet touched the ground, I distanced myself from him. But that was my body's reaction and my heart thought what would Isabella think seeing me getting touched by others. It scared the hell out me and to prove my guess right, it really made her angry. she has been furious from the time we left that place. And now, to make things even more worse father-in-law is inviting the general tomorrow. I only hope, Isabella won't loose her temper and do something which make us look bad infront of others and end up regretting later.

Loud banging on the door makes me snap open my eyes and that made me realise I've been spending way alot of time by being in here. No doubt my thoughts made me forget about time to the point I don't even realise that the water is not warm anymore.

"My lady, are you done bathing? Or something is wrong?" Rema queries, her voice sounding worried.

"I'm fine, Rema. I'll be out in a minute." I reply to her and get out of the tub.

Grabbing onto the long towel, I dry up and put on the gown to cover myself. Walking out of the bath area, I head into our room and dress up in the clothes that Rema choose for me. Once I'm dressed, I climb onto the bed and lay on my side as I wait for Isabella to return. Time pass by but there's no trace of her. My eyes keep closing as sleep approaches. But I try to keep them open wanting to wait for Isabella and tell her sorry for what had happened. I would have apologized earlier already but her furious form made me scared. Infact, I'm still scared of how she's going to behave or talk to me. But that doesn't, no, shouldn't stop me from talking to her. So, I wait while fighting my sleep.

When my eyes almost loose control and get ready to sleep is when I hear the hard footsteps approaching the door and a second later the doors open. Revealing Isabella.I sit up on the bed from my sleeping position as she slowly walks towards the bed, my sleep leaving from the open window instantly. Just as I go to open my mouth, Rema enters the room and asks Isabella whether she should prepare a bathe for her. But Isabella says no and that makes her leave the room. That's when we're left alone and I believe it's the right time for me to talk to her.

"Isabella," I call her softly hoping she heard my voice and when I hear a very low hmm in return, I continue to talk, "I'm sorry."

"For what?" she inquires.

I shallow the lump in my mouth before answering him, "for everything that had happened today." I tell her. Firstly, she didn't want to accompany me but she still did because she respected her father's words but I ended up being an embarrassment to her.

"You don't need to be sorry for something that you didn't mean to do. Whatever happened was an accident, just forget about it." she says bringing a smile on face. but that doesn't last long when I see the scowl on her face.

"Then what are you angry at?" I ask even when I know my question may anger her more.

"It.. it has nothing to do with you." she responds and I frown at her. So if it's not me then on whom she's angry or for what reason?

"Let's just sleep, it's getting late." she says before lying on the bed on her back and close her eyes, clearly trying to avoid the topic.

I stare at her for a minute before climbing down the bed and leaving the room. Walking down the stairs, I head to the kitchen and get greeted by the people who are still doing their work.

"My queen, how may we help you?" Asks one of the maid while bowing her head in the manner of respect.

"Can I get a glass of warm milk and some fruits?" I request.

"Of course, my queen. They give me a tray with a glass of milk and bowls of fruits.i went to our chamber and gets inside.

and I place it on the bedside table before walking to the door to lock it. Walking back to the bed, I sit beside Isabella and gently place my hand on her shoulder. The usual shiver I feel at the touch of others doesn't go but I feel a different kind of shiver which increases my heart beat and makes heat creep over my face. But I don't let that effect me and softly shake her in an attempt to wake her up. When my attempt doesn't yield any response, I bend my head down, bringing my face closer to her.

"Isabella." I whisper loud enough for her to hear and to my utter shock she opens her eyes immediately and look straight into my eyes as if she wasn't sleeping in the first place.

Her stare makes my body shudder, and I try to retrieve myself back. Sitting at the far edge don't help me in this situation at all and yet again I lose my balance. But this time, I get saved by her as she holds my waist and pulls me back to the bed, but the force of her pull make me fall on to her chest and our lips crashes on each other...

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