Chapter 41

Jasmine's POV

Thankfully they agreed to help us with everything and Axel took the pictures. Axel left before Dimitri and I. I wanted to wait for his call here, but I had to take care of some other things too. I wanted to ask the twins to help with shopping, but they were in school. Ro begged me to take her, because she was going insane inside the hospital room. Dimitri offered healing her, but she refused and let nature work its magic. I gave in and took her with me. Axel and James agreed to give us a more than enough sum of money saying they’ll get it back from the jewelry business. All the things would go to the poor and I would make sure that it would remain in their possessions and accidentally not end up in the hands of the rich. We bought new clothes in all sizes, toys for the children, books for those who love reading and even some food for them to try. It took us a few hours, but we bought all the necessities.

“Sweetheart, that’s a lot of new items. They’ll be so happy. But who’s going to get all of this?”

“Don’t worry, these are just the basics. Clothes, toys, books and some food that can be stored for a while. And all these things would belong to the poor and I’ll make sure that it’ll remain there. They need it more and I was thinking that we could do this weekly. Every week a new class in the society. You’ll pay back all this with the rubies.”

“It seems like we'll need some more guards to carry all these.”

“Probably not. We can go by car until we reach the gate and carry everything inside then Ajax would be able to transport us, right?”

“Oh right, the advanced vehicles and yes, Ajax can transport everything where you want to.”

“Perfect! Then I’ll need all these bags and boxes transported to the square in the city and I’ll need each and every person from the lowest class to be present. Elders, adults, teens, children, everyone. And I don’t care about the aristocrats, they’ll let their maids come and pick up the things.”

“Deep breath, Vasílissa mou! Everything will be just the way you want it to be.”

I was pretty excited and I wanted everything to be perfect. I was mentally preparing for a battle with the aristocrats. Despite my 5’1” frame I can be pretty wild, million thanks and kisses to Calypso. We loaded everything into a truck and drove to the meadow. Dimitri told me not to carry the bags, but I couldn’t do that. Technically I was a Queen, but it didn’t mean that I couldn’t pick up a few bags and boxes. I wasn’t that fragile. On the other side of the gate Ajax was waiting for us, his eyes bulging out and gaping like a fish. My guess was that the cause was the bags and boxes full of supplies.

“Vasiliás mou, Vasílissa mou! Excuse my behavior, I didn’t expect so many things needed to be transported. Where to?”

“Hey Ajax! To the square please and it’s not that much, just the basics. We have much more work to do. This is just the beginning.”

“My King, I was on the way to inform you that the council would like to speak with you today.”

“Go, Dimitri. I’ll be fine, if something happens you’ll be informed.”

“Alright then, sweetheart! Have a good time.” - a minute later Ajax appeared again.

“Ajax, I’ll bother you a bit, but can we first go to the square without the supplies? People might be there and it’ll be ugly if the bags suddenly appear in front of them causing accidents.” - soon we were standing in the middle of the square.

“Everybody! Can I have your attention, please? Thanks! Can you make more room? I brought a few things with me and we need space for all that.” - everybody gathered their things and stood aside. Then Ajax came back with the boxes and bags.

“Now, can someone bring out a table and possibly a chair please? All the things you can see here are going to be distributed between the poor. They need it more than the rich. I don’t want to see any of these items anywhere else but in their homes. We will do this every week with different classes from bottom to top. If someone doesn’t like this I’m sorry. Actually no, I’m not sorry at all. Anyway, I need everybody from the lowest class to come here, elders, adults, children to pick up the suitable items. If something is missing or someone didn’t get something we’ll bring those items. I need all the people working to be excused from today’s duties. They can go back to work tomorrow morning. I believe nobody will die if their maids are not there to serve them. I’ll ask for a list of names, so if somebody doesn’t come we can discover what was the cause of their absence. If you have any questions I’ll answer them. We will meet here in an hour.”

At first nothing happened, but then the square was buzzing like a hive of bees. The poor were running around informing their family members, the rich were just standing there starstruck. Two guards came carrying a table and a chair and put it down.

“Uhm, excuse me! Can I get a list of names who belong to the lowest class?”

“My Queen, you’ll have the list shortly. Someone left already to retrieve it.”

“Thank you!” - but of course someone was having problems with the arrangements. An obnoxious looking male made his way towards me.

“My Queen! I couldn’t help but wonder how you are expecting us to spend all afternoon and evening without our maids. They have duties to take care of. I’m sure you understand it, after all you’re our Queen. You have maids who bring you food and do everything you desire. That means there won’t be any maids in the castle either. What will you and the King eat for dinner? Without the maids, who will clean the rooms and who will do the laundry? We need clean clothes for the next day.”

“I don’t think it will be such a big deal. I’m certain that there is some food left from lunch and I believe you don’t live in a barn that needs to be cleaned so thoroughly every day. Or am I wrong? It would be a shame to visit your house and find that an aristocrat has a messy house. I’m not sure why you think that I live in the palace, but okay. As for maids bringing me food it’s not true. Not even once in my life I had maids serving me. If I’m correct we will have home made pizza for dinner. At least those were the plans before we left and came here. Regarding the issue of clothes. I firmly believe that you have more than enough clean clothes for tomorrow. If that’s all, please excuse me. I have to organize everything before people arrive.”

“What an awful thing to say, my Queen. You want us to eat leftovers like some peasants? And in no circumstance do we live in a barn, we have a mansion.”

“I don’t understand what is wrong with some leftover food. I eat leftovers all the time, does it make me a peasant? Please, explain this to me. What I hate the most is people wasting food and belittling others.”

“No, no, I didn’t mean that you’re a peasant, my Queen. Please, forgive me!”

“You meant every single word, no need to deny it just to save your ass. It won’t work. If you don’t have anything else to say please leave. I have some things to do unlike you. You’re just parading around, showing off your wealth.”

I didn’t wait for his reply and I just turned towards my bag and searched for my phone. I couldn’t do this without some music. Scrolling down I found Blinding Lights, by The Weekend and started rummaging through the boxes looking for the clothes. Previously they were arranged according to sizes. I picked up the first one and put it on the table. All the guards around me tried to stop me and let them do it, but I refused. I needed to show everyone that I can do everything without waiting for help. One hour passed quickly and people were gathering on the square.