Chapter 137 Humble Awakening
Melissa freshened up and sat at her work desk, filling up her files. She'd already received three calls from the Vance pack's council today. They were all asking for their Alpha. Out of annoyance, she retorted that all callers call him directly.
It was obvious they had all called to confirm if he was dead. Ever since the three calls in the morning, Melissa didn't necessarily receive any calls again, all she did throughout the morning was complete her paperwork.
Though she'd also tried waking Richard up, she was surprised when she found him asleep on his bed. He'd slept face up as usual with his hands by his side, like he was a deadbody. The way he slept had always been scary to her. She tried waking him up, but he only mumbled to be left alone. It was then Melissa realised he probably didn't sleep all night. She left him alone at last and went back to the pile of files on her work desk.
She was a little behind from the week's ceremony and all. But it had been a mildly easy task as most of the work was just a progress report she had to read through and just make mild corrections.
For some reason, her council members were also doing their job quite diligently, and they were all following her policies, unlike before when she had to keep on returning their proposals. She had to go through series of personal meetings with different individuals due to this fact. But now, they all seemed to have gotten a hang of her plans. Most of the things that directly concerned the throne were going fine and moving forward.
She'd now turned her attention to fighting the corrupt offices within the castle. She couldn't run a kingdom when half of its funds had been syphoned into individual pockets. That part was the only part that'd stumped her a bit today. She'd called up on the leader of the sentinels in earlier weeks and had a meeting with him about their division that handled internal frauds and stuff.
The man had made her realise that if she wanted a good job done, she had to remove some members and replace them to see the improvement she was looking for. A candid assessment. Today, he'd sent her a list of individuals he felt would be enough for the role. Funny enough, he'd mentioned Hashar, Beatrice's mate. Though both of them had not made it public and Melissa doubted they were going to.
After three hours, she was done. Now she could start the day properly. The first thing she did after the paperwork was shower once again, changing her dress to a simple and casual dress. It made her appear a little more like a queen than she usually used to. She then patiently waited for Vanessa and Candice who came in at the exact time they were supposed to start.
They started their cleaning work and she bade them goodbye immediately they entered. She headed down first into Margaret's room. She'd been the first thing in her mind for a while. She was on her way to her when she met Catherine on the way. A very unfortunate encounter. She hated seeing either hers or Ronald's face.
"My lady," she greeted. "It has been a long time since we've spoken, " she smiled coyly at Melissa.
Normally, Melissa would shun her or even glare at her angrily, but she wasn't in the mood to display power today. She was feeling very humble. "Tasha, " she smiled. "How have your days been?" She greeted her. "Come give me a hug," Melissa said.
It wasn't that she didn't hate her, oh, she did! But, she realised she was a little bit happy to see her. She remembered everything she did to her vividly, she remembered the trauma she went through and the series of events that transpired for her to overcome such trauma but still she was genuinely happy to see her.
It was a nostalgic feeling. Catherine was a piece from her past and if things had happened under different circumstances, they could actually have been friends or even sisters.
"Bring it in," she said, hugging her tightly. Catherine smiled, and Melissa could sense a little disturbance in her emotions. The hug had actually made her feel a bit remorseful but she'd shaken it off immediately.
Melissa smiled, there wasn't anything to be remorseful for anymore. She'd sailed past them for now, and her revenge was something she wanted to have after she'd set her kingdom straight. Melissa waved at her as they departed from each other and then headed briskly towards her destination.
She knocked on Margaret's door the moment she reached it and the woman opened the door, peeping out and inclining her head in a weird angle that made it clear to Melissa that she was still angry. "Good morning, " Melissa bowed softly.
"Oh, your mighty majesty. Good morning," she said, without a hint of respect.
"Can I come in?" She asked
"No," Margaret replied. "You could just shove me aside and walk in though, " she advised.
Melissa exhaled. "Come on, please, let me come in and explain myself," she said.
Margaret exhaled and then opened the door. "Would you like tea?" She asked. "I have a hot water flask. Filled with hot water and a series of bags on my table. If you like tea, go make tea yourself," she quipped.
"I am okay, I don't want tea," Melissa said.
"Shame, I want tea," she said and Melissa turned to her and she could see her head, gesturing towards the table.
Melissa exhaled but complied and decided to make tea for her.
"So why are you here?"she asked, as Melissa started preparing the tea.
"To apologise," Melissa said. "I am really sorry about what happened yesterday, I understand you--" she wanted to keep on speaking but Margaret cut her short.
"I am not mad because of yesterday. I am mad because you all don't trust me," she said. "Not even Avalors does. You all see me as a third party, and I do not necessarily think I can keep trying to get you guys to trust me," she said. "Yesterday was just the height of it," she muttered.
Melissa exhaled. "How do I fix this?" She asked. "I don't want you to leave ," she said. "I still have lots of things about my mother I haven't asked you." She said.
Margaret looked at her and exhaled. "Okay, stop making me emotional, " she smiled.