What! Gwen shrieked. "How do I know you are not lying."
"Why would we lie about something like that? If you don't believe us, then you can as well go ask king Carl yourself. for now, we wanted to let you know that he agreed to marry the princess..."
Gwen looked at the trio and didn't know how to reply. To say she was stunned, was an understatement. She looked like she would pass out at any moment. She didn't want to believe it. "No it's not possible," she mumbled.
"Of course, it is, lady Gwen. Remember one can do strange things for the one they love," Aiden muttered.
Gwen gripped the cup in her hands tightly, gnashing her teeth. She was yet to finish with one rival, and there was going to be another.
"No, I can't let that happen, I won't let Carl get married to princess Nardin or Nadia, whatever they called her," Gwen pondered.
It was like every time things were going well for her, something else happens to spoil it.
"Lady Gwen, you are not going to let Carl get married to princess Nadia, are you?" Eric asked, with a raised eyebrow.
"Of course not," Gwen shrieked, her mind wandering to how she would get rid of the Nedal princess.
"That's a good thing, even if King Carl would have a second wife, we would want it to be you, someone we know," they lied, giving Gwen a smile to reassure her.
Gwen gave them a fake smile in return but didn't answer them. Her mind was somewhere else.
Seeing that Gwen was all riled up, the trio saw that as a sign to leave. After all, their plan was successful.
"Lady Gwen, we'll take a leave now," Aiden spoke on their behalf, and Gwen nodded her head, telling them to leave. The sooner they did, the more time she would have to plan on how to get rid of the Nedal princess.
...
That night, Carl couldn't sleep as his mind kept wandering to how Zara would react, and how he would be able to stop the wedding from happening.
Anyway, maybe I should leave the matter until Zara recovers, then we can figure it out together. Should I? but Zara needs a lot of rest, I can't burden her with such issues. Then how do I sort this matter? He battled with his thought.
"Why is the fate so unfair? Why is it that whenever things seem to fall into place, they just fall apart again? It's like the fates are against us," Carl thought.
After a while of thinking, he suddenly fell asleep, going into a world of nightmares.
In his dream, he saw Zara crying, asking him why he betrayed her. Her tear-stained eyes were filled with so much hatred and disgust.
"Zara, it's not what you think, I did it for you," He tried explaining, but she wouldn't listen.
"You liar, you did it for yourself. you did it because you were selfish, and because of your selfishness, I'm going to leave you."
"No Zara, please don't go," he yelled, jerking up from his sleep. he looked around and saw it was morning already.
"Thank God it's just a dream," he mumbled. Suddenly, he remembered that the physician had said, Zara would be awake by today.
"Zara," he mouthed, jumping out of bed. He decided to go to the chamber where she was kept. Although he insisted that Zara remained in their chamber, the physician was against it, saying Zara should be given a special room, free from disturbance.
Carl walked into the chamber, striding toward the bed where Zara lay unconscious. He smiled when he saw that she was no longer pale and looked much better.
"Please Zara, you have to wake up. there's so much we need to talk about, and so much we have to do," Carl said, holding her hand.
Zara, who was now awake, but pretended to be asleep, listened to everything he was saying, and she felt bad.
"He must have been so worried about me," she thought, deciding to put an end to his suffering.
"What do we have to talk about?" she muttered faintly.
Carl snaps his head in her direction, to see Zara's weak eyes, staring at him.
"Zara," he called out in astonishment, and Zara gave him a weak smile.
"You're awake," he said, happiness evident in his voice. He threw himself, engulfing her in a light embrace.
"I'm so happy that you're awake, that I can hear your voice and see your beautiful smile again. I love you, my queen.
"I love you too my arrogant king," Zara replied with a slight grin, which suddenly disappeared, at the remembrance of something.
"Carl," she called, and he tilts his gaze to meet hers.
"What's wrong my queen?" Carl inquired, seeing the sad look on Zara's face.
"What happened to me, is our baby alright?" She asked, giving him a curious look.
Carl bit his lips nervously and didn't know how to break the news to her. He didn't want to tell Zara that she was poisoned, and they lost their baby, seeing that she just woke up and is still weak. He didn't want anything that would affect her mental state.
"My queen, you have to rest, and regain your strength, once you've fully recovered, I will tell you about the baby."
Zara gave him a suspicious look, she couldn't help but think something was wrong.
"Tell me Carl did something happen to our baby?" she panicked, breathing hard.
"Zara, you are not well yet, let me quickly go and call the physician," Carl told her, hastily leaving the chamber.
He puts his hand on his chest, his heart throbbing. He was in a state of unrest. First, he needed to figure out a way to tell Zara that they lost the baby, then about the Nedal princess.
Carl ordered one of the guards to go call the physician, while he went to his mother's chamber...
"Catherine, Zara is awake," he gave her the good news.
"Really Carl, we need to give lady Anna and everyone else this news," she squealed, her eye gleaming with happiness.
She tilts her gaze to meet his but realized he didn't look as happy as he should.
"What's wrong Carl, did something happen?" She inquired.
"Catherine, what do I do? Zara wants to know what happened to her and the baby. you know I can't tell her until she recovers," Carl let out, with a sigh.
Catherine's happy face, was now replaced with a worried one. "You're right son, I think we should lie to her for the now until she feels better," she suggested.
"No Catherine, that's not right. what if someone else, tells her what happened?"
"That's why you'll tell everyone not to say anything to her."
"Still, I don't think it's wise to lie to her. it will break her heart when she finds out."
"I know Carl, but we are doing it for her well-being...
Carl thought about it for a while and decided to do what his mother had said. Although he didn't like the idea, he had to go on with it.
...
Carl returned to Zara's chamber with Catherine, lady Anna, Lia, and the children, after announcing that no one should tell Zara that she lost the baby.
"Zara," they called, running toward her. The children immediately climbed the bed, sitting beside her.
"Oh thank the heavens you're finally awake, you don't know how worried we were,"
"Yes Zara, we are so happy."
Zara cast a smile at them. Although everyone was telling her they were happy she was awake, she didn't know what happened to her.
"Aunt Anna, Catherine, Lia, what happened to me? Is my baby alright, you have to tell me please," Zara begged, almost bursting into tears. She was so anxious to know about the baby.
They all looked at each other and then turned to Carl who was standing behind them. No one was ready to say anything, as they didn't know how to lie to her.
"Zara uhmm," Catherine stammered. "the bab... the baby is...
"The baby is fine," someone cuts her off.
The physician who just walked into the room saw how they were battling to lie to her, so he did it.
"Queen Zara, the baby is fine, you don't have to worry."
"Then why didn't you just say that? why does it look like you all are hiding something from me?" Zara said, giving them a suspicious look.
"Even when I asked Carl about it, he looked hesitant, like something was wrong."
"It's not like that Queen Zara. they probably didn't want to tell you because the baby is also slightly ill, but once you get better, everything will be fine," the physician added.
Zara was not convinced, but she decided to believe it. "Why would a physician lie," she thought, before taking her attention back to her family.
"Where is Myla? she asked when she didn't see her.