Kitanna
Chapter 166: LOOSE LIPS IN THE HALLWAYS

Chapter 166: LOOSE LIPS IN THE HALLWAYS

[MUSIC RECOMMENDATION: I DON’T LIKE IT, I LOVE IT ~ FLO RIDA FEAT VERDINE WHITE AND ROBIN THICKE]

The following morning, Larel had already packed her bags before breakfast, making sure to put Labre’s belongings first; his favorite milk and play toys. As she was almost done packing up, her door opened, and a maid walked inside.

"Greetings, Lady Larel," the maid bowed deeply.

Larel acknowledged the greetings by nodding. She had not requested any maid to assist her in packing, as it was something she could do easily. There was nothing much to pack other than her clothes and Labre’s belongings.

"I’m already done packing; you don’t have to worry yourself," Larel said to the maid, with a smile on her face.

The maid looked behind the lady for a moment. Truthfully, she was done packing. Her eyes moved back to look at Lady Larel. "Queen Kitanna has asked I should load the remaining belongings inside the carriage," the maid replied.

Larel was perplexed. Remaining? She hadn’t loaded any belongings yet. But trying not to be defiant, she moved to the side as the maid started taking out the loads she had packed earlier. It didn’t take much time because she had just a few things packed.

"Thank you," Larel smiled gratefully after the maid was done packing. She went back to carry her son before stepping out of the room.

Walking outside the palace, she saw over ten carriages lined up at the entrance. Her brows furrowed questioningly. Who else was leaving with her? Last night Cortez had decided to leave first because, according to him, there was something he needed to retrieve first.

Larel turned to ask the maid, "Is any other person leaving today?"

The maid, who did not understand the question, pressed her lips gently.

"I can’t believe you want to leave without having breakfast with me, Lady Larel?" Kitanna’s voice was heard behind them. Larel, as well as the maid, turned to where the voice was coming from.

"Queen Kitanna, greetings." Larel bowed, holding Labre’s head with her other hand.

Kitanna looked at the maid, whose head was still bowed deeply; she waved to her. "You can go." The maid moved back with her head bowed before stepping out of the place.

"Were you going to leave without having breakfast with me?" Kitanna asked, her eyes looking at the child she cradled.

Larel smiled, "I didn’t know if it would make you uncomfortable... please don’t take it to heart." The lady bowed a little to show her sincerity.

Kitanna nodded her head, "I know, but you should have also thought about how I would have felt if I had not seen you before you left."

Larel agreed with what she said. After a moment, she turned to look at the lined-up carriages. Then she said, "I didn’t know we still had guests who haven’t left the palace yet."

Kitanna followed Larel’s sight, "Nobody but you is leaving today. The carriage? Is for you. Wait, you didn’t think I would let you go just like that, with just one carriage?" She nudged the Lady gently.

Larel turned back to look at the lined-up carriages. Each was evidently filled with wrapped gifts. She felt the corner of her eyes prickle, but she sniffed it back in. When she had decided to leave the palace, she was not expecting anything. Her marriage had been false, so technically it means she had no relationship with the royal family. Her comfortable stay in the palace was all because of Kitanna’s kindness. Looking at the gifts that were arranged by Kitanna, Larel felt her heart warm at the queen’s thoughtfulness.

"Thank you, Queen Kitanna. I’m so grateful." Larel tried to keep her emotions in check.

Kitanna closed the distance between them, mirth dancing in her eyes. "Are you falling for me? Uhhh, my list of admirers keeps growing with seconds. I can’t hide my charm anymore." She teased, touching Larel’s shoulders gently.

Larel chuckled, the tears that were forming in her eyes drying away instantly at the Queen’s tease. "Who said I was falling for you? I feel the weather is changing; my eyes feel um..." the lady tried to defend herself, so it won’t be like she was so moved with the action of the Queen, that she was almost crying even though that was the case.

"Uh huh? What’s that? Well, I did all this for my little nephew." Kitanna reached out to carry Labre, who raised his hands to drag her earring.

"Ohhh, look at that, he wants to take my earring with him too. You think I didn’t hear about what you did to my bouquet? We have some scores to settle, young man." Kitanna threw Labre up playfully, as he enjoyed it giggling and reaching out for her face, which Kitanna avoided by throwing him up again.

As the play continued with Kitanna and Labre, Larel, who was at the side, couldn’t help but laugh. "I didn’t know you heard about the bouquet incident. I’m glad Axilla was able to sort it out immediately." She muttered, and speaking of Axilla, she had not seen her since morning.

"Yeah, Axilla really helped out." Kitanna, who was now done playing with the boy, said to Larel.

"I heard your brother left last night; I hope all is well." She completed.

"Yes, Cortez said he had something urgent he needed to do but he’ll meet with us on the way."

Larel replied when she remembered something she wanted to ask.

"I was wondering if I could take Bareea’s ash with me." Her words sounded uncertain; she didn’t know if Kitanna would agree to such a request.

Kitanna raised her perfectly arched brows, "Why would you ask me about that?" Kitanna’s words left Larel looking confused; she didn’t know what to reply. Maybe the queen was really angry with her request.

"I’m sorry—" Larel started.

"I mean you can have access to anything you want in the palace. Let me call a maid to get it for you." Kitanna finally smiled.

Larel sighed, "You almost got me there." She let out a small smile; she had thought Kitanna was really angry with her request.

"Thank you once again," she smiled, bowing to the queen once again.

"Umm sure, since you’ve missed breakfast already. You should start hitting the road." Kitanna handed over the baby to Larel, who looked at the palace once more before making her way to an empty carriage, which she guessed was for her.

"Oh, one more gift." Kitanna called out before Larel could step inside the carriage. Larel stopped in her tracks, her brows furrowed lightly. What other gift? The former princess, now queen, has given her more than she could ever ask for.

"Come out now," Kitanna called out.

Axilla stepped out, her lips pulled up in a smile. "Lady Larel," she whispered.

"Even though it was a very tough choice for me, I had to accept it. Axilla would be leaving with you." Kitanna announced.

Earlier in the morning, while Kitanna was preparing to bathe, Axilla had made an odd request.

’Can I leave with Lady Larel?’ the bright flower had asked her that morning. Even she, Kitanna, was very surprised because, on a normal setting, Axilla would never want to leave the palace; she was scared of the outside, but this time around, she wanted to willingly do it. And she suspected it was because of the man she talked about the other night. Not wasting time, Kitanna had agreed.

’Of course you can.’ To Axilla’s surprise, her request was granted without much debate. She wasn’t questioned on why she wanted to leave the palace suddenly.

’Thank you.’ Axilla couldn’t stop thanking the queen. After the night she heard from Chantal that the young master had left earlier, she couldn’t sleep a wink, feeling guilty with the way she had treated him. So she decided it was better to leave; she’ll experience the outside world. Maybe that way she would understand the young master’s actions better.

Back to the present, Larel was shocked to hear that Axilla was leaving with her. Not that she was not happy about it, but it would mean that Kitanna only had herself in the palace.

"Don’t worry about me, I have Clephas, Lord Hieron, Chantal, and Severus. I’m good, and Nix would be back soon." Kitanna, as if reading Larel’s mind, said.

"Now you both run along before I change my mind, and lock you all up here." She waved her hands, noticing the emotions that passed the faces of the two women.

Both Larel and Axilla ran to hug Kitanna. The three of them, plus little Labre, were engulfed in a warm hug before they separated.

"Always come around to visit me, and stay safe out there," Kitanna waved to them.

"Take care, Queen Kitanna; we’ll always write to you." Finally, the carriage started leaving the palace until the last of it finally disappeared from the palace entrance.

Kitanna sighed when she saw the last carriage covered in the morning mist. "Hm...the palace suddenly looks too big," she muttered.

Making her way back to the palace, her footsteps faint almost not making a sound. She stopped when she heard whispers.

"She won’t even know," a maid’s voice was heard.

"Mmhm, I heard Odel is a land where men get loose and play with different women. That is why he left her alone here; maybe he did not enjoy their wedding night." Another maid added, nodding in agreement.

Kitanna cleared her throat, and this got the maids’ attention. They widened their eyes as if they had seen a ghost.

"We deserve to die, Queen Kitanna." The maids knelt down with their faces touching the ground.

Kitanna, who was in no mood for small talks, continued her stroll, walking past the maids as she made her way to her room.

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