Stand By Me Darling
Chapter 247: Planning Her Work

Chapter 247: Planning Her Work

The moment Talia answered the call, she was bombarded with a very loud rant of Rebecca, chiding her for letting Joe stay in the penthouse unit of the apartment building.

"I’ll call you back in a moment," Talia ended the call as she realised that all eyes were on her and walked silently towards her office, with Mr. Ed and her assistant by her side.

The offices of the Royal Courtiers were near the King’s office and as she walked, she saw some of them waiting for an audience with the King and others doing their work in the building.

Some of them gave Talia a friendly smile, some a sycophantic smile, some were indifferent and some had the not-so-impressed look.

Some of them who were previously introduced as Lambert’s staff didn’t even mind her and gave a glare at her assistant. But all of them were very respectful towards Mr. Ed.

Talia knew the power structure in the Palace is very complicated. Although the King is theoretically the most powerful person in the country, the reality is not so black and white. There are many forces involved who holds power in the kingdom.

And these courtiers and staff of other royal family members are the most influential ones as they had the access to the King.

Although it is mandated that Talia holds higher status than Lambert by the King himself, there are still many who thinks of Talia as an outsider while considering Lambert as a member of the family.

Talia can understand why they think the way they do. She only joined the family a decade ago and even after that, she never did any official duty or acknowledged herself as a Princess. And Lambert is the brother of the current king and the grandson of the previous Monarch, but she is only the second cousin.

Lambert has worked hard all his life for the family and just because he is months younger than her, she holds a higher rank than Lambert.

Talia herself felt that it is very unfair to Lambert, but everything was under the guidance of the Dowager Queen and she didn’t have a choice than to accept what was asked of her.

And now, after returning suddenly and wishing to be a working royal, when she previously had no intention to do so, she knew she wouldn’t seem so honest in the eyes of many in the Palace, even though the public accepts her.

And Talia knew she can’t expect everyone to agree with her and accept her by her words alone. She needs to prove to them that she is willing to serve the kingdom as a Princess.

She is not entitled to people’s trust on her just because of her rank. She needs to show them her worth for them to believe her.

Since everything is like this, she knew she needs to be extra careful and so should her staff. The last thing she needs would be her staff getting on a row with Lambert’s staff. It would eventually lead to the distancing of her relationship with Lambert.

With her chin up and back straight, Talia walked through the hallways. Everyone gave way for her and they had to bow to her whether they liked her or not since she is a Princess and she is of higher rank than them.

Her gait was steady and her demeanour was confident as she strutted through the hallway.

As she walked, Talia realised how much her family has tried to help her. By sending her favourite Knight to her, Talia’s great grandmother has done Talia a great favour. Even now, no one will oppose the words of the Dowager Queen and by sending Mr. Ed who was the right-hand man of the Dowager to Talia, the Dowager had given a strong statement of support to her great granddaughter.

And Louis... By arranging most of her newest engagements with Lambert has given a chance for Lambert’s staff and her staff to get along. If they see how their bosses are getting along, they will have to follow suit too.

Talia’s lips curved to a smile and her heart was filled with gratefulness for her family who takes care of her.

Talia got in her office and the extravagance of that waiting room was blinding for her. With big arched windows and doors, extravagant carpets and tapestries, sophisticated furnishings and the nice view from her office room that was filled with pleasant aroma of the nature, Talia felt so loved and cared for. Everything suited her taste pretty well and she felt comfortable in that place.

She knew Louis is the one who chose this place for her and he doesn’t have to take care of this place this much. But he did. He wouldn’t have done it all himself but would have asked his people to take care of it... But still, he bothered to care for her this much.

Talia felt a little overwhelmed with the care she is receiving from them.

After having a cup of tea to soothe her nerves, she called Rebecca back.

Rebecca complained how Joe had become very ’clingy’ and how she doesn’t like him like that since she felt like he is not the man he married.

Talia could only roll her eyes. Didn’t Rebecca want to leave Joe because she didn’t like the man he was? And now she doesn’t like the changed him and want the previous Joe?

"My slipper was just there, Tallie... I was about to wear it, but guess what?" Rebecca said in a exasperated tone,"Joe brought it and placed it in front of my feet!"

Really? That’s a big problem? Talia thought.

"He is opening doors for me Tallie... He pulls the chair for me to sit. And when I wake up there is always breakfast on the table. He does my laundry and...." Rebecca ’s complaints went on.

"Didn’t you want to be coddled and doted on by your husband, woman?" Talia asked and she was slightly pissed.

It just seemed like Joe read some women’s magazine, especially some list of’ 30 things a gentleman does for his woman’ and tried to woo his wife. Why is Rebecca finding fault again?

" I thought so too, Tallie... But it seems like I don’t like to be coddled. I feel like I’m a sick person being looked after by a nurse than a wife getting love from her husband. I have hands, Tallie... I can open doors for myself and I can pull my own chair to sit! And I sure can cook my own breakfast... Although I do appreciate him doing the laundry. I hate doing laundry... And doing dishes... And cleaning... " Rebecca spoke in a low tone.

" Just tell him what you feel! It’s that simple. I think he’s trying to be gentlemanly. It’s what most men do. I think you don’t like that kind of men, " Talia chuckled.

Rebecca is just being... Rebecca.

" I know, right? I don’t like gentlemen... I know you do, but not me. And I did tell him to stop doing it all... But he thinks I’m not pleased by what he does and he tries to work harder to please me using the same techniques. Ah! I feel like he’s acting like my mother when he does all those things for me... I want a man, not a mother!" Rebecca complained more.

Talia listened to Rebecca chuckling as she complained. She personally would like it if a man opened a door for her or do other things. Fred would do it all for her and for her, it is a requirement for a man to do all that. She grew up that way.

But Rebecca is different and has other preferences. Maybe that was why she fell for Joe and maybe she felt like the grass is greener at the other side when she saw other men doing these stuff for their women. But experiencing that first-hand, Rebecca doesn’t like the experience.

Each woman is unique and they have different preferences. It is amazing.

After letting all her grievances out of her chest, Rebecca felt relieved. Talia was always her go to grievance confessing person and even after she left, Rebecca couldn’t change her ways.

"Tides are turning on your behalf in your homeland," Rebecca had a happy time when she said that. "A comment in social media with more than a hundred thousand likes said that they want you back in Esteria, as their next Queen Consort and they wanted to eradicate the Council."

"Bleh!" Talia wanted to throw up. She didn’t have much opinion about the eradication of the Council, but marrying Prince Edward... She’d rather tattoo ’Murderer’ on her forehead than amrryikg that foolish hypocrite.

But the situation is Esteria is very chaotic for now. With the Judiciary department launching investigations on many nobles, a lot of protests are erupting here and there asking for the eradication of the High Council. Support for Esteria becoming an entirely Republic nation with no Monarchy also has grown in the past couple of days.

Talia didn’t care much about all that other stuff and she only cared for what Lord Lockhart has to say to her and was waiting for her call.

"I want to become the Marchioness of Ashwood. I’ll pass on becoming a Queen Consort," Talia took a sip of water.

"Ah, right! How is your grandpa’s health? And your grandfather legally announced Arthur as his heir? How can he accept it? He’s such a greedy SOB! Then what about you?" Rebecca couldn’t stop her words when it came about Arthur.

Talia explained everything to Rebecca and Rebecca still hesitated to believe Arthur. After talking to her for a while, Talia ended her call.

After asking about some charities that were recommended by her great grandmother and Cordelia, Talia started to go through the list once more, to choose what charities interested her.

She found one support group of working women who had children with disabilities and her heart went out for that women. Some of them were single mothers and handling work and their kid was very tough for them since they also had financial troubles. She remembered what the First Lady said about working mothers who have it touch and decided to do something for that charity.

There was another charity that provided entertainments for elderly people in nursing homes and communities with elderly population.

As she marked the charities that interested her, she found that most of them involved children and the rest involved old people.

Well... It is what it is!

She started discussing with her staff about the help she could do for those charities and how she could highlight those charities to the majority of people. Not every charity is in need of money. Some needed exposure and some needed volunteers who could donate their time and effort to help the people in need.

Talia felt fulfilling as she discussed about helping the charities. As someone who worked in PR, she had some pretty good idea how to highlight the charities and she accepted her staff’s input since they know more about how things work in this country.

The next few days passed with Talia working hard in her office and sometimes attending official engagements with Lambert.

Her mornings and nights were mostly spent with Arthur in video calls and text messages while her meals were split between her grandfather and her great grandmother.

While Talia had very busy days, she didn’t even have the time to notice the chaos in Esteria getting louder and louder.