Stand By Me Darling
Chapter 340: Fortitude Of A Partner

Chapter 340: Fortitude Of A Partner

"Iris, shall we go home? The doctors permitted you to have rest in home." Arthur held Talia’s hand. She’s been sitting in this uncomfortable chair for hours, holding her head, waiting for the surgery to be over.

Does her head hurt? Ah... her hands went cold again.

He cupped her hands in his hands and blew on them to warm her up. She wasn’t even responding to him.

"Why is the surgery taking this long Fred? Could there be something wrong?" she asked turning to look at him and her eyes looked tired.

"No, I don’t-"

He paused as they heard footsteps approaching them and he stood up as Talia stood up. A woman in her late thirties was waking to them and he guessed it should be Sir Robert’s wife.

"Lady Magdalene Gaston," Talia walked to the woman. Talia was about to shake her hand, but as she saw the anxiousness in her face, she hugged her with no second thoughts.

"Your Royal Highness, forgive my impudence," Lady Magdalene tried to give Talia a curtsy and Talia stopped her.

At that time the OR door opened and the doctors informed how the surgery went and as far as Talia understood they said that Mr. Ed could return to his usual life after proper rest and healthy, restricted diet.

Talia held Arthur’s hand and sighed in relief.

Mr. Ed was still under the influence of anesthetics when they wheeled him to the aftercare room and Talia stayed until everything was settled. As Lady Magdalene felt uneasy staying in the Oakley castle or in a hotel leaving her husband alone, Talia arranged for a comfortable bed for her stay in the next room. Usually in that hospital, care partners aren’t allowed stay in the hospital, but Talia got a room for Lady Magdalene to stay using her status. Well, it was Arthur who arranged for it to be precise as Talia asked for it.

"You should rest too, Your Royal Highness. You were in the blast too." Lady Magdalene held Talia’s hand and said with a concerned tone. She had calmed down a lot after talking to the doctors and Talia was amazed by her mental fortitude. She was not angry or blaming anyone, but just stood behind the glass and watched her husband. It was like she had trained herself to be in such situations.

Shouldn’t she be angry at me or at Sophia for putting her husband’s life at risk and lamenting out of grief? Or shouldn’t she be crying seeing her husband’s state? Shouldn’t she be contemplating whether she should ask her husband to quit this dangerous job? Why is she this calm?

So this is Mr. Ed’s wife!

Talia was feeling a little giddy after staying awake for long. At first, she wanted to stay until Mr. Ed wakes up, but then she decided it would be wise for her to leave and take rest.

"You can ask me for any help, any time, if you need it, without reservations, Lady Magdalene." Talia left only after giving the assurance. Lady Magdalene was really thankful.

On her way back, she contemplated if she should stay in the hospital after all. But then when she was told Prince Edward was in this hospital too, she decided to leave. She didn’t want to accidentally meet that hypocrite.

And with most of the important personalities of Esteria now in the same hospital, including the President, she decided not to jinx their safety with her amazing luck and decided to go home.

Arthur tucked her in comfortably as she lay in the bed. She didn’t even want to take a bath and just after changing, went straight for bed. Thankfully after Mrs. Grey’s insistence, she drank some soup and ate some porridge before falling asleep.

The bill announcing the privatisation of the Northern Star was announced by the President himself, but in Esteria the talk was about the blast. The media wasn’t holding back as they called Sophia names. They also wrote how her brother was arrested for trying to assassinate the President.

Samuel tried to kill father in the morning? Why didn’t Roderick tell me about it?

Arthur forgetting that he was still mad at his brother for whatever reason, Called Roderick immediately to inquire about it. Roderick explained in detail everything happened and Arthur scoffed realising his brother can be vengeful too. He found a way to arrest a guy on federal charges for badmouthing his sister-in-law.

Power...it corrupts all for one reason or another. But she was not just his sister-in-law. She is a Princess. So Roderick’s acts are justified by law.

But the reason of his arrest being fed to the media... he wanted to protect Talia’s name appearing in the papers regarding this issue.

Arthur didn’t want to think further about his brother. The opposition to the Clairmont family grew larger and even the Reiley family who was close with the Clairmont family was dragged along. People were demanding the stripping of the titles of nobility of the Clairmont family.

With the speed things are developing, Arthur knew it was Archibald Wallace who is instigating the hate campaign against the Clairmont family and their supporters himself.

The entire country was in chaos once more, and leaning on the headboard of the bed, Arthur ignored the thirty seventh call from Jordan.

That idiot! I want to kill him!

He was surprised to receive a call from Raphael the assistant of Talia in his phone.

"Why hasn’t she replaced her phone yet?" he asked bluntly and Arthur wanted to put a bullet in his brain.

Why? She was in a f*cking blast and is currently resting! Why should she care for her phone? Plus, he had already bought the specific model phone she asked for and recovered her phone number too, but he thought it would be better for her to configure her new phone herself considering how savvy she’s with technology and her insistence on protecting her privacy.

"What would you know? I’ll ask her myself. Pass her the phone," Raphael added and Arthur gritted his teeth.

"Do you know what time this is?" Arthur really wasn’t pleased.

"What time is it?"

The voice at the other end was low and for Arthur it seemed like Raphael was mocking him.

"Oh, it is this late? I didn’t realise. I’m sorry." He spoke apologetically.

Sure you are sorry, buddy! Sure you are! I should really make you feel sorry.

"Why did you call?" Arthur spoke in an intimidating, low voice.

"It’s..."Raphael hesitated. "I’ll talk to My Queen later. Sorry for disturbing-"

"Is it regarding Ralph Runtley?" Arthur could guess.

There was silence at the other end of the line and Arthur added, "You can speak to me freely. I was the one who asked her to look into him."

"He’s dead. He died in a ferry accident. He used a fake name and hid in Duglin. But he died in a ferry accident. There is no official death certificate in his name as he used an alias, but we have dental records to match. Ralph J. Runtley is dead. His face isn’t coming up in any facial recognition software either..."

Raphael then went on to explain how he surely arrived to the conclusion as he had checked the cameras from around Ralph’s secret stay and how the ferry he got on sank with him dying in the accident.

"I’m sorry if I was rude. I was doing the project My Queen gave me and I haven’t slept a wink in two days. I hope you can pass this information to..."Raphael’s voice trailed off.

Did he fall asleep while talking to me?

Arthur ended the call with a smile. He was a bit surprised to learn that he went as far as to stay awake for two days to finish the assignment Talia gave him.

She does have a knack to gather loyal people around her, doesn’t she?

And Ralph is actually dead?

Arthur had doubts that the explosives incident might involve Ralph as he seemed to have some sort of vengeance towards Talia.

The initial reports about the blasts are saying that those bombs were handmade and it was Sophia who placed the order for the ingredients for the explosives.

So that is the case? Everything was planned just by Sophia?

Further investigations will be conducted by interrogating Sophia. The detective assigned for this case is one of the students of Lord Lockhart and he won’t go easy on Sophia. Even if there is more to it, that detective can make Sophia spill out the truth one way or another.

Arthur lied beside Talia and he took in a deep breath. He closed his eyes and the happenings of the afternoon, made him shiver.

She was in a blast! She could have died!

I’m scared!

He felt a throbbing pain in his head. He got up and took the medications the doctor gave for his pain. He told him to get the surgery as soon as possible, but Arthur himself was afraid to let someone operate on his brain.

It’s my brain! What if something went wrong?

Also Iris still in pain... She definitely won’t survive my illness.

Will she run away and lock herself up somewhere and suffer alone? Will she leave me once again like when she thought I had abandoned her?

Iris... don’t ever leave me! I’ll stay with you as much as I can.

He hugged her closer. Taking in her scent, calmed his mind. He slowly fell asleep.