Stand By Me Darling
Chapter 386: I’m Not Noble

Chapter 386: I’m Not Noble

Talia was happy Arthur agreed to stay in Rosandale till the weekend. Talia wasn’t pleased Arthur’s stay was arranged in Lambert’s place.

"At least pretend to be little demure, orang-utan." Lambert snorted when Talia spoke to the courtiers regarding Arthur’s staying arrangements. She really couldn’t accept when there are already five guest bedrooms in her place Arthur is asked to stay in Lambert’s place.

But then she couldn’t win against those courtiers who talked customs and procedures. In the end, Arthur’s stay was arranged in the Bardalph Suite. When Talia was told the name of the bedroom specifically by Lambert, she thought it was familiar. He even winked and Talia realised there should be something more to it.

And only after returning from the terrace after having wine and playing games with Lambert and Arthur, did Talia realise the significance of that particular suite.

The Bardalph Suite a.k.a. Wolf Bedroom used to be the bedroom of Consort Albert – Queen Mary’s husband. And Talia’s bedroom is called ’The Mona Chambers’ a.k.a. The Moon Room since it had a good view of the moon.

Queen Mary belonged to some other era and those days a noble couple don’t share room at night even if they were married. They had separate bedrooms and the husband would usually ’visit’ the wife at certain days when they share a bed.

But Queen Mary, who was a Princess then, was very progressive for her time. She didn’t like the idea of not sleeping together with her beloved husband daily. But she couldn’t break traditions since she was the Crown Princess and she’d be labelled licentious. Her husband was not loved by the courtiers and they wanted them to break up.

Still she didn’t want to compromise and she made a secret opening between her bedroom and her husband’s bedroom. For others it would seem like they stayed in their own rooms but in reality they shared bed every night.

There was a story Celine told Talia which she found to be funny. But it wouldn’t have been funny for Queen Mary. After Queen Mary became the reigning monarch, she still wasn’t allowed to do what she liked and her husband was still hated by the aristocrats since he was just a rich commoner.

And due to some power struggles with the Queen, Albert wasn’t allowed to enter the Queen’s bed chambers to force her to bend to their will. But Queen Mary was adamant and she came to vacation in Gresford Palace. The Queen was still forbidden to meet her husband, but to everyone’s dismay, it was revealed the Queen was pregnant.

The Courtiers scrambled along trying to contain the situation as there were speculations that the Queen was ’close’ with a Duke. Some were pleased the Queen had finally come to her senses and found herself someone with aristocratic blood and planned to make that child the heir to the throne. Some who were against the Queen, accused her of being an adulteress and asked her to step down.

The palace descended to chaos.

But it was Prince Albert who came to the Queen’s rescue claiming the child was his. It was then the secret tunnel was discovered.

After that issue, the Queen put her foot down and did a cleansing of the Palace. Many nobles lost their titles as they had enraged the Queen as they suspected her love for her husband and she brought many laws regarding marriage and decriminalised the marriage between a commoner and an aristocrat.

The tunnel was never closed and Talia knew the layout of the Gresford Palace is still the same as it was built.

So where would be the opening to the tunnel? Should I pull out a particular book in the shelf or move a candlestick? Or is it a lever in the chimney? Ugh! It would be like this only in movies. How will I find it for real?

Talia knocked on the wall to find out where the hidden opening is. As she was seriously checking the wall, Kate walked in and Talia gave an awkward smile.

Kate smiled politely without saying anything and walked to the fireplace and moved a candlestick on the mantle of the fireplace. Talia heard a click and the bookshelf shifted a little.

Wow! So it was a candlestick for real? Art does imitate life, huh?

Thanking Kate, Talia stepped in the small passageway with her phone torch illuminating the way. The passageway was clean as if it is cleaned regularly.

So everyone knows of this? Why wasn’t I briefed?

As Talia reached the end of the passageway, she heard another clicking noise and the wooden plank in front of her opened.

"Fred!" Talia jumped and hugged him around his neck. Arthur wrapped his arms around her waist and lifter her.

"How?" he was surprised. Lambert told him about the secret passageway and he thought he could sneak in to give her a scare, but here she is in his arms giving him a pleasant surprise.

"I wanted to be with you," Talia nibbled his ears. He’s here for a couple of days but they couldn’t spend any alone time together. She missed him terribly.

"You’re my sole reason for living, my love. You have no idea how hard you make me doing things like this," Arthur pressed Talia on the wall and kissed her.

After a couple of hours of wild ’dancing’, Talia rolled over and kissed Arthur’s forehead. "You were pretty wild tonight." These past few weeks he’d be very gentle and Talia was surprised by his passion tonight.

But she loved it.

"You want me to be gentle? I couldn’t hold back tonight. I’ll be gentle in the morning," he pulled her to a hug.

"Idiot, who wants to do it with you in the morning?"

Talia’s lips curved to a smile as his fingers gently traced along her spine. His hot breath fell on her and she thought she smelled like him, probably because she’s covered in his sweat during their intense exercise.

"I smell like you," he said sniffing his hand. "I love it."

"Idiot! Go wash!" she tried to push him, but he held her close. "Stay like this, Iris."

"You’re not mad I decided our wedding venue by myself?" she asked nestling in his embrace.

"No, I would like to not get bothered by those details if possible. I just want to be there and watch you walk towards me. I don’t care when or where as long as it is us becoming man and wife. As long as you don’t wear a veil, anything is fine. Even carriage rides are okay," he said and Talia almost got mad.

Does he not care about planning our wedding?

But then she calmed down immediately.

I have the full freedom to decide everything myself! How amazing! And does he hate the veil that much?

"Your grandpa seemed a little sad when your great grandma bragged about your choice though. And Iris, if you need help, I’ll be there for you. Otherwise you can do as you like."

"Hmm," Talia knew her grandpa would have been blinded by her decision. "We can have one reception in Esteria for our business contacts and friends from Esteria, right. I bet a lot of them won’t want to be there with pompous nobles of Rosandale."

"That’s a great idea." Arthur felt that way too. "Iris, can we discuss about our wedding later? It makes me feel bad. I haven’t even proposed to you yet."

"Do you feel like I’m urging you to propose? I am definitely not doing that. It’s just that... I got a little excited. That’s all. I’m okay with your plans. Take your time. I really don’t care. I’m not in hurry to get married... I love you and my love won’t change..."

Arthur placed a kiss on Talia’s forehead as he could sense the honesty in her words.

I truly don’t deserve you. But I will not let you go. You’re mine.

He felt a sharp pain in his heart for hiding his tumour from her. In fact, he has scraped all his plans and made new plans. He’d already gotten on the good graces of her family. He wanted to first talk about his condition to her grandfather.

He hoped Jerome would still approve of the marriage. After that he wanted to propose to Talia before going to the surgery.

Is he planning to be a selfish a**? Absolutely! The noble thing to do would be to propose to her after his successful surgery or better yet, to let her go to be with a healthy man.

But he is not a noble man. He is a despicable scum who cannot let her go even if he becomes an imbecile. For that, he’d trick her and use her love for him to hold her close to him.

I’m not sorry for that!

He closed his eyes taking in a whiff of her scent. A string of warm liquid escaped his eyes and rolled down through her thick, luscious hair. The woman in his arms had already fallen asleep.

I’m sorry, Iris... But I won’t change my plans.

-----

That weekend Lambert putting all his efforts brought all the elders of the family without telling them what it was about. Jerome was brought and was seated with the others.

Everything for their concert was arranged in the Gresford Palace. The first performance was planned to be Arthur and as he was starting, a loud voice interrupted them.

"Stop, you traitors!"

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