Stand By Me Darling
Chapter 406: The Tour

Chapter 406: The Tour

Talia thought about it. "Have you thought about death before marrying Joe, Rebecca?" she asked making Rebecca chuckle.

"I don’t know..." she patted Talia’s head. "Death is a part of life, but I don’t think about it all the time, Tallie... When we got married... I mean, we all have life insurances but do we pay it thinking we will die immediately? We have plans for when if one of us or both of us die, but it is just a safeguard and we don’t think about it deeply. Maybe that is just us..."

Rebecca really hasn’t thought about death that much and so do Joe.

"Don’t you have insurances and a will in place? I read somewhere that the Palace has a detailed plan for your funeral incorporating all possible scenarios. Is that right?" Rebecca asked.

"Ah, they do... It even has a name like ’Operation Purple-Rose Repose’ or something. They even asked for my preferences and told me I can update it if I want to change anything. Ah... now I have to update where I want to get buried... in Rosandale with the Royals as it was decided before or in Esteria with my parents and-"

"Oh, shut up, Tallie! Don’t be so casual talking about your death," Rebecca oddly found it weird.

Talia giggled seeing the uncomfortable Rebecca. There aren’t a lot that can make this woman uncomfortable.

Maybe I should ask Fred and get buried where he is buried... But he’d be the Duke of Oakley and will be buried in our cemetery. So should I get buried-

Thinking about this topic made Talia’s heart heavy and she couldn’t even think further.

Am I that scared of Fred’s death? Is that it? Is that what stopping me from fully accepting the ring?

Talia had her revelation.

But as Rebecca said, death is part of life. What is there to be scared about? The important thing is to live everyday life to the fullest, isn’t it?

Talia knew everything. Her brain accepted everything, but her heart couldn’t accept the fact that Fred might die before her. She knew she is being silly and difficult, being unable to accept a basic fact of life, but she couldn’t even breathe thinking about that fact.

Rebecca saw Talia go silent as if she didn’t want to continue the topic and she changed the topic to her ring.

Talia with a big smile got the ring box from her pocket and showed Rebecca.

"Wow! Wow!...Wow!..."

Rebecca said ’wow’ at least ten times taking a better look at the ring, before she returned the box.

"You’re going to make the entire female population of the world hate you out of envy wearing that ring," Rebecca said with a smile.

"I know, right? Me wearing this ring and with him standing by my side...." Talia smiled brightly too. "I wonder how many hate-mails I’m going to get after we announce our engagement."

They chatted happily.

Talia couldn’t help but laugh seeing the stiff way Arthur held the baby. And every time the baby made a slight movement, he’d go pale as if he was a bomb diffuser who cut the wrong wire.

"Stop laughing and hold the baby, Iris. Rod said that they come with self-destruct buttons. I don’t want to accidentally touch those buttons."

He said with all seriousness making the entire family laugh.

"I’ll make you pay," Arthur said gritting his teeth and Talia laughed in his face.

After lunch, Talia dragged Arthur to the town and Rebecca’s father lent them his truck since they didn’t want to publicise their visit.

But Talia was recognised immediately as ’Smarty Becky’s posh friend’, and Talia shrugged looking at Arthur holding back his laughter. Everyone greeted them and Talia introduced them to Arthur

Talia saw the boy still wearing the sheriff badge he stole from her. In fact she gave the badge herself to the boy, but that’s not what she felt. She felt like she was robbed off the badge.

"I can get the badge for you if you want," Arthur eyed the boy and whispered in Talia’s ears.

"How?"

Talia immediately was intrigued, but then she cleared her throat. "No need. Let the boy have it." It took her everything for her to say it.

Both of them walked along the little town and shopped groceries in the store after asking for the list from Rebecca’s mother. After having a hearty dinner prepared by Rebecca’s mom, Talia made a video call to her grandpa as he advised.

Her grandpa wanted to talk to Rebecca’s parents and Talia passed the phone to them. Rebecca’s parents were slightly perplexed not understanding why a very wealthy billionaire wants to talk to them personally.

But after hearing her grandpa’s gentle tone, they immediately calmed down. Her grandpa first apologised for not thanking them in person for taking care of his granddaughter. He then asked them to visit the Oakley Castle in the winter when they’ll be free. He also invited Joe and Rebecca to bring their baby for him to see.

Even Joe and Rebecca were stunned by the down-to –earth behaviour of the Jerome Brunton. Although Rebecca’s father was stunned, he accepted the invitation in the end.

After resting for the night, Talia and Arthur left for Rosandale. Both of them got busy and both of them alternatively visited each other in the weekends.

Her visit was given a greater PR push in the international stage not only to bring Basmia to the world stage so that the corrupted politicians will have some fear that they are being watched, but also for Talia’s safety .

With the whole world watching, the nation would have to ensure the safety of their guest they invited.

Louis also arranged a personal translator for Talia so that she doesn’t have to depend on someone provided by Basmian government. Talia also made sure to learn the customs and culture of the country she is visiting so that she won’t accidentally hurt her hosts by breaking their traditions.

Louis had allowed a popular private news station to travel with her to make a documentary of Talia’s visit. There are no people who’d infringe on privacy like the journalists, but surrounded by them will give a protection to Talia since most people will fear they’ll get caught in the camera if they do anything bad.

Basmia didn’t have CCTV cameras everywhere like any developed nation, so Louis arranged a personal CCTV camera crew a.k.a. Journalists.

Of course Northern Star also extended their hand to the Basmian nation at that time, offering job opportunities by building industries and offering scholarships for best students to study in the best universities of Esteria.

So even before Talia’s visit, Basmia was receiving more favour than they ever did and the common people who heard of everything, blessed Talia and they wished for her arrival. One of the papers in Basmia referred her as the ’The Goddess of Prosperity’ which Talia found excessive.

As the PR push made Talia more known in the world stage both as a Princess and also as the granddaughter of Brunton, another guy was using that PR push to find someone he was looking for.

"He would be closer to Basmia! Find him and bring him to me!"

Arnold Belfauger spoke with utmost surety to the leader of the organisation who was in charge of finding Ralph.

With only just a week to Talia’s tour, Belfauger’s people have found the guy who helped arrange the surgery for Ralph to change his face.

He was just a greenhorn wannabe who wanted to ’dethrone’ Cobra and take his place. He was good, but he was not good enough to hide forever from the most powerful people in the planet.

He talked about ’integrity’ and refused to reveal the appearance of Ralph and before he was caught he had destroyed all the evidences of his dealings. The only one who knew about Ralph was him and he had to be kept alive and no amount of torture fazed him.

"Give me two days. I’ll get every detail from him."

Belfauger was stunned to see the woman who looked not a day over forty, with brown eyes and curly black hair, who was dressed as if she was going to a costume party as ’Cleopatra’.

"You are..?" he was stunned but he was informed that this was Cobra who is fifty five years old.

Within a day, she came out of the room with a realistic portrait of Ralph. When they went to see the guy, he looked like he was attacked by a vampire... or the ghost from the movie ’The Ring’.

They tried to check the exact location of Ralph, but he didn’t come up in any camera footages. He couldn’t be found in any airports or ports either. They put his picture in the Interpol data centre as a highly dangerous criminal charging him with every other incident that had to do with the cabal.

The cabal got a scapegoat and at the same time if they find Ralph first, Brunton would owe them one. And so the entire world was keeping an eye for Ralph but there.

"Can’t you cancel her trip?" Belfauger made a call to Jerome the day of Talia’s departure.

"She cannot hide like a mole, Arnold. She’s my blood. She’s a battle steed who gallops towards spears in the battle-field," Jerome’s eyes were filled with a complex set of emotions.

"Why is he searching for her with vengeance?" Arnold wanted to know.