Stand By Me Darling
Chapter 66: Care And Love

Chapter 66: Care And Love

Not even an hour passed since Talia left the restaurant, but as she checked the stock market, she could see Northern Star’s stocks falling.

She checked the tabloids of Esteria to see the picture of her throwing wine at Prince Edward on the front page. There was even a short video clip - edited of course to make it seem like she poured wine at the Prince for no reason.

Some bold words caught her eyes like Wayward heiress, previously accused of murder, Royal Princess of Rosandale and so on.

She forced herself to not read any of those articles since she knew she would only be disheartened reading it. She is not that strong mentally and it would be better for her to avoid these kind of negative things.

Good thing she wasn’t in on any social media platform or else she’d be buried with hateful comments in her mentions. But as she expected as she browsed through she could see all those articles taken down one by one and the video was deleted.

’Wow! They are fast!’

Talia smiled to herself and she could see the stocks stabilising a bit. The value was still dropping, but the curve wasn’t so steep like before.

As she was about to lock her phone, she received a call and with a smile she picked up the call.

" Long Live Your Majesty! May you live for thousand years!" she spoke little louder and the cab driver looked at her through the rear view mirror in a weird way.

"Are you kidding me? What happened?" the deep voice from the other side was confrontational.

"Does the Dowager Queen know?" Talia asked in a lower voice.

"So you do fear her! If so why? Do you..." Talia could hear the deep sigh from the other side. "What action should we take from our side? And, this is not an official call. Drop your fake politeness, my ears are bleeding. And of course our great grandmother must be informed of this... He didn’t hurt you, did he? "

The King of Rosandale on the other side knew Talia is not someone who just acts rashly. If she went that far, that other guy must have done something to piss her off.

" No, and when have I ever fake my politeness?" Talia’s lips curled to a small smile as she leaned back on the seat and stared at the passing high-rise buildings all lit up joyfully. But there was emptiness in her heart.

" He pulled my skirt and called me names, " she bit her lips as he heard a bang from the other side.

" He did what? Does he think he’s in elementary school to pull the skirts of girls? Isn’t he a Prince himself? Moron!" he was really angry.

But...

"But if he planned all this and now publishing context-less lies, what’s he planning? Should we intervene? " he asked worried.

Talia was not that surprised by his words. This is not the first time he is acting caring towards her. But she could never understand why he would ask this. She didn’t grow up with him and only know him for ten years and in all those years, if she added all the time she spent with him, it wouldn’t be more than a week even if she’s being generous.

’He is just my second cousin... My father’s mother was his father’s sister. We have the same great grandmother. Does that warrant such care from him?’

She tried to be skeptical of his care for a long time but he is someone of pure heart and she really couldn’t doubt his care for her. So she just went along with it.

"No need, Louis. Just suppress the news and I don’t want those gossips to spread here..." Talia still wasn’t willing to give up the life she built for herself here. At least not yet.

And in this situation purely brought by Esterian Nobles, if the Rosandale Royal family interferes, that would cause conflicts between the two nations. The last thing she’ll need is a war between two nations.

"Huh! You’re still not willing, huh?" he sounded a bit disappointed. He really couldn’t understand why she is not willing to accept her identity with pride and tell the world who she really is.

But if he forces her and she pulls further away from them, his great grandmother will scold him and hit him with that stick of hers. Ever since MaryAnn was brought back, His great grandmother’s life became intertwined with his cousin’s well-being.

He is a little jealous of her in that aspect. Here he is, being the King, upto his neck with his responsibilities, working his butt off and she who ran away without even fulfilling her duties is the most loved by his great grandmother.

In what way is that fair?

But he cannot deny, she is cuter! If given a choice, who’d chose a thirty year old man over a cute and pretty little girl?

"I might be in that country in a couple of months with Lia to sign a deal if we could negotiate the terms. And you know the annual spring ball is in three months... Our people are expecting their Princess’ appearance eagerly, you know? Great grandma too, " he added.

"Mmm," Talia’s eyes looked down and she looked at her feet in contemplation.

It is her duty to be present there. But she never attended the ball ever.

Should I this year?

"I’ll try," she said in a low voice.

"Really? Good then!" he was really happy. Till now she would blatantly refuse and this time at least she’s saying she’ll try. That’s a big improvement.

"I’ll apologise to great-grandmother for implicating your family with my scandals. And I can promise that I’ll handle it in the best way possible. It may take a while, but rest assured...."

"There you go...", Louis sighed from the other end. " You said ’Your family’, Mary. It’s ’our family’! And you can exploit our family name however you want. We can protect you. We are taking a step back because you don’t let us to stand by your side. Even that video that got taken down... Great grandma was so proud of you for stepping up to protect your assistant and she was sad to take it down for that lecherous duke. But she still helped that Duke! If that lecherous man can exploit our power, how much can you? You are really dumb! "he spoke in a reprimanding manner but Talia could sense the love behind those words.

He means what he says.

" How is Cordelia and the boys? " she asked to change the topic.

" They are fine. The boys say your picture from my coronation the other day and called you Pretty. Little Henry went a step ahead and called you prettier than his mum making Lia jealous of you," he lightened up talking about his family.

"Great! Make more babies. At least a dozen... Push me further down the line," she said with heartfelt happiness.

For now she is third in line for the throne and she really hated to be in that position. She’d be more comfortable further down the line.

"I’m trying... I’m trying..." he laughed from the other side.

When she was brought back and after the unfortunate passing of his grandfather and father, his great grandmother insisted on MaryAnn taking the throne but she firmly refused and threatened to leave the family if she was forced. But he was glad she refused the throne. He wanted to be King. And he is glad she is not some one with evil intentions and schemes.

That’s why he always found her cute.

"I’ll talk to you later," Talia reached her neighborhood and so she decked to end the call.

"Yeah, good night... It’s night there too, right...?" his smooth voice sounded a bit tired as she could hear him yawn on the other end.

"I’ll go to bed too... And, MaryAnn, don’t answer Lambert’s calls. Okay? I’ll deal with him,"he ended the call.

’Yeah, I won’t answer Lambert’s calls even if you ask me to answer. I’m not masochistic to get scolded for no reason!’

Talia’s face frowned remembering Prince Lambert the younger brother of King Louis. He hated her dearly and she had no good opinions about him either.

As she paid the driver and got down from the cab, she received a call from her grandfather and her heart skipped a beat as she once again got reminded of the happenings during dinner.

"Grandpa..." Talia was about to apologise. She knew what she did is going to bring a great headache to her grandfather. And he is already sick. He does not need this stress right now.

"What did he do?"

The voice from the other side was boiling with rage making Talia stunned.

He is not even going to ask me what happened and assume that Prince Edward was wrong? Does my grandfather trust me that much?

"Nothing much, grandpa... You don’t worry. I’ll handle this with Arthur’s help... I’m sorry the stocks..."

"Tell your grandpa how he hurt you. I’ll tear him to pieces myself!" he shouted from the other side.

If that boy made his granddaughter angry enough to act in an uncouth manner, it won’t be a simple issue.

He really didn’t care about the stocks! They go down and go up all the time! But if that boy really hurt his granddaughter, he should face his wrath!

"I’m fine grandpa... Take care of your health. And... Grandpa... The Council... Be careful with them and..."

"Ah... So, that’s how it is..." her grandpa seemed to have understood something.

If she herself doubts them, he who is a veteran in scheming would have figured out their plots a lot sooner.

"Stay safe," her grandfather ended the call after taking to her for a couple more minutes.

As she took the elevator, she remembered the words Edward said about Arthur and Talia held her chest as she could feel a strong squeeze.

She knew he’d be really mad at her. She said she won’t be returning back to Esteria and now she had gone and insulted the Prince and there will be no way she’d be accepted back in their country.

And that short tempered guy will think that she did that on purpose....probably!

And should I ask him about Ray?

With a confused and worried heart, Talia got inside her apartment.

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