Rogue and Riveting

Chapter 21 Clarence Versus Enoch

These past few days, Adelia had been having these nightmares. They always happen when she is too tired or when she has so much on her plate that she sleeps with a lot of things on her head. And last night wasn't an exception. Maybe she was tired because of the things she did with Martha and Clarence, but it could also be due to all the new pieces of information that she got from her childhood friend.

Or it could be both.

So when she woke up the next morning after that mini-party they did, Adelia was no longer surprised that her heart was still beating wildly like it was going to jump off her chest. Or that her head was pulsing. It hurt so much, she had to breathe deep before she was able to clear her mind. And as she tried to remember her dream, it hurt even more. All she could vividly picture in her mind right now was the blurry image of that man... the mysterious man who showed up to their room back in Romeodel. The man who scared and scarred her... The man who must be the owner of the blood, according to Clarence, had a disorder...

Whoever he was, he was still haunting her. The stress and trauma that Adelia got from his sudden appearance in her room were too much for her, and she just didn't tell the people around her, especially her husband. She did not want to make a fuss, but she was also scared that this would go on and on if not stopped.

Adelia was having a hard time getting out of her bed right now and her room was already bright from the sunlight bursting from the windows when a series of gentle knocks on the door got her attention. "Your Highness? Are you already awake?"

It was Clarence, and Adelia wanted to respond, but she couldn't. It almost felt like her voice disappeared, but she knew this was just caused by her headaches. So what she did was try very hard to get out of her bed, and she was still in her nightgown when she walked to the door with her blurry vision. And she was close to passing out just as she was able to open the door. There stood Clarence, who thought that she was still asleep, but was surprised when the door opened. And when Adelia fell to him as if she collapsed, Clarence immediately asked for help from the chambermaids because the Queen had just passed out.

"What happened to her?" Clarence asked the doctor that checked Adelia. They were now in the palace clinic and his childhood friend was now sleeping in a bed. Both he and Martha were there, utterly shocked by what happened, and they were also scared that this might escalate into something else.

"She was too tired," the lady doctor replied. "But don't worry, it was not just because of what you did last night," she added, and Martha sighed in relief at that, for she was literally scared that the blame was going to be put on them. "I have the results here, but as this is the Queen's private information, I can't share it with anyone yet without approval from any member of the royal family yet. So it's best to wait until the Queen wakes up."

"But it's not serious, right?" Clarence asked again, and it was clear from his face that if he had his way, he would force this doctor to just tell him what was happening to Adelia. "She's not in trouble?"

The doctor smiled sweetly at him. "Oh, don't worry. It's not like that. Anyway, if you're going to stay here until she wakes up, can you ask her to eat? The Queen needs to regain her strength. I'll go to the kitchen too and tell them to whip up something healthy for her. Just look after her for me, okay?"

And after that, the doctor left. Clarence and Martha exchanged looks of worry, then looked at their friend who was still sleeping. She looked really tired, but Adelia was a beautiful woman that sometimes it's hard to say that she was struggling. It was even a surprise that her health was this bad, that she collapsed after partying the night before.

"She wasn't even moving that much last night," said Martha. "When we danced while we were doing the karaoke, she was just on her seat, laughing. I don't know what really took her energy away."

"Well, it might not just be physical. It could also be mental."

"Yeah. But what I know is that she's not that stressed," Martha replied. "But I guess she's just good at hiding it. Maybe she's worried about her husband? She loves him so much that maybe her anxiety was triggered when he left to solve the... you know..."

That caught Clarence's attention. Not the part about King Enoch leaving his wife to solve Sanjolia's infamous scandal, but... "She loves him so much?"

Martha, oblivious that he likes the Queen, nodded. "Yeah! She is in love with him. And who wouldn't? King Enoch takes care of him so much and exceeded her expectations. You know how they only got married as a tactical political move, right? But King Enoch actually acts as a good husband to her. Well, I doubt that it's even acting. She says that he loves her too. That's why she even said that she thinks that she's in a dream and that she doesn't want to wake up from it."

Clarence looked like he wanted to punch someone. This was the first time that he felt so angry. And jealous. "So she loves him..." he repeated and stared at the sleeping young queen. "Even if they were strangers to each other..."

"That could happen. That's what you call love at first, right?"

"That's not true," said Clarence.

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"The idea that someone can fall in love with a stranger. That you fall in love with someone from the first time that you see each other. The King of Romeodel might be charming, but I don't believe that she fell for him that fast."

"Well, we don't know that," said Martha, who was now looking at Clarence with a frown. "And if the Queen says she is in love, then it must be true. She's not a liar, Clarence."

"Or maybe she was just forced to say that because she had no other choice."

"Huh? What do you mean by that?"

Clarence was about to respond when the clinic door opened and the King of Romeodel himself burst from it and dashed toward his wife. "Adelia!" he said and hugged her. Then noticing that she was not waking up, he looked around, saw Clarence, and glared at him. "What happened to my wife? Who did this to her?"

"I--- The Queen collapsed this morning," Martha responded with her head bowed low, not even meeting the King's eyes. "The doctor was here a moment ago and told us that she was exhausted."

"Exhausted? Exhausted from what?"

It was Clarence who answered, and it was a mistake. "Your Highness, we had a small party last night, and perhaps she got too tired from it---"

"You did what? Why on earth would she have a party with you? Who are you?"

"I'm Clarence Hould, Your Highness. I am her childhood friend. My mother used to be her caretaker. We practically grew up together."

That did not go well with the King of Romeodel. "If anything happens to her, I will punish you for having a party with her."

"I beg your pardon, Your Highness. But you can't just punish people because the Queen collapsed. We did not do anything to her---"

But Clarence could not even finish his sentence. Enoch had already punched him, and he went down and hit his head on the marble floor.