Unacceptable

𝐌𝐎𝐍𝐈𝐐𝐔𝐄

                                 

                                    ♚

Time went by so quickly and the next thing I knew, I found myself sitting on the stool next to Father's throne with the noblemen dispersed on stools left and right. It all felt like a nightmare again. Once upon a time, I was feeling good, but now I just felt like an absolute piece of shit. Worthless and inconsequential. 

This time around, I was the one that was supposed to start the meeting and so I opened my mouth to speak and when nothing made its way out, I pressed my lips together. I doubted if I was going to be able to do this. This was an example of what happened when someone was put on a pedestal. I was under so much pressure that if it could kill, I'd have died a long time ago. 

"Hello." I cleared my throat and managed to say when they'd been looking at me for so long, I thought their eyes might burrow into my soul and discover my darkest secrets. 

"Good day, Lady Monique." They greeted, their tone sounding as if they'd been expectant of me to speak for the longest. 

"Well, you all know why we're gathered here today." I finally put together some courage and decided to speak up because if I didn't, we were all going to remain here for a ridiculously long time.

"Father always wanted me to lead his people once he passed away. I prayed so hard that he never passed away, but we all know what I demanded was like telling the night to never pass away. It happened and here we are now." I paused and looked around. 

There were about ten of them and I noticed that about three weren't listening to what I was saying, rather their concentration had been on my chest. Maybe my choice of outfit today had been a bad one, but I'd always seen the people who lived in this bucolic part of the world wear it. Or maybe it was just because I was busty and the dress did no good in hiding that fact. Suddenly, I wanted to go and change what I was wearing. 

"Are we all listening?" I made sure that my gaze moved to and fro from the first to the third. They all swallowed and looked me in the eye. 

"Is there something that's happening that I'm not aware of?" 

"Nothing, I guess they just got carried away by a lot of things." One of them that seemed to be listening to what I was saying said. A lot of things, hmm. 

I decided to go on with what I was saying. 

"My father had no other child and so I know I'm next in line, but I want to demand something from you all."

"What?" They all said in unison, their British accent enveloping the whole throne room. 

"I'm going to need some time to get used to this whole thing." I circled my finger around the throne room as a sign of indication of what I was saying. 

"Tradition demands that you ascend the throne six months after your Father's death. We don't have all the time in the world!" One of them rose to his feet in a quick motion and objected. 

I was doing the right thing by begging them to give me time. I was going through a lot mentally and it would be vicious on my health if I didn't take care of myself and do what made me happy. If only these old fools would understand. 

My thoughts wandered from place to place while the men kept arguing amongst themselves. I couldn't hear what exactly they were saying because my focus wasn't there. I was thinking about how I was going to go through all of this for the rest of my life. I'd said it before and I was going to keep saying it; this life wasn't cut out for me. 

"Can you sick fools just shut up for once!" My loud voice shut them all up within seconds. My mind told me that for that minute, being nice wasn't what was going to stop them from talking too much. Maybe I would have said Please, there's no reason for you all to fight. We're all gathered for an important occasion and all of these are not just necessary. 

I'd tried my best to be nice. 

They seemed so amazed by my unforeseen change of behavior. They had better be. 

"I requested more time, okay? That was all I asked for and you all decided to launch into a baseless wrangle which we all know is going to lead to nowhere. We're all bigger than that." That last statement, I highly doubted. 

"I'm sorry." The one who objected to what I said first told me as he stood on both feet. 

Nodding in acceptance, I said, "I've been around for how long now? Close to a month, I think, and I know nothing about any of you. I don't even know your names. You know what, I think that it would be a great place to start from today. Let's start from the back." It wasn't like I was interested in knowing their nomenclature, anyways. The possibility of me forgetting it the next time we met was very high, I just wanted something to serve as a little distraction from our main topic of discussion. Heaven knew that I was going to fall sick if we continued to have talks about my coronation. I wasn't ready for that conversation and I doubted if I was going to be ready in a long time. The question was, was I ever going to be ready?"

For the next ten minutes, they told me their names and their family history and all of the stuff I didn't care about. In one way or the other, their forefathers were related to the royal family and that was why they were called the noblemen. 

I was pretty sure that if I ever became Queen of England, I would be a terrible ruler because I knew nothing about my roots. If they were to lock me up in a library full of books about the history of England, its past rulers, and its people and I was brought out days later, my head was going to be so empty that even an empty coconut would have more content than I did. 

The noblemen left when the evening came and if my calculations weren't wrong, they spent close to four hours in the castle, longer than they'd ever spent. Not like I knew how they came and left, but I was talking based on how long I'd known them. 

I went back to my chamber and Gina suggested that we went outside because I told her everything that happened at the meeting and how anxious I was. We took some snacks along with us and she made tea. 

Outside was cold and chilly--exactly how I wanted it. Goosebumps peppered my skin and she placed what seemed to be a picnic mat on the floor and we both sat on it. 

I looked up and since the window was opened, I saw Marcus doing to dishes. Relief washed over me and it was safe to say that at the point, a felt a sense of security.