"Your majesty," Liam greeted with a slight bow of his head but maintaining a very cold countenance.
"Mr. Hale," the king said as he returned to the seat he stood up from and sat down.
"If anything goes wrong, I will be outside the door," Liam informed her assuringly.
"You don't have to be so serious Mr. Hale. What can a father do to hurt his daughter?" the king asked with a pained expression.
"You will never know," Liam said with little regard to the king. The domineering aura he had could make someone think he was actually the king and the king was the prime minister.
Rose did not feel comfortable with the silent battle going on between her father, the king and Liam, her husband. She glanced at Liam and moved her gaze to the door indicating that he was free to leave.
Liam left quietly afterwards leaving the father and daughter duo together. Sitting comfortably, her father handed over a booklet to her.
"Order for what you will love to eat. Their special dish was your mother's favorite dish. She once tried to take the chef away to the palace but the chef remained working here since he was employed personally by your grand father. He is not even a professional chef but he is very good at cooking traditional dishes."
Now what Rosaline could not understand was why the discussion was moved to a chef she knew nothing of and did not care about.
"Your mother still visited this restaurant occasionally even after the rejection of the chef," the king, her father continued talking about the restaurant and its chef.
"Why are we talking about this restaurant?" She desperately wanted to ask but she held back and went through the menu.
A staff walked in to take their order and the room was quiet once again.
"Why are you with Liam?" he suddenly asked with a frown. "Last time I checked, you were not my daughter and I am forced to accept you to the palace. You were with Justin's family. What made you leave?"
"Are you finding it hard to believe that I am actually your daughter and not an imposter? Do you want me to prove my identity?" Rose asked confused by the sudden turn of events. He clearly acted like he believed she was his daughter earlier.
"No, don't bother. Mr. Hale has made a way for you to get into the palace so your identity does not matter at all. I heard you want a grand entry, I have informed the Royal council and they will be present to welcome you into the palace. What I want to know now is what did Mr. Hale offer you?"
"Can I trust you?" she asked while leaving his question unanswered.
"If you think you can," he replied and leaned back when their was a knock on the door. The restaurant staff entered with the dishes and served them carefully.
"I found a message in a bank. Mum hid it in a counterfeit goldbar. There were three videos in a flash drive I found in the gold. She told me to return to the palace. She was so scared and disoriented in one of the videos.
"She said she made a deal with someone so that I could continue living in the palace unharmed," she narrated to him truthfully.
"Shortly before you two went missing, she had actually not acted strange around me. She was still the elegant lady I married," the king told his daughter with an expression that was very hard for Rose to read.
Rose felt like she was placed in a very difficult spot. She really wanted to believe her father was saying the truth but she could not understand why the way he constructed his sentence actually sounded like he meant the direct opposite of what he said.
"Your mother was trained to hide her pain and stand strong so I wonder how she could have left such a video for you," her father continued to give her his thoughts on everything.
"If you don't believe I could show you the video. Do you want to see the video?"
"No," her father replied hastily shaking his head. "I believe you. After all, there is no reason for you to lie about it, right?"
"Yes. I want something from you when I return to the palace," she suddenly told him as she looked at the very appetizing dishes on the table.
"What? I have not been in most of your life so I think it is only right I give you what you want from me as your father," her father agreed almost immediately but obviously without hesitation.
Rose smiled inwardly. "I am the direct descendants of the late Queen and the present king. I am the offspring born from a union of two kingdoms. It is only right that I become the heir, right?" She watched the eagerness to help that was on her father's face disappear instantly and got replaced with a very unpleasant surprise.
He seem to understand where it was all headed. "What do you want?" he asked her with a hint of reluctance in his voice.
"I want to be named the heir of throne as soon as I return to the palace. I am my grandfather's heir.
"If your people don't want me to rule as a woman, we might as well divide the kingdom and take it back to what it used to be.
"My mother's people will be very pleased if that happens they never wanted the union to begin with," she told him with a very surprising ease. She was further surprised by how good she felt by taking it off her chest.
"The kingdom will not get divided," the king snapped with his voice low but strong and firm. He looked into the hazel eyes of his daughter and frowned. "You will get your position as the heir as soon as you return to the palace but you must not think of separating from us. It will only lead to war."
"Really? Will I get all that along with your support? My mother's family have long turned against her and they won't be willing to offer me help. You are the only person who I can seek help from in the kingdom."
"What about Liam? Do you know you made a very big mistake by getting married to him?" her father suddenly asked.
Rose froze. She thought Liam made sure everything was a secret. She did not expect anybody else to know about their union. She was shocked but she did not show it as she remained calm.
Her father noticed that and he could not see a single crack in her calm and elegant façade. His daughter has really grown. She was no longer the little princess who was her mother's Pearl, the Queen. She was obviously a strong Queen herself now.
Rose picked her cutlery and began eating. She must have been too naïve to think no one will know about it. Her father was the king in a palace with very good means of obtaining any information especially since she was returning home.
"The support you would have gotten when returning to A city have all being lost from the moment you tied the knot with Liam. Do you know how many noble fear Liam and want him dead? They will stop you from taking the throne by all means. None of them will want Liam to become king."
Rose remained calm as she geltle placed her cutlery and smiled softly at her father. "I did not ask for the support of all the royals. I am asking you to support me," she told him seriously.
The king was baffled. He was going through a tough mental situation because of her request and he knew things will only get harder as time goes on. It was enough trouble that he was going to make sure she gets back her title knowing fully well that no one wants her back.
"So, am I getting your support? Remember the promise you made to my grandfather that made him agree with the merge? You made me your heir. Or was it all a joke? Remember the prenuptial agreement you signed.
I thought I could persuade you to support me as your heir using the fact that you are my father but you are clearly asking me to take some other measure," she asked calmly trying hard not to sound rude in anyway.
She prayed that her father will be sensible to stand for her. She was not sure if he was her friend or a foe yet. She was not even sure if he had anything to do with her mother's death. She could only pray and hope that she won't have to fight a bloody battle with the only close blood related family member she had left.
"You have my support. I will support you fully.. I will also talk to a few people who I am sure will get persuaded earlier enough," her father finally gave her the answer she wanted and she could finally exhale in relief.
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