Unloving His Majesty

Immune

“What are you saying to me?” Prince Maxwell snapped at the terrified stuart who was not making any sense to him. He was with his queen just over thirty minutes ago. She was mad at him but fine.

“The…the snack chef...he...” Benny stammered. He was in charge of the royal household, and all that happened under his watch. He could only guess what his punishment would be.

“He what?” the prince roared, already imagining the worst.

“He poisoned the queen’s snacks, Sire,” Benny blurted out while both the prince and Sir Luke asked in unison, “He what?”

“He made snacks for the queen when she walked in. His assistant and the queen’s food taster who had the snacks are both dead. The chef has confessed to poisoning the queen,” Benny explained, his whole-body trembling.

“And Zania?”

“She ate the snacks over thirty minutes ago, Sire. I…I…”

“You what? Where is Zania?”

The royal stuart dropped on his knees and pointed inside. He was too shaken to say anymore while the prince and his friend flew inside.

“Your Highness,” the castle maids all greeted with their heads bowed, none willing to make eye contact with their prince who seemed ready to murder someone.

The prince was sprinting up the stairs with his friend behind him when he almost collided with his wife.

“Zania,” he cried before pulling her in his arms and squeezing her tight.

“Let me go. What’s wrong with you?” the princess gritted her teeth while the prince inspected her from head to toe.

“You...you are okay,” he said, his actions confusing her.

“Why wouldn’t I be?”

He did not respond to her, but asked, “Did you eat the snacks?”

“Yeees?” she confirmed with a frown, wondering why everyone was curiously looking at her.

“Summon the physician!” the prince yelled before whisking his wife off her feet and rushing to their chambers.

“Put me down! What is wrong with you?” Princess Zania snapped at him the moment he entered their chambers and kicked the door shut.

“Just lay down, please. How are you feeling?” he urged her with a voice so gentle, she could not help wondering what was happening with him. The prince looked terrified for some reason. She sat up and studied him.

“What is going on, Maxwell?” she enquired when he kept inspecting her as if expecting to find something sinister on her.

“The snacks you ate were poisoned. The chef apparently confessed. The assistant chef and your food taster are dead,” he told her with a croaky voice that took her aback.

“You look worried, terrified even,” she pointed out. “My death is good for you,” she added while his tears dropped down.

“I can never live without you, Zania. I was an asshole in our past life, but I couldn’t live without you even then. I messed up really badly and I could not live without you,” he said, reminding her of their past.

“It is just us here, Maxwell. Just stop pretending. Of course, you could live without me. You lived with your mistress for five damn years and destroyed everything that mattered to me. We will get this island united and peaceful, but we will go our separate ways when that is achieved. You can be with your beloved Mary. I don’t care if you bring her back here before we divorce,” she told him, finally relieved that they could talk freely about their past life.

He frantically shook his head. “You are not hearing me, Zania. I was a fool, and responsible for your suffering, but I did not destroy anything you held dear. I arrested Celia and all your friends because of the charges brought against them. I never had them executed as you were made to believe. I was told that they committed suicide. I did not have the game reserve destroyed,” the prince tried to explain, but the princess was furious.

“Do you think I am a fool?” she asked angrily. “I was there, Maxwell. You destroyed everything I loved and now you are denying it. You paraded your mistress and killed…” she choked on her tears and pushed him off when he pulled her into his arms.

“Zania, I swear to you. I discovered too late that Mary and her family framed all your friends and killed the animals. I discovered too late that you never cheated on me. The footages of you with that man were all fake.”

She let out an empty laugh before asking, “Footages?”

It was the first time she heard of any footages of her.

He let out a sigh and confessed to everything. “I know about the miscarriages. I didn’t know, Zania. Every time you were admitted, I received photographs and video graphs of you with another man. I was stupid to believe all of it. I discovered the truth too late,” he confessed, but she still did not believe him. Maybe this was all a ploy to get rid of her so he could be with Mary. He was now saying all this because she did not die as planned. Maybe he did not want her getting suspicious of him.

“Wow. Let’s say I believe all these lies you are telling me. What did you do when you finally discovered the truth?” she asked and rolled her eyes at how stupid he thought she was.

The prince let out a sigh. He could tell that his queen did not believe a word he was telling her.

“I executed everyone who deceived me. Mary’s family, ten elders, the midwife who lied about Mary carrying my baby and her miscarriage, forty guards. Mary was stoned to death by the people, and I executed myself.”

She frowned at his last statement before her head started spinning. He sounded sincere in everything he said. Was it true or she was just a very bad judge of character?

He held her hand. “Zania, look at me. I am a monster who killed his own children, his own blood. I can’t look at myself in the mirror. I cannot take back what I did to you. I thought I could redeem myself when we were given a second chance and now you have been poisoned. We must choose trustworthy men from both our tribes who will lead this island. I trust Luke and I think Blake is good man, but you decide.”

She narrowed her eyes at his statement.

“Where exactly will you be when Luke and Blake lead the nation?”

“I can’t live without you, Zania. I don’t want to,” he said decisively while she studied him for a moment, her heart hammering out of control. Did he really care that much about her?

“I did not eat the snacks, Max. I flushed them down the toilet because you would have forced me to eat,” she told him and got squeezed into a hug.

“We have been given a second chance, Zania. Please let me redeem myself,” he pleaded.

She tried to free herself from his embrace. Any contact with him was making her a confused mess, and she did not trust her heart around him.

“I will do anything, Zania. Just say the word and I will do it,” he pleaded while she avoided his grief-stricken eyes.

“Zania,” he called to her softly, his tears freely flowing down, pulling at her heart. She did not understand why he had so must effect on her, but she could not help it.

“You are not a monster, Max. Maybe we were not meant to be together. Maybe we have been given this chance to fix this island and serve the people. We don’t have to be married,” she suggested while he shook his head.

“Zania…”

“No, hear me out. You don’t have to give up the woman you actually love to make it up to me. I don’t think I can ever trust you. I vowed before my execution to never love you again,” she interjected, shuttering his already bleeding heart.

“Zania,” he called to her again right when someone knocked, and the royal physician walked in.

“Your Highnesses,” the physician greeted respectfully before opening his briefcase to take out his equipment.

“No need for that. My queen is immune to the poison,” the prince dismissed the confused doctor before turning to his inquisitive wife.