Queen Maria stood in front of the royal mansion and ordered the guards to flog the palace maid who had broken two breakable plates in her kitchen. "Flog her! Flog her severely!"
The palace maid screamed, and Queen Maria's husband, King Richard Wilfred, came out of the royal building as he was expecting an important visitor, who was none other than the King of Emam kingdom.
King Richard was surprised to see the scene before him and questioned his wife, startling her.
"What's going on here?!" he asked, and Queen Maria turned to face him, not expecting to see him outside the royal mansion.
"Honey, you wouldn't believe what this stupid palace maid has done," Queen Maria said to him, and he frowned.
"She has broken all my plates in the kitchen, even after I had warned them to be careful with them," she told him, seeing he wasn't questioning her, and his frown deepened.
King Richard had thought it was something severe, but a plate? He shook his head and spoke to her.
"My love, you know you are pregnant. You shouldn't allow trivial things like this to bother you. I had thought the maid probably stole from you or did something severe to be punished like this. Enough, guards!" King Richard ordered, and the guards immediately stopped, dropping the maid to the floor.
Seeing the maid was breathing heavily, like one who was about to faint, as her whole body was bruised and her skin was bleeding from her torn skin, he ordered, "Take her away to the palace physician. I don't want her death in this palace."
"Okay, Your Majesty!" the guards replied, and carried the maid away while Queen Maria's frown deepened and she immediately nagged at him.
"Honey, I'm not through with her yet and you ordered them to stop?"
"Fine, you can discipline me on her behalf. Are you satisfied with that?" King Richard said to his wife, and she immediately yelled at him, "No!" and rushed back to the royal mansion, going upstairs to her room.
King Richard shook his head, wondering why his wife was behaving ruthlessly. As his friend hadn't arrived, he went back into the mansion to speak to her.
Queen Maria went upstairs to the second floor and stopped at the dining room, as she spotted another maid still feeding her son, even after she had left them to go punish the other maid who had broken her plate, as they were living in a two-storey mansion.
She questioned the maid, "You! Why are you still feeding my son at this hour? Are you stupid?!"
The maid immediately stood up from her chair, which she had dragged closer to feed the young prince, and bent her head lower.
"I'm sorry, my queen, but Prince Mike has refused to eat," the maid replied.
"Is that so?" Queen Maria subtly narrowed her eyes at her 4-year-old son.
"Yes, Mother, I'm not hungry, Mom!" young Prince Mike replied, as he pouted his lips.
"Hmm..." Queen Maria sighed and walked past them, going back to her room, as she heard her husband's voice as if he was coming up the stairs to the living room, since a guard spoke to him on the stairs.
Queen Maria quickly ignored the maid and went back to her room, locking her doors and going to relax on her bed, as she didn't want to see her husband.
The maid quickly cleared the dining table, dropped little Prince Mike down, and left the dining room before the queen would return.
King Richard came upstairs and went to his wife's chamber. He stopped and knocked on her door, but she didn't respond. Seeing that his wife wasn't coming to open the door, he tried opening it and discovered she had locked it from within, then he spoke to her.
"My love, you should try to always be calm, knowing you are pregnant with our second child," he said as he stood by the door, but Queen Maria didn't respond to him, though she clearly heard him and lay on her bed, filing her nails.
King Richard shook his head and left, going back downstairs to the living room, as a guard had previously informed him that his friend, King Desmond of Emam kingdom, had arrived.
Queen Maria later stood up from her bed, seeing that her husband had left the door. She went out of her room to call a maid to tidy up her room, as she went downstairs to take a stroll in the palace garden.
Her son, young Prince Mike, rushed up to her, and she held his hand and walked with him to the garden.
As they got closer to the garden, she saw two maids seriously gossiping about her, and they didn't even notice she was approaching them. As she drew closer to them, she questioned,
"What are you fools discussing?" And they immediately stiffened.
"Hmm, nothing, my queen. We weren't actually discussing anything," one of the maids replied with her head bent lower, and Queen Maria landed her a hot slap.
[SLAP!]
"How dare you lie to me! Do you think I don't have functioning ears?" Queen Maria questioned her.
"I'm sorry, my queen, we are sorry," they both replied.
"Shut up! Now, will you both kneel down here, raise your hands, and close your eyes? Until I return and ask you two to stand up, you should remain like that, else..." Queen Maria subtly narrowed her eyes at them, and walked past them with her son, going to the bench placed at the center of the garden, while the two maids immediately knelt down, serving their punishment.
Queen Maria knew most of the palace maids hated her, as some of them had been working in the palace long before her husband married her, but she didn't seem to care. She was beautiful, from a rich family, and had long blonde hair.
Queen Maria knew it was mainly because of her beauty that her husband, one of the richest kings in the lands far and beyond, married her. She smiled sweetly as memories of how she met her husband at an event hosted by her father flashed through her memory.
Queen Maria walked down the garden with her son and sat on the bench placed at the center of the garden to view its beauty.
Relaxing there a bit, she got tired and decided to lie down on the bench, then she fell asleep.
Little Prince Mike stared at his mother and discovered she was sleeping. He looked for a space to lie beside her, but as there was none, he sat down, looking around while waiting for her to wake.
King Richard later came out from the mansion, escorting his friend King Desmond of Emam kingdom back to the garage where he had previously parked his Jeep, with about four palace guards escorting them from behind.
As they got to the garage, they stopped and shook hands, speaking a little more before King Desmond entered his vehicle and drove away with his bodyguards.
King Richard went back to the royal mansion and stopped at the door, as he saw two maids kneeling under the hot sun at the center of the field leading down to the garden.
King Richard frowned, knowing it was his wife's doing, and he went to question them, seeing the sun was too hot.
Seeing the king approaching them, the two maids heaved a sigh of relief, knowing they would be saved because they knew the queen wouldn't pity their knees even if they were about to break.
"Who asked you two to kneel down here?" King Richard questioned, as he approached and stood in front of them with his guards standing behind him.
"We are sorry, Your Majesty. Queen Maria asked us to kneel down, as she saw us discussing," they both replied.
"Hmm, discussing instead of doing your duties in this palace. It's okay, you both can stand up and return to your duty posts," King Richard dismissed them.
"Thank you, Majesty. His Majesty is kind," the two maids thanked him and stood up with their aching knees and left.
King Richard walked down to the garden as he spotted his pregnant wife where she lay on the bench placed at the center of the garden, resting. He approached her, and just then she woke up, feeling someone's presence.
"What are you doing here, my love, sleeping out in the garden?" he questioned, as he went to sit beside her on the long bench, while she sat up properly.
"Aren't I free to rest wherever I want?" Queen Maria asked him.
"I'm not against that, just that you should be careful and should also ensure your personal safety, knowing you mean a lot to me," he told her.
"I know," she replied, and just then she turned to look at the place where she had asked the two previous maids gossiping about her to kneel. And as she didn't spot them there, her eyes subtly narrowed at her husband and she asked him,
"Honey, were you the one who asked those two maids kneeling down there to get up? Because I remember asking them to kneel down there," she pointed to the direction, and King Richard continued to stare at her.
"Honey, how could you? How can you dismiss them when I, who punished them to kneel, haven't told them to go?" she fumed.
"My love, don't you think you are always overreacting at times?" King Richard questioned her, and she stood up and screamed, "Ahh!"
"So you are now supporting and picking on the maids over me, your wife?" she questioned him.
"No, my love, please calm down. Know you are heavily pregnant and you are hurting the baby," King Richard said.
"AHH!" Queen Maria screamed out again.
"So I hurt everyone? I hurt everyone, including my own babies? Ahh!" Queen Maria screamed out and started crying.
King Richard was totally confused about how to pacify her, while little Prince Mike just stared from his father to his mother in confusion.
"My love, please don't misunderstand me," King Richard tried to explain as he stood up to pacify her.
"Stay away from me! Go to the maids," Queen Maria warned him and screamed, "AHH!!" and then her water broke.