"Ahh! Ahh!" Queen Maria's voice lowered, as she felt a force being pulled at her lower belly, like her babies were rushing out.
"Ahh! Honey..!" she managed to call to her husband's attention, and King Richard rushed to her side, seeing she had already calmed but her face looked distorted in pain and confusion.
"Honey!" Queen Maria called again, and screamed in a much lower voice, "My baby is coming out," she managed to say.
"Guards!" King Richard called, as the guards had previously excused themselves to give the king and his wife some privacy.
Quickly, King Richard threw his car keys to the guards, and the guards immediately went to bring his car, not asking too many questions.
Queen Maria was rushed to the hospital, and luckily for her, both her babies were safe and alive. She gave birth to them safely, but after everything, she had a few complications from their birth, and the doctors told her and her husband that if she were to get pregnant again, it could be more dangerous to both the mother and child. And she might not be able to birth the child, except through Caesarean section. Queen Maria went stiff and in shock.
Queen Maria wanted to have more beautiful babies and children with her husband, but now she couldn't, except she was ready to go under the knife, and she didn't want that.
She cried her eyes out, crying hysterically as she feared maybe her husband would end up taking another wife to bear him children.
No, she cannot die yet. The doctors advised her not to cry, that the C-section wasn't a death sentence, that most women unable to give birth through their vaginal canal had to do a C-section to save both mother and child. And in their hospital, they had professional surgeons who handled the procedure with care, without the mother even knowing she was being operated on.
Queen Maria continued to cry her eyes out, and the doctors advised King Richard to talk to his wife so she wouldn't go into a state of shock.
Queen Maria hadn't even seen her twin babies yet, as the nurses had taken them to dress them before handing them to their parents, but she was crying like her whole world had ended.
King Richard sighed and came to sit beside his wife, who lay on the bed. He held her hands, not saying any word to her, and she cried the more. He took out his white handkerchief and wiped the corner of her eyes. "I told you to calm down, but you refused to listen," he said.
"I'm sorry," Queen Maria said in between sobs, and King Richard nodded. "It's okay, all hope isn't lost yet. We can still have other babies, okay?" he tried to calm her, and she nodded. Just then, the nurses came in, pushing the baby trolley and carefully brought them out as they handed the first baby to the queen.
The first baby was a beautiful blonde baby with an adorable dimple on her cheek, and Queen Maria calmed, staring at her cute little daughter in her arms.
Queen Maria gushed over her daughter's cuteness because she had the exact blonde hair like hers, and the nurse carried out the second baby and gave her to King Richard, who sat beside his wife on the chair, and they both stared at the second twin.
Though they were both identical—same dimple on the cheek, same nose, same eye shape, and same smile—the other baby was a brunette.
Queen Maria's eyes narrowed, looking from the baby in her husband's arms to the one in her own, and she looked at her husband's hair, which was brown colored. She assumed her second baby girl chose to resemble her father instead of her. Just then, the brunette baby screamed out and started crying, as if noticing her mother was glaring at her.
King Richard panicked and carefully stood up, placing the second twin baby gently on her mother's second arm and thigh, while Queen Maria stared at both babies in her arms.
The nurse on duty called to Queen Maria's attention as she was ticking some cards and advised her on the importance of breastfeeding her twin daughters. So, they wouldn't be malnourished or sick. And also, she advised her to feed well so she wouldn't get sick in nurturing them either.
The nurse left, while Queen Maria went on breastfeeding her brunette baby that was crying for food, while the other baby stared awake, not crying.
The doctor had told them the blonde baby came out first before her sister, but Queen Maria couldn't help but admire them both, as they both looked alike except for their hair color. They were both fair, as white as her, and she smiled contently. Later, she was discharged from the hospital, having spent a few weeks there.
Queen Maria named her blonde baby Mary, after herself and named the other with brunette hair Miranda, as she was Maria. They organized a little feast in honor of the two new additions to the royal family.
Only family and close relatives were invited, and Queen Maria's parents both came. Even the former queen of Ubi Kingdom, who had travelled out and was living with her only daughter in the kingdom her daughter had married into. Also came back to the palace to celebrate with her son's children and to see her new grandchildren.
She had previously left the palace as she couldn't withstand Queen Maria's constant nagging and screaming in the palace. If it weren't for the fact that the new additions were also her blood, she wouldn't come to the palace as she doesn't want to stay under the same roof as Queen Maria.
The little feast and celebration went smoothly, but then the unforgiving maid named Martha, whom Queen Maria had asked to be flogged mercilessly over the breaking of two plates in the kitchen, kept a close eye on the queen. She hadn't forgiven the queen yet, as her body was still sore and hurting because of the visible cane marks that hadn't faded.
Martha continued doing her job in the palace while monitoring the queen, without the Queen's knowledge. Martha had wanted to forgive the queen, but the queen hasn't changed, as she was still hurling insults at the maids and those whom she found to be of lower status before her.
Martha also observed that the Queen was more fond of her blonde baby than the other, who was a brunette. Her eyes subtly narrowed at the queen one day she came into the Queen's chamber and saw the queen breastfeeding and playing with her blonde baby, while the other brunette baby was abandoned, crying.
Martha stopped and wanted to go pet the brunette baby, but the queen cursed her and asked her to get out before she went to carry her brunette baby herself and pet her.
Martha thought of it as an opportunity to do something to the queen so she would calm down from her high horse and be taught a lifelong lesson. The queen was too proud, and she hated it.
Martha never told any other maid in the palace her plans, as most of them also disliked the queen's attitude, whom they saw as wicked, rude, and discriminative.
Martha then plotted to steal the blonde princess, as that would hurt the queen the most, and shatter her high ego. But stealing the little blonde princess wouldn't be easy, as the baby had a different colored hair from any other baby she had ever seen.
Martha couldn't harm the child, and knowing she was a maid and wouldn't get married, as her job was to serve the palace for the rest of her life except she quit and went out to look for a husband. She thought of raising the child as her own, far away from the queen or the king's reach, as she knew if she was caught then she would be dead.
"Hmm, I don't want to die yet," Martha said to herself as she thought to find a smoother plan to pass all the guards and maids stationed in the palace.
Martha knew she was a special maid, unlike some maids that the guards weren't familiar with, as most times she ran in and out on errands, like going out of the palace to buy some things that had finished in the palace. But how would she smuggle out the baby, she wondered.
"You! What are you standing there doing? Didn't you hear when I called you, Martha?!" Queen Maria thundered, as she came out to call the maid, startling her out of her thoughts.
"And you are still standing there? Would you get back into the mansion before I ask the guards to discipline you or throw you out of this palace? Go now! No, wait, come back here. You, go to my chamber and clean up the mess there," Queen Maria commanded, and Martha, who stood with her head bent lower, nodded and immediately rushed back into the mansion, going upstairs to the second floor to clean the Queen's room as she feared being punished.
No, not now that she had a plan of her own to teach the wicked queen an unforgettable lesson. So, she quickly went up the stairs, going to Queen Maria's personal chambers that she had to herself apart from the one she shared with the King, as husband and wife.