Blair’s pov
“At this very moment, if tragedy in the form of betrayal hadn’t stuck, I’d be currently ruling the country.”
I stared at my fingers as I spoke, at the empty fingers on my left hand, which should currently be the royal rings which signifies ‘power, respect, honor, loyalty, and hope’.
Even though James has yet to say a thing, I knew he had heard what I had said very clearly and it is patiently waiting for me to continue.
With a small exhale, I continued from where I had stopped.
“If that said tragedy hadn’t stuck, I’m very sure I’d have been married off to the prince whom I had been betrothed to since I was born, who’s just not it in any aspect. Which is why even when the tragedy had happened and I had been extremely sad, It also felt like a huge weight had been lifted off my shoulders at that moment.”
I let out a long, shaky sigh because as I spoke, those memories which I had shut out since many years ago, slowly began to creep in.
“My mother was an only child, and I, an only child to my mother as well. They both suffered a great deal in the palace like it’s their fault for being unable to produce more than one child each. Growing up was tough, having to meet up with so many expectations, to carry so much load on one’s shoulders from birth, to have zero say as to how one’s life goes. It was a lot, growing up like that.”
I flexed my fingers for a moment and sighed slowly before continuing.
“But, my mother made my life colorful, and my grandmother. They were the sunshine on the rainy day. They made my childhood so bearable, and without them, I wasn’t sure I’d even be able to make it to the extent where I currently am.”
“Your grandmother was the woman whose death was announced on television that night, right?” James’ voice was soft as he spoke and I nodded my head stiffly in response without saying a single thing aloud.
“I looked into her–”
“Obviously.” I murmured, while still staring down at my fingers on my thighs.
“The data that was retrieved showed that she wasn’t really succeeded by any direct family, since they’re all late. It is said that her daughter, and her daughter’s daughter are dead.” James explained and I let out a pained scuff before turning sideways till I was staring at him.
“Well, I knew a lot time ago that the data had been manipulated a long time ago. But, anyways – I didn’t die like they had all thought, but since they all assumed i had died, they most certainly didn’t waste time in changing those data.”
James actually looked honestly sorry, but also filled with awe as he spoke.
“I’m so sorry you had to go through all that you did.”
I shook my head and turned back around until I was staring back at my fingers.
“It’s okay, it wasn’t your fault.” I murmured softly after about a minute, eyes shut tight while trying to not think about the incident that had turned everything around.
“How did it happen?” James asked after a few minutes. I shrugged my shoulders a little and took a long, shuddering breath before starting to speak.
“It was a car accident, but more like murder. My mother and I had been on the way somewhere before my dad’s brother waved us over and got into the car. He calmly talked about how he planned to eliminate my mother and I on that same day, and how he’d then go for my father after a few months, which would leave the throne empty, and as the deceased only brother, he’s going to automatically step into it.” I paused to catch my breath before continuing.
“We hadn’t believed him, of course. We had accused him of playing a sick joke. He forced my mother into parking the car, and there, he had his men waiting. They had even been following us all those while without us realizing when they did that and continued to drive in our guards cars.”
I glanced up at Justin who was staring at me with so much rapt attention, and as I continued, I didn’t avert my gaze.
“He – my uncle, made my mother and I alight the car, and then he gripped my face and kissed me right there. He groped my body, and I couldn’t do anything because he was way stronger than I was. My mother was restrained by his men, and her screams kept echoing in my head. When my uncle finally broke away, he said something about finally getting some taste of me at least.”
I saw the instant displeasure began to grow on James’ face, and his scowl only deepened the more I spoke.
“My mother desperately pleaded with him to let us go, promising to never mention today to any soul. Even though I was still dazed from what had just been done to me, I joined in pleading to be released, and to our utmost shock, he said we were free to go.” A flat chuckle slipped past my lips.
“We couldn’t believe our luck. We thanked him profusely and got back into the car, driving away instantly and sobbing in relief, but we hadn’t seen what happened next coming at all, because from nowhere, a very large trailer collided with our car, pushing us forward until we fell over a bridge, into… water.”
“Fuck.” James swore.
“It only took a few seconds for everything in my life to change. Before we fell over the bridge, my mother had died because she hadn’t put on her seat belt. The deafening sound of all that happened that day is what’s actually behind me fear of noises till today, I haven’t fully recovered from it yet.”
“Oh.” James whispered, “Was that why you fainted that day? Our first encounter?”
I gave a single nod to his question and watched as he swore loudly once again.