Chapter 36 - A Thorn

Olivia stood in the king's chamber frozen, her eyes were filled with disbelief for everything that had just happened. The idea of the prince leaving her has never once crossed her mind.

She has always been confident that no matter what she did the prince will always care for her the same he always had. She had known the prince had a soft spot for anyone who was kind to him and as long as she kept being good to him he would stay with her forever.

It shocked her when she received permission to leave him and end their marriage for good. All her dreams were just around the corner and she could see them all coming true if she took a few steps forward.

She just needed a few days to achieve everything and become the true Queen of Arimelari.

She looked at the queen sleeping peacefully and became angrier, she could only imagine her face when she bragged about winning and her loss, and that in itself set her off.

"I am not a loser. I am a queen," she said to herself to comfort herself. She stood by the bedside and watched the queen. "If I kill you then all that will be left to take care of will be Francis and my life will be just as it was supposed to be before he came into my life," she said.

She moved closer to the bed and kept her hand to the queen's throat and pressed down on it hard. The queen woke up from the lack of air in her lungs, she fought back from Olivia but was too weak and couldn't do much.

"S..save me," she struggled to say and it came out softly that even Olivia couldn't hear her. She kept pressing her hands on the queen's neck to end her life.

Francis came to check up on the queen and found her room open. He took a peek inside the room and saw Olivia in the act of trying to kill the Queen. He rushed into the room and pulled her away from the queen and roughly pushed her down on the ground. Olivia hit her back to the ground hard, she cried and moaned in pain on the ground but Francis ignored her and carried the queen in his arms, and left the room.

He took her to his room and ordered some food and water to be brought to him. He helped her eat her food and gave her some water and covered her with a blanket so she was warm.

"Rest now mother. I will watch over you," he said seeing how tired she looked.

"Olivia," she uttered.

"Don't worry about her. I will make sure that she doesn't get away with what she has tried to do to you," he assured and she smiled. She laid back on the bed and closed her eyes to get some rest. He tucked her in and let her rest peacefully.

Alexander walked into the room after a while, he was all smiles after seeing Francis but was surprised to find his mother lying in his bed.

He embraced his beloved from the back and held him in his arms for a while. He was so happy and couldn't wait to inform him that he had officially gotten rid of Olivia from their lives and not just her. He wanted to tell him that he had released all his other wives too. He gave them the freedom to go wherever they wanted and live their lives as they wished.

He wanted so much to tell him that there was only space for him in his heart, life, and kingdom. He should never have to share him or anything that us his with anyone else ever again because all of him was his and his alone.

"Olivia tried to kill the Queen," Francis said and his happy mood vanished as quickly as it came.

"What?" he asked turning Francis around to face him.

"I went to check on her and caught Olivia with her hands to her neck," he informed him.

Alexander walked over to his mother and removed the cover from her neck and saw the fingerprints on her neck. He trembled at seeing that, he had just lost his father, and had Francis not saved his mother then he would have become an orphan.

He felt guilty, he had known Olivia's nature and he still walked away from her leaving her in his mother's room alone. He cursed his stupidity for not realizing that the woman was a danger to his family especially after the news that he had given her. It was expected that they would retaliate but trying to kill his mother was crossing all limits.

"I will be right back," he said to Francis and left the room in hurry. Francis called Arnie and Aya to the room and left them to look after the queen while had gone to check on Alex. He had to ensure that Alex doesn't do anything that he would regret in the future. Because no matter what has happened between the two of them it is still true that they shared a relationship in the past. And that past was not that far behind them.

The people he asked told him the prince had headed to the infirmary and that is where he went. He rushed into the room without waiting to be invited in expecting Alexander to have his hands on Olivia's neck but he was seating down with his head held in between in hands.

He walked over to the prince and held him. "What's wrong?" he asked him in worry.

"Everything is finally going right. That is all," Olivia replied from her bed.

"Alex, what happened?" he asked him again to get the answer from him.

"It is my birthday do you know that?" she asked him. "Alex gave me a gift that is impossible to forget and even more to accept but the universe had pity on me and gave me a different gift from his," she added booming with a big smile on her face.

"Alexander speak to me," he begged him scared that Olivia had done something to him.

"I will tell you, not because unlike you but because I am sure that the news will cause you nothing but pain," she said and paused to make sure that she had Francis's attention. "I am pregnant Francis," she said. "I am carrying the heir to the throne of Arimelari in my womb and that means that Alexander and I won't separate anytime soon," she said with joy.

Francis's hand that was holding on to Alexander dropped, the words that Olivia uttered kept repeating themselves in his head and it was getting hard for him to be in that room.

He left the room in a hurry with Alexander helpless to do anything to stop him. He had imagined a new beginning for him and Francis but this complication had to appear in his life and ruin everything that he wanted for his life. And of all the people in his life to be pregnant, it just had to be the one who he despised the most.

"Your love left," she said to Alexander. "But I am still here, just apologize for the things you said to me and we can live just as else did before," she told him.

"I hate you," Alexander said from the bottom of his heart. "I hate with all of my heart and if you weren't pregnant right now I would kill you myself and bury your dead body. And don't think that anything will ever be as it was before because you will only stay here as the mother of my child and nothing more. I am not going to be yours ever again," he said harshly to her and got up to leave the room.

"I will kill this child in my womb," she threatened to watch him leave the room.

Alexander stopped in his tracks and looked back at her. He hated her every being and she was making him hate her even more with her actions. She was dragging an innocent life to her game.

"What do you want?" he asked her and she felt satisfied with herself.

"Everything, I want to be the queen of Arimelari and the queen mother. I want to be the only one in your life so Francis has to go and I want to be the only one crowned at the coronation beside you," she demanded.

"I can make you queen and the queen mother but as for your other requests you can forget them and if you aren't satisfied then do as you wish. I don't care," he said. 'What a thorn,' he thought and left the room.

Olivia remained in bed furious, she had just fulfilled Alexander's long-time dream of being a father and he wasn't even happy about it. He was even denying her everything that she was asking of him because of it. She had expected him to obey her every demand for the child but still, she was happy that she got some things.

"The rest will come later," she said.