The entire palace was dead silent after all the crowd was dispersed. All the invited guests had left after the Queen bid them farewell personally.
In the Queen’s residence, the old woman was sitting in the drawing room, looking all exhausted after all the ordeal. Natalie didn’t return home and decided to stay by the Queen’s side to take care of her. She understood why James had told her to stay and take care of things.
At this moment, she had no time to deal with her own shock.
The servants brought calming tea and the medicines for the Queen. Once she looked fine, Natalie asked, "Grandma, are you feeling better now?"
The Queen inhaled deeply and looked at Natalie. "Were you aware James Harper is your father?"
Natalie shook her head as she thought, I was as shocked as you.
The Queen sighed. "I don’t know what to do. All that happened so suddenly. I don’t know what Carmen thinks about it and if she is alright with what happened."
"Grandma, Caryn Shaw is a tough woman. She should be the last person any of us should ever worry about," Natalie said. "And, about James Harper, though I don’t know much, I can assure you she is fine with him."
The Queen could only hum and asked, "You call them by names."
"We are not close enough to act by the relationship they say we have," Natalie replied calmly.
"Things will get better soon and you will have your own parents and family now," the Queen said.
Natalie could only hum to the Queen’s genuine worry, but inside she thought, If it all happened a few years before, I would have jumped with happiness, but now, it doesn’t matter. All that matters is, I have him, Justin.
"Grandma, you should rest," Natalie said and helped her escort to her bedroom. As the Queen settled in her bed, she said, "Natalie, I am happy that at least you don’t call me by my name but acknowledge our relationship."
"I am happy to have a sweet grandmother like you as well," Natalie replied.
In the name of grandmother, all she had was Sephina Ford, who never treated her nicely just because she was not her blood.
The Queen smiled and said, "You should go and rest. One of the royal chambers has already been prepared for you, but you never stayed here."
Natalie wanted to return to the hotel, but at this moment she wished to act according to the Queen’s wishes to make her feel better. Her daughter was frisked away by a man while millions of people around the world were watching, so as a granddaughter, she could at least comfort her by staying here.
"Thank you, Grandma. I am heading to my room then," Natalie said as she left with a servant who guided her to her room.
—--
At the same time, in another residence in the palace.
Howard, Garwin, and Charlotte were sitting silently, probably contemplating what to think now — whether they should be happy that the coronation didn’t succeed or sad that Caryn, their Princess Carmen, had someone like James Harper in her life.
At that, he was even Natalie’s father, which made it even worse, as now they had to think twice before trying to harm them.
"Why... Why is Natalie’s life so good?" Charlotte cried out. "She came here to claim my title of Princess, and now she has such a man as her father. Now, I can’t even think about marrying Justin Harper. She won’t let her brother marry me."
At the Browns, another wave of regret washed over the entire family.
"If Ivan had not left Natalie, he would have been James Harper’s son-in-law," Amelia cried out. "What have you even done?"
"Mother, brother should not have left her," Irene added regretfully.
Ivan, who himself was regretting this fact, spat out, "Weren’t you two always dissatisfied when she was my fiancée and forced me again and again to break up with her? Weren’t you two always trying to mess with my brain, and now you are blaming it on me? If not for the constant nagging from you two..." He sighed as he ran his hand through his hair.
"Ivan..."
"Shut up," he said and walked out of the home.
"Mother, is there no way we could bring them back together?" Irene asked. In a moment, her mind was filled with thoughts of how she would have shown off everywhere if they were tied in a relationship with the Harpers.
Amelia shook her head regretfully as she said, "If I knew she was James Harper’s daughter, I would have definitely made sure Ivan married her, and then we would have married you off to Justin Harper. That way, with the exchange of daughters, both families would have been tied forever. Brown Industries wouldn’t even have to face bankruptcy ever."
-----
But there were some who were shocked but happy as well.
Mia, Cathy, Natalie’s employees Ella and Dan, and everyone who was on Natalie’s side. All of a sudden, the wind seemed to have changed its direction only to bring good surprises into Natalie’s life.
She had suffered so much, that now god was paying her back with pleasant surprises.
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