NOT THE USUAL CINDERELLA (Season 2)

BAD MEMORIES OF THE PLAQUE

"Ernest, let Erich sit down. Give Erich a drink!" Alvero ordered Ernest to take Erich to the seat in front of Alvero.

Alvero quickly grabbed a bottle of mineral water and thrust it at Erich. After that Alvero gave a code to Ernest to take a seat for Deanda so that Deanda could sit next to Alvero.

"Tell me sweety.. Where did you get this plaque? For a dozen years no one has ever seen this plaque again. And indeed this plaque should have been exterminated from the Gacetian state." Hearing Alvero's words, Deanda slightly scrunched her forehead, because Alvero's words just now really made her so curious.

"That time Madame Rose gave it to me. Asking me to keep it, asking me to wait until our new wedding day I gave it to His Majesty. I don't know why Madame Rose prevented me from giving it to Her Majesty that very day on the grounds that Madame Rose didn't want to ruin our wedding mood." Alvero listened to Deanda's words as his eyes still stared intently at the plaque with eyes showing anger and pain, as seeing the plaque was like pouring salt water into a wound that reopened.

"Sorry Your Majesty if what I did is wrong." Seeing her husband's face clearly showing his bad mood made Deanda apologize in a soft voice.

"Ah, no sweety, don't feel guilty, you just delivered the message of Madame Rose and mistress Rose just wanted me not to get carried away with emotions from seeing the plaque. He just didn't want to ruin my mood on our wedding day." Alvero said as he threw the plaque on the table.

"Did Madam Rose tell you about how she got the plaque?" Alvero asked by looking at Deanda and trying hard to set the look of her face back so as not to look so emotional.

"Mrs Rose said she found him under Vincent's bed, the night of the assassin's infiltration." Deanda immediately answered Alvero's question which again scrunched his forehead.

"In Vincent's noble room? The plaque was there? Means the plaque belonged to the assassin, or one of the occupants of this palace. Damnit damnit! They're really near us back, like a dozen years ago." Alvero said as he smacked his clenched hand onto his desk.

"And I'm sure, the plaque is actually closely related to Eliana. That morning he deliberately pretended to search your room, surely he was looking for this plaque, because he knew if it fell into my hands, he's just waiting for the time of his destruction when I find this plaque's owner's relationship with him." Alvero said as he looked towards Deanda, feeling grateful that he was able to act quickly because of Alea as a spy among the workers in the palace.

"Ernest, immediately check the 48-hour cctv tape around Vincent's noble room, before and after the assassination attempt on Vincent. Send the tape to duke Evan, ask him to immediately identify all those who were seen coming out into the room of the noble Vincent. All the data from those people. Erich, immediately set off for Renhill city after Ernest got the tape, hand it over to duke Evan personally, as well as the plaque. Duke Evan will soon know what he has to do when he sees the plaque." Alvero said as he grabbed and threw the plaque towards Erich who immediately grasped the plaque tightly with his facial bones looking hardened as he tightly clenched his molars, trying to hold back his emotions.

"Erich... are you going to be okay leaving for Renhill today? Would it be better for Ernest to go there to meet duke Evan?" Alvero who saw how Erich's emotions, finally tried to offer Erich to change position with Ernest.

"No, Your Majesty. No need for a replacement. I'd like to be the first to learn about the development of the investigation into who owns this plaque as soon as possible." Erich's desire to quickly find out who owned the plaque even made him forget that Ernest had a tendency to seasickness.

"All right then. Keep the plaque well. And our talk today, is a secret talk that no one among us can divulge." Alvero said as he got up from his seat.

"Ernest, today I will take the empress riding after breakfast, prepare our needs. Announce to others there may be a prince or princess who wants to join us today." Alvero said while looking at Deanda who looked confused, with precarious conditions like this why precisely Alvero wanted to invite her to ride, especially actually he could not ride at all.

As soon as he reached the room and closed the door, Alvero immediately turned his body to face Deanda whose face still looked serious because he thought about everything that had been talked about in Alvero's study earlier.

"Why is your face sweet?"

"Are you okay?" Hearing a question back from Deanda, Alvero immediately pulled Deanda's wrist and invited her to sit next to him on the sofa in his room.

"What makes you think I'm in bad shape?"

"So... when you look at the plaque.... You and Erich look really emotional, what exactly does the plaque mean to you two?" Deanda's successful words made Alvero take a deep breath with a faint smile.

My sweetie. We haven't known each other for a long time and we haven't even been married for a week, but you seem to know me so well. It was as if the two of us had been connected for quite a long time.

Alvero said inwardly as she leaned her body against the back of the sofa.

"The plaque was found the first time the bodyguards found the body of the mother. At that time, my hand was seen clasping the plaque tightly, as if trying to give clues about who had tried to kill him. I believe the owner of the plaque was related to the person who deliberately caused the fire at the place where the mother was staying at that time. The second time I saw the plaque was when I was kidnapped and almost killed as a child. The plaque was owned by the top of the rebel group who had at that time almost controlled the palace, but because of papa Alexis the palace was saved. The plaque owners should have been removed from Gracetian's work. If the plaque reappears, it means the rebels are rebuilding their forces and trying to revolt again." Deanda smiled faintly hearing Alvero mention her papa name with "father of Alexis", suggesting that Alvero considered Alexis to be her father-in-law.

"And to Erich, the picture on the plaque reminds him of the massacre in the village where he lived in his childhood." Alvero continued her words while holding her breath.

"Your mood must have been bad to see the plaque reappear. What... We have to ride like you said? You... don't want to do anything to find out who owns the plaque?" Alvero looked at Deanda deeply as soon as he heard Deanda's question.

"I have to distract them, because I believe some of their members are still in this palace, all around us. I can't let them know I'm doing a lot of things to investigate. Let them think we're still busy with our honeymoon." Alvero said as she gently stroked Deanda's hair.