I'd Give Up The World For You

Daisy hated being queen. She hated dealing with the restrictions. She hated the lack of privacy. Most of all, she hated dealing with nobles. 

The day after she met the majority of the nation's most prominent they wanted to have tea with her. Rukelion said she didn't have to do anything she didn't want to but she felt like she had to in order to support him. 

She was still technically able to do what she wanted with her flowers. She could bend a little on this for her husband's sake. It wouldn't take up too much of her day. Or so she told herself. 

The maids went wild preparing her to meet with them, much as they had the day before. The corset was stifling and she could hardly move!

Daisy did her best to sit up straight and put on her 'job interview' persona as she waited for the other ladies to arrive. Tea would be held on a terrace overlooking the garden since she was most comfortable surrounded by flowers. If she was going to battle it may as well be in familiar territory. 

She would have held it in the garden if not for the fact that everyone working there aside from Tom seemed to be under the impression she was a regular gardener rather than the queen. She wanted to keep things that way. 

Taking a deep breath, she comforted herself with the thought that she wouldn't have to do this again for a while once everyone went home. They wouldn't be in the capital for long since they had only come to swear their loyalty to the new king. 

The only people who had been bold enough to request meeting with her were the duchesses of the four main ducal houses. Those who had teenage daughters had brought them along as well. She could handle seven snooty women…couldn't she? She had dealt with much worse before. 

"Greetings, Your Majesty," they all said one by one as they arrived, curtsying deeply. 

"Good afternoon," Daisy said as calmly as possible back to each of them. "Thank you for joining me today."

The Duchess of Atierre and her daughter Lady Helene, the Duchess of Dewello and her daughters Ladies Marinette and Eleanora, the Duchess of Priam, and the Duchess of Vilene were her guests today. Forced as they may be. She doubted a single person at this table genuinely wanted to be here. She certainly didn't!

All were dressed in their finest clothes and she realized that her maids hadn't gone overboard in the slightest. They ensured their mistress outshone everyone else, which was her duty as queen. A duty she loathed. 

Daisy had never outshone anybody back home. She had been a wallflower. Easily overlooked and easily forgotten. Being in the spotlight was extremely uncomfortable. 

She could tell they were all judging her by the looks on their faces but no one said anything specifically until after the tea had been poured. They were clearly trying to sound her out. 

"You look absolutely ravishing, Your Majesty," Lady Helene complimented. "I can see why the king treasures you so." 

Her words weren't outwardly insulting but they rankled all the same. Rukelion liked her because of who she was not because of what she looked like…but it was still a sore spot knowing he likely wouldn't have had the same reaction if she had been in her original body when they met. 

"And your outfit is so glamorous! Though it is a bit hot to be wearing gloves this time of year, isn't it?" Lady Marinette added. 

Her mother chided her but it seemed more like she intended to insult Daisy than help her out. "Hush, Marinette. We cannot fault the queen for wanting to cover them up. Considering her origins, her hands must not be in the best condition."

Daisy narrowed her eyes at Duchess Dewello. This woman clearly resented having a commoner in a position higher than hers. She couldn't rise to her bait though. She had to be the bigger person. 

So what if she had rough hands? That was what happened when you worked with the earth! And did laundry by hand. Though she had worked on her houseplants for years back home, her hands never got quite as bad as they did within the first year of being on the farm. 

She hadn't cared too much. They hurt sometimes but she had an herbal salve for that not terribly unlike modern lotion that kept them from cracking and bleeding.

Daisy wasn't going to dignify that with a response. She sipped her tea in silence. 

They weren't done though. It seemed these duchesses wanted to see how far they could push her since she didn't know anything about being a royal. They would never obviously insult her—they could get in big trouble for that—but they sure did know how to work around that. 

"This must be quite an adjustment for you," Duchess Atierre said in a falsely sympathetic voice. "Going on vacation and coming back to discover you were married to royalty all along. You landed a much bigger fish than you thought!" 

So these women were at least passingly aware that Rukelion had been an officer in the Mirean Royal Army before all of this. She didn't like what was being insinuated. 

It sounded like Duchess Atierre thought she used Veronica's natural beauty to marry an officer and have an easy life but ended up with much more than she had bargained for. She couldn't be more wrong. He had done all the chasing. She never intended to get romantically involved with him in the slightest!

"I've known my husband since he was twelve years old," Daisy said coolly. "We were engaged before he left to join the royal army." 

All of the ladies present seemed taken aback. Both that she had seen through their thinly veiled insults and that her feelings for the new king of Mirea were not to be taken lightly. It was unlikely that anyone here had any true attachment to their husbands for anything other than their titles. 

"So you were childhood sweethearts. How…quaint. You must have been the first person he met after the fall of Katalya," Duchess Atierre remarked. 

Daisy's blood boiled. How dare this woman speak so lightly of the worst thing that ever happened to the person she loved most? As if it wasn't a horrific tragedy that had killed thousands of people but something as simple as the weather. 

Rukelion seemed eager to tell her about his lost homeland but every time he did there was a terrible aura of sadness about him. He had loved his country and everyone in it very much and had been prepared to spend his whole life serving it before it was ripped away from him along with his family and his childhood. 

"A country has not truly fallen as long as the memory of it lives on. You would do well to remember that, Duchess Atierre. I am the queen of Katalya and Mirea," she said in the calmest voice she could manage. 

Daisy thought of her poor husband's obvious PTSD and wondered exactly how many times over the years he had to hear offhand comments like this that cut at his deepest wound. Her heart broke for him and she was tempted to cry but had to stand her ground in front of these vultures. 

The woman looked as though she had been slapped. It was entirely possible that no one had ever spoken to her like this in her life. 

"You dare criticize me?!" she huffed, her chest swelling indignantly as she got to her feet so forcefully that she spilled her tea. "You who doesn't have a single drop of noble blood in your veins and—"

She only stopped speaking because the two royal guards on duty had stepped out of the shadows and each seized one of her arms. For a moment she was too stunned to speak before going off on another tirade. 

"How dare you? Get your hands off me! Do you have any idea who I am? My husband will have your heads!" 

"Not before we have yours," Pole said dangerously. "You just committed treason by threatening the queen. Forgive us for interrupting, Your Majesty, but we need to take her to the dungeon now."

Daisy sat there for a moment stunned before gathering her wits about her. "Hang on! Pole, you aren't really going to take her to the dungeon just for insulting me, are you?"

"She looked like she was about to attack you. His Majesty instructed us to make your safety the utmost priority. Please allow me a moment to call other guards to continue standing watch so that you may resume your party as we take her away."

"You can't!" Lady Helene cried. "My mother wasn't attacking. She was merely trying to teach the queen proper etiquette!" 

Pole glared at her. "How stupid do you think we are? We saw and heard the whole thing. That wasn't teaching; that was blatant disrespect.. The king won't stand for that! Your mother messed with the wrong person."