Olivia Sparks

After the failed assassination attempt of Lance Go on King Alistair's life, the Sui Family followed the standard protocol which was the entire clan staying in The Highlands for their security.

It was a long-standing protocol for the royal family to stay in place until they eliminated the threats that might cause them a precious life. Add to that the fact that the security team considered The Highlands the safest place for the royal family to stay.

A special team—mainly their personal bodyguards—was to stand guard and keep an eye on a royal assigned to them at all times. 

Apart from being the royal's shadow in the morning, these men or women knew the hidden layout of the estate like the back of their hands so they could usher the Sui Family to the different designated safe zones scattered somewhere in the mountain that The Highlands was sitting on.

The reason for the designated safe zones to be different with each royal was to lessen the Sui Family's chances of getting injured or dying all at the same time. This meant that according to the protocols, each royal would split up from one another in the off chance that forces would successfully infiltrate The Highlands' tightly guarded estate. 

Naturally, Maxen and Olivia had picked to stay in Maxen's old room in the northeast wing of the house, while Princess Maya and her husband, Dexter, along with their three-month-old infant, Princess Diwa, occupied the wing nearest to the pool. The room was far enough from the king and queen's bedroom in the main wing of the house, so they could still have a restful sleep just in case Princess Diwa decided for another episode of her nightly midnight concert. 

It was their fourth day together, and the Sui Family were having breakfast in the garden. The dynamics of the family were still the same, with Maxen receiving all the jabs from the rest of his family members. 

That morning, Queen Isla brought with her a baby scrapbook of Maxen which she made with her own hands to the best of her ability, which we could safely assume was close to zero. 

Since Maxen was the oldest, Queen Isla was hands-on with everything that involved Maxen, that was why she saw to it that her son would have a little something to look back to once he grows older, hence, Queen Isla's scrapbook project.

The scrapbook in her hand would not be as eye-catching as it was if not for Auntie Martha intervening in the creation process and sprinkled it with some of her magical touches on it. 

Flipping page after page, Queen Isla beamed with pride with how her little prince grew into the fine man that he was now.

"Oooh this is my favorite," Queen Isla gushed. Her shoulders shook as her eyes landed on a very special photo of Maxen. She flipped through the scrapbook so the rest could see what she was seeing. "Isn't my son the cutest?" she mused, her eyes twinkling with adoration.

"Jeeez! Mom!" Maxen shot daggers to his mother, but the queen held her chin up—unperturbed. Seeing his taunting tactic was useless against his own mother, he immediately dropped the fork in his hand to cover his wife's eyes, however, Olivia tipped her head to the side to steal a peek of the photo, chuckling to find a photo of her husband taking a piss at the innocent plants on the ground.

"That's not your reaction when I took that photo, Maxen. You were so thrilled and were talking to the plants, telling them to grow big like you. And do you know what happened the following week, Livi darling?"

"Stop it, Mom. We're eating. Daaad! Dad! Say something." Maxen requested backup, but the king kept on slicing nothing on his plate. 

It was an embarrassing story to hear, but King Alistair didn't want to miss seeing how red Maxen's ears were turning from the sheer horror of his wife knowing about it.

Olivia nodded her head to reply because her mouth was busy chewing a pancake that Maxen placed on her plate earlier. She glanced to her side and smiled, enjoying the flailing Maxen in his seat.

Taking her action as a yes, Queen Isla continued her story—the one she would never get tired of telling people for decades. "King Alistair commended the royal chef for the delicious salad, saying the tomatoes were juicy and tasted fresh," she said and snorted. 

That story was gold. She wished she could finish retelling it without laughing, but it was hard not to, especially when the king never ate a single tomato ever again after that incident.

"It was the plants I peed on—the tomatoes. And Dad ate every single one of of the harvest that night," Maxen deadpanned, ruining the mood of Queen Isla who threw her napkin across, hitting Maxen's face.

"Max! But I want to hear the story from Mom."

"But I don't want you to hear that story. It's embarrassing."

"Well, it wasn't you who ate the tomatoes. It was Dad. What's embarrassing with that?"

Queen Isla's head wobbled, sticking out a tongue when Maxen's gaze shifted towards her. "Party pooper," Queen Isla uttered. She stabbed the fruit on her plate and her eyes never left Maxen as she took a big bite of the cantaloupe. 

"Haaaaay," Princess Maya drew out a long and dramatic sigh. She took a sip of her fennel tea, which helped increase her low milk supply. "I can't believe Mom never made me a scrapbook," she complained. 

She hated Maxen's scrapbook growing up because Queen Isla never made her one. All she had was a photo album filled with her photos.

"Aigoo, my princess is being jelly again."

"I'm not jealous." Princess Maya raised a single eyebrow in Queen Isla's direction.

"Trust me, Maya. Once baby Diwa can walk, you'll be busy making baby number 2 and by the time another royal baby is out, you'll know why I didn't make you a scrapbook."

"But I'll make all of my children a scrapbook!" 

"HAHAHAHAHAHA!" was the queen's reply.