Happily Ever After (Private~!)

[Akira.S]

Jillian looked at Elton before sitting Ophelia up. She didn't want to undo the lady's clothes while there were men around but she had no choice.
"Y-Yes, she is, she said she didn't like to wear them and was fanning herself quiet a bit but I didn't think it was tied on too tightly!" Jillian blamed herself for what had happened to the Queen and wasn't sure how she could help her. If they waited to long she could have suffocated.

"Sire..." Brendan leaned in closer to the King. "Aren't you going to do something about this...." he whispered seeing the Queen passed out on the floor.  

[TeHsChNoZbErRy]

"Undo the corset," he replied, "Quickly," he tried to think of what to do after that.

"U-U-U-" Tristan looked at Brendan, "Yeah, I should." he got up, stumbling over to the queen. Although Elton was already there, Tristan knew it would be good if he was too,  

[Akira.S]

"B-But....I.." Jillian was rather shy about undoing Ophelia's clothes in front of men. But she had no choice. She undid the back of her dress until she could see the corpset. She quickly pulled off the strong to hear a loud gasp and cough for air.
"Ophelia!"

The Queen coughed loudly and breathed in heavily, almost passing out in Jillian's arms. "W-W....What...happened..." she continued to cough, sitting up in Jillian's arms. Thankfully she was wearing a thin cream dress over her corpset so she wasn't completely topless but was rather..undignified.  

[TeHsChNoZbErRy]

Elton pulled the Queen into his arms, "I'll take you to your room," he told her, "Its best for a lady to do so after such a spell." He rather liked holding her in his arms.

Tristan just sat there blankly, obviously too late to do anything.  

[Akira.S]

Ophelia said nothing...much too tired and out of breath to really care. Her beautiful ocean blue eyes barely open to look up at Elton after he pulled her into his arms and began carrying her off to her room to rest.

Once Elton had laid her on her bed, Ophelia couldn't help but open her eyes to look at him. "....I need no sympathy from you..." she muttered softly trying to look away, feeling her chest heave with pain as she breathed. "After all...you want nothing to do with me and it is your King who is to marry me...and you said you'd be happy for him." by the by she didn't even think to wonder why he had brought her to the room instead of the King. He was the one who saved her not the King...

Jillian, the King and Brendan were left.
Jillain stood from the floor and sigh to herself, walking to the table and beginning to pick up the dishes. "I'm just thankful the Queen is alright. It would have been dreadful if she had died today..." she said softly while picking up the plates and such. "If she had died you two could not marry and there would be no alliance between our two countries." in a way...Jillian was sort of happy for a second that Ophelia would have died but in a selfish way, it was only because she was sort of upset Ophelia had to marry Tristan.

While she was cleaning a thought popped into her mind as she turned to the King.
"Oh I'm sorry where are my manners...Congratulations on your engagement. I'm sure her highness will make you very very happy." she smiled carefreely as she continued to clean.  

[TeHsChNoZbErRy]

"Er-um," he nodded, "Thank you," he said quietly, watching Jillian. He looked up, stepping back. He looked at Brendan, 'Help' clearly painted in his eyes. Tristan was not good with girls.

"I'm not one to give sympathy," Elton muttered, "I'm only happy for him because he gets to marry you." He stood up, "Have a good rest milady."  

[Akira.S]

Brendan sigh to himself, thinking about how pathetic his King was.
He stepped up while Jillian was cleaning and decided to help.
"So...Jillian was it? I'm sure you're happy for the Queen. But what about you? I'm sure you want to find someone to marry like that." he began.

The girl shook her head after taking some more plates and beginning to walk to the kitchen. "Well, I do but Ophelia's happiness comes first. Besides...all women deep down want to find someone they love...not an arranged marriage." she smiled and headed into the kitchen to hand off the dishes to other maids.
When she returned she began to wipe the table. "If I could find my prince charming that'd be the day." she giggled and smiled to the two of them. "But, as always Ophelia's happiness comes first on my list." it was obvious the two were very close, especially how they talked together. "Are the three of you very close?" she asked the King and Brendan.

Ophelia turned to her side as Elton walked out her bedroom door, gripping a pillow between her hands. She was obviously upset but as a Queen with high composure and much dignity she didn't want to show her emotion to anyone but Jillian. Besides, what would Jillian think if she told her she was falling for the King's guard, it was a disgrace.  

[TeHsChNoZbErRy]

"Yes," Tristan nodded, glad she was reaching a topic he was comfortable with. He smiled at her, "I presume that you and the Queen are close as well?" Rule of Conversation; Always revert the conversation back to the higher ranked person. Although Jillian was lower than Tristan, he still felt that she was higher.

Elton went to his bedroom, grumbling.  

[Akira.S]

When Tristan spoke of the Queen, Jillian could only smile. "Yes, she and I have been good friends since before I could remember. I was taken in by her parents to be Ophelia's playmate as a child and since then I've been her chamber maid. I don't want to impose but she's like an older sister that I have to look out for...." Jillian smiled with a cute little blush on her face.
"Oh, I'm sorry, and you, how close are you with...your Knights?" the two seemed to be having a nice light, after dinner conversation to get to know each other which made the two of them rather happy.

When Brendan thought he was not needed he headed off to his room. Finding Elton inside, in a very displeased mood. "What's the matter now?" He asked going to change. "Down in the dumps again are we Elton? Have you done something to displease her majesty?" he laughed.  

[TeHsChNoZbErRy]

"She doesn't want my sympathy!" he snapped, "Who said I was being sympathetic, its chivalry isn't it?" He grumbled around the room, getting ready for bed.

Tristan smiled, "Well, Elton is my confidante, and Brendan's just a good friend. A bit more knightly than Elton." He replied.  

[Akira.S]

It seemed Brendan was the middle man, being the catalyst to help all with their relationships even though it wasn't his problem.
"You are just like the King, Elton, You don't know what you want and you don't know how to get it." he sigh while changing, also getting ready for bed. "You must think about how she feels in this situation, she can't love you even if she wanted too because she is already put in an arranged marriage by her father. Maybe it's not chivalry she's looking for...." he popped the question into his friend's mind before walking to his own bed to sleep after a long day's work.

Jillian just giggled, "He seems very distant. Elton I mean...." she finished cleaning the table and went to go put away the cloth and such before walking the King back to his chambers. "There's just something about him....I mean the way he was acting towards Ophelia when she fainted was a bit...odd..."  

[TeHsChNoZbErRy]

Tristan smiled, "Well," he looked up, "Elton does take good care of the ladies," he trailed off, then continued, "How does the queen feel about the uh... engagement?" He felt uncomfortable saying the word.

Elton looked at Brendan, "What is she looking for?" he asked, "And isn't she allowed to break the marriage and marry a knight? It's perfectly fine..."  

[Akira.S]

Jillian stopped walking for half a second before responding. "Well, I haven't really heard her majesty's point of view yet....I mean she really doesn't have a choice in the matter because it was her father's wishes she get married to you. She really doesn't have a choice. But....knowing her for so long I don't think she wants to marry you Tristan. Well at least that's my point of view..." Jillian didn't want to impose or give away any of her feelings which was why she continued on looking away, walking ahead of the King.
"Why how do you feel about it?"

Brendan shook his head while sitting on his bed. "It's her father's choice...but if you were to relay your feelings to her that's a different story..." but then again he wasn't really sure what would happen. It would depend on the King and what he wanted. Even if she did love Elton what were they to do. "Just go to sleep....sleep on it a while and then decide tomorrow."  

[TeHsChNoZbErRy]

He looked at her for what felt like a long time, "I can't marry someone I don't love... but your queen seems like a nice woman." he paused, feeling melancholy. He sighed, "I could come to love her, but I doubt it'll go beyond friendship."

"What feelings for her?" Elton looked at Brendan.  

[Akira.S]

Jillian walked the King to his bedroom and stopped at the door with a soft smile.
"Well....then...I guess it'll end up being a marriage where neither of you will love each and you will both be unhappy. But if it's for your country I'm sure things will work themselves out." she gently opened the door and then curtseyed, "Goodnight your majesty." she quickly turned and began to walk to her room, or rather Ophelia's room to check on her. Seems life in the castle was going to get more and more difficult....

The annoyed friend threw a spare pillow at Elton and continued to lie down, "this wouldn't be bothering you if you didn't have feelings for her majesty now would you PLEASE JUST SHUT IT AND GO TO SLEEP." for the day he was rather tired and irritated listening to the King's and Elton's love problems. If they could all just come out with it, it'd make his life a lot easier.

----

The next morning came all too quickly, but before anyone other than the maids and guards were awake, Ophelia made her way to the garden and sat under the cold and lonely willow tree once again, hugging her knees. She wore another simple and soft cream dress with her long blonde hair down. Her eyes looked tremendously sad and solemn. Just thinking about marrying the King made her heart sink, and just thinking about Elton made her chest burn. Why did men have to be so complicated...and just say how they really felt...it would make life so much easier.
Ophelia heavied a heavy sigh while rocking under the tree.