Music recommendation: The Sound of silence—Pentatonix.
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Meanwhile, in the Ivrasean castle.
Queen Penelope had been unable to meet up with her advisor in private. They had taken much longer than usual to get back to Ivrasea from Itrusia and when they did, King Reginald had immediately called for a meeting, during which she was guarded.
She knew that Reginald had begun suspecting her and had sent a spy to follow her around, which is why even when the guards stopped hovering around her, she didn't grab the first chance to have a word with her advisor and instead waited until she was certain that the spy had stopped following her, then she sent a message to her advisor through her most trusted maid.
It didn't take long for her advisor, Eleanor, to arrive. "Your Majesty." She bowed after closing the door behind her. She looked more tensed that Penelope was.