  &quot;Gonzalo, you may leave,&quot; I said, my eyes not leaving the sight of Laura.
  &quot;Are you sure, young prince?&quot; he asked.
  &quot;There s no need to worry, Gonzalo,&quot; I smiled at him. &quot;She s a friend of mine. Take care of the letter.
  He then bowed and left me with Laura.
  &quot;Laura?&quot; my mouth finally spoke as I approached her. &quot;Come now, Laura. There s no need for that,&quot; I helped her up. I lifted her face and smiled at her, pleased that she s here right now. &quot;You don t have to do curtsies when it comes to me.&quot;
  &quot;Don t be silly, Robert. You know I have to do that,&quot; she replied, fiddling with her fingers. &quot;I m in your realm, in your kingdom. I have to show you the respect that is given to you here.&quot;
  &quot;Laura, you re no different from me. Therefore, I say that you don t have to be all ceremonial whenever you vi

  &quot;Your presence is anything but intimidating. It s disturbing, annoying would be the proper term,&quot; I replied, not being affected by her taunts. &quot;Nobody in this room is intimidated by you.&quot;
  &quot;Oh, please, Robert, stop with the act,&quot; Mallory scoffed. &quot;We both know that once Laura leaves you alone, you can easily hurt anybody.&quot;
  &quot;Mallory,&quot; a soft voice came from the kitchen entrance. We turned our heads to see Nana Olsa, trying to stand firmly as her crooked staff assisted her weight. &quot;I believe that exchange of words is enough for today,&quot; she began to approach us.
  &quot;Nana, this doesn t concern you. It s better that you return inside. You don t even know what we re talking about,&quot; Mallory snarled at Nana.
  &quot;Can t you show Nana some respect?&quot; I scolded Mallory. &quot;Don t vent all of your frustrations on her.

  &quot;I understand that what she did was unacceptable but you should still treat her with respect as a relative,&quot; he replied.
  &quot;I would like to make one thing clear between the two of us, James: I respect everyone that crosses my path,&quot; I moved closer to him, &quot;But when someone gives me a reason not to, then I m sorry. That person won t have any kind of respect from me. The same goes with Elizabeth.&quot;
  &quot;Robert, please,&quot; he said, calmly stopping me from walking away.
  I groaned.
  I m trying my best to have a calm conversation with you, both as a king and as a father,&quot; he continued. &quot;Let us not treat each other with hostility just because of what your aunt did.&quot;
  &quot;James, you re making me act this way,&quot; I replied. &quot;And please, I don t want to talk about anything right now. I just want to be alone in silence.&quot;
  James

&quot;Gonzalo, you may leave,&quot; I said, my eyes not leaving the sight of Laura.
  &quot;Are you sure, young prince?&quot; he asked.
  &quot;There s no need to worry, Gonzalo,&quot; I smiled at him. &quot;She s a friend of mine. Take care of the letter.
  He then bowed and left me with Laura.
  &quot;Laura?&quot; my mouth finally spoke as I approached her. &quot;Come now, Laura. There s no need for that,&quot; I helped her up. I lifted her face and smiled at her, pleased that she s here right now. &quot;You don t have to do curtsies when it comes to me.&quot;
  &quot;Don t be silly, Robert. You know I have to do that,&quot; she replied, fiddling with her fingers. &quot;I m in your realm, in your kingdom. I have to show you the respect that is given to you here.&quot;
  &quot;Laura, you re no different from me. Therefore, I say that you don t have to be all ceremonial whenever you visit me here,&quot; I explained, unable to contain my grin on my face. &quot;You ve been shaking 

Chapter 33 Overwhelmed (a)