ADEBIMPE (Episode 25)
Adebimpe’s POV
The mirror no longer recognized me.
I stood before it, dressed in silk the color of morning cream, my hair styled neatly, my neck heavy with jewelry I never asked for. The girl staring back looked royal… but inside, I still felt like the maid who used to wake before dawn to scrub palace floors.
Who am I now? I wondered.
Since the declaration, everything had changed too fast. Servants bowed when I passed. Some smiled genuinely, others smiled with eyes full of questions. I no longer worked with my hands, yet my body still woke at the same early hour, expecting a broom, a bucket, instructions.
Instead, I was summoned.
“Her Highness-in-training,” the palace attendant said gently. “The Queen is ready for your first lesson.”
My stomach tightened.
A lesson to be a queen.
The Queen’s POV
I watched her walk into the royal study.
She moved carefully, as though afraid of breaking something invisible. Her steps were light, respectful, uncertain. Many women would have walked in with pride, already tasting power.
But not Adebimpe.
That humility that fear of becoming too much that was what made her dangerous in the best way.
“Sit, my child,” I said.
She sat, hands folded on her lap, eyes lowered.
“Look at me,” I instructed softly.
She did.
And I saw the storm inside her.
Adebimpe’s POV
The Queen’s gaze was calm, not judging, not cold. Still, my heart pounded.
“You are learning to become a queen,” she began. “But before that, you must learn who you are now.”
I swallowed.
“I don’t know who I am anymore,” I admitted quietly. “I’m no longer a maid… but I don’t feel like royalty. Sometimes I feel like an impostor wearing borrowed clothes.”
The words spilled out before I could stop them.
“I’m afraid of forgetting where I came from,” I continued. “And I’m afraid that where I came from will never let me belong here.”
Silence followed.
Continue reading Episode 26
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