Alice cleared her throat. The Queen was looking at her quizzically.

"You look like you have a lot on your mind."

Alice shook her head.

"Trouble at work?"

"Nothing like that," she said.

They were both in the Palace clinic. She had come to carry out the monthly health examination that the Paladins ordered.

"Don't tell me," the Queen gasped. "Boy trouble."

Alice could feel the heat creep up her face.

"No, it's nothing like that," she denied.

The Queen raised a royal eyebrow.

Alice refused to answer.

"You can tell me, you know. I'm the most confidential person you could ever meet. I can't even gossip to anyone," The Queen wheedled.

Alice pondered the Queen's statement and realised that it was the truth. She put down the blood pressure monitor cuff.

"Is it South?"

Alice snapped her head up to look at the Queen, stunned.

"How did you know?"

"Nothing. Just that he over reacts and denies vehemently every time your name is mentioned."

"Every time?" Alice faltered.

"Well, not every time," the Queen conceded. "But his reactions are very big where you are concerned."

Alice picked up the cuff again and fastened it around her patient's mid-upper arm. She pressed a button and the cuff began squeezing.

"Well?"

"I can't tell you what happened. There's patient confidentiality to consider."

"Is he your patient?" The Queen asked, surprised.

"For now."

"And?"

"It's - complicated."

"Did you hate him before?"

"Yes. He can be very judgemental!"

"Yes, he tells it like it is. He's direct. You can imagine how your brother reacts every time he hears something South said that he doesn't like."

"Owen lives up to the stereotype," Alice smiled, knowing her brother's fiery temperament did the Western stereotype no favours.

"Do you know how I endure all that shouting in the council chamber when he gets heated up?"

"Royally?"

"Good try at diplomacy but no. I endure it painfully. Let's not stray from the subject - South."

"Your blood pressure is a little low. 108/67 but nothing to worry about. Have you been sleeping well?"

"Badly, to say the least. I'll sleep better tonight."

"You say that every time."

"Trust me, I will."

"I trust numbers and facts, your Majesty."

"You're saying very nicely that you don't trust me," the Queen noted with a twinkle of an eye.

Alice had to smile at the sudden display of royal charm.

"I hope you work things out with South. He doesn't have to be your patient. You know that. You can always recommend another doctor."

Alice nodded and said lamely, "It's - complicated."

"It often is, isn't it?" The Queen said sagely. "Now, can I skip the blood tests this month?"

"Not a chance, your Majesty."

"Please Alice. You should call me Elizabeth already. You've seen enough of my body parts to call me by name."

"Not a chance, your Majesty. Not while I'm working."

Alice had to control a smile when the Queen gave her an exasperated look and gave up.

Crown Princess Acclamation Day

The morning dawned hot and bright. Alexis stared out of her window from Apartment 1A. The Palace grounds had well manicured shrubs and the grass was green. There was a little mist in the copse of trees at the distance.

The fine weather could not calm her mind down. The day had finally arrived. There was going to be a short ceremony in the Audience Chamber to announce her status as Crown Princess.

South, in charge of protocol, had decided that the Coronation and the Naming of the Crown Princess would be two separate events. The original plan had been to merge it with the Coronation.

A review of royal traditions scuppered that to the four winds. The naming of an heir and the coronation was always carried out separately and royal tradition had to be followed.

Therefore the day had come and Alexis was going to be crowned as Crown Princess of Corea. All the months of training and etiquette had boiled down to this. The stress of being a public person forever kept her awake all night. She glanced at the mirror and recoiled at the ghastly reflection.

Her blessed moment silence was interrupted when the door opened and Lady Michelle arrived with an army of ladies. Lady Michelle did not mince her words.

"Your Royal Highness, you look ghastly."

Alexis smiled wanly.

"Good morning, Lady Michelle."

"See to her," she ordered the ladies-in-waiting.

They all chorused agreeable replies before swarming over her like locusts over a green plant.

When Alexis emerged from Apartment 1A a full hour later, she was numb. Her hair had been pulled back and pinned tightly. Her skin was scrubbed and she was covered in make-up. The hanbok she wore was so full of embroidery and so heavy that breathing was hard.

Like the OCD she was, she began obsessing over the golden thread that went hemmed the edge of her hanbok. The symmetrical, continuing flash of gold kept her mentally sane as events took place around her. Only one thing broke her concentration - when East and West arrived.

They were tasked to escort her up the aisle to the Throne where the Queen would be flanked by North and South. Alexis knew that North had not returned the day before, so she wondered whether he had already arrived back from Pyeongyang or not. She tapped her feet nervously while the three of them milled behind the great white and gold doors.

"Stop tapping your feet like that. You look like a hummingbird."

"The bird or the helicopter?" She asked back.

"The bird," East replied with a surprised grin.

"Did you know that a hummingbird can fly up to 30 miles per hour?" Alexis couldn't help spouting facts when she was nervous.

One of the side doors to the Audience Chamber had been open and Alexis was taken aback by the amount of equipment set up by local and foreign media to broadcast the Acclamation.

"Yes. Do you know the top speed of the Hummingbird helicopter?"

"It's 110 miles per hour," Alexis replied.

"How do you know that?" East looked surprised that she knew.

"I memorise facts easily," Alexis said.

"That's why you're a doctor."

"No," she half-laughed. "I memorise random facts easily. I don't do so well with diagnosing patients."

"That's not what your file says," East replied, while pressing his earpiece.

"My file even has a line about how I diagnose patients?" Alexis' curiosity was beginning to overcome her anxiousness.

"Wouldn't you like to know," East replied nonchalantly.

"I would."

"Then tell me what you know."

"I don't trust you," she whispered to him.

"I don't trust him either. Keep him at arms length," West was looking between them with interest.

The hushed conversation between her and East subsided. Alexis went back to obsessing over the gold thread in her hanbok. She even began obsessing over the gold leaf pattern that covered the white doors.

The doors creaked open at the sound of trumpets. Alexis felt as though she was floating towards the throne. All sound had been drowned out - her brain had a tendency to do that when she had to stay focused.

She glided up the purple carpet towards where the Queen was flanked by two Paladins - so North had returned on time. With the other two Paladins walking formally behind her, wearing ceremonial armour, she was going to be circled by a ring of steel.

Alexis knew that Walter was in the crowd somewhere, but she had no idea where exactly he was seated. The foreign dignitaries and the local nobility were still completely unknown to her. There were so many people in the hall that it was impossible to pinpoint where he was. She was glad for it - his mere presence made her nervous. The last thing she needed right now was to be nervous.

Alexis found out that if she stayed hyper focused, she could remember Lady Michelle's instructions in its entirety. Suddenly, she knew exactly how to place her hands, her arms, how to gaze at the camera and what to say. Every thing had fallen into place as though it came naturally to her.

At the Throne, she was seated in a lower chair on the dais. The Acclamation Ceremony went without a hitch. At the end of it all, after the crowning and the prayers of thanksgiving, the congregation stood up to cheer.

Thus Alexis, still in her hyper focused state never heard the first shot. She turned around when she saw the gasps from the crowd. Turning back after the first shot, she saw that the Paladins had closed a ring around the Queen.

Through the ensuing chaos, as the crowd ducked for cover, two gunmen remained standing, trying to hit their target. Alexis was genuinely surprised that none of them was Walter. Someone tugged on her arm urgently. It was East, trying to get her into the ring of steel. She complied.

Royal guards swarmed the congregation. Some tried to get to the gunmen. Others formed a ring of Kevlar around the ring of steel.

More shots rang out but Alexis who had finally entered the ring of steel that was made up of the four Paladins realised three things.

First, the doors leading out of the Audience Hall had been sealed shut. Second, North looked absolutely murderous. Third, there was a red stain on the Queen's dress that was slowly growing.

It was then Alexis realised the gravity of the situation. It was then that sound returned and she lost her hyper focus on doing the correct ceremonial thing - for the Queen had just been shot.