Josephine trailed her fingertips over the tapestry, reeling in thoughts. She was trying so hard to remember how life had been as a princess. Her parents had been fair and kind to the kingdom, that she knew. She didn't remain long in her fantasy, coming back to reality when she heard noise nearby. Her gaze did not turn, knowing it was probably one of the maids or servants. Drawing back her hand, the young queen held her fingers against her chest as she gazed wistfully at the picture of her perfect past. A past lost forever, in life and in memory. She had been too young, she found, to have memories from the time of her earliest youth. Her starting memories began with the Williams... not that she regretted all that time, it had opened her eyes to so many things that she wouldn't have been exposed to, good and bad, had I still been the princess she was born as. The loss of her parents and siblings saddened her, but her grief was not as sharp as one would expect. What happened in the past was to stay in the past; there was no use crying over it. Besides, had her tragedy not occurred, she never would have met Raoul. She would have been married off to some wealthy prince of another kingdom.<br/><br/>A hand at her shoulder startled her a little, but Josephine did not jump. Her head turned, and a smile illuminated her expression as she realized it was Raoul.<span style="font-style: italic">"They would be so proud of you today Josephine...you have shown such courage up to the point of being on deaths door. Not many men I know would be capable of that."</span>She nodded, laying her head against her shoulder. "I only wonder what it would have been like. To live all your life as royalty, to be raised in the presence of protocol and restrictions, yet never have to worry about going hungry. And what my family would have been like... my brother, and my sister. My parents too, though no doubt they were kind and gentle as could be." A soft sigh fell from her lips, then she glanced up at her fiance. "Things happen for a reason though. Fate led me to safety, and had me meet you. It was destiny, I know it. I just wish their lives had not been forfeit for this." She wondered if he still blamed himself for what his father had done to her; she had seen it many times, him feeling guilty of things out of his control. He was not to blame for the death of her family. The blame was not his own when it came to her past; but he had helped her to a brighter present, and an even more luminous future. It was all she could ever wish for.