*Epilogue*

Me and Ben then left the room and waited for our family to return back to Ben's private rooms. We then gave enough time for the rest of the council members to leave into the main foyer as we packed our things together. I then let Ben lead me into the main foyer and everyone went quiet as we started to walk past. I just wanted to quickly leave so we could get home and try to move away from this trial; but I stood still causing Ben to stand still when I heard:

"I don't care what anyone thinks; she will never make a good Queen"

"I beg your pardon Lady Leah!" I snapped as I dropped Ben's hand and I turned to look at her. "If you have anything to say to me say it to my face" I added darkly. How dare she! After everything that we had been through! She dares to disrespect me! After I stopped Ben sending her to the Isle; well I had had enough of her and I was about to give her a piece of my mind.

"Are we finally seeing the true Mal? You took your time" she mocked.

"No as I haven't been hiding anything. This is me when I am pushed and annoyed" I said irritated as I stood in front of her, the room went silent but this wasn't going to stop me. This whole trial had me so overwhelmed at the moment; and if Lady Leah wanted to hash this out right now then I was going to let her. "So please repeat what you just said" I said politely as I glared at her.

"I said you will never make a good Queen and you'll never be good enough for his Majesty" she sneered causing people to gasp around her. I watched as Princess Aurora and Prince Phillip shook their heads as Audrey looked to the ground – obviously embarrassed about what was about to happen.

"I don't want to be a good Queen. I want to be a great Queen, and I know that I will be" I said proudly.

"How can you even know that? You weren't born into nobility" she stated bluntly as she placed her hands onto her hips.

"I may not have been and I may have been brought up differently-" I started.

"Mal" Ben said cutting me off as he stood next to me.

"No Ben I've had enough!" I snapped. "I may have been brought up differently but I have changed. I'm getting sick to the back teeth of trying to prove this. I thought that I had done everything and it looks like everything that I have done isn't always enough for some people" I said looking at Lady Leah. "I know I will be a great Queen because I have learnt compassion and believe you and me I won't take anything for granted. As for being good enough for Ben I fail to see why that would even matter to you. However I will tell you one more thing on the matter and then I will speak about it no more" I explained.

"Mal" Ben said again.

"No Ben she thinks I am no good for you. I obviously still need to defend myself" I said to him before looking back to her. "I never thought anyone would ever love me, because I felt that I didn't deserve to be loved. You know nothing about my past but you do know about my mother and father so you will know that growing up was far from easy. Ben showed me how to love and he loves the survivor in me; he knows what I have been through and he doesn't judge me. Like some people in this room. He's stood by me all through coming here and meeting people's prejudices because my mother is mistress of evil" I explained and I watched her purse her lips together.

"I now know why you have treated me the way you have; you hate both my parents. And since you can't get to them you have to get to me. Pull me apart, belittle me and try to damage my reputation!" I snapped. "But please be assured Lady Leah" I sang slowly and she grimaced at me. "I have had that all of my life; all that and more. So if you think for one second that you will ever ever have the one up on me then you are sadly mistaken" I grimaced.

"My parents are something that is out of my control, have I once tried to hurt you? No!" I quickly said before she could say anything. "Have I ever showed any anger towards you up until this point? No!" I said as she opened her mouth to speak. "I have only ever given you the upmost respect even though you would happily send me back to the Isle so it would free the throne for your granddaughter" I said. "But I'm sorry to say that I'm not going anywhere, I love Ben and this Kingdom" I said to her. "That is how I know I will be a great Queen. I will strive for it, with or without your blessing" I said as I placed both of my hands on my hips.

"Yes well you'll be glad it's not my decision!" she snapped.

"I am because quite frankly this whole sorry mess has shown how poor your decision making skills are! Your daughter on the other hand will do a so much better job than you!" I snapped back. Her eyes widened and then she sighed and then quickly hurried out of the main hall.

I looked at Ben and I noted that he had a blank look on his face; I probably had just caused a scene - something that we both didn't need right now. "I'm really sorry I don't know what come over me there" I said sadly as I started to calm down. "I shouldn't have bitten like that, she's only going to get worse now" I added sadly.

"No she's not" Ben said trying to reassure me.

"I think getting a dose of her own medicine was well over due" Zeus said as Ben stepped next to me and wrapped his arm around my waist.

"I am really sorry though. It doesn't look very good" I said as I started to panic at the fact that I had just caused a scene after the trial.

"Yeah well it shows you are feisty and you have guts" Ben said before kissing the top of my head. "Let's go home" he grinned down at me.

"Yes please" I smiled up at him.

"We need to give a press statement first" he explained as he dropped his arm from me and slid his right hand back into my left.

"Ok my love" I replied and I let Ben lead me out of the town hall and we stood in front of the steps. The press were standing behind a barrier not so far away taking photos and pushing their microphones forward so they could hear Ben's press statement.

"I would like to reassure the Kingdom that this trial is now over; and peace has been restored to the Kingdom" Ben smiled with his famous regal smile.

"Can you finally tell us what happened?" one of the reporters called.

"A plot was made to challenge my rule and my relationship with my consort; this plot was foiled and we have acted accordingly" he replied as I squeezed his hand.

"How have you done that?" another reported shouted.

"All parties have been found guilty and are being punished for their crimes; that is all we have time for" Ben finished before he led me back to our limousine. We then climbed in and waited for our family to join us; after the door closed behind them all and the car pulled away I looked out of the window as I snuggled into Ben. I know that me and Ben were never going to have a quiet life but hopefully now that the trial was over we could all start to move away from it. This trial had caused a lot of mental anguish for everyone involved and I know that we would get through this together. My life with Ben could start properly now; and I couldn't wait to see where life was going to take me and my Beast next!

Hey guys, this chapter was fun to write however I do need to make you aware of a couple of things. Like I have already mentioned just like the Hade's father reveal this chapter was meant to be a lot further into our story but it fit better here. I had planned to drag the trial out but I decided against it in the end.

I hoped that you have enjoyed the trial; it took a lot of time and research. I know that some of you were disappointed in some of the lengths of the chapters but I couldn't physically put anything more into those chapters as I had sectioned them off but I tried to bunch together what I could.

As always, I have also got the first chapter for the next part of our story ready so keep your eyes peeled for 'The Seven Day Conclusion!'

Much love,

RaInBoWsKuLlDrOpS

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo.