Chapter 41
1247 Words
ELAYNE
With the departure of the palace guests and the king, the palace was back to the former pseudo calm it always had. It almost felt like the holiday was over and the boring lull of our normal lives was back. Almost. I was still reminded of the incident with Prince Miyon every time I saw him lie helplessly on the bed.
Dr. Rivers was kind enough to teach me how to feed him while he was still too weak to be awake and give him his medicine. After that, I took care of cleaning our quarters which was quite tedious with my injury.
During the brunch, somebody displayed visible intent to kill Prince Miyon and this intent was ignored by the King. With that realization came the fact that he was aware of the horrible life the boy lived and if one more attempt was made, he would not be affected in the least.
If so, why did he let the boy leave? Just what kind of devious plan was he cooking up to let Prince Miyon suffer such a horrible life?
After cleaning, I returned to the room to see someone standing in the middle of the room. He was leaning over on the prince, staring at him.
“Who are you? What are you doing here?”
I held the duster in my hand like a weapon, fully aware I wouldn’t be able to do anything to hurt him. I had never seen him before and he looked very suspicious quietly standing there.
“Pardon me for startling you. I was sent here by my master to hear your reply.”
“Oh, you are…”
“Who I am is not important. I have reported the injuries of the prince to my master and she’s not pleased. She wishes you leave soon.”
When I was given the choice before, I wasn’t considering it because I was still bent on my revenge against King Mival. However, in just a few days, I was reminded of my helplessness against him. There was nothing I could do and accomplish on my own. Not against him.
“I want to ask just one question. Does your master wish to take her revenge against King Mival?”
“That isn’t a concern of yours…”
“Tell her I have something important to trade that will help her.”
I reached for my new hiding place, a false piece of the wall beside the entrance. Inside, I brought out a locket necklace. I handed it over to him.
“Give her this and tell her I’m willing to trade information and plan a takeover with her.”
He looked down on the locket and back at my face. He looked at the child on the bed and finally nodded, leaving the room through the window.
What I handed over to him was a special locket made for only members of the royal family. It had my name engraved in it and a lock of my baby hair. I had always thought it a weird family tradition but never thought it would come in handy.
Only in an extreme case would I hand the ring over.
The hunting party returned in the evening. They brought a bustle into the party; men loudly talking of their contest and kill counts. I felt a shiver go down my back when I heard something akin to humans being counted as prey. I thought they went to hunt animals!
I retired to our room and waited for everything to settle down. The tension of the evening eventually caught up to me as my heart jumped when the doorknob rattled. It rattled for a few minutes before it was opened. Thinking it was another assassin, I grabbed a knife I placed beside me from earlier and stayed close to the prince.
The door opened with a click and… Amelia walked into the room. My body deflated and all my anxiety quickly turned to annoyance.
“Amelia, for god's sake, can you stop that?!”
“What? I mean, what are you expecting from me? I’m not even supposed to be here!”
“... You’re right. Just come in and shut the door.”
“Okay, okay.”
She did as I asked and got on the bed with me. When she turned her head, she gasped when she saw the comatose prince.
“W-What happened?!”
“Someone tried to kill him… again.”
“B-But, why? Who’d be so cruel to… oh…”
I nodded, stroking his head.
“A-Are you alright?”
I nodded again. She finally understood how much I cared for him, even if she wasn’t too taken with the idea.
“I honestly thought living here was going to be better but after everything you told me… I’m not so sure anymore.”
“It’s fine. I’m thinking of a way.”
“Don’t worry, I can help with that. I am the best as escaping after all.”
There were no lies there. There was no place she couldn’t run from. And the worst part; she never got punished for it!
“So, why’d you come?”
“Oh, I have got some good gossip from you. I figured you might want to hear this.”
“Well, I have nothing better to do at the moment. Let’s hear it.”
“Today, I saw Prince Kron and the Prince of Zerramond be rushed out of the forest by the Duchess of Horps. They were severely injured and their horses were nowhere to be found. The Duchess’s guard was dragging back a bear's head! The Princes admitted that it was killed by the Duchess! The palace is going wild right now!”
“Oh my… Are they alright?”
“Yes. The Duchess apparently had a doctor on hand and they were taken care of there before they were carted back to the palace. The King wouldn’t even look at Prince Kron. It’s boiling out there.”
“R-Really?”
“Yes! The Prince of Zerramond wouldn’t shut up about how awesome the duchess was. Many are saying he might be infatuated with her.”
“O-Oh…”
“Elayne, what’s the matter? You don’t seem too pleased.”
“I’m just worried if the Duchess is alright. I’m acquainted with her and well, she can’t speak so if she’s injured, they wouldn’t know.”
“I’m sure she’ll be fine, I mean, she killed a bear!”
“I hope…”
There was no way I could tell Amelia about the pang in her heart when I heard Prince Kalvin was infatuated with Lady Miriam. Lady Miriam was a kind, sweet soul. She was better than me by far and would make a better wife for Prince Kalvin.
“You really don’t have to be sad… look, I brought you something.”
“What?”
“Cocoa cake. The Duke gifted them to me so let’s share it.”
“... Okay.”
“Oh come on! You’re not even excited about eating cake?!”
“Keep your voice down! I’m understandably anxious.”
“Urgh, whatever! I’ll eat my cake myself.”
“Wow, so selfish.”
“You... how dare you?!”
I would always be grateful to have a friend like Amelia. I meant it from the bottom of my heart.
- Writer
