Chapter 10 - Misunderstanding

Ding…dong…

There was a loud sound of the doorbell. Charlotte quickly got up from the sofa and opened the door to her house. However, the person who pressed the button for the bell was an officer from the National Intelligence Service. He was confused by the current situation, so his saliva was hard to swallow and had a bad feeling about this.

"Lady Charlotte," called the team leader who sounded a little unfriendly.

"Yeah, what happened to my house all of a sudden?" said Charlotte, putting on an innocent face.

“We received reports that you were involved in the Prince Gabriel plane crash case, please come with us!”

Now Charlotte stood frozen as if she had been struck by lightning. Hearing her accusation just now, made her a little scared especially considering she had just discussed this with Violet. Her eyes widened and her head lifted in confidence, then denied her accusations politely.

“What did you just say? Am I involved in a plane crash? Doesn't the plane record prove that the plane's engine exploded suddenly?" Charlotte deliberately threw her question like that as if nothing had happened.

“We have proof that you have a motive to harm the Prince, please don't rebel and come with us!”

National Intelligence Service officers surrounded her and treated her like a suspect. For the first time a noble's daughter was forcibly taken out of her residence. The officer didn't care about her status, because they only believed in the evidence they had from somewhere.

Watching her friend being suddenly abused and also giving false accusations, with her nimble feet Violet got up from the sofa and ran to her friend who was about to be dragged away. He immediately released his tight grip on her hand and shielded Charlotte from the front with a sharp glare.

"Let go of my friend!"

"What did you just do?" said the head of the investigative team.

“How dare you be presumptuous of Miss Charlotte! Don't you know, the woman right next to me is Prince Gabriel's fiancé?" Violet snarled in annoyance as she spread her arms wide, blocking the path of the officers.

“Whether she is the Prince's fiancé or not, one still has to follow the rule of law. For now, we will interrogate Lady Charlotte first!”

A languid sigh escaped from Charlotte's mouth. Her right hand touched her best friend's shoulder, smiling confidently as she brought her lips to her earlobe.

"I will be fine. You don't have to worry so much about me," she whispered softly.

“But if something unexpected happens to you, what? This all seems very odd.”

"We can't fight it. If I had fought back, I would have looked like the real suspect. For now, we should just follow the rules. I don't even know what's going on right now."

"Your mother will be in shock, if she finds out."

"Please just tell her that I've been summoned for a while because of important business."

“But—”

Before she finished replying, the members of the National Intelligence Service took Charlotte forcibly out of her house. Her hands were not handcuffed, but held tightly as if tied with rope so she could not escape anywhere. Meanwhile, Violet sat on her couch limply while ruffling her hair like an insane person.

Arriving at the interrogation room, Charlotte sat opposite the head of the investigative team, her innocent expression on her face, because she had to appear confident to prove her innocence. In her mind at this time, there was actually something that was bothering her. In the midst of her conversation with Violet at his residence about the perpetrator behind the plane crash incident, why suddenly there was a report that she was involved in this incident. Even though she had just talked about it, she had been arrested unexpectedly.

Her brow furrowed, she continued to think hard about all the odd problems she was facing now. Especially the look in her eyes looking around the soundproof interrogation room, plus the air conditioner in this room is very cold, like she is a suspect in a murder case. Therefore, the room temperature was deliberately set the lowest by the officers to make her a little nervous during the interrogation process.

"Lady Charlotte," called the chief investigator with a serious face.

"Why did you summon me here?" Charlotte replied like she was innocent at all, still able to fold her arms in front of her chest.

"Hasn't it been said before, we have evidence that you have a motive for harming Prince Gabriel."

“Then where is the evidence? Before making arbitrary conclusions, you should think carefully first," Charlotte joked, raising her eyebrows.

The head of the investigative team takes out a laptop, showing Charlotte a CCTV footage. Charlotte rolled her eyes perfectly when she looked at the CCTV footage recording herself and her prospective husband having a big fight.

"What does this mean?" asked Charlotte a little nervously.

“This CCTV footage proves that you had a violent fight with Prince Gabriel prior to the plane incident. In addition, we also received reports from anonymous that you hate the Prince so much that you don't want to see him again," explained the head of the investigative team at length.

Charlotte's right hand was clenched into a tight fist, it felt like she wanted to grip the neck of the head of the investigative team who had just said something that shouldn't have come out of her mouth. Her eyes began to redden, she took a deep breath, exhaled deeply.

“How dare you say presumptuous! Are your ears damaged, did you hear my friend's explanation earlier!" Charlotte sarcastically exploded in anger.

“If you believe that you are not the culprit, could you please explain the meaning of this CCTV footage? If you explain everything to us, chances are you won't be severely punished.”

Charlotte didn't budge for a moment, crossing her legs while contemplating the fight she had with her future husband, it sounded painful. Recalling the incident, made her  want to turn back time and change her past so as not to experience big regrets now. Forcibly, she had to tell the head of the investigation team so she wouldn't be suspected of being a suspect.

"Okay, I'll tell you what happened. But on condition, don't just accuse me!”

"I have to listen to what actually happened first, then I can decide."

"So actually..."

***

The incident when Charlotte and Gabriel had a pretty big fight during their relationship. However, this quarrel arose due to a misunderstanding, thus making Charlotte's heart hurt a little.

At that time a banquet was being held at the palace to celebrate the party which would take place in the near future. Charlotte had been waiting for the Prince inside the palace, but had not visited for several minutes. Therefore, she decided to look for him in the palace garden while lifting her evening gown gracefully.

But when she arrived at the palace garden, her footsteps stopped as she stared at the scene that was very unsightly now. Her heart was like being hit by a lightning bolt staring at the position of Prime Minister Agnes like she was kissing the Prince's right cheek. Unknowingly, her footsteps retreated with a thumping sound, so Prime Minister Agnes turned her face away from the Prince, then her eyes turned to Charlotte.

While Prince Gabriel looked at his fiancé who looked nervous, immediately ran over to her.

"Charlotte, it's not what you think," he said, trying to reach his lover.

Charlotte's footsteps were getting weaker and weaker, tears started to roll down her eyes as she clutched her chest.

"You have nothing to explain, Gabriel."

Gabriel grabbed her hand from behind, preventing her from leaving. But Charlotte rebelled by releasing his grip on her hand roughly.

"Let me go!"

“You must be furious like this because you thought that Agnes kissed me just now!”

"Then is it true?" Charlotte raised her voice even more, glaring at him sharply.

"I can't let her do such a dirty thing!"

"But why did you let her kiss your cheek earlier? Don't you think about how I feel right now?"

"She meant to whisper to me."

“You two are in the park alone, why must whisper? No one wants to hear your conversations!”

"I really didn't lie to you, Charlotte." Gabriel put on a pitiful face while scratching his head in annoyance.

"I don't like my future husband keeping something important from me, you can only hurt my feelings now!" Charlotte snapped until her eyes started to look puffy.

“Charlotte, please believe me!”

“For now, I don't want to see your face. I hate you a little."

Charlotte turned her body backwards, avoiding her lover while wiping the tears that kept running down her cheeks. But the Prince stopped her footsteps. His right hand was pulled from behind so that her body turned back to face him again. Prince's strong arms wrapped around his fiancé's body, then landed his lips on her fiancé's soft lips, kissing her passionately until he was satisfied.

Only a short time, Charlotte immediately unlinked her lips and turned her body again.

"Why are you avoiding me? Even though I just proved that I really love you!” screamed Gabriel loudly.

“I know you love me very much, but for now just leave me alone. I don't want to see you!" retorted cold-hearted Charlotte now.

"You must always remember in your mind, that my lips are only allowed to kiss you!"

Charlotte paid him no heed, she didn't turn her head and left her lover alone in the garden.

"Goodbye, Gabriel."

***