Aster and I made sure Lady Eodelle won’t leave her room after the drastic display happened in the palace garden. The place was temporarily closed from the people of the palace while the investigation was still in process and the guards were on full alert in every corner of Headow Stronghold, day and night.Not trusting the guards who are mostly under Emyr’s command, I sent my own soldiers as well to guard, especially Lady Eodelle and Lady Marian’s room. I won’t let Helena have the chance to execute her plans against the two while I am here. I know Aster has something in his head about how to remove Emyr from his position as his Beta. And there is one thing I know how to get him out of this palace fast, without going through the members of the council. I am sure those *ssholes won’t agree with Aster’s plan after Emyr brought so many successful projects—a huge success because of lady Eodelle, who worked hard on all of it, which he took all the credit just to make him look useful in thi
[HELENA’s Point-of-View][A week before…]“Please, your Grace! I have nothing to do with that woman! We only met once in the brothel and also once here in the palace garden but nothing more than that! I didn’t come here after she offered me to work in the palace kitchen!”I raised an eyebrow at her. The tall woman, one of my favorite torturers lifted her face on me, waiting for my signal to pull another nail from the wh*re’s hand. I gazed at the woman with stoic eyes. I don’t feel any remorse for her kind at all. She is one of Emyr’s favorites in that brothel and that is what makes me hate her. I scoffed. I hate that Emyr still entertains himself with the likes of her when I am just here in the palace willing to give my every second to him. And yet, he still sneaks sometimes, searching for pleasure on one of his favorite slave girls.“What did you and Eodelle Wycliffe talk about? Did she say anything about me or anything about Headow Stronghold?!” I asked her contemptuously, wanting t
I stopped a bit, surprised to see Emyr inside my bed chamber. I was lucky my handmaidens didn’t go inside first. I was petrified a bit and then asked my entourage to leave me alone for a while, telling them I need to stay inside my room, alone.After I closed and locked the door, I glared at Emyr in anger, “What are you doing here in broad daylight, you fool?! What if my servants saw you here?!” she snarled at him, keeping her distance from him because she can see on his face he is anxious as hell, “What made you sneak in here?! Is it about Penny?!”He couldn't look straight into my eyes. He was guilty as f*ck.“You are not being careful, Emyr! And because of what you did, I had no choice but to kill that woman!” I scowl at him.“I never thought she was pregnant! She didn’t tell me about it!” He tried to explain himself.“It’s too late though. She is dead. I just have to make sure no one will know who did that to her. The last time she was seen, she was with you and Eodelle.”Emyr lo
“Helena!”I ignored whoever called my name and continued embroidering a tiny hat for my soon-to-be baby who I am expecting to come on the last day of the next month. I smiled while I look at my work: a baby hat made of silk with a white cloud embroidered on it. It has been a long time since I made something and it was surprising that I found peace while stitching this small thing in my hand.Too bad I can only enjoy it for a very short time.“Helena! A soldier came from downtown and told the Emperor that King Laurent was missing! All of his men were massacred in one of the alleys of that place but no one has an idea where the King is!”I raised an eyebrow, continuing what I was doing while listening to one of the council members—a pudgy old man with a sickening grin on his face. He seemed pleased about the news, making it so obvious to me his huge dislike for the new member of the council.“And?” I asked, giving no interest in it.“Are you not thrilled about it?! That means less ally
[EODELLE’s Point-of-View]I cannot help pacing back and forth inside my room. I want to go out to know what is happening outside but Lady Marian and the Talaphatian soldiers won’t let me. Nina and Cecil are already scared while watching me walk around my room for already half-an-hour.“Seriously, Lady Eodelle… you have to settle and calm down for a bit! I am scared for your baby!” Lady Marian tried to convince me to sit down.“I actually feel bad that I am making you all anxious but I feel something is not right. I need to get out and check for myself what is going on…” I pleaded with Lady Marian who was looking at me with worried eyes. King Laurent told her not to ever let me get out of this bedchamber no matter what and I never agreed to this. But Lady Marian seemed obedient to Laurent which made me a little suspicious there is something special going on between the two.Even in her calm demeanor, I know deep inside, Lady Marian also worries about King Laurent but she never makes i
Aster let me walk outside my bed chamber after telling him that I will be careful and to assure him that I will be safe, I told him I allow the guards to go with me wherever I go in the palace. He was still skeptical about it but if I will stay longer inside the four corners of my room, I will surely lose my sh*t especially since Lady Marian didn’t come back last night, which made Aster send more men to find the two all over the downtowns surrounding the Headow Stronghold.“Still no news about them?” I asked Cecil with a worried look.She was standing still beside me waiting for me to ask her for anything that I needed, especially since it was getting harder for me to move with my growing belly. I am just grateful that I don’t feel any kind of dizziness or pain. I just crave a lot of roasted chicken and apples, and the favorite place I wanted to read my books is the Garden of white roses, which is just near the gazebo, the very first place where I met Aster Bentham.I shook my head, e
“What, what is the meaning of this?! Where are you taking me!”I pushed myself away from the palace soldier’s tight grip on my arm. He was too strong and I couldn't even move him an inch away from where he was standing until he started dragging me along with them.“Soldier! There is no way you can treat one of the Emperor’s concubines like this! The lady is pregnant with the Emperor’s child and once he finds out about this, he will surely send you to the guillotine himself!” The polite Talaphatian soldier warned the palace soldier who was the captain of the troop that came to take me from somewhere.The captain stared at the Talaphatian soldier condescendingly, displeased by the presence of a foreign soldier inside their territory. He must have contemplated what the soldier had told him and he released my arm from his cruel grip.Nina and Cecil immediately pulled me closer to them and they both shielded their bodies between me and the ruthless soldiers. I glared at the captain of the
[ASTER’s Point-of-View]“LAURENT!”I called his name as loud as I could.All my senses are on full alert while we all look for King Laurent on the outskirt of the west premise of the realm. The forest was thick with old giant sequoias and the mist was thick, making it so difficult to search for a person’s body— no… I shouldn’t think that my best friend died in that ambush that happened in one of the brothels in one of the alleys downtown. One of his men survived the attack and managed to follow the assassins in this part of the forest. I just wish we are not too late. I wish he was still alive and just unconscious somewhere.My sense of smell doesn’t work in this kind of place when all I can smell is the musky scent of the forest trees, the bushes, and the freshly moist dirt. I filled my lungs with the cool, fresh air, hoping it can somehow calm me down while I keep the pace of my horse slow, my ears sensitive to any rustling sounds surrounding us.“LAURENT!”I heard Lady Marian’s des