Cinderella, Queen of Rats のすべてのチャプター: チャプター 81 - チャプター 90

* * *Charles I left my art studio and ran outside to get some fresh air. This day had been the absolute worst; First, Maddie dies and we aren’t allowed to give her a proper funeral, so instead we hold a small wake in her old bedroom. Second, my fiancée gets accused of being the reason for the plague outbreak and is sentenced to death. Third, I learned that I have a bastard brother, who is none other than the palace guard, and my friend, Peter, who will take the throne if I refuse to wed after Ella’s execution. I became dizzy, my breathing became shallow and I was unable to bring any significant amount of air into my lungs, I felt as if I would die right then and there, and at the moment, I was alright with that. I dropped to the ground and gasped for breath, but I felt like I was slowly drifting away. I stopped fighting, and let the darkness take me. When I woke, I was back in my room and on my

* * *Peter We gathered evidence from the Tremaine household and hurried back to the castle as fast as we could to clear Ella’s name and prove that Lady Tremaine was guilty. The Tremaine house was only an hour away, so we arrived back at the castle to present what we found to the King and Prince just past midnight. We didn’t care about the time, it was our friend's life on the line. To our surprise, both the King and Prince were awake and conversing in the corridor when we all arrived, “Your majesties,” we all bowed and greeted. I’m sure we all looked horrendous- Ana had a blood-splattered dress, Driz and I had old sketchbooks and scrapbooks of torture memorabilia, and Derek had a look of guilt – he had stolen herbs and spices from Tremaine’s kitchen - that was his find in the house, I knew we shouldn’t have put him in charge of searching the kitchen. Charles had an

* * *Peter Derek and I began walking the halls of the castle silently. He didn’t pry but left me alone with my thoughts for a while until I was ready to talk. As a palace guard, I’ve walked these halls for years, but today I am seeing them in an entirely different light. There is a chance that someday all of this could be mine, and the thought horrified me. I inhaled deeply to take it all in, then exhaled to relieve my stress, but it didn’t work. “What’s going on, Pete?” Derek finally asked. I sighed and stopped walking, “I don’t know if I can do this,” I placed my hand over my mouth and started pacing from wall to wall. Derek stood where he was, “Can’t do what?” I looked up at him then, still pacing back and forth, his hair and eyebrows seemed especially bushy today, but that may

* * *Drizella Ana and I left the kitchen arm-in-arm towards Ella’s room to give her the tea to help her throat. We both felt awful because it was our mother who put her in the condition that she is in, but at least our mother will get her punishment in due time. It was odd walking into the Prince’s private quarters, but that’s where Ella was resting and we wanted so badly to check on her. One of the twin doors to the bedroom was opened and we knocked lightly when we saw Charles sitting on the side of his bed and Ella at the head of the bed. “Come on in,” he smiled at us and motioned for us to enter. “How are you feeling, Ella?” Ana asked her as I poured a cup of tea, she only shrugged in response but she had a smile on her face that was somewhat reassuring. She was obviously doing better in the sense that she had been pardoned from execution, but she

* * *Ana Driz became overwhelmed and went to lay down, but I stayed back to continue on the dress some more. It was currently only pinned together since I have only been in the castle for a few days, but the prince supplied me with everything that I would need to finish it before the crowning of the queen, which I was told would be in a matter of weeks, should we ever figure out which of my sisters would take the crown. God, what a crazy thing to think. One way or another, I would be close to the Queen of Briarglen, either the sister to the queen or the stepsister to the queen, either one I was fine with. “What are you smiling about?” Asked Derek from the doorway. I hadn’t closed it after Driz left the room and didn’t notice him arrive. He was leaning against the doorframe with his arms crossed and an amused smile as he looked at me. I put my hand on my cheek to find t