Chapter 27: Chapter 27: Bank Holidays

At tonight's dinner, it was our bank holidays, I only took part silently and involuntarily. Martin had advised me, to put to rest all the rumours that seemed to have sprung up around me and the prince in the course of the last week, to counteract them and let myself be seen. I had seen no point in conforming to the social pressure. I came to the decision that for once I was not rebelling. Supposedly, I was supposed to be pregnant or even engaged already, and by another man. Somehow I saw it as a distant compliment, did they think I had so much free time that I could afford to have a romantic relationship. Nicolas was not thrilled that I wanted to be at Leopold's execution, Marina and Annabeth, who was also tormented by Leopold, would be there too. Did it bother me that Nicolas and I didn't have this experience to ourselves? Yes, it drove me crazy. I felt bad because I seemed so jealous at that moment. A fern sounded and I was startled out of my thoughts. The hall was bathed in deep, golden light. Candles used to be used, but now they took a simple dimmer. There were small sources of light on the long table and in the surrounding area, as well as on the rest of the furniture. On the backs of our chairs were small tied white bows. I wore a more festive robe, according to the order, we were to dress in the national colours of the country. We had three colours to choose from: Dark blue, for the deep sea that surrounds our country. Needle green, for the fertility of our forests. Gold, for the sun that outshines everything. I was wearing a needle-green wild silk dress, with an off-the-shoulder V-neck that folded down. A discreet pearl necklace with matching earrings hung from my neck, and in addition, as a sign of my deep attachment to the royal house, the dove, the heraldic animal of the Kantonie, was stuck in my hair. Some girls had the dove at chest level, others wore it either around their necks or as a ring. After the third fanfare sounded, we all rose from our seats at the same time and joined in the anthem.

"With pride, I stand, the world looks up to us, we have fought the battles, climbed the mountains, conquered countries and never give up. Our nation is the most powerful in the world, will never perish, because we have too much money for that. No one stops us, we stand our ground, stand firm together, for no one stops us. Empire of great castles, land of glorious heroes a country like ours is very rare. With pride, I stand and sing our song. The song of battles and heroes that never runs dry. Once a ship came, from far away travelled with our men, they rise on the unknown ground and formed our Little England as it is today."

We tapped the table with our gloves and sat down again. There was a minute's silence as we remembered those who were no longer with us today. Servants came into the hall and brought us the first course. It was a clear soup with a piece of bread. This was supposedly the first meal our founding fathers ate when they entered this land. I nodded, as a sign of respect, as soon as the skewers were in front of me and looked around my row. All the ladies didn't seem to be in a good mood. Amberly was poking around in her soup like she was looking for treasure, Nathalie had tied her hair up and was twirling a loose strand. I noticed that only the royal family were wearing gold robes. I squinted briefly over at them, the latter spooning the soup nobly but silently. Nicolas tore off bread crumbs more aggressively than usual and dropped them into the plate. Many ladies had chosen blue, one wore a blue dress similar to mine with a gold tulle over it. It was Loulou. Immediately my bile rose, how could she possibly imagine that she had any connection to the royal family. Suddenly there was a short, dull bang. Everyone looked up, searching for the sound. Some even stood up, including me. Then a scream drove from Maryt's throat. The person sitting next to her, unfortunately, I couldn't tell who it was because of the baggy clothes of my companions had simply slipped off the chair and was now lying motionless on the floor. There was an uneasy silence Everyone including me was very overwhelmed and didn't know what to do. Nicolas stood there completely stiff and frozen, apparently able to identify the person. His disturbed gaze sought mine. Tonelessly he formed a name, but I didn't recognise him because he was standing too far away in the room. I raised an eyebrow and made my way out of the fabric and tulle. Now I froze as well. It was Marina Temper, one of Leopold's victims. Her eyes were closed, but a liquid was dripping from her mouth. It was blood?! I stepped carefully to her and bent down to her. Her breathing was still there, but very shallow. Suddenly her eyelids fluttered open and she coughed in my face. "Help me...", she gasped. Single drops of blood were soaked into my dress. Luckily I was wearing white lace gloves, so the blood didn't seep directly onto my fingers. "She's been poisoned!", someone shouted from the crowd, "Keep her away from me, I don't want to die!" Then all the ladies circled up as if stung by a tarantula and rushed towards the exit. I struggled with a gag reflex, having foreign blood and saliva on me. She took her last breath. Hot tears came to my eyes and I tried to fight them. A warm but firm hand touched my shoulder: "Come on, I'll take you away from here. There is nothing more we can do for them." I only saw a white cloth being put over Marina and I became more and more distant from her.

I was taken to my room, where my maids helped me to clean myself. I was still in a state of shock. Inside I knew that what had happened to poor Marina was no accident. Leopold had killed her, however, he had done it. That meant Annabeth and I was next on the list.

"Well, tell me your troubles!" At first, I panicked at the sound of his voice, but then I told myself that it must be just a dream, an imagination. Leopold was in Raingency after all. "Well, what corner have you come from again, Leopold?", I asked him. "Oh, now you call me by my name, how interesting!", he played with a letter opener. Three chair legs floated in the air, on one of which he balanced his entire weight. How bizarre that there were still letter openers, but no letters. Bubbles floated around us. ''Let me guess, you wanted to hear how things were going with the prince, fine, he's hanging on my every word, that's it now, you can go.'', I closed my eyes and threw myself back on the bed, hoping he would finally get out of my head. Suddenly I felt something cold and delicate on my neck. I opened my eyes and stared into the eyes of Leopold, he held the blade of the letter opener to my throat. I didn't dare breathe quickly. Leopold pushed me into my bed, his weight was felt: "Just resist or scream from me, but no one will hear you. You will make sure you stay in the casting, I want to see him freak out when you enter the room. Drive him crazy." I couldn't nod, I wasn't capable of anything. ''Chain him to you, you know what happens if you don't,'' he stroked my body with the opener. Then he took my hand: "So tender, so pure." He smiled and carved a cross into my palm. I bit my lip and tensed. My hand burned and became wet. The liquid dripped onto the white bedspread and white roses grew where it hit. I tried to close my wound and clenched it into a fist. "It is sealed, you will be his downfall.", Leopold disappeared with these words.