บท 4: Flower That Could Not Bloom (Part 4)
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As the first light of the day hit her room, warm yellow rays wafted through her window, dust modes floating, suspended, in the air. A peaceful morning breeze and translucent rays shined upon her eyes, breaking her quiet slumber. Adjusting to the brightness, Lucia sat up, stretching her arms as she yawned.
“A new day it is...” getting out of bed she said tiredly.
The distinct scent of rain in the air refreshed Lucia’s mind.
‘So, it did rain during the night’ she smiled softly.
She folded the covers and puffed the pillows. Soon after, there was a knock on her door and another maid instructed her to come along with her.
Lucia went into the maids changing room to get changed into her new gardening dress. It was a bit uncomfortable but she had to manage nevertheless. All maids were called into the lobby from where they went to their assigned tasks.
She met Lester at the entrance of the garden. He was waiting for her to come.
"You are late!" he yelled, "and it's just your first day, humph." He said grumpily and spun around angrily. He started walking towards the garden without waiting another minute.
“I-uhm...” She just nervously laughed it off.
The flower beds looked fresh and they were all at peak bloom. Some flowers were lightly scented and they must be appreciated up close, while others engulfed the entire yard in their perfume.
The greenhouse was no more than half a mile away from the garden, in the crystal dome new species of herbs and flowers were grown inside.
She admired the view smiling brightly while passing through them.
But soon her smile faded as she remembered the old man's words;
‘Cut...kill...roses...not to trust them.’
"So, I have three clues, roses, cuts and some people, maybe a group of them, who might be involved in killings." she muttered to herself.
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A Futile Attempt
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"Whaattt aree ya doin’ whispering and doin’ no work eh? " his sudden change in dialect surprised Lucia for a moment and she suppressed the urge to laugh because that would seem rude.
"Yes, I'm coming!" she answered him from a distance and soon caught up to him.
In the dome, the plants were lined up neatly in their different sections, a cool, fresh water reservoir supply was seen alongside the plants. She got to see new flowers and kept listening to him attentively. He indeed was more knowledgeable than her but this isn't going to stop her in any way.
After complaining and explaining everything to her he said, "I havta go to the town and get some fresh seasonal flower seedlings. And ahm tellin’ ya!" he looked at her and said while pointing a finger at her, "Until I come back, ya’ havta water them, protect them from insects and animals. Simple enough eh?"
"Yes, very well understood, sir!" she stood up instantly.
"It's a long distance from 'ere, I don't know why these princes kept asking me for more of those two shaded roses that town offers." he shook his head in a stressful way and looked tired of going to that place on and on.
"Then why don't you send me?" she asked sheepishly.
"Blasmos berry! No way I would do that. Sending an amateur. Who knows ya get the right ones or not." he was still distrustful of her in many ways but it works that way for Lucia to find things on her own.
"I see, well then... Good luck to ya!" she jokingly said and waved at him.
Not listening to her last words, he went away thumping his footsteps loudly.
After waiting for 5mints Lucia breathed in,
"All right, he's gone for 3days from today and onwards. Get to work, get to work!" she cheered up herself.
She knew the maids who work inside the castle were hiding something so she went to the kitchen and asked the chef to make tea. It was almost tea time for the princes at the garden house.
During the waiting time she tried to ask the chef but he just glared at her and denied any knowledge about the suicides. Were they being threatened to not tell anyone? Or do they really not know anything?
This only leaves the royal family themselves...But it won't be that easy getting them to listen to her.
“That’s not gonna stop me!”
Normally the princes were always busy in their chores and lessons but this tea time was the only break they got.
'I don't know the full schedules of them but they surely are suspicious! Now is my chance to keep an eye on their movements and words.' Lucia thought of a plan to make them talk.
She took the tray full with biscuits and tea-cups for the princes. From afar she could see the silver haired boy but the other two were still unknown to her... she never saw them before... ever...
However, they were obviously gorgeous.
They saw her coming and their gazes were piercing enough to make Lucia shake a little.
Two gentlemen, one with black silky hair, bicolored eyes and the other one with blue eyes, hair mix of silver and specks of black.
"So, we finally got a new gardener huh." scoffed an unknown voice.
"Yes... Lucia," Louis called her and said, "You have to greet us when you come next time and so on. Do you understand?" his tone never changing and halfhearted expression never leaving his face.
'Does he even smile genuinely?' Lucia thought to herself but immediately responded to the boy's question, "I'm Lucia Dawn from Han village, I'll be at your service from now on, Your Highnesses." and bowed slightly with her hand on her chest.
"Stanford S. Ray, first prince of this Kingdom." softly spoke the black-haired boy.
"Stanford S. Allen, second prince! Nice to get to know you!" The other boy said vivaciously.
They were some strange boys, and had strikingly different personalities. It was already hard enough to make eye contact with any of them. And talk without consent? No way.
'I'm doomed... ' a single thought ran through her mind. 'I can't possibly ask them about suicides? Or can I?'
As she was spacing out and figuring things out, a loud voice broke her chains of thoughts, "Waah that's a beautiful bunch of flowers over there! Are they new?" Allen pointed at the freshly plucked daisies in the vase.
"Y-Yes... They are..." her voice trailed off and she was getting anxious with all the pressure.
They all got busy in their own conversations and didn't pay much attention to her afterwards. She mustered up all the courage she could and spoke with a strong voice this time,
"I apologize for disrupting your conversation but," all eyes were on her now and they awaited a question, "Do you know anything about the suicides that have been happening here?" she looked at them directly and held her breath. Her hands trembling as she squeezed them behind her back.
"They looked at each other and then Ray asked with a cold stare, "Why are you asking? It has nothing to do with you." He sipped his tea and looked away.
Lucia started off saying, "Actually, my friend committed suicide a few days ago or so I have heard and I don't know what happened but... "
"She fell from the balcony, that's all we heard." Louis uttered plainly.
"Why would the princes know about a maid anyway." added Allen.
'That's rather mean' Lucia held her rising anger inside. After that she didn't even wanted to continue asking them anything.
“Ahh time’s up, we have work to do. If you would excuse us now.”
They stood up left without saying a word.
When they were gone out of sight, Lucia fell on her knees and covered her face in anguish.
'Fine I'll do it on my own.' She looked up towards the cloudless sky and let out a stressful sigh.
As the sun slowly went down, everything around her was getting colder and colder.
"It might rain again tonight, or even snow anytime now. " she puffed out her warm breath and rubbed her hands against each other to heat them up. Her nose slightly red from the cold air she was breathing in.
She looked disappointed but that was an anticipated behavior from the royalties.
"I thought they might help but that was such a waste, not that I expected something anyway..." She sneezed and hugged herself. “Might as well finish work and go inside.” then went back in the dome to avoid becoming an ice popsicle.
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Early nightfall, everyone starts going back to sleep. A strict routine because of the mysterious suicides. No one was allowed outside of their rooms after sunset. However, Lucia had to take risks.
She snuck out from her window and carefully climbed down the side of the wall.
“Good thing the rooms of maids are at first floor.”
For a safe start she hurried to the garden before any guard could spot her. That was the place where you can see the whole castle front. She hid behind the tall bushes.
“It's too cold!” an icy and fairly strong wind blew her hair.
Huffing out the cold puff of air, she looked around cautiously. The guards were patrolling outside the garden.
'What am I even looking for! I have no clue!'
The trees swayed and rustling of leaves could be heard but not seen in this dim-lit, serene night.
Moving towards the green house and circling around the area for a while, her eyes stopped at the dimly lit window just across the garden. No one was allowed to even light up at the night so what was that person doing at this hour.
“That’s strange...that’s on the third floor...”
After confirming the position, she sprinted towards the main gate, ditching the patrolling guards. Luckily enough she entered unnoticed and went towards the hallways. To reach the 3rd floor she had to climb two stairways.
"It might have been an easy task if I'd just climbed back to my room but no, my dumb mind thought this is the best!" she complained to no one.
Fortunately, she was able to deceive the inside guards by saying that she got lost and was just heading back to her room. The guards gave her a strange look but then shrugged it off.
“Pros of having a light existence...no one bothers asking.” she was relieved yet offended.
And there they were... Stairways... Right in front of her.
"Huh... No guards..." she quickly climbed the stairs before the guards could notice and reached the floor she was supposed to get to.
'These are some long stairs!'
She walked as if she was searching for her room and checked each room for a dim light coming from under the door. The hallway was dark but well maintained.
Finally... She found it. The room at the very end of the long hallway.
Hesitantly she put her ears on the door and try to listen closely. She could hear slow whispering and heavy breathing coming from inside but,
What...what is this? She thought furrowing her brows.
"What are you doing?" the sudden question scared her and she backed away in a panic.
"Dang Rabbits!" she almost screamed but the glimpse of silver and black locks reminded her of the person she just met today. She covered her mouth with her hands. Sighing in relief, she took a moment to calm her pounding heart.
"I got lost!" She quickly answered.
"Hmm, so you got lost and now you are trying to spy on other people's room?" he raised an eyebrow.
"Uhm no! That's not what I was doing! I just heard some noise from this room and was... Yeah... Checking!" she tried to explain but an inner turmoil grew inside her.
'How did I not notice his footsteps approaching me??'
He stepped a little closer and said,
"Number one, there are no maid's room on 3rd floor, Number two there is no way someone is inside..." his words confused Lucia on a big scale. The look on his face was fierce and sent chills down her spine.
"Number three, this room has always been empty so there can't be any noises." he opened the door looking down at her and showed her what was inside.
There was nothing inside... no lights, not even a soul was in the room. Lucia was lost at words and could not comprehend what to tell the prince, who was waiting for her to explain.
"Another excuse and I'll seriously kick you out." the one who she thought was the easy going and cheery person seemed so harsh right now.
"It's the truth, I saw the light coming from this room, that is why I came because... I was curious." she couldn't bring herself to tell him the complete truth and looked away.
“You saw the light from your room?” He gave her a perplexed expression.
Not answering any further, Lucia remained quiet.
"I'll let you go this time but... next time you and your whole village will be in trouble for acting all suspicious in this castle." he went past her giving her last piece of advice.
She didn’t dare to glance at him again and went back to her room without any struggle. With coldness in his eyes, he stared at her figure disappearing from his sight.
Frustrated at her mistake on first try and stressed from all her work she fell on her bed and buried her face in the pillow. Slowly, slipping into the unconscious world.
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