Chương 22: Trust and confessions
West Wing, 19.00, Warwick Castle (England)
An hour had passed and one still had to pass before the guests arrive at the castle.
Gilbert was standing there at that moment: in front of the door that was supposed to be the entrance to the red-haired girl's room. He kept his eyes closed, and in the grip of his emotion the general began to bite the skin from his lips.
Gilbert was a strong man, he had always been and he believed he was, but that girl, that Abigail, put the man in complete difficulty. He was weak in that situation, it was the charm and the mental image of her that made him so pathetically weak. The general kept the knuckles of his hands touching the woody white door and gradually felt the fear grow in his body.
From under the door magnificent perfumes flooded the cool evening air. Mixed smells of jasmine and aromatic herbs, sweet scent of lavender balm, the freshness of a bar of soap just used.
All those sweet smells just drove him crazy.
Certainly the other girls with whom he had shared the bed in the past also had a smell of their own but none of them had ever smelled so sublimely noble and sweet. The general braced himself, he made the sweat stop on his pale forehead and made up his mind to knock on the door twice.
A brief silence was created, giving the scene a touch of suspicion and anxiety at the same time.
-Please, come on ahead ... - Abigail's voice did not wait to echo softly from the other side of the door.
Gilbert quickly pushed the gold knob of the heavy door and in no time was hit by the heavenly smell of perfumes diffused in that room. The girl stood, composedly in front of the tall and woody mirror, showing her slender and magnificent figure in all her forms. She wore a long white shirt, which fell about halfway down her thin legs. Both of her breasts were supported by a tight creamy white corset which was tied tightly across her back. Her long, bright red hair fell on her back, descending composedly to her pelvis.
The duchess' intention at that moment was to close her pendant, the one she would have worn that evening at the party, around her neck, but despite her hard attempts, everything was vague. Gilbert was observing her quietly, with a look of admiration, blushing, so much so that he caught the attention of the young Abigail.
The two stood there observing each other, surprised but at the same time frightened. When everything returned to normal, Abigail's sweet face took a turn of embarrassment, leaving her freckled cheeks covered with a particular blush, promptly starting to cover her breasts in the tight corset.
-Hey! What kind of joke should this be? I thought you were Juniper- the girl grumbled slightly as she shifted her green eyes to another direction blushing.
-You yourself allowed me to enter your room ... - admitted the general at the same time confused but pleased by so much grace.
Abigail scrupulously began to look inside her hands noticing that her pendant had actually disappeared. In embarrassment she must have dropped it in some place, on the ground, so she began to scrutinise the white marble floor. Gilbert was actually faster and knowing what she was searching for, he hastened to pluck the girl's pendant from the ground. He held it in his hands, he looked at him, it was pretty cute. It was in fact the representation of a silver rose, adorned with small opals, tied on both sides by elegant green ribbons.
-Please, give it back ... - begged the duchess, throwing her body from taking up the precious object - this pendant is a gift from my late grandmother, I really care about this small object ... - explained Abigail tightening the jewel inside her soft hands.
-I noticed how you had difficulty in closing it around your neck- commented Gilbert -can I offer to close it myself for you? -.
Abigail blushed again, she liked that man, his kindness, but she also knew the dangers and was well aware of what would have happened if their conversations had learned of some nasty misunderstandings.
- Listen Gilbert ...- the young duchess began sighing - you are kind, you are honest and loyal and you certainly know how make your way into a woman's heart, but unfortunately I have to reject your offer ... -.
-May I ask why? - asked the general, almost embittered and struck by this refusal.
- You know, we are not allowed to meet and you know well which unpleasant situations could arise if someone came to find out about all this - commented Abigail looking away from the man.
-Also you love Isabelle and I love Juniper and I am faithful to him- she was trying to convince herself -for this reasons, I beg you leave my room ... -. The general looked at the girl's green eyes, they were again darkened by a cloud of sadness and wet with tears.
-You're crying- Gilbert stretched out a hand to the sweet face of the duchess and wiped her tears away from her eyes with one of his thumbs.
Abigail was embittered and outraged by all that impudence, so much so that she retreated back and returned to observe her fantastic figure of her in her mirror. - Get out of my room, do it now, you pervert! - the duchess ordered coldly and the man was left with no other choice to close the door behind him.
It was already dark when the first carriages began to enter the castle courtyard. There weren't many at the beginning, maybe a dozen, who entered the magnificent and green gardens one after the other. Then they began to arrive more and more frequently, bringing with them their own social image and their own mixture of perfumes and smells, which could barely enter inside the great castle.
Juniper was leaning, as was his custom against the marble window sill, and watched with an attentive look each guest who entered through the large gardens. He should have been happy to see how the people who entered the courtyard burst with joy and harmony and a sublime confusion of majestic smells.
He had to be happy, even if for his part he was envious.
It was that happiness that made him nervous.
The baron saw the lightheartedness on the faces of young men and girls, the pride on the faces of the fathers and the love on the faces of the mothers.
He watched all this critically.
Juniper thought that once he too had all this: he had a father, who even if not the best was still his father and a loving mother, whom he missed so much at that moment. He had all that once, he had a fortress in the North, he had a family, but now at the age of seventeen he had nothing left. Juniper kept wondering why fate had been so cruel to take everything away from him, when he had done no harm. Now he lived in a castle, he had his cousins with whom he got along in mood swings, but none of that made him happy.
His people were now that of his uncle, who by killing his older brother had managed to inherit power and possessions and most likely had managed to turn the Scots against his nephew. Juniper knew well that if the opportunity arose his uncle would cut his throat with the dagger, as he had already made with his parents. Shivers suddenly rose on his back. Juniper thought: the deceased sovereign of England, disinheriting his own son, for fear of bringing France to power, granted the ascension to the throne of his youngest daughter.
On the other hand, Isabelle could have become queen only after marriage and only after having given birth to a male child. But if this had never come true, the ascendancy to the throne would have fallen to the closest male relative of the late king and that being Juniper himself. It was like a battle between lions, and he knew that this bloodthirsty lioness would first have to annihilate every enemy of her, to secure her absolute power.
Henry was no problem, but knowing his cousin well, Juniper knew that once she took care of everyone else she would gladly get rid of her older half-brother too.
-Excuse me- a voice spoke behind him -...please, excuse me for not looking for you earlier-.
Juniper turned in the direction of the voice and saw the last person he would want to meet in that dramatic moment.
-Viscount Gilbert Stanley- came out of the baron's tight lips -I owe you an apology-.
The general seemed struck by the young man's honesty and patiently listened to what he had to say.
- I really owe you an apology, for pointing a dagger against you, I mean ... - Juniper ended up explaining returning to observe in the dark what was happening outside.
-I accept your apologies Juniper Whiteblossom- hinted Gilbert with a rather relieved air placing one of his hands lightly on the young man's shoulder. The young baron seemed quite impressed by the man's too familiar attitude, so much that he was almost enchanted by his kindness and honesty.
- Soon I will marry your cousin and it is important for me to find out what kind of person I will spend the rest of my life with ... - Gilbert began to speak, and at those words it was clear that the general was looking for something from him.
-Yesterday when we met, I saw you changed: you were aggressive, as if you were another person ... - the man kept talking from behind his back -Juniper what had happened to you? What kind of treatment does your cousin force you to make? -.
At those words, the baron went completely into a state of panic and mental instability, almost as if that question had triggered something inside his brain. Juniper's eyes began to fill with shiny tears and his hands to tremble. What was happening to his body? Why was he reacting like that? Was it perhaps possible that through mental manipulation he was completely losing his mind?
In his eyes a spark of anger began to rise along with an inexplicable thirst for blood. The baron didn't want to: while his body reacted Juniper was crying desperately, he didn't want to lose again control over himself. Quickly he turned aggressively towards the man, firmly trying to block him to the wall by wrapping his hands around his throat.
-I beg you to forgive me... I do not know what is happening- the young baron pleaded, tightening his hands more and more around Gilbert's throat. The general started to bleed. The young baron's fingernails had penetrated the general's neck skin, Gilbert knew he had to do something to free himself from that grip.
-Juniper ... Whiteblossom- the general began to speak, keeping the pain inside his body -I know you are not in control now, that's why I forgive you and I hope you can forgive me for this reckless action too ... -. The general promptly grabbed a syringe that he readily kept inside his pocket and stuck it forcefully into the young man's neck who desperately fell screaming on the ground.
Juniper was now lying on the marble floor of the corridor, as tears continued to fall from his eyes on his pale cheeks. He tried forcibly to move some of his limbs, but he couldn't, he was paralysed. That sparkle in his gaze, that thirst for blood had completely disappeared from his body, leaving him to sink into the deepest panic.
-What have you done to me?! - Juniper screamed forcing the movement of his legs -what have you done to my body?! -. Gilbert first took care to take the empty syringe from the other's neck and covering the latter's mouth with one hand he dragged him into his room, making sure that no one entered or left the corridor. The general lifted the young man's body and placed it carefully on his bed before promptly locking his door.
-I want explanations, what is happening to my body?! -.
Gilbert sat down on the bottom of the bed.
-What I have injected into you is poppy milk, a strong anesthetiser, this assures me that for the next twenty minutes you will no longer try to attack me ... -.
Juniper glanced quickly to the left and right of the room and then went back to say - you know well that at that moment I was not in control of my cognitive abilities ... -.
-Indeed for this purpose, I took the liberty of doing what I did, to calm you down and annihilate your brutality ... -. Gilbert promptly got up from the bed grabbing a small silver-coloured box full of small pieces of dry leaves.
He took a small dose and put it on the tip of his index finger, sinking it inside the wounds provoked by the baron and after in Juniper's neck to cure his wounds too.
-I am not exaggerating in my actions, and you know well yourself that if I reported to the princess what her reckless cousin had done, there would be problems for you ... - the general commented closing the small box and starting to massage his wounds.
Gilbert's face seemed full of pain, and Juniper had noticed this.
-Don't do it, I beg you ... - the young man began to cry -I don't want to be punished ... -. Gilbert noticed that the young man was having a panic attack. He knew it from his look: from the sweat, from the fear that could be read in his eyes.
The general knew that with such a dose of anesthetic, having trouble breathing was a highly problematic thing, so he tried in every way to calm the other down.
-I won't tell her, don't worry ... it's ok - Gilbert softly smiled running his fingers through the young baron's blond curls -but I need your help, Juniper, I can't do it alone ... -.
The young baron was very afraid of death. He feared it as no other person could imagine, and even knowing that one day he too would have to die, he still tried to avoid it. The alliance he had established with Henry was individual, personal, they had created and sworn each other because they both knew each other well, and both had reasons to dethrone the princess.
Gilbert was a new acquaintance, he didn't know if he could trust him or not and he didn't know if all this was perhaps a plan of his diabolical cousin, to understand if he was loyal to her or not. Juniper did not trust in any way to reveal personal information, never to a person he had just met, this had been taught by his experiences.
-I beg you, let me help, let me clear my ideas... - Gilbert pleaded looking into the deep blue eyes of the young baron. Juniper turned his gaze once more, he knew that Isabelle's birthday party was close and was thinking of an effective way to cover the blood that had come out during the unexpected injection of poppy milk.
-What would it be if I decided to reveal everything, Gilbert? What would it be of me then, if not a delicious morsel for the jaws of my ruthless cousin ... - Juniper asked biting his lower lip in fear and trying not to get further harm in the movement.
-So you admit that the princess has something to do with what happened to you the other morning, and what the other afternoon happened to Prince Henry ... -. Gilbert began to take inside his confused mind every little detail that it seemed to come back to him at that moment.
-You do not understand Gilbert. Isabelle is not involved in everything, Isabelle is everything ... -.
The general was perplexed at those words.
-What do you mean by is everything? - the man asked, taking two steps back.
Juniper watched the general's gaze: his pale face, his parted lips, the look that had changed from deeply fearless to fright.
-I mean that my cousin always has a plan in her head, and she has eyes everywhere here in the castle ... - Juniper commented slowly trying to get himself out of bed -I don't know what her plan is, nor what she will do with you, once married-.
Gilbert stood motionless in the middle of the room, his hands were trembling in panic and in a few seconds his role was completely changed: from predator to prey.
-In any case, I would be careful if I was you and I do not say it to create panic or anything else ... - the young baron commented, sitting down - but do not let anyone be deceived by her angelic look nor by what she can tell you: remember that in this game she is the viper, who spits its venom on everything around ... -.
Juniper was finally able to get out of bed and, even if weakened, he could walk to the the big white wooden door that connected the room to the long and dark corridor.
- I was just trying to help you ... - the general commented, letting his lips tremble indescribably - just ... -.
Juniper looked down, he thought about how naive and stupid that man was, and how in his twenty-three years of age he still knew very little about how life worked.
-My dear friend ... - Juniper commented raising his face towards the other - you have not yet understood that all this is a game, dangerous and sometimes deadly and if you make a false step, you can really risk a lot ... -
-If you care about yourself, more than the curiosity contained in you ... if you want to make it out alive, I would advise you to think of yourself more than to think about saving others ... -.
The woody door closed, leaving a pale and terrified Gilbert in the middle of the room.
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