章節 8: Chapter 7

The maid was visibly surprised by the sudden change in Charlotte's mood when Charlotte left the garden but was wise enough not to say anything.

"You can take me to my chambers now, Anna," Charlotte said sweetly. No hint of cruelty in her voice.

"Yes, ma'am,'' Anna replied, bowing and thanking her lucky stars for whatever it was that had changed her Lady's mood.

She knew the wrath of members of the royal family, and she was not ready for it yet. She suspected her lady's wrath to be worse than anything she had seen in the palace and made it her mission to never again make her angry.

Charlotte's newfound solution put her spirits above the clouds. She could get her life back if she could find her friend's assassin. She did not need motivation to bring justice to whoever had conspired with the killer. It was already more than personal.

She vowed to herself that if she could get out of this marriage, she would leave the palace and go as far away as she could. She knew her father owned lands in the country, perhaps she could go there and become a farmer. As long as she had nothing to do with the palace, she would be happy.

She followed her maid through the palace, barely registering the direction she was going. But then again, Charlotte could walk through this palace with her eyes closed.

She ignored the frequent looks of her maid, who probably wondered at the reason for her smile, and focused on formulating a plan.

Her focus was however disrupted, when the maid stopped at a door and announced, "Lady Charlotte, these are your chambers."

Her room was right next to her future husband's, who was standing at the other end of the hall, watching her.

Charlotte's breath grew shallow. Her newfound joy and hope were forgotten. She had a question she needed answered.

She left the maid at the door and walked towards him. Oliver stood unmoving and watched her, his face revealing nothing of his thoughts.

Charlotte, on the other hand, knew she was not thinking straight. She knew her anger was blinding her logic, but Adam was nowhere to sync her heart to her brain like he usually did.

Her face was a conflict of emotions. Anger, hurt, pain, grief, and despite all rushed to her head, reminding her of a headache she had forgotten was there, and making it hard for her to realize her actions no longer had the same light consequences they did before.

She forgot her previous sympathy for him as she walked up to her estranged friend and grabbed him by the shoulder, pulling on his weight and lifting her knee to meet his abdomen halfway.

Oliver doubled over in pain, clutching at his stomach. Waves of pain made it hard for him to do anything else but gasp for almost half a minute. Someone screamed behind them, but neither of them heard.

Charlotte grabbed his purple robes by the collar, lifting him to face her.

"Did you have a say in this?" she screamed in his face, shaking him repeatedly.

But the crown prince had not recovered enough air into his lungs to answer her. He could only manage an amused smirk, something that only made Charlotte angrier.

Guards grabbed her a second too late, her fist had already connected with his jaw, wiping the amused smirk off his face, and planting a new one on hers when she saw him spit out blood.

Charlotte struggled against the strong arms holding her in place to no avail. Two more guards helped the crown prince to his feet.

Oliver only straightened his robes, and said, "There, you are." With an unamused smile on his face, "I almost thought you had changed!"

His bloody smile did not drop as he ordered the guards to release her before he turned and walked through his doors, disappearing into his room with two maids at his tail.

The guards obeyed reluctantly, letting her go so roughly that she almost lost her balance and fell.

She stood before his door, sending imaginary poison-tipped daggers through the heavy wooden door into his heartless chest.

The guards who now stood protectively at his door tightened their hold on their swords, ready to strike back. Charlotte, amused and looking for a fight, reached for her sword only to find that it was not at her waist. She had left it at her house.

A tap on her shoulder stopped her from going at it with the guards hand-to-hand. She turned to find cold, blue, steely eyes staring back at her.

She took a step back to analyze their owner. The cold eyes were accompanied by a long sharp nose and thin, almost non-existent lips.

The old woman before Charlotte commanded an aura of confidence and power that Charlotte sensed drove people to their knees. Her pure white hair was tied tightly into a bun at the nape of her long neck, where an expensive pearl necklace sat.

The woman was so thin Charlotte could see her bones through her skin. Charlotte noticed that even the guards seemed shaken by her presence and theorized that perhaps she was the king's mistress. Who else could adorn such a necklace?

Charlotte finished her analysis and realized that she too was undergoing an exam.

"You," the woman said, taking a step forward and lifting Charlotte's chin to look into her eyes, "are very skinny." her voice matched her eyes. Cold and croaky.

She forced her words through her teeth as if it was against her personality to say anything in words rather than her eyes.

'You should look in the mirror.' Charlotte thought, deciding to let the scene play out in this uncharted territory.

"Strong spirit, we anticipated that," the woman said as if speaking to herself. "We'll have to kill it."

"Oh no!" Charlotte said, in mockery, unable to stop herself.

Sense of humor," the woman turned as if giving notes to the maids who accompanied her. "We should kill that too."

Charlotte sensed her anger resurface. She took deep, calculated breaths.

"Hmm, good posture," she said with a hint of approval.

Charlotte's heart lifted with pride despite herself, before she cursed herself for seeking approval from this woman who she knew nothing about.

She watched the woman closely. Looking For Anything that could give more insight.

The woman placed her bony hands on Charlotte's hips. Charlotte tensed, ready to throw a punch.

" Small weak hips, we need many babies. Do you even eat?" She asked, looking at Charlotte disdainfully.

"Do you?" Charlotte answered back, returning the look of disdain.

The lady was offended. Charlotte noticed that the maids too looked shocked by her wit. She smiled.

"Young lady, you will do well to respect me. I hold your ticket in this palace, and we will spend a long while together, me and you." The lady said, her face so close to Charlotte's that her spit landed on Charlotte's face.

Charlotte decided that she had let the circus play for too long. She wiped the spit off her lips and began to walk away. The two maids stepped in her way.

Charlotte smiled. She could easily get past or through them if she wanted to...

"Child," The old woman said, her voice calm and dangerous. "We are not done here."

Charlotte took in a deep breath. She did not want to lose her cool. She realized now that she was in trouble for 'attacking' the prince. She did not want any more trouble.

And she had a plan. Perhaps if she pretended to befriend this woman, she would find out everything she needed to.

''Could we please do this in my chambers?'' She asked sweetly, with some feigned remorse. Throwing a look at the guards at Oliver's door for good measure.

The old lady smiled, a tight, thin smile that looked more like a grimace, but a smile nonetheless. She seemed apparently pleased with the idea.

Charlotte led the way to her chambers, slipping in and immediately taken aback by its grandness and beauty. She did not fail to notice that the room had been remodeled to suit her tastes.

She however, failed to notice that she was the only one in the room, until the thud of the big doors closing made her turn around, only to find the doors closing and in turn to hear the turn of a key in the lock.

She tried futilely, to catch it before it closed.

"You're not allowed to do this," she said desperately through the keyhole.

"You sit in there and think about your actions tonight." Came the cold reply.

"It won't work I am not ten," she answered back.

"I treat everyone the age they act like." There was a smile in the old lady's voice.

"I will tell the king!" she shouted. but no one was listening. She heard their faint footsteps as they walked away.

Charlotte sighed, again. The knight was right. She would need to work on her observation skills.

She looked around the room. sure enough, her belongings had been brought to the palace. Her armor was neatly spread on her bed, but her sword was nowhere to be seen. perhaps they hadn't seen it behind the door.

The hairs at the back of her neck stood, sending chills down her back.

Sure she was being watched, she turned to the window, and found The knight's beautiful eyes looking back at her, the evil smirk she already loved on his face.

Her whole body awakened in his presence. It was nothing like she had ever experienced before.