The giant metal doors of the lavish royal chamber opened inside wide, making a soft ‘creak’ noise. As the Commander of knights, Chief Orlando walked elegantly inside the chamber tapping his leather boots, his march paused before a small feminine figure gracefully sitting on the royal cathedral at the center of the room.
She was no one other than Queen Lorelia, with a mystic smirk on her bright face accompanied by a cryptic dark gaze outside the floor-to-ceiling glass windows. In front of her, there was a small cup of tea, with the fresh scent of jasmine tea wafting inside the room.
The room was a little dark with dim bluish lights hanging on both sides of the walls. The cold and dark silence had built a strangely vague tension in the ambiance. Orlando cordially bowed his head before her with respect and mumbled in a stiff voice, “Greetings, Your Highness. I have brought the one you sought for.”
“Really?” She didn’t turn her glance even once on him and calmly took a sip of tea as she responded, “Bring her in.”
Just as she commanded, Orlando turned around and signaled the guards standing outside the room with a cryptic gesture. Soon after, a trembling feminine figure entered inside the room at a slow pace.
The person was that particular senior maid that Zordan had appointed to look after Gabriel. With a shallow petrified look on her wrinkled oval face, she slowly reached up to where Orlando was standing and bowed her head, keeping her shivering posture intact.
This time, Lorelia sharply turned her gaze towards that senior maid, as a cryptic smirk flashed on her lips. The maid couldn’t muster up her courage to meet her gaze as she continued shivering like a newly born fawn. Amused at the sight, Lorelia responded curtly, “So, she is the one to whom Prince Zordan has entrusted his beloved bride?”
“Yes, she is the one who is currently in charge of looking after Lady Gabriel,” Orlando replied back.
“Hmm, as expected, you never fail to disappoint me, Chief Orlando.” Flaunting her long shimmering hair, Lorelia applauded him as she gallantly stood up from her seat and walked closer to them. As she came near, the maid started shivering vigorously in fear.
Her face grew pale and overwhelmed by angst emotions, her knees almost gave up on the strength to stand still as she crouched down on the ground, lowering her head down.
“Don’t be too scared of me,” Watching her almost on the verge of fainting out of fear, Lorelia tossed a carefree smirk and crossed her arms over her chest. “Well, if you give me honest answers, you can walk out of here alive. And…of course, your granddaughter will live as well.”
Hearing her curt response, the old woman finally lifted her gaze above at her with her narrow eyes swelled in tears. Bearing a conflicted, helpless look on her face, she quivered, “Y-Your Highness, w-what do you want from me? After my daughter passed away, my little granddaughter is all I have left in this world. W-Why did the soldier take her away—”
“Shut Up! How dare you lowly maid interrogate Our Highness!?” But before she could complete her question, Orlando dragged his sword out from his corset belt and shrieked out at her, keeping the sword near her neck. His furious retort made her cower as she started sobbing, while shaking in fear.
“Ahh, don’t scare her too much, Orlando.” Lorelia sounded very calm as she continued observing her with her brown eyes filled in mystery. Slowly she approached closer her and mumbled with a dark smile, “I am aware that your granddaughter is just a little kid, but that was the only way we were left with to bring you here. Crown Prince entrusted you with his precious person and we don’t want to harm you either. You and your kid can live a happy life if you can help me out a bit.”
“Wh-What do you need from me…Y-Your Highness?” Slowly she lifted her gaze above and looked at her with a teary gaze, gulping her saliva.
Lorelia exhaled a deep breath of relief and mumbled in a shallow voice, “Well, I need you to answer me a few questions honestly first.
What is the relationship between Zordan and Gabriel? Do they act lovely around each other behind the eyes of others? Does it seem normal or something is different?”
The moment she finished her interrogation, Orlando clenched his hold on the metal grip of the sword he had put near her neck. The deathly threat and the vague atmosphere made the maid cower in fear as she realized it was inevitable to escape from this hell. She was badly trapped.
She slowly shook her head in denial and mumbled in a shaky voice, “No…their re-relationship is different. Everything doesn’t seem normal in between them.”
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