7. Assassins in my room?
1069 Words
“Now, exactly why did I call the guards?” Merucia was confused with herself seeing the number of guards who responded. They came flooding in to her rescue. Merucia had never felt so important in her life. She could see the seriousness in their eyes.
The butler had accidentally spilled the tea on Merucia’s gown. The hot tea penetrated through and burned her thighs beneath that heavy gown. She had jumped and yelped.
The butler only coiled up on the floor. The Queen had just called the guards on him. This was no good.
“Oh, silly me!” Merucia cried. “I meant to call on the maids. All of you go get me a good maid. Tell her I stained my dress with tea, and she also needs to bring me medicine, I might have burned myself a little too much.”
Merucia retired to her room. She was exhausted from not doing anything. She used to work very hard a few days ago when she was just a maid. Now, she only ate and wandered around. A thought crossed her mind to go check on her friends but she did not want to deal with the missing body. She believed that if she let go, Gertrude would do something about it and resolve everything.
Merucia did not forget to arrange herself a tutor who would teach her royal etiquettes. The tutor would be arriving a few days. She had to do her very own best for the next few days.
“The King’s father will be joining the dining table tomorrow morning. I must be on my best behaviour. I must wear my best gown.” Merucia laid staring at the ceiling, “The goal is to win him over. He seems to have influence and power over everyone in this palace. He must be on my side.”
…………………………………………………………………………
When morning came, Merucia slept in. None of her personal maids—Merucia and Gertrude—went to wake her up. She jumped out of bed as soon as she realised how late she must have been.
“Those two deviants!” she scorned. “They didn’t bother to wake me up this morning! Now look what they have done! I’m late for my first breakfast with the King’s father. Now, I won’t get to make my good first impression!” She was standing by her bath tub, waiting for the water to fill. “Oh, they are probably mad that I refused to concern myself with the missing body…”
“BUT SERIOUSLY? I’m a big deal now; if I get caught, we’ll all get hung!!” She gently stepped in the tub. “No, but wait. Shouldn’t I send someone to announce for me that I might not be joining the breakfast? I mean, I did check in for medicine from the doctor yesterday when I burned from the tea. Surely, the King’s father was made aware of that part. He’ll assume that I’m ailing terribly and I’ll get off scott-free.”
Merucia still couldn’t shake off the fact that the Grand Princess would be joining the table. She might use Merucia’s absence to influence the King’s father’s perception of her. Merucia wanted to make her own introduction of herself to the King’s father. She wanted him to perceive her from her own presentation of herself.
………………………………………………………………………………
“Her Majesty won’t be joining us for breakfast this morning,” Reported the butler at the royal table. He had just received the news from some random maid who whispered into his ear. “She has not been feeling well since yesterday’s incident.”
“Ow, of course,” the King’s father said, “I did hear that she burned and had to require medication from the doctor. Marley, tell me,” Marley was the name of the butler, “is it that bad?”
“She is expected to be fully recovered by tomorrow, Your Royal Highness.”
“Oh, good. Good. It would have been very bad if the burn was deep, we did not bring the little Queen to lead a difficult life here. We must protect her; she is one of us now.”
The table also had a few more royal members of the family, even the Grand Princess was there. The Grand Princess couldn’t be bothered, she waited for the King’s father to start eating so that she can start too. However, the King’s father had more grievance to share regarding the absent Queen, “Oh, what a bummer. I was looking forward to meeting our new Queen. We never really got to see her at the wedding. Marley, send her a basket of flowers and some delicacies for me.”
The butler bowed a little, “Yes, Your Royal Highness.”
“Well, let us begin our breakfast.”
Immediately, the cutlery started hitting against the plates. The people were eating. They must have all been famished.
………………………………………………………………………………
Merucia was all dressed up. She had changed her mind from staying behind from the breakfast. She was adamant about making a good first impression with the King’s father. Merucia checked the mirror one last time. Her make-up was perfect, her jewellery hung perfectly and her dress was just right.
She pulled the door open—
“We great you, Queen Gravier.”
Two foreign ladies stood at the door. They had their heads bowed and quickly, stood straight to make eye-contact with the Queen.
The ladies continued, “Forgive us, our Queen, we are this late. Our carriage was breached along the way. The laws at the border are too strict, they had to hold us back for a while to conduct thorough screening. It appears the case of the soul-sucker monsters is quite threatening around here. But nonetheless, we are very happy to have followed you to your new Kingdom and to serve you as your ladies-in-waiting again.”
DUN!
Merucia’s heart could almost pop out of her chest. She stood there for a while, not saying anything. She could clearly see them making eye-contact with her. She was sure that they were seeing her face. It appeared that they were from the same Kingdom as Gravier—the murdered Queen. It sounded as though they had served Gravier in her Kingdom. But why did they not recognize that she was not Gravier?
*“Assassins?” *
- Writer
