Lèse-majesté

Part 23

Chapter 22

Rosalinda... did not take well to being confined to her room. She waited for Astrid to leave the estate before she made her grand escape. Or as grand as an escape went by climbing down from her balcony with the help of linens tied together. She was halfway down, dangling over one of the many bay windows when the linens started to tear. The sound caused the girl to look up and her eyes widened.

The tear in the fabric got larger and larger as she was now desperately trying to shimmy down. It broke soon after causing her to fall into a bush. The sound was enough to rouse the guards nearby. Rosalinda, hair in disarray with twigs from the bush stuck in it, dashed away. Her heart was hammering as she safely managed to make the tree line that bordered the mansion. If she remembered the path then this would take her to the lake on the estate the late Marchioness loved. From there she could climb the ivy-covered walls and be outside.

The entire endeavor wasn't an easy task. Her dark red plaid dress had gotten stuck on several twigs and she'd nearly lost her chatelaine purse. What's more, she looked entirely unpresentable now thanks to the fall. Rose was beginning to regret her actions but not enough to stop and turn back. She needed answers and was determined to get them. Luckily Hofferson Hall was in the Noble Quarter of the kingdom so the journey to the Royal Palace would not take long. She also had enough coin with her to flag down and hire a coach. Which she did of course. Walking in heels to the palace from this distance was unheard of.

Rose bit her nails after she entered the hired coach. Her nervousness was showing. The scenery went by, not really changing much except that the grounds of various mansions got larger. Hofferson Hall was by no means small but a Marquis estate was nothing compared to the estates closer to the Palace. Most belonged to, gifted as wedding gifts by Kings, to the Princesses that married into other families. The Lewison estate near the palace for instance. Gifted by King Sewlin upon marrying Lady Romilda Lewison. Rumor had it that the Lady herself had never really stepped foot in the mansion. Her father, however had moved right in after his daughter's marriage when his status rose from Viscount to Duke in a day.

She was by no means ignorant of the ways of this kingdom. She knew her place as a woman was to be married off to a Nobleman of good standing to increase the family's reputation. She had been informed of this early on. For that reason, she could not fault her mother for trying to find the most advantageous match for her. She had been shocked at first when the Crown prince had approached her family for an engagement discussion. Happy afterwards when she heard that they were close in age. To be married off to a man much older than her.... Rose had been hesitant and somewhat repulsed about that possibility. She had thus tried to forge a correspondence between the Prince and her to strengthen their bond and had been happy he had been responding to her mail. That was until the sudden cancelation notice of the engagement came. It was so out of the blue that she snapped.

Rosalinda definitely wasn't proud of what she did now that she thought about the aftermath that led to her confinement. But she escaped because she needed answers. Her mother would probably kill her once the news of her canceled engagement was known. Father would likely have a coronary. A woman with a canceled engagement looming over her head was not seen in a good light. It would be harder to find a prospective groom for her now unless she could fix this.

As nerves ate away at Rose her coach suddenly lurched to a stop when an explosion rocked the streets. Smoke filled the air and as the coachman was trying to get his startled horse under control she saw that fire had broken out at the Colosseum nearby.

There was a sudden yell from outside and her coach door was yanked open. Rose screamed as someone threw a very agitated chicken at her. She had caught the bird on instinct, feathers were flying around her and her eyes widened as a stinking body was dragged into the coach with great difficulty. That soon was followed by a person wearing knight armor. "Tuff go!" That person yelled and then Rose realized that her coachman had been kicked off his seat. In the seat now was another person dressed as a knight who urged the horses to run.