Between the Lines || Link x Mipha

Chapter 57: Consequences

"Unacceptable!" Muzu stomped his foot. Dorephan and the other council members glared down at the shameful princess. Tayli averted their gazes and stared at the ground. Her hands slightly shook as they were held together in front of her, the council spouting words of disappointment:

"How DARE you lie to us?"

"You wasted a whole week!"

"Do you realize what you have done?"

"How careless can you be?"

"How do you expect us to trust you now?"

"Tayli," Dorpehan's voice rumbled throughout the room. She timidly looked up at him and forced herself to keep eye contact. Although, she found it extremely difficult to do so with his furious stare. "We gave you one job: to manage the finances of the Gala. We gave you the amount to be spent, and we chose that amount for a reason."

"Dorephan, I-I understand completely," Tayli said, her heart running a mile a minute. "I was being careful, but what happened—"

"What's done is done."

"But it wasn't my fault! If you would just let me explain—"

Dorephan's gaze narrowed. "Sidon informed me that you accused Charlotte of overflowing our expenses."

"She did! She went behind my back! I had no say in anything that she did except for the orchestra and the dress! I told her to keep it to those two only!"

"Yet did you communicate that those instructions were because of financial concerns?"

"Kind of... I guess it was more implied... I just assumed that she would listen to me..."

"Then all the blame falls back on you, Tayli. You must take responsibility for your shortcomings. Because of your lies and failure to keep within the budget, I task you with an extra overload of work."

Daviz walked over to Tayli, piles of paper stacked high in his hands. He placed them in her hands, and she slightly groaned at how heavy the stack was, "I have to do all this?"

"A service for your fellow council members. Thanks to your oversight, they are now bogged down with recovering what was lost. It would only be fair that you help with each of their fair share of work. I suggest you get on with it immediately."

Tayli looked down at the heavy workload in her hands and sighed, holding her tears back, "Y-Yes, King Dorephan... I apologize for all the troubles that I have caused." She turned away and began to head out the room, still feeling all of their angry gazes.

.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.

Tayli's table was covered with piles of organized stacks of papers and folders. It had taken her about an hour to get everything organized before she could go through each paper. Now after hours and hours of work, she was finally just over halfway done.

Tayli set her pen down and leaned back in her chair, giving her mind a quick break. She glanced at her window, evening just breaking. A frustrated sigh left her as she realized that she had been working nonstop since the morning. Then she realized how hungry she felt. The thought almost influenced her to stand so that she could find herself something to eat, but then she stopped herself. How embarrassed was she. She didn't want the council members to even see her face. By now, many of the citizens probably found out about the situation. Who knows what they would say?

A knock sounded from her door, and Tayli perked up, thinking that it was Valik. She hurried over to the door and opened it, a hopeful smile on her face as he would give her comfort and solace. That smile immediately fell when she saw Sidon's dearest.