Majesty of Obsession

9

ELIZABETH

I don't remember how I journeyed my way through the castle's tub — one near my designated room. All I can remember was the wrinkle in Jane's face becoming deeper, creating an illusion of melting skin. It was a scary display. All lines on her face have shown me raw emotions of her fear. That specific frame is engrained in my memory. 

Her bone-chilling screeches still ring my head uncomfortably, while so, I could picture her looking up at me. Her mouth was stretched to its limit, showing the red flesh of her throat.

That specific shade of red tint is haunting me. The Gillyflowers' petals are dotted with a red whisk of blood. Then I recalled another red, the one in the white snow stained by my Uncle's coughing. The gush of the royal guard's wound from the hole in its heart. All flashed before my eyes and It's all about red. It was by the king's doing and it was all for me? From here and on began the downhill of my thoughts about their fate due to my existence.

While my crisis occurs, maidens are assisting me to remove my dress as I ready for a soak in the tub. I felt a slight bit of embarrassment as I was presented with my thin camisole before them. But I was occupied with troubles, I dare not shy away. I only wanted the dried blood in my arms down to the beds of my nails to be washed away.

The girls were busy scrubbing my body with spots of life embellished on my skin. I sit in the tub and let them take over my functions. They put fragrance in the water, yet, the metallic stink of blood is one overpowering my nose.

The king was watching all this time, he never left my side. I chose not to look his way as the maidens stay engaged with me, continuously and agitatedly, doing their job to scrub me clean of my sins. They splashed my body with clean water before King Vhin spoke.

"Leave us."

He ordered them to leave as they finished. As they scurried away, the echoes of their footsteps gradually faded, and the royal chamber was enveloped in an eerie stillness. Surprisingly, the King knelt on my side of this tub—a compassionate gleam in his eyes—as he reached for my trembling hands.

He detected the stain on my nails, and without hesitation, he picked up a soft cloth and began to cleanse my hands with gentle strokes. I could not even protest as I sit paralyzed by what occurred before me. As I recall, Jane's body was too thin and wrinkly, her health had visibly deteriorated. I don't think she has enough blood to supply her body, and to think she was cut to decapitation.

Every horrible feeling was mixing in my stomach; fear for my life and safety, fear for my mind, because here I am, about to lose it!

"Here, let me do you."

Vhin, after cleansing my forearm, extended to wipe my arms upwards. As his touch grazed my skin, a shiver of unease coursed through me, for I found myself alone in the chamber with a man whose intentions I dared not fully trust. But the King dare not act on anything funny, although the gnawing anxiety that he might linger in my mind.

The room was silent of voices for a while now, but the faint splashing of water every time he scrubs me echoes around us. Water dripping calmed my senses, but not completely as he is alone with me. He startled me when he finally spoke. What he said was truly the one that perturbed me.

"There's toxicity in this castle lurking among the servants. Servants treated Queen Celestine the same as old Jane had spoken to you. My mother, powerless in these walls. Blatantly, my father's mistreatment on her was publicized. He takes her for a fool and mocks her as a dimwit. It resulted in people like Jane treating her as one." He sighed before continuing.