II. The Impact of Her

~ Twenty-Four ~

As soon as she saw us arrive, she immediately stood up and curtsied as low as possible.

"Gonzalo, you may leave," I said, my eyes never leaving Laura.

"Are you sure, Your Highness?" he asked.

"There's no need to worry, Gonzalo," I smiled at him. "She's a friend of mine. Kindly take care of the letter."

Gonzalo bowed and left me with Laura.

"Laura?" I called out gently as I approached her. "Come now, Laura. There's no need for that," I helped her up. Lifting her face, I smiled even more as I was very pleased that she was here. "You don't have to do such formalities when it comes to me."

"Don't be silly, Robert. You know that I have to do that," Laura replied, fiddling with her fingers. "I am in your realm, your kingdom. I must pay you the respect given to you here."

"Laura, you're no different from me. Therefore, you don't have to be all ceremonial whenever you visit me," I explained, unable to contain a growing grin. Looking at her frame, it came to my attention that she wasn't in good shape. "You have been shaking ever since my arrival. What's wrong?"

After a sigh, she answered, "I'm sorry if I've been avoiding you. I was too heartbroken from what happened. I needed some time away from everything. And that included you."

Her words pierced through my heart. It plunged so deep as if it was the sharpest blade ever made. She was incredibly hurt, she had to stay away from me. And these words came from the person I vowed I would never hurt. But, I couldn't blame her decision to do that. I would never blame her for that.

"Laura, only I should apologise for what happened," I protested. I continued, "I was the one who lied to you. I never told you the truth between Mallory and I. I was the one who hurt you. I completely understand why you had to avoid me. There's no need for you to explain."

She smiled slowly but she was still shaking.

"You're still trembling. Is there anything else that you want to tell me?" my brows furrowed.

"I don't have much time to stay here. I managed to sneak in and I'm afraid that someone may come after me," she replied.

Baffled, I asked, "If you sneaked in, how did you get into the castle grounds?"

With a mischievous smile, Laura looked down to her feet. Suddenly, her nervous state was replaced with the aura of an innocent child.

"Laura, tell me."

With a bit of a giggle, she said, "I went over the wall by your garden. Luckily, there was no one there so it was an easy entry." She added, "The thorns hurt, though."

"Thorns?" I asked, now incredibly worried.

"Um, let us say that I landed on a bush... of red roses," she lowered her head and played with her fingers.

"You landed on Mother's roses?!" I asked, terrified.

"Hush down, Robert. You don't want to catch the attention of anyone," she quickly covered my mouth. Slowly removing her hand, Laura continued, "I planned to land safely on the grass. But as I was about to jump, I slipped and fell on the bush instead."

"How badly are you hurt?" I asked as I checked every part of her body.

"I'm not entirely injured, Robert. I only have minor scratches on my legs," she said as she tried to calm me down. Laura then raised her skirt above her calves, enough for me to see the cuts and scratches.

"Stay here. I will get something to mend your wounds," I replied as I led her to the wooden bench beside Lady.

"Robert, that won't be necessary. These will go away on their own," she protested.