IV. The Impact of Her

~ Twenty-Four ~

The next three days passed over extremely slowly, to my dismay.

But, thankfully, today was almost at its end. And it was another day where nothing was accomplished.

I examined the map of Eastern Sun as I waited for James and the guards to arrive here in the throne room. I received news that all possible routes had been scouted. And I just couldn't wait to get to the bottom of everything.

The doors finally opened. But when I turned to look, only the guards walked in. James was nowhere to be found.

"Your Highness," the guards bowed to me.

"Good afternoon, gentlemen," I replied with a gentle bow of my head. "Where is His Majesty?"

The captain replied, "The king is with your family, Your Highness. Prince Benjamin asked to be sent home and they are sending him off."

I nodded and kept a calm facade. "If you all don't mind, I wish to start our meeting whilst we await His Majesty's arrival," I said as I walked around the table map. "Let us give them time for their goodbyes."

The captain then moved closer to me. "If you don't mind me saying this, Your Highness," he whispered into my ear, "But Prince Benjamin did ask for your presence. He said he wanted to ask for your forgiveness one last time."

I stood still as my heart broke. If only Benjamin knew how much I wanted to forgive him, truly. But I couldn't bring myself to do it. I tried so hard to convince myself that he wasn't responsible for what happened to Laura or to the bakery. But only Benjamin had a clear motive to do such a thing.

I sighed before I answered, "Let my absence be the response to his request."

The captain remained motionless for a while before he nodded.

"Anyways," I looked up to the guards, "Shall we begin?"

~*~*~*~

"Upon crossing the river, we discovered two paths. And both are too perilous to take," the captain explained. He pointed at the scouts' self-made map and continued, "One trail leads to the mountains. The other goes through the forest."

"What are the dangers of both routes?" I asked.

"The mountains–" the captain was interrupted when the door suddenly opened. We all looked as James entered the room. In unison, we all bowed as he approached us.

James' jaw clenched, his brows knitted together as he saw us around the table map. "I wasn't aware that you already started the meeting," he remarked as he stood beside me.

"I was told that Benjamin went home. The captain arrived and the scouts have returned from their mission," I explained. My eyes never left the map.

"Benjamin was looking for you. Why didn't you come?" James asked.

Tension grew immensely around us. The frightened stares of our soldiers weighed heavily on me. I held my breath for a moment as I contemplated on what to say next.

"I had to start a very important meeting with them," I replied as I continued to avoid James' gaze. "A life is at stake here."

Relentlessly, James asked another, "More important than your family?"

With eyes closed, I straightened myself as I exhaled deeply. James didn't know when and where to quit. Instead of helping, he only wanted to argue about how wrong my decision was. That I should simply abandon it.

Tough luck for James. I wasn't taught to abandon people who needed me in a time of crisis.

I cleared my throat and turned to the captain. "Please, proceed."