Flower

Chapter - 18

(RAYA'S POV)

As I lay in bed, his words swirl around my head. He should stay away from me. I don't want him to get hurt because of me.

Remembering Marcus's smiling face brings back the horrors of that time. He was such a bright young man, he got doomed by my fate. I need to keep my distance from his Highness.

I lay down on the edge of the bed staring at Eryx's face in the crib, the sound of his soft breathing is calming. What should I do?

I eventually fall asleep thinking about everything that has happened. The next morning I wake up and decide to investigate if anyone found out about his Highness coming here. It'd be bad for both of us if rumours spread.

I go to the training grounds to pretend to get a knight to escort me to town. I observe their behaviour, it doesn't seem any different than usual. I return to my chamber, finding Dana playing with Eryx. They both look adorable playing with each other.

He's such a happy child, I want to protect that smile forever. He looks up at me as I approach his crib and giggles, hoisting his arms up for me to pick him up.

I smile, picking him up and sitting beside the window. He watches the trees with awe, suckling on his thumb as he babbles cutely. Seeing his amazement, I decided to take a walk in the garden with him.

He flails around his tiny hands as a butterfly flies around us, giggling happily. He's truly my only source of happiness in this hell of a place.

He falls asleep after playing around for a while, so I decided to take my routine walk around the mansion to make sure everything is in order. As I am walking through the west wing, my eyes fall on an open door. It seems to be the office of the former Lord.

Lisa told me that the mansion was renovated a few years before my wedding and the Lord shifted his office to the other side because it seemed convenient for him.

I've never seen the door to this office opened, hence I go in out of curiosity. The room seemed dusty. I look around, my eyes falling on a stack of papers on top of the table. I start walking towards it, but before I could pick them up, I feel someone grip my shoulder and hear a deep voice rumble behind me, “Wife, you need to learn to not enter places without permission,” the Lord speaks coldly, I feel a shiver run down my spine as I turn around.

“I…I apologise,” I say quickly, trying to mask my fear. He lets go of my shoulder and stares at me sternly, “Do not come in here without my permission. Leave,” he says as he walks past me and picks up the stack of papers.

“As you wish,” I mumble and leave. His behaviour seemed awfully odd, he'd usually get angry and hit me. But today he sounded different, like he was hiding something in there.

I decided to shake off the feeling and move on with my day. Heading to the library, I start working on this month's budget with the accountant.

Feeling tired from the day's work, I head to my chamber to relax. I eventually drift off to sleep.

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(ICARUS'S POV)

As I lay in my bed, I can't shake off her scared look from my mind. I wonder how much pain that man has caused her to make her so traumatised. I want to help her, but it seems she's wary of everything. I need to earn her trust, if I want to help her.

A guard knocks on the door, breaking my chain of thoughts, “Come in,” the guard enters and bows deeply before speaking, “Your Highness, Lord Lei has been brought in for interrogation. His Majesty has asked for your presence during his questioning.”

“Very well,” I get up, my servant helps me get ready. Walking down the hallway, I can feel the anger settling in against that traitorous scum. I enter the dungeon’s quiet atmosphere. Even though it's the morning, the light of the sun doesn't come down here.

The iron door screeches as I walk deeper inside, “You're here,” father looks up at me, “Siegel has fled right after your return. I've sent some knights after tracking the places he could flee to.”

Father fills me in as we walk towards Lei’s confinement, we find him tied to a chair as we enter. His eyes widen as he sees us, “Your Majesty, w…why have I been brought here?” He acts innocent pathetically.

“Enough with your charade. Betraying the royal family is a capital crime. Now you can either confess or I can make your death really painful,” I grin menacingly, looking at his horrified face.

“Your Highness, it wasn't me. I didn't have anything to do with your assassination attempt,” I grab him by the neck and choke him, “Then how do you know about the assassination attempt? It was announced to be a carriage incident.”

He starts stammering, “I…I just guessed it,” I tighten my grip around his neck, “Do I need to kill your family members one by one to get you talking?” I see the terror settling in his eyes.

“I…I'm telling you it wasn't me-,” I punched him in the jaw, tired of his lies. The punch seems to have knocked him out.

“Son, you need to handle this calmly,” Father sighs deeply.

“I think I deserve to punch the guy who tried to kill me,” I look at him with a determined look, “Always the stubborn one,” Father lets out a chuckle.

I gesture to a guard to come closer and tell him, “Bring in Lei's eldest son. It seems he won't talk otherwise.”

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Thanks a lot for reading!!! I'd love to see some comments as well!!!