The Royal Rescue

Chapter 5

Ricardo Valera

It had been three weeks since Serenity was brought here and every day I would be by her side. During this time, I had completely forgotten about being a King and focused on this frail woman lying on the bed. Not much colour has returned but it makes me wonder if she was just naturally pale. Not going to lie, I would prefer a little bit of colour even if it was just a little bit of colour to the cheeks. It would reassure me that was she going to wake up soon but for all I know, we could be waiting another month yet.

I just want to personally thank her for everything that she's done even if she wasn't even aware that she was doing it.

Stephanie helps clean her up most of the time and changes Serenity as I fired most of the maids three weeks ago. They weren't happy but I had to do what I had to do. I could tell that Stephanie is a lot calmer now in front of me but I wish that she wouldn't kneel in front of me every time I enter the room. She's not like the other maids and therefore shall not be treated as such. However, I respect her decisions especially since she doesn't want people to think that she's special to me.

As for everything else, the people of Pembroke received their money two weeks ago courtesy of me as an apology for not resolving the financial issue earlier. I still can't believe that was going on behind my back.

"Your highness!!!" A shout interrupts my thoughts. It sounded very urgent and shouldn't be ignored but he did just barge into the room. A male runs in without permission, he looked quite young so I'm assuming he's new.

"What is it? It must be urgent if you have to barge in unannounced and interrupt my train of thought. " I replied trying to be as calm as possible.

"I'm sorry for the interruption, your highness but they said that it would be something of your concern. One of the maids, I think her name was Stephanie has been found at the bottom of the stairs badly injured. It looks to be that she fell down the entire staircase but whether it's an accident or someone's pushed her is unclear. She had been lying there for about ten, fifteen minutes before the guard found her. She's still conscious but the extent of her injuries may leave her incapable of doing her duties." That instantly got my attention. I stood up as quickly as possible. He bowed down showing respect to me as his king.

"Has she been sent to the infirmary?" He replies with a polite 'yes' and kept his eyes down. He looked scared that I might yell at him for a maid being injured. I'm not. It wasn't his fault. I may need to hire more guards, especially outside Serenity's room. She's at risk of being hurt if someone is after anyone at the castle. I can't take the risk.

"Do you know the extent of her injuries?" I asked to hope to get more details. This was a very concerning matter and I needed to know as many details as possible.

"No, your highness. They just told me to quickly inform you of the situation and that Stephanie is most likely to recover." I nodded. Ugh just what I needed.

Somethings going on underneath my nose. It's only coincidental that Stephanie becomes Serenity's personal friend and now this happens to her.

Something is not right.

"Very well. I want you to go to the Chamberlain. Ask him to get in contact with the Security agency and hire more guards. Around thirty should do. Explain to him the situation of what's happened to Stephanie and tell him that it's a matter of urgency which is to not be ignored." He agreed with a nod then bowed before me and left the room heading to the Chamberlain's office.

I decided to stay with Serenity until these new guards came but hoped that Stephanie was okay. I'll check on her when I can ensure that there is enough protection for Serenity as I know that she'd be most at risk if Stephanie was pushed.