The Lost Princess

Chapter 5

The questions had been simple. ‘How many people are in your family?’, ‘How much did your crop yield last harvest?’, even ‘Is there anything involving this system that you would like to bring forth to your new King?’. It was like they were just trying to get a sense of how everything worked and what they needed to expect… which is exactly like they said it would be.

Charlotte had an off feeling about it though. Like something was wrong. It might just have been her nerves at possibly being discovered, but it felt like something more than that. Every time she looked up the princes gazed would be on her.

There were four lines. Once you made it to the front of one line they asked to speak to the head of the household and asked a series of questions that was obviously being read off of the page in front of them. With every answer, they would write whatever you said on the piece of paper and move on. Once they were done you were told to move to the back of the next line. 

Charlotte and the Adams had already been through three lines and there were only two more families in front of them in the fourth. 

Charlotte grew even more nervous when she notices that after each family finished with this last round of questions they were asked either to stay the in town center or to return home. It tried to figure out what the similarities were with the families that were asked to remain, but she couldn’t quite reach the answer. It was like it was starring her right it the face, but she just couldn’t form the thought.

Only one family in front of them now. The family that had just finished had been told to return home. It had to be due to how a family answered each question. There was no way of knowing what it was, but Charlotte hoped and prayed that whatever John said got them sent home. She couldn’t stand being here any longer. She was right under there noses. If any one of the soldier made the connection she would be killed.

The family in front of them were asked to stay. 

The, it was their turn. The soldier sat at a small desk with a  stack of papers in front of him just like the others.

“Stated your names, in order from oldest to youngest,” he said as he had twenty times before. “John Adams”

“Susan Adams”

“Charlie…Green”

“Christian Adams”

Once the last name had been said and the soldier had written it all down, he looked up directly at Charlotte. “Your not part of the Adams’ Household,” he said more than asked. Charlotte looked at John and then back at the man in front of her. 

“I’m… just visiting. My parents are visiting distant relatives and couldn’t afford to take me along,… so they brought me here and I’m staying with my uncle, John, until they return,” she said. It’s the first time she’s had to lie to someone who could kill her if he knew the truth.

Charlotte was terrified.

After a few more seconds the man seemed to contemplate whether or not she was telling the truth, then he dropped his head back down to the paper and began to write again. “From this moment on,” he said, “the Adams family will disregard their visitor while answering these questions. Unless she is to be a permanent residence in this household she will not be included when asked questions pertaining to such things.”

John nodded and the man asked the first question. “How much grain do you use in the course of a week,” asked the soldier. “Roughly two sacks, We only keep one horse on the farm. She doesn't eat much,” answered John.

The questions went on the same way for another five minutes or so. ‘How much of this do you use?’, ‘How much of this?’, ‘What are you food intakes for a normal week?’