Crustel

Chapter 40

       Gale and Giel led us to Isa and Flexner. It was similar to our Castle's Throne Room. I was gazing at the fascinating room. Isa was sitting at the right corner meanwhile Flexner was wandering around the room. "Isa, Lexter is here!" I said with my soft voice. Isa, who was looking at the ground, looked up straight into my eyes. "He's not my son!" She said as she saw Lexter with a disgusting look. "Well, I am your son!" Lexter fought for him. I was just watching them arguing. "No! You aren't. You think I can't identify my son?" Isa roared. "Woman, you were the one who called yourself as my mother! I remember everything vividly! I know you're my mother," He told confidently. I was looking at Isa's eyes. Her eyes were in purple meanwhile Lexter's were in blue and silver. "Both of you! Stop arguing! Calm down," I stopped them from arguing. I realized that their eyes colour turned back into red. "See! Both of you have the same eye colour. Doesn't that prove?"  I said as I pulled Lexter towards his mother. Isa looked at Lexter once again. She was speechless. I saw tears were rolling down her cheeks. It was the sentimental mother-son scene. So, I decided to stay silent. As Gale and Giel were just kids, "Are you guys alright? Flexner, Isa's crying because of that new guy! Go save her before he hurts her more," they cried.

      "Uhmmm...Gale and Giel, why don't you guys be my castle guide? I want to go on a castle tour," I told them calmly. Both of them were excited. "Sure! Sure! Follow us!" They were jumping in joy. Flexner wanted to join us but I told him to watch out for Isa and Lexter. "Let them realize who they are. It's been 14 years. They need some time," I told Flexner as I closed the door. Before I closed the door, I witnessed Flexner nodding. I followed the kids. "My highness," I cut Gale, "Just call me Cora. Don't be scared," I told them as I smiled. "Okay, Cora. This is supposed to be your room," Gale said awkwardly. "What's do you mean by 'supposed to be your room'?" I asked them. Both of them exchanged looks. They were looking at me as they were seeing a sea monster. I coughed. "Cora, promise us that you won't punish us, please!" They seemed as they were about to cry. "Just tell me. I promise that I won't hurt you," I smiled. Both of them were quite relieved. "Cora, we stay in this room. Our room is near the toilet and we hate it. Your room is comfortable and," Giel cut him, "Tooooo huge!" I couldn't control myself. I burst into laughter. Giel and Gale were puzzled. "Why are you laughing, Cora?" Both asked with an innocent look on their face. 

     "Well, you guys should be punished!" I said with a serious tone. They were shocked. "No please....please....please don't punish us!" They begged. "I will. You guys deserve punishment but before that, I have to take a look at supposed to be your guys' room!" I said without smiling and laughing. They were startled. The joy in them faded as fear overtook them. I giggled slowly so that they could not hear me. The moment both of them showed me their room, my jaws almost hit the ground. The room was smaller than mine but it was neat. It had portraits of my dad fighting in the war at the left. At the right, there were some of my mom and dad's wedding portraits. All I could do at the end was crying out loud. "What's wrong Cora?" Giel asked with his soft voice. "Hey. You shouldn't ask her! Apologize to her," Gale whispered to Giel. (Jeez, these kids are too innocent. I was able to hear their whispers) "Oh. So sorry, Cora! We didn't mean any harm to you," both of them told with sorrow in their voice. I wiped off my tears and said with a serious tone, "I will punish both of you!" They were silent. "You guys have to stay in that room where I want to stay in this room," I smiled. Both of them exchanged confused looks. "That's not a punishment and how come the queen sleeps in this tiny room?" Gale asked.

     "I have slept in a tent! I don't care about the size. I just want to stay with these memories!" I told as I pointed at the portraits. They were silent. "Guys," I said as I kneed down, "You will never understand what I went through. You are too small to know that," then I realized that there wasn't a toilet nearby. "Ehem, I can't see a toilet here?" I asked as I raised one of my eyebrows. Both of them smiled awkwardly. "Sorry, Cora. We lied. Actually, your room was too huge and it had the most comfortable bed in entire Ardian." They said at the same time. I burst into laughter again. "Oh, you two! Well, what are you doing in this castle?" I asked as I tried to control my laughter. "Our parents are the servants in this castle," their smile faded when they answered. "Well, what's wrong with that?" I asked them. They refused to tell as they saw a butterfly flying out from the room. I was astonished. "How did a butterfly get into this underwater castle?" I gasped. The butterfly sat on my shoulder. Gale and Giel were astounded. "There's no way to get in, Cora," Gale said confidently. 

     All of sudden, I heard someone's voice. "Cora," The person called out my name. I noticed that Gale and Giel didn't hear anything. It was more like Flexner's voice. "Flexner? You're here?" I asked quietly. The kids didn't hear me. "Yes. Literally, I'm the butterfly. Well, Isa and Lexter got into an extreme level argument. Both of them cast some kind of magic that made me turn into a Caterpillar, then a frog. Then a cat, a lion and at last a butterfly. I escaped and flew through the windows. Luckily, I found you!" He said quickly. I took my wand and waved at him. Unfortunately, the magic cast was too strong. I knew Ardian's magic was master level but didn't expect that I wasn't even able to change a butterfly into a human back.