As I opened my eyes, I was greeted by a dim room. I turned to the window and it was already dark outside. For how long was I asleep?
Slowly, I sat up and laid my back onto the headboard. Thankfully, my head wasn't in as much of a pain as it was a while ago. The medicine prescribed by the healer was so strong, it put me right to sleep.
I looked around the room and tried to think of something that I could do. First thing that came to mind was I could look for James and assist him with the matter at hand. But if I did that, he would only make me return here and rest. And after what happened, he would never accept my help.
A knock came upon my door. "Yes?" I answered.
The door opened and it was Marcus who carried a tray of food.
"Marcus?" I asked as I was about to stand.
"Please, Your Highness, don't move," he replied as he stopped for a moment. I slowly sat down again and he proceeded to approach me. He continued, "His Majesty told me not to allow you to step away from the bed."
I watched as he carefully placed the tray on my lap. As he prepared everything for me, he explained, "His Majesty personally requested that the kitchen cook stew. The healer recommended it so you can have a calm mind, body and soul. Rest assured, everything was tried and tasted first before it was prepared for you." He then handed me my utensils.
"Thank you." He stood from the bed and watched over me. I asked, "Have you eaten yourself?"
"Pay no mind towards me, Your Highness. I will eat with the other servants. We always eat together after the mistress or her guests eat. I'm only here to look after you," he smiled.
My brows furrowed. "The others? Did they release the rest of the prisoners?" I asked.
He nodded, enthusiastically. "His Majesty returned to the dungeons and had everyone released. They were healed right after," he explained.
I grinned. At least, there was some good news during this trying time. "It's all thanks to your honesty that everyone was released," I said as I sipped a bit of soup.
"No, Your Highness. It's all because of your trust and mercy on me that my fellow servants were pardoned," he replied. "All of us in this castle owe you all of our thanks. Our words will never be enough to express how grateful we are."
I smiled as I turned to him. "You shouldn't think so highly of me, Marcus. We only did what was right," I said. I ate a few spoonfuls before I asked again, "Where is His Majesty?"
"He's in his room with your captain. According to the servants, His Majesty is drafting a sentence of punishment. At the same time, he's also planning for the next steps of your mission," he explained.
I froze as my eyes widened. My hand hung in the air before I could even take a spoonful of hot stew. I quickly turned to him and asked, "What's this punishment sentence that you just mentioned?"
Marcus was shocked. It would seem as if he wasn't supposed to speak about it.
I gestured for him to sit beside me. Once he did, I whispered, "Say what you know. No one will be able to hear you right now."
He looked around our surroundings once again as he was wary of everything. When he was satisfied, he returned to me and said, "It's for Duchess Bethilda. She already went through her trial today. And she was found guilty of all the accusations against her."
My eyes widened even more. Why wasn't I summoned to the trial? I had questions to ask as well. That was the whole purpose of why we came here. And it was to interrogate her. If James could question her, I should be able to do the same.
I grabbed onto Marcus' arm and asked, "Where is the duchess now?"
"She remains to be confined in her room, Your Highness. His Majesty said it would be unfitting for the duchess to be imprisoned in the tower," he replied.
Quickly, I removed the tray from me and handed it over to him. I took covers off of me and headed to the door whilst my legs wobbled. My head pulsed once more and made it difficult for me to see where I was going. But as my world spun around me, I didn't care about it.
I had to get to Bethilda.
"Your Highness," Marcus called as he ran after me. I was about to fall when he quickly caught me by the arm. "Please, don't strain yourself. His Majesty said you need rest to be able to recover."
I leaned onto the chair next to me and gripped onto it. I groaned as I held my head. This time, the pulsing was harder and faster. My heart raced as I began to panic from the pain. I held my breath for a while as an attempt to calm everything inside of me.
"Your Highness, please," he begged.
After a moment of silence, I stood up straight and exhaled deeply. "I'm afraid there's no time for me to rest, Marcus," I replied as I slowly opened my eyes. "During this whole debacle, I've done nothing but rest. I stepped aside and watched as James handled everything that was my responsibility." I faced him and continued, "This mess was created by me. Therefore, I should be more invested in it. And more active in getting to the bottom of everything. No one should persevere more in this case than me."
"But His Majesty will be furious if he finds out that you left your quarters," he answered. He added, "I could have my head on the spike for letting you go."
I sighed and said, "His anger doesn't matter to me right now. I need answers. And I must have them before he bestows any punishment on her."
♔♔♔
After a cautious journey to the duchess' wing of the castle, we finally arrived around the corner before her chambers. Carefully, I peeked my head to see what security James placed on her. And as expected, it wasn't short of thorough.
Seven guards stood on both sides of the door. Another seven stood across the room. James also added a range of chains on Bethilda's door, held together by one humongous lock. The only thing that enlightened the hallway was a few lit torches and fire pillars.
I turned back to Marcus and remarked, "James isn't taking any chances with Bethilda. He implemented such a tight security around your mistress."
"I heard His Majesty feared that the duchess might charm her way out of her room. So, he only assigned his most trusted soldiers to guard her quarters," he explained.
"At this point, using this much security on one person is useless. Everyone in this castle is too terrified of the possible punishment of torture. No one will dare disobey James," I said.
I peeked once more before Marcus asked, "What can we do, Your Highness? These guards won't leave even if we ask them nicely."
"Should we lie that His Majesty is looking for them?" I asked before I returned to him.
He shook his head. "I believe that it will only make matters worse," he answered. "His Majesty isn't aware that you're out of your room. If we do that and His Majesty asks what's going on, the guards will surely tell him."
He was right. Although it seemed to be the quickest solution, it would only present even more problems. And I didn't want another argument with James. Should he find out that I roamed around the castle - right after my incident this morning, nonetheless - it would start another chaotic episode between the two of us. And frankly, that would be more exhausting than what we already experienced.
Then, an idea came to mind.