by Nikki Gaspar
“He’s not a doctor, right?”
Ysabel shook her head. “My mom then said that she couldn't bear to keep his secret. She said that she must inform the authorities. That was all I heard from their conversation, though, because I ran away from that corridor and hid in my bedroom. For the first time in my life, I was terrified of my father.”
Ysabel stopped speaking for a moment and looked at her younger sister, who hadn’t moved from where she stood in front of the window.
“And did your mom inform the authorities?” I asked.
“She never got the chance because she died that night.”
Sofia whimpered.
Ysabel stood and wrapped an arm around her sister, then led her to the seat beside me.
“My dad said that my mom died because of a stroke. I have my suspicions, but I was too scared to say anything,” she continued.
“You were just ten years old, of course, you’re scared,” I said.
Ysabel nodded. “And Sofia was just four years old at that time. I was scared of what would happen to us if I told anyone about what I heard,” she said, her eyes moist. “I was a ten-year-old kid, and my dad was a king. An intelligent and respectable man in everyone’s eyes.”
Vincent snorted. “In everyone’s eyes except my dad. I wonder if he knew about Prince Alfred’s death as well. I knew that he was temperamental and ambitious, but I never imagined that he’s capable of tolerating such a crime.”
“I’m sorry, Claire, all those things I said to you…I didn’t mean them. I’m not mad at you. I was just trying to give you a hard time, hoping that you will leave, because you are not safe here in the palace, here in Bellanmuse.”
“Why? Even if he killed my dad, why would he kill me now? He’s already a king.”
“Because, kid, you are a threat to the king’s hold on the throne. Am I right, Princess Ysabel?” surmised Mr. Taz.
Ysabel nodded. “Yes, sir. When Uncle Alfred died, you became the first-in-line to the throne, Claire, even when you were just a baby.”
She explained that when our grandfather, King Harold, was the king, dad was the first-in-line. I was second, and Uncle Ant was third. But when my dad died, my position was moved, I became the first-in-line, and Uncle Ant became second.
“I guess your mom knew something, Claire. Maybe that is why she ran away with you,” Mrs. Luminaire said.
“I think so too, ma’am,” Ysabel said, and then turned to me. “I heard from the royal court that according to the law, you can claim the throne anytime. But since you did not grow up in the palace, they decided to allow you to adjust to this life first, and you will get the throne on your twenty-first birthday instead.”
“That’s what he meant when he said that the plan can still work out because Claire is just eighteen,” Vincent said, deep in thought.
Could my mom really know something?
I already accepted that her reasoning for leaving the palace and hiding from everyone was off, but could this be the real explanation? It made sense because why would she run away the same day that my dad died if not for her fear for my life? She could have mourned properly and be with him until he was buried, but she chose to leave instead. And she used to cover my birthmark with make-up when I was a kid. She’s probably doing that to prevent Bellans or Uncle Ant’s men from recognizing me.
Mrs. Luminaire poured some juice in a glass and offered it to Sofia, whose eyes were puffy from crying so much.
“I’m sorry I hid this from you for a long time, Sofia.”
“You don’t need to say sorry, Ysabel, I understand,” Sofia said, her cracking voice was almost a whisper. “I only believed you because of what happened to Claire. I’m not sure if that would be the case if you told me before now.”
Vincent gave the sisters a calculating look and threw caution to the wind when he asked, “What are we going to do with our information?”
“We need to find proof of what he did. He killed my dad, and he possibly killed their mom.” I tilted my head towards my cousins. “He can’t get away with all of that.”
“You’re right. I regret that I was too scared before and that caused mom’s death, but now I have a chance to do the right thing,” Ysabel said.
“Kid, I agree that you should do the right thing, but you must remember that your life is also in danger,” Mr. Taz said.
I nodded. “If we manage to find proof of his crimes, my life would not be in danger anymore.”
Mrs. Luminaire ran her fingers through my hair; her touch was soft and motherly. “We just want you to be safe. Please do not do anything dangerous. You can tell the queen mother the truth and let her and the royal court do the proper investigation.”
“We’ll think about it,” I said, giving her a reassuring smile.
Even though my life is in danger, this was my happiest day in the palace. Finally, I found out why my cousin was treating me that way, and it wasn’t because she hates me. She actually cared too much.
Chapter Twenty-Five
The cottage became our meeting place every afternoon. We pretended to be busy with homework—didn’t need too much pretending on that part—and decided to do them together to at least make them more fun.
So far, we’ve listed everything we knew about the case:
He killed Prince Alfred. (Stroke)
He gave Prince Alfred a food supplement that killed him.
He probably killed Queen Luisa (Stroke) because she died the same night she accused him of killing Prince Alfred.
Adam Hunte knows his plans.
Emma Grandis probably knew that he killed Prince Alfred.
There’s poison in Claire’s milk.
“We need to start the investigation somewhere. What do you think about visiting Mari in prison?” I asked.
“That’s the best way to start. But how are you supposed to go out of the palace without the king and queen mother knowing?” Vincent asked.
We decided not to tell grandma anything yet because how do you tell a mother that her son was murdered by her other son? And that same son murdered her daughter-in-law and was planning to murder her granddaughter? So, yeah, we would tell her once we found proof.
“I think I have a solution to that,” Ysabel said.
“What’s your solution?” Sofia asked.
Ysabel avoided her sister’s gaze, pulled out her phone from her pocket, and started texting. She stood after sending her overly long message and was about to step out the door when she noticed that we were all staring at her and waiting for her answer. “I’ll tell you when it’s final,” she said, then left without another word.
“That’s not weird at all,” Vincent said which resulted in a round of laughter.
***
I walked back towards the cottage on Saturday noon after my sports class. Mr. Leacon informed me that I was done with badminton and could move on to swimming lessons. Yay!
A few months of doing the stretching exercises helped me a lot. I may not be as athletic as my teacher, but at least I leave the class without so much muscle pains.
I was about to take a shower when Ysabel and Sofia went inside the cottage.
“We’re leaving tomorrow morning. We will ask dad’s permission to visit Vincent’s house, but we are going to the prison instead,” Ysabel said.
“Yeah? What if Uncle Ant asks Adam about our visit?”
“Vincent will take care of his dad,” she said with a dismissive wave of her hand.
“Okay…then what are we going to do about the battalion of guards that follow us around?”
Ysabel placed her hands on her hips. “I will take care of the guards. Don’t you want to visit Mari?”
“Of course, I want to visit her. I just don’t understand how your plan could work.”
“It will work, you’ll see,” she said with a sly smile.
Sofia and I looked at each other with raised eyebrows but remained silent. I could just stop Ysabel if I felt that her plan was getting dangerous.
“Dad, can we go and visit Vincent in his house?” Ysabel asked Uncle Ant during breakfast the following day.
“Why can’t Vincent come to the palace and visit you instead?”
“Claire hasn’t been outside the palace for so long, dad, I’m sure she will appreciate being out for a while.”
“I don’t see why they cannot go, son. They will be accompanied by the guards, do not worry too much.” Thank goodness, grandma backed us up. Although, I am not sure if she would feel that this was a good idea if she knew what we planned to do for the day.
“Fine.” Uncle Ant raised his hands in resignation. “I will talk to Krisham.”
The three of us looked at each other and gave silent high fives.
“Let’s do our makeup together in your room, Ysabel,” Sofia suggested at full volume once we stepped out of the dining room.
“Sure, let’s meet there in an hour,” Ysabel answered in an equally obvious tone.
***
The maids cleaned the mess in my room from the night I was poisoned. Not a spot of evidence was left that could tell I almost died. It used to be my place of comfort, the fact that it was my parents’ old bedroom made me feel like nothing could go wrong if I was inside its walls, but in just one night, my feelings for the bedroom changed drastically.
Looking at the spot where I dropped on the floor, I couldn’t help but feel thankful that Sofia decided to come to my room at that exact moment. If not for her, I would be a ghost right now, haunting the crime scene.
After a quick shower, I went into my walk-in closet to find appropriate clothes for our escapade. Dresses were the official outfit in the palace, so if I were to wear jeans, it would be suspicious—or maybe I was just paranoid. I decided on a shift dress and paired it with sneakers. It was comfortable, but at the same time doesn’t scream prison visitor. Sofia had the same idea because she was wearing a similar outfit when I saw her outside her room.
“I bet Ysabel is wearing heels, what do you think?” Sofia asked while we walk the short distance towards her sister’s room.
I snorted because she was probably right. Ysabel loves glamour.
Sofia turned Ysabel’s doorknob, they apparently don’t knock on each other’s doors and just went in whenever they please. But this time, Ysabel’s bedroom was locked.
“Ysabel, open the door!” Sofia called out.
We could hear some shuffling inside; Sofia and I looked at each other with wrinkled brows. What could Ysabel be doing inside? After about two minutes, Ysabel opened the door an inch and peeked outside.
“Oh, it’s just you two.” Ysabel let out a huge breath and opened the door wider to let us in.
“Come out now, it’s just Sofia and Claire,” Ysabel said.
I looked around the room to see who she’s talking to and noticed that Sofia was doing the same.
“Who the hell are you talking to?” I asked.
One of her lavish curtains moved, and a huge man’s arm appeared. Sofia and I jumped and shrieked in terror.
“Shut up! What the hell is wrong with you?” Ysabel said.
The man was fully visible now, and he had both of his hands up in the air.
“Major Krisham?”
“It’s me, Princess Clarissa, Princess Sofia. Sorry to scare you.” He slowly put his hands down.
“I don’t mean to offend you, Major Krisham, but what are you doing here in Ysabel’s bedroom?” I asked with raised eyebrows.
Ysabel and Major Krisham glanced at each other, and then blushed.
“Oh! Oh my gosh!”
“Major Krisham is your secret boyfriend?” Sofia, who also grasped the situation, was amused.
Ysabel managed to force an annoyed expression on her face, but Major Krisham had a coy smile.
“You are both annoying today! We are here to do something important. We don’t have time for girly gossip.” She glared.
It became clear that Major Krisham was the reason she’s so confident that we could hide from our guards.
“Did you tell your boyfriend about our plans?” Sofia asked sternly.
“I have to! We need him on our side. Don’t worry, we can trust him.”
It turned out that Major Krisham did all the planning for our prison visit and not Ysabel. It made sense because that was his forte as the highest-ranking official of the king’s guards.
“I talked to Vincent; he said that his father is out of town, so we don’t have to worry about him. We will go to his house—”
“We’re really going there?” I interrupted because I thought we’re just pretending to go to Vincent’s house.
“Yes, Princess Clarissa, because their house is near the prison. According to Vincent, we can go out through the wall’s gap at the back of the property. He uses it to sneak in and out, so it should work. We just need to make sure that the guards will stay in front of the house, and they will never know that we left.”
So the plan was: Once we arrive in Vincent’s house, Ysabel would tell the guards that Major Krisham was enough to protect us inside and order them to stay put in front. Then, we would go out through the back. The prison was near Vincent’s house, so we would be gone for only a few minutes—if all things go as planned.
Chapter Twenty-Six
After that brief meeting, Major Krisham sneaked out of the room to gather the guards who would come with us. In the meantime, the three of us did our makeup to avoid suspicion.
“Oh! My beautiful princesses!” Jazaael exclaimed when he saw the three of us walk down the stairs. “I am happy to see that you are all getting along.” He looked pointedly at Ysabel and me.
“Don’t worry, Jazaael, we are good,” I said, and then the three of us continued to walk towards the foyer. Jazaael waved us goodbye like a proud mustached papa bird cheering on his fledgling.
Major Krisham had the car ready and waiting for us just outside the door. We didn’t waste time and get in immediately.
“How many guards are coming with us?” I asked.
“Ten, including me,” Major Krisham said as he started to drive.
“Can’t you do something to leave some of them behind?”
He shook his head. “I already tried, Princess Clarissa. You should have five guards each, as a rule. I reduced it to three. They would notice if I reduce the number further.”
***
Vincent’s house screamed money. It may not be as huge as the palace, but it was a lot bigger than normal houses.
Vincent was waiting for us by the front door. “Good morning, Claire!”
“Thirteen people went into your house, ten of them are huge, muscled men, and you only saw Claire?” Ysabel teased.
“Good morning, Vincent.” I saved him from Ysabel’s attention because the poor guy turned red as a tomato.
Ysabel turned to the guards. “Guys, please stay here in front. One of you can come in with us,” she pretended to look at each of the guards, as if deciding who was qualified to come with us in the house. “Major Krisham, you can come inside. The rest of you will stay here.”
Once the door closed behind us, Vincent led us to the back of their house. We walked through a huge garden which, unlike the palace’s flower field, consists of mostly trees like willow, palm, and oak. We didn’t stop until we reached the high wall at the back. It was impossible for anyone to climb, but Vincent moved a few rocks and vines, and sure enough, there was a gap that we could pass through. Vincent’s car was parked on the other side, all of us went in, and just like that, we were on our way to the prison.
“How about your maids, won’t they say anything?” I asked.
“They won’t. I talked to them already. They adore me, and they hate my dad, so were good. They cover up for me all the time.”
***
The prison building was smaller than I imagined. It was two-story high and surrounded by fences with spikes all over them.
“Good morning, I am Major Krisham of the king’s guards.” He show
ed his identification to the guard stationed at the gate. “The princesses wish to speak with Mari Milfor.”
The guard peeked inside the car as if to make sure that Major Krisham was telling the truth, and then walked a few feet away, taking his two-way radio from its holster. He said something and then appeared to listen to instructions given by the other person. “You can go in sir, someone will meet you at the entrance,” he said to Major Krisham when he was done on the radio.
Vincent parked the car near the building’s entrance, and sure enough, another guard was waiting for us.
“Good morning, Your Highnesses, I’m Major General Roes,” he said with a bow.
Major Krisham shook hands with him and discussed the procedure we needed to follow.
“Please follow me to the visiting area,” Major General Roes said.
“And one more thing,” Major Krisham said, “the princesses wish to keep this visit quiet. Make sure that no one would speak, even to the king and the royal court.”
Major General Roes looked at us curiously but was not brave enough to question our intentions.
We were led into a more private visiting room, and we sat quietly while another guard fetched Mari for us.
“Please wait outside, we wish to speak privately,” Ysabel ordered the prison guard and Major General Roes. The authority in her tone could make a person agree to anything she says.
“That’s impressive, Ysabel. You sounded like a true queen,” I said.
“I practiced that.”
We turned to look at the girl who just entered the room. Mari’s whole body was trembling, her gaze downwards.
“Mari—”
“Claire, I swear, I never put poison in your milk,” she said with a sob.
“I know, Mari, that’s why we are here. Please sit down.” I patted the seat beside me.
Once she was seated, I placed my arm around the poor girl to console her.
“Please don’t worry, Mari, we will help you,” Sofia said soothingly and gave her a handkerchief.