114: Just like me...

Just like me...

Music Recommendation: Blooming Truth- Byun Sang Hoo0

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Anastasia approached the dungeon with Theresa trailing right behind her. The guards flanking the walls on either side bowed at her. They were the same men who had once denied her entry to see her dead sister. 

She realised how power and status allowed her to do things that she couldn't do previously. In a way, it provided her with much more freedom than before. They stepped inside the dungeon, walking down the stairs before reaching the underground area of the palace. But it wasn't quiet, as they could hear Queen Maya's angry words echo in the dungeon, 

"How dare you and the others look down upon me?! I will make sure to let everyone know your place!"

And soon, on the opposite side of the passage, Anastasia noticed Lady Noor approaching. She offered a slight bow to the lady, who returned it. 

"Are you here to see Queen Maya, Anastasia?" Lady Noor asked her, her voice competing with Queen Maya's angry yelling. 

Anastasia nodded, "I thought to come and see how she's doing." 

"That is very sweet of you, but… unfortunately, she isn't in the right state of mind. Given the distressing news and the place she is confined in," Lady Noor replied with a sigh. "I encouraged her to come clean with her involvement in the schemes so that Prince Dante might allow her to see King Maxwell. As a mother myself, I can understand her pain, but her refusal to cooperate will only worsen the situation. She's too stubborn." 

When Queen Maya stopped shouting in anger, the dungeon fell into silence. Lady Noor placed her hand on Anastasia's shoulder and said, "I will see you later."

Anastasia offered another bow to the lady, as did Theresa, watching as Lady Noor climbed the stairs and departed from the dungeon. 

"Lady Noor has always been graceful, hasn't she?" Theresa whispered, leaning closer to Anastasia.

Anastasia nodded in acknowledgement before they proceeded towards the cell where Queen Maya was held. Theresa stood a short distance away so she wouldn't interrupt them, while the younger woman came to stand in front of the locked door. 

"Is it you again, Noor? I told you I don't want to talk to you," Queen Maya growled from inside the cell. 

Anastasia stayed silent for two seconds before responding, "No, it is Anastasia." 

Queen Maya turned to look at the door, and her eyes narrowed as she recalled who her visitor was. She snapped, "What do you want? Not satisfied with having me locked up in here?" 

Anastasia spoke up, "I have a few questions to ask you about the time I was thrown into the sea." 

"Leave," Queen Maya dismissed her with disinterest, unwilling to engage in conversation with a concubine, even though she had heard from Lady Noor that she was Dante's exclusive. 

"If you speak truthfully, I can arrange for you to see King Maxwell," Anastasia bargained, and after a few seconds, she heard a rustling sound. Soon, she saw the woman inside the cell come into view, sitting on the bench facing the door. 

"What do you want to know? If I ordered the Vizier to throw you in the sea? I didn't. If I was the one who hit you? I didn't," Queen Maya's answers were sharp, her anger directed towards the woman on the other side of the door. She stared at the concubine through the gap in the door. "Did you see me the night you supposedly heard me talking with Zion?" 

Anastasia shook her head and said, "No. That is why I am here." 

No matter how hard she tried to remember what had occurred two nights ago, Anastasia struggled to recall the other person's voice that accompanied the Vizier's. She couldn't discern whether it was a woman or a man whispering in the corridor. 

"Why did you refuse the space in the mausoleum for Lady Lucretia?" Anastasia asked, hoping to uncover any clues that might indicate whether the woman truly wasn't the one responsible for her near-drowning incident. 

"I changed my mind and offered it in the end," Queen Maya replied, fixing her gaze on Anastasia before rising and walking towards the door. 

"It was too late when you made the offer. What made you refuse it at first? You even drove her to a place where Dante couldn't easily see her," Anastasia inquired, her brown eyes locking onto the woman's gaze. 

Before Anastasia could continue questioning her, Queen Maya scoffed, "Now that you are dressed up, and I have time to look at you, I can finally see what was going on. Sisters. Marianne, was it? Despite the differences in your appearance, from your eyes to the complexion of your skin, you both look alike." A dry chuckle escaped from the woman's lips as she realised the similarity between the women, and she added, "On second thought, I should have killed you to prevent what has occurred now."

Upon hearing her sister's name, Anastasia asked, "Did you kill her…?" 

"I didn't," Queen Maya responded so quickly that it raised suspicion in the younger woman's mind. "My son had already turned her into a concubine and was ignoring her. So there was really nothing much for me to do then… but had I known you were her sister, I would have gotten you far away from here."

"I didn't do anything," Anastasia stated. Never had she looked in King Maxwell's direction. 

A bitter smile surfaced on Queen Maya's lips, and she remarked, "You look very much like your dead sister. Don't you think Maxwell noticed it? I am certain he was haunted and felt guilty, and guilt can eat you alive. No wonder he was hovering around you." She glared at the younger woman. 

"Maybe if you had allowed him to be happy with my sister, they both would still be alive. Rather than blaming someone else for what happened, you should reflect on your own actions first," Anastasia replied, knowing Marianne had been shunned by this woman and the man she loved, along with the other people in the palace. 

"How dare you," Queen Maya glared at Anastasia with disgust and hatred. "If I weren't standing in here, you wouldn't have uttered a word."

"Maybe… But it is what people talk about and have witnessed," Anastasia calmly replied to the woman, while Theresa, on the other hand, was sweating nervously, observing how tightly the younger woman's hands were clenched as she confronted a woman of high status for the first time. 

"Of course, and you are one of them," Queen Maya said after looking at Anastasia and turning around to sit back on the bench. "Do you believe that I have always been like this? I was once a happy woman, before I was brought to this palace against my will. When I tried to leave, I was held imprisoned. The only thing all of you see is a controlling, selfish woman, but it is the palace and its very inhabitants who make you like this." 

Anastasia's eyes widened at the woman's words. Queen Maya had tried to run away from here?

"Why?" Anastasia asked out loud. 

Queen Maya laughed with a slight hint of mockery at her own past thoughts before she said, "I thought I didn't need the palace life. I wanted to be free." 

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