76: Person from the Storm Kingdom

Person from the Storm Kingdom

Anastasia looked down at her hand, feeling her heart pounding even though moments had passed since Dante had left her alone. She shook her head before her thoughts could go further astray than they already had and stepped out of the room to accompany Princess Emily to where Lady Evin was resting.0

Lady Ruby Jeremiah stood beside a sleeping Lady Evin, and she asked, "Will the next antidote help, Queen Maya? I thought the Mother Queen had already handed over 'the' antidote."

"King Maxwell is doing his best to find a cure for Evin, Lady Ruby. The spots on her skin have disappeared, so we must remain patient," Queen Maya assured Lady Evin's mother, who looked visibly distressed. 

Standing behind Princess Emily in the room, Anastasia stared at Lady Evin, the very person responsible for the state she was in. The sleeping woman was administered juice to keep her alive, as she could not consume any food in her current condition. 

Lady Ruby took a closer look at her daughter's face and said, "The weather is hot today. She needs a wet cloth placed on her forehead and dabbed on her skin to cool her down."

Queen Maya turned around and snapped her fingers at Anastasia. She ordered, "Go get it quickly."

"Anna, go let a senior maid know about it," Princess Emily said, as Anastasia was her maid. 

"There's no need for a senior maid, Emily. I am sure your maid is capable enough of doing the job, yes?" Queen Maya raised her eyebrows before snapping her fingers at Anastasia again, gesturing for her to get to work. She briefly glanced at the lowly woman in the room, who picked up a cloth and went to soak it in a bowl of water. She commented, "Your maid should feel fortunate to be serving the future queen of this kingdom." 

Princess Emily offered the woman a smile that didn't reach her eyes. She was still a little peeved over how her brother's soulmate disregarded her warning by displaying arrogance and causing trouble. 

Anastasia returned to Lady Evin's side, and bending down, she gently pressed the wet cloth on the woman's face. She heard the woman's mother ask, 

"What happened to that servant who was pricked by the thorn?" 

"He lost his consciousness like Evin, but as there was only one available antidote, he died," Queen Maya explained before placing her hand on the worried woman's shoulder. She continued, "Soon, when another antidote is made, Evin will be awake in no time. Patience is what we need now." 

Lady Ruby nodded before ordering the maid, "Make sure to dampen her neck and chest as well. She must be feeling hot because of the weather today."

Anastasia used her good hand to dab the wet cloth against the lady's skin before soaking it back in the water and repeating the process. Queen Maya then said, 

"We should allow Evin to rest now. The physician instructed that we shouldn't display any stress in front of her, as it would only put unnecessary pressure on Evin's body and mind. She needs to feel better to recover." But what she said was a lie, as Maxwell had to be coerced to pay a visit to the sleeping woman in her chambers. She had gone to great lengths to take precautionary measures to ensure that no strand of doubt would form in anyone's mind. 

One by one, everyone stepped out of the room, leaving Lady Evin to rest. The doors to her room were closed, while guards were on standby in case the lady woke up or if an unknown visitor sought entry. 

And as the woman lay unconscious on the bed, one of her fingers finally moved for the first time. 

In the palace's exterior garden, Anastasia walked with Princess Emily through one of the corridors. The princess said, 

"Looks like clouds have gathered in the sky. The hour is perfect for a walk outdoors, although it doesn't appear that there will be more than a light sprinkle of rain." 

Was it that time of the year? Anastasia asked herself, pondering if it was indeed the season when one could witness the light drizzle before it would dissipate into the air. She heard Princess Emily ask her, "Did it rain a lot where you come from, Anna?"

"It did, Princess," Anastasia replied, without moving her lips too much and her words a whisper, while also offering the company of her voice when they were alone. A smile came to form on her lips, and she said, "There were hailstorms, thunder and lightning. The pitter-patter of rain. You might have liked it."

Princess Emily softly laughed as if to hide her embarrassment before she said, "I am not good with thunderstorms. I experienced them twice before, and it scared the soul out of my body." 

Maybe it was because Princess Emily was used to living in a kingdom where rain was scarce and was not used to such weather events, Anastasia thought to herself. She watched the clouds obscuring the sun behind them, and it intensified her longing for home more than she had ever felt before. 

"I spoke to Norrix a while ago," Princess Emily began, as they continued to stroll through the garden. "I requested that he have someone else assist in the dining room from now on so that you don't have to worry about colliding with Niyasa again." 

"Thank you, Princess Emily," Anastasia was grateful that she had been considerate enough to do so, because she doubted she would survive with how Niyasa glared at her. 

"She makes a lot of the servants uncomfortable in the palace. It is just how she is, and now that Brother Maxwell has become the king, she's taking even more liberties than she did in the past," Anastasia heard Princess Emily sigh wearily. "Brother Maxwell has not been himself, and I don't know if it's the power that has transformed him like that…  it feels like almost everyone who ascends to the throne becomes tyrannical." 

That was somewhat true, Anastasia said to herself, without vocalising her answer. Just because the princess was kind, she couldn't take liberties and speak her mind. There was still a line between them that she didn't intend to cross. 

"Speaking ill about the king, the princess must not feel that her head is precious," a masculine voice remarked from a short distance ahead of them. 

Anastasia and Princess Emily instinctively became guarded, looking around to see who had spoken, and soon a man stepped out from behind a tree. 

The man had reddish-brown hair, and his clothes were of a different style from what people customarily wore in Versailles. He appeared to be somewhere in his late twenties. He exhaled a puff of smoke from his lips, indicating that he had been smoking a cigar in the garden. He offered a polite smile to the princess, and his pale blue, lazy eyes briefly moved to look at the maid standing behind her. 

Anastasia observed Princess Emily's expression become guarded, and she offered the man a slight bow, who returned it with a nod. She said, 

"I didn't expect to see you here. I thought you were inside the palace." 

"Would you have refrained from badmouthing your king if I were? Maybe we should ask the king what he thinks about his tyrannical rule," the man replied, raising his hand to take another drag from his last cigar before he blew the smoke through the corner of his lips. And though he smiled, it looked as if he was mocking them. 

"You should be better versed in it than he is, Prince Raylen," Princess Emily responded, offering him a tight smile, while her demeanour was frigid. 

Anastasia could feel the air grow stifling because of the hostile atmosphere, and she wondered if this was the prince of the Storm Kingdom, Prince Raylen Storm. He chuckled in amusement over the princess's words, and he remarked, 

"It looks like you still hold a grudge over what happened in the past. The people of my kingdom only breached the walls of yours before they were ordered to retreat. No damage was done," Prince Raylen took the last puff from the cigar, exhaling the smoke into the air and casually dropping it on the ground before he trampled it with the sole of his refined shoe. 

"Your men retreated because Brother Dante stopped them from breaching our walls, not because you ordered them to return," Princess Emily's eyebrows had drawn close together as she watched the man make his way towards them. 

"And now we have a truce of peace, Princess," Prince Raylen stated, and his eyes fell on Anastasia, who quickly looked down at the ground. "What's your name?" 

"It is Anna," Princess Emily replied to his question. When he looked at her, she said, "She cannot speak." 

"I must have imagined her replying to you then," he replied, his lips curling up as he observed the princess and the maid freeze. Anastasia was sure she had been whispering. "Speaking of your brother, where is Dante?" 

"He went out," Princess Emily answered curtly. "I believe the king has already mentioned it to you."

"Sort of," Prince Raylen answered, and he continued, "I came to offer my condolences to the family on the death of your father. But I didn't know that your mother and some of the others were in the old palace. My sympathies." 

Princess Emily nodded in acknowledgement.

"Prince Raylen!" called his minister, summoning his attention. At the same time, Anastasia's eyes met the inquisitive stare of the Storm Prince, which lingered on her for a few seconds longer than expected. 

Anastasia observed the sky turning a little darker before brightening once again when the prince offered a slight nod to the princess as he walked past them. 

When the prince stepped out of the garden, walking away with his minister in tow, Princess Emily muttered, 

"He's just here to mock my family. Versailles and the Storm Kingdom have a delicate relationship, which is currently calm because of the political truce in effect. A few years ago, they joined forces with another kingdom against us in war, and we suffered significant losses."

Anastasia and Princess Emily followed the prince of the Storm Kingdom, who shared a few words with King Maxwell and Queen Maya before he boarded his carriage with his minister. Inside the carriage, the minister asked, 

"Did the visit serve your purpose, My Prince?" 

Prince Raylen offered his minister a polite smile, and he remarked, "Yes." He looked outside the window and murmured, "It has begun." 

Princess Emily looked tired and said, "I feel a little drained of energy. I would like to get some rest and put my feet up," she decided, while they were still outside the palace. As they headed towards the palace entrance, Anastasia's eyes fell on one of the palace windows.

Her brown eyes widened when she noticed a woman standing behind the window. It was Marianne. Anastasia couldn't help but stare at her while simultaneously hearing the princess say, 

"You should go and get some rest too, Anna. Don't think I haven't noticed you yawning," she smiled, going ahead. 

Once Princess Emily disappeared from her sight, Anastasia quickly darted towards the corridor that she had glimpsed her sister standing in. Her footsteps were quick. She avoided running as she was traversing the inner corridors of the palace. 

Was it her sister's ghost? If it was, would she be able to speak to her? 

Nervous and excited at the same time, Anastasia finally reached the corridor with her heart pounding in her chest, and her footsteps finally stopped. The smile that had stretched her lips faltered when she didn't find anyone at the window. 

She breathed heavily, her eyes frantically scanning the deserted corridor in desperation. She walked towards the windows and stood before one of them, in the very spot where she had seen her sister, or believed she had seen. 

Anastasia closed her eyes, trying to compose herself, her fingers tightly gripping the windowsill. She wished she could talk to her sister. As greedy as her heart was in this matter, she was ready to settle for the briefest connection, even if it was just for a single moment. 

As she reopened her eyes, now moist with emotion, she blinked away the tears as she stared at the garden, and then turned to leave the corridor when her eyes fell on King Maxwell.

Like Anastasia, Maxwell, who had been outside the palace, had also noticed the ghost behind a different window, and now stood at the end of the corridor, staring at her. 

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