[Music Recommendation: Orange Coloured Sky ~ Hs]

Adric invited the entire royal family to the living room. He didn’t let them know why they were invited, but he’d already questioned the servants who were in the palace while others were hunting, especially the guards, to know how everything returned.

Oriana left Freya after Louis had arrived, and she went to the living room. She was irked by Sophie’s presence because she wasn’t even a member of the royal family, and how she sat close to Queen Gwen at the moment got on her nerves the most.

"Why are we here?" Jasmine asked, going to sit close to her husband, leaving Oriana to sit close to Adelaide.

Adric started by looking at everyone’s face and how relaxed they were after someone in their midst had killed someone. He had his suspicion that whoever it was also had a hand in what happened to his father.

"Two bodies were found in the forest," he announced.

Jasmine gasped, "Again? What happened? Was it the wild animal?" She was the only one who appeared to be shocked in the room. She turned to see her mother’s calm expression, "Mother, did you know about this?"

Gwen glared at her daughter, "How would I know? I just suspected because I haven’t seen my personal maid since I arrived."

Jasmine nodded, "That’s true, the maid I left with too. I don’t know her too well, but she started serving me recently. She went hunting with me, and I thought maybe she was swapped. Wait, she’s dead?" The princess touched her chest, looking at everyone in the room.

Fidelis sighed, "What is it this time?" He asked his son, already tired of the recurring deaths in the palace. It made the servants uneasy as their lives were at risk, and nobody could protect them.

"It wasn’t a wild animal," Adric started, walking cautiously behind everyone’s chair. He paused at Gwen’s couch, "It was murder. I won’t say it was planned either."

Gwen turned her face to look at Adric, "Why are you standing behind me? I didn’t do anything. If anyone is to be suspected, it shouldn’t be me. As a matter of fact, Princess Oriana slapped that same maid a few weeks ago. Maybe a bad blood was settled with killing?" She turned to look Oriana straight in the eyes.

"Are you suggesting that all bad bloods should be settled with killing? Is that how it’s done here? I mean, I wouldn’t know except someone teaches me," Oriana retorted. She had clearly forgotten about the maid she slapped. Even hearing of her death was news to her. The disrespect the maid had shown her wasn’t enough to make her think of murder.

Gwen scoffed, "And she gets bolder as the day breaks," the woman shook her head, her lips set in a thin line.

"I’m sorry you had to hear that, Your Majesty," Sophie intervened, holding Gwen’s hand. "Oriana, this isn’t how you should talk to your mother-in-law."

Gwen scowled, "I will never answer that. I would have preferred if you were my daughter-in-law. You are so polished and more presentable."

Oriana’s pride was hurt when she heard this. She looked at Adric from the corner of her eye, but he wasn’t looking at her.

"The princess is right," Adric continued without mentioning the princess he was talking about, but Sophie already took the praise. "It was just the royal family and their personal servants who entered the forest today for hunting, all with their pairs. These two maids were killed together."

He left Gwen’s back and walked towards his father. Now standing behind him.

"The offenders should be punished. The lives of our servants are also precious, and we should cherish them," Fidelis spoke with authority. "Regardless of who the culprit is."

Adric smiled. He walked past his father and now came to stand behind Caspar and Jasmine.

Caspar was shaking. He had started shaking ever since he returned from the forest, but now hearing that the body was found by the prince made him even more scared. He tried to keep calm. Nobody had seen them, so nobody knew about it.

"Dear brother-in-law, the maids said they saw you covered in blood when you returned from the forest, but you didn’t catch a boar nor a deer. Makes me wonder whose blood it was," Adric said.

Caspar gulped, "It wasn’t my blood. I had caught a boar, but it was heavily injured and it escaped. So...you can ask Princess Adelaide; she was my pair."

Adelaide raised her face when her name was mentioned. She stared at Caspar for a moment and smiled. "He’s right. We caught a boar but lost it after it was badly injured. What if the boar had killed the servants? Just my thought," she tapped her fingers on her lips thoughtfully.

Oriana thought about the possibility of the boar attacking the servants, but what she didn’t find clear was if the boar attacked the servants first or if Caspar had injured the boar first. The story didn’t fit in either way.

"That’s a great theory, dear sister. I’ll be sure to find this boar that had killed our beloved servants," Adric said, walking towards where Oriana was sitting.

Oriana held her breath, looking at Adric from the corner of her eye. She could almost see him near her, and she gripped her gown tightly.

"Since we already know it’s a boar, let’s forget about it and prepare for tomorrow’s event. It’s the cooking competition," Jasmine announced with a bright smile on her face, "the best activity, and I can’t wait for it."

Adric stopped in his steps, "You’re right, I should let you all prepare for tomorrow’s event then," he didn’t get to Oriana, but his eyes were on her. He turned and left the room.

Oriana finally let go of her breath, her eyes following Adric, looking at where he was going.

"What’s the cooking competition about?" Sophie asked, with a bright smile on her face.

"The best food to win over the men in the palace. Last time, it was Adelaide, but Jasmine has been taking classes to learn a lot of dishes lately," Gwen replied. "I would love for you to cook alongside me tomorrow," she said to Sophie.

"Really?" Sophie blinked, "It’s an honor. I attended all my training and cooking classes, but I can’t say the same for my sister. She never listened to her governess," she said in a whispered tone, but everyone in the room heard it.

Jasmine chuckled, "If that’s the case, she shouldn’t dream of winning tomorrow. And who knows? Maybe if you cook so well, Brother Adric won’t mind making you his Queen."

"You think so?" Sophie clapped her hands together, "I mean, that would be sad, but I also don’t mind."

Fidelis, seeing that they were all ganged up against the princess and she looked like she wasn’t in the mood to talk back, cleared his throat.

"I will now return to my room. Princess Oriana, come help this old man stand, if you don’t mind."

Oriana was surprised to hear the king call her specifically. She didn’t hesitate. She quickly raised her gown gently before going to help the King stand up, and they left the living room together.

They both walked along the passage with two maids in front of them holding a lamp to illuminate their path. Oriana’s gown made a ruffling sound on the marble floor. She wanted to talk but didn’t know what to say to Adric’s father.

"Do their words worry you? About Adric making your sister Queen?" Fidelis asked as they were almost getting to his room.

Oriana chuckled, "No, it doesn’t. But my sister isn’t so wrong. I don’t know how to cook or do anything like other ladies," she confessed.

Fidelis threw his head back and laughed at the girl’s raw honesty. "That was very plain, I like it. No, not that I like that you can’t cook, but I like how honest you are."

"Thank you, Your Majesty." Oriana bowed. The man’s words warmed her heart.

The king continued, "You don’t need to worry about losing your position here in the palace. Adric might be a lot of things, but he isn’t someone to break principles. And if it makes you feel better, I will write a list of things Adric loved eating when he was still a child and send them to you. Maybe you can try with that." 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

Oriana clapped, "Really?" She was very happy to cook whatever it was Adric enjoyed eating. "That would be great. I mean, I can work with that, though it won’t be perfect but I’ll try."

"It doesn’t have to be; it’s always the thought that matters," Fidelis said, finally getting to his room. "You can go to your room. My servant will bring the list to you, so you can be prepared for tomorrow."

Oriana nodded. She had wanted to wait there in front of the king’s door, but she decided to obey his words and wait in her room.

Fidelis wrote down on a parchment the foods Adric enjoyed, giving it to his personal maid to send to Oriana.

Oriana waited at her door, listening so she won’t miss the maid. The moment the maid knocked Oriana opened the door.

"Thank you!" Oriana accepted took the lost with a bright smile on her face. She unrolled it and read the contents, "Pineapple pudding, beans stew, and peach..." She muttered, happy to prepare all of them tomorrow just to impress Adric.