{Music Recommendation: Love In The Dark ~ Adele}

The next day finally arrived; a day set aside to punish the masterminds. As they were dragged out from the dungeon, Gwen and Adelaide were made to dress in their undergarments while they were dragged outside the palace, and beside them was Bessie. Nicholas was dragged by two other royal guards.

The procession was a quiet one; the only sound heard was the carriage that carried other members of the royal family to the village center. Upon arrival, Adric helped Oriana step down from the carriage first before going to sit at the podium meant for the royal family. Since the rulings had already been made the previous day, there was no need for further deliberation.

Gwen and Adelaide were made to kneel in front of the villagers while lashes from different angles tore their skin, causing them to bleed. Their cries and wailing filled the arena, while some women on the sidelines mocked Gwen, throwing rotten fruits and vegetables at her.

Jasmine, who couldn’t bear watching her mother and sister being punished, quietly left the arena in tears.

After their flogging, they were locked back up inside a wooden cage, and the next to be released was Nicholas. By this time, his injured eye was now swollen and completely covered with dried blood. He was first tied to a horse, and the horse was made to run, dragging him behind it.

Oriana watched this with a calm expression. Unlike the previous day, she was no longer scared of Nicholas. It wasn’t her fault that she thought he was a nice person, and like Adric said, she was strong, and all that was proven by the things she survived.

When Nicholas’s horse returned, his garment was already torn beyond recognition revealing the open wounds that was caused by the rough sand. He writhed in pain, that made him even unable to speak as his flesh had peeled so badly showing his inner skin. His tired eyes were now on Oriana and Adric.

This wasn’t what he had planned, all he wanted all along was to have everything Adric ever had. It all started when they were just children. The Prime Minister hated so much how Adric’s family loved him and how he cherished the things gotten for him by his mother. It made Nicholas want to have everything, even his throne. Then Oriana came along and everything changed, the same girl Adric had told him about when they were children. He wanted to have her too, no he almost had her but things has changed now. Everything.

Nicholas tried to inhale, but he felt his side throb so badly as he was dragged towards the two horses. Now he was dying and Adric was still happy about to have his own child with the woman he loves so much. Nicholas felt the corner of his eyes sting, he didn’t know if it was tears or the pain of his skin peeling but at the moment he felt so many regrets. The days when he used to be just friends with Adric. And in truth Adric had never done anything but just be his friend.

The Prime Minister decided to accept his punishment, it was only right karma decide his fate. Next his legs were tied to two separate horses. The horses were then whipped, causing them to run in opposite directions.

"Argh!!" Nicholas’s scream filled the entire place as the horses moved, threatening to rip him apart. "P-please..." His tears and pleas were heard.

When the horses moved forcefully one final time, tearing Nicholas apart, Oriana closed her eyes. Adric used his body to shield her, stopping her from seeing the gruesome sight.

Throughout all of this, the entire place remained as silent as a graveyard on a rainy day. Most of the ministers who had allied with Nicholas were even more afraid for their lives, grateful that the only thing they had to lose was their titles.

The last to be punished was Bessie. She was dragged forward towards the scaffold, but Oriana stopped them before they could take her. She raised her hand.

"Let me talk to her," Oriana said, going to stand in front of Bessie. Despite everything, she still wanted to know the reason behind Bessie’s sudden hate and betrayal because, to Oriana, there was never a time she had done anything to offend the girl. In fact, back at Orion, Bessie was actually the first friend she’d ever had, one she was grateful to have in her life. Whatever it was that changed, Oriana wanted to know.

"Bessie... you’re about to die out there, but I want you to tell me before anything else. What changed? Why did you do what you did?"

Bessie raised her face, looking Oriana straight in the eyes. "Why I did what I did?" The girl chuckled, shaking her head slowly.

"I never did anything to hurt you... if not for anything, I treated you as my own," Oriana continued, looking at the girl who was about to die without even a family.

Bessie scowled when Oriana said this. "Never did anything to hurt me? Do you remember the maid you used to have when you were a child? Amara..."

Oriana repeated the name in her mind; she had had countless maids changed, and she could barely remember their names.

"Of course, you don’t... She was punished because the King and your sister thought she hurt you and was teaching you how to lie... and you watched her get punished." Bessie’s voice cracked as she tried to stop her tears from flowing.

Oriana finally remembered the maid. She was the last personal maid assigned to he, the woman who was tortured in the dungeon because of her.

"You knew Auntie Amara-"

"Don’t call her that!" Bessie spat. "She suffered in pain from the punishment given to her, and she wasn’t able to train me and my siblings anymore. My mother died suffering from the torture you caused her to receive, and I came to the palace only to see you living your best life, happily, after ruining my family..."

Oriana took a step back when she heard this. She wasn’t sure what to say to the girl. "I never wanted to hurt your mother... I-I’m sorry... you should have told me, Bessie."

"Why? It changes nothing... it doesn’t change the fact that you ruined my family... and I so much enjoyed your pain; let it pay the price for the sorrows my mother, my siblings, and I had to go through," Bessie remarked, looking at Oriana with contempt. She raised her hand in the air. "I’ll gladly die now, though I didn’t get to see you die, but the pain and sorrow that will live with you, knowing a woman died and it was all your fault, will be enough." Bessie grinned as the guards quickly came to drag her towards the scaffold.

Oriana watched as the girl was prepared to be killed. She took a step back, the words Bessie had told her in the past flooding back into her mind;

"Life is not how you think it is; there’s more, and you’ll soon realize the havoc you wreak in other people’s lives while living as a princess. You are born to bring only sorrow, death, and pain to those around you."

At the moment, Oriana had a lot of thoughts going on in her head. Was she right for hating Bessie? Was Bessie right for wanting to kill her. What was right? At the same time what was wrong. There seemed to be a very thin line between it all.

Oriana gulped, shaking her head. This was it, the beginning of what was about to end. All her troubles had started from one maid that died because of her. In truth everyone was to be blamed for it, the parents of Oriana who had treated her with so much hate. And Sophie who reported the maid, then there was Oriana who was careless.

Oriana didn’t want to justify her actions, but she had been just a child, and there was little she could do to protect herself. All of this, she needed to explain to Bessie and also apologize to the girl. Oriana raised her face, looking towards the scaffold where Bessie was now standing.

"Wait! Don’t kill her yet! I have something to say,"

Oriana ran towards the scaffold. She needed to make it clear to the girl that, even though her pain was justified, she had the chance to make things better; not by joining hands with people who wouldn’t bat an eye to kill and most of all, Oriana wanted to apologize. She never knew how much her carelessness had affected others. Bessie might not be the only one, but she wanted to start from somewhere.

"Bessie, I-"

Before Oriana could get there, Bessie moved herself forward, into the executioner’s dagger, letting it cut through her as her blood pooled on the wooden floor.

"No!" Oriana shouted, rushing as fast as she could. She held the girl closely. "No... someone get a physician... Bessie... I’m sorry about your mother... everything... I didn’t mean to hurt her... please... someone help..."

Oriana’s voice and tears blurred as she held the body of the dying maid closely, the blood soaking into her own dress.

Bessie smiled, her teeth now covered in blood. "Thank you... for apologizing... that was all I wanted, but... I should also pay for my sins..." The maid closed her eyes gently, letting the darkness take over.