[Music Recommendation: The Devil ~ Rok Nardin]
Oriana froze. The person lying dead wasn’t the culprit? Then who? What did she see? What if the culprit knew that she didn’t remember and decided to come for her? Dread filled her very soul as she held her hands together, afraid of what her fate would be.
Adric noticed the fear in Oriana’s eyes, and he reached for her shoulder. "Look at me," he tried to get her attention and full concentration on him. "Trust me, we can make everything right if you try to remember."
"I was called by a maid," Oriana started, trying her best to recall everything that had happened before she met Adric. "I spoke to Freya..." her voice trailed off. She wiped her clammy hands on her dress, really wanting to be useful, but it was as if something was clouding her memory, blurring other details out.
"Princess, listen. Don’t think of everything at the same time. Focus on one thing at a time," Adric suggested. "You can start by thinking of your morning and how it was, slowly."
Oriana nodded and closed her eyes. She started thinking about how she woke up happy. The fresh morning scent wafted through her nose, and she smiled. Slowly, she started thinking about the details she must have missed. First was when she returned to the palace with Freya. Someone was looking at her, but the person was standing far away. It was a man. Tall, but Adric was taller. She didn’t see the person’s face. Moving on, Oriana thought about the time she was in the room with Freya.
"The maid called me, we passed two rooms and there was nothing, wait..." Oriana opened her eyes. She had just remembered something, "The Queen’s chamber."
"What happened to it?" Adric asked. "Tell me, Oriana, what happened to the Queen’s chamber?"
Oriana hummed. "Ehm...we passed the Queen’s chamber first, and she was there but not alone. She was complaining about something, but I passed quickly because I thought she was still angry about what happened today. You know I slapped her maid," Oriana whispered the last words. Did the woman attempt to kill the King because of what happened earlier? This possibility scared Oriana.
"Go ahead, what else?" Adric asked, looking at her.
Oriana raised her eyes, looking at the ceiling. What else did she ignore or miss? Then it snapped. "Yes! The King’s chambers. I saw Princess Jasmine’s husband standing at the door, like he wanted to talk to the King, but then he left. Also, for a moment, I think I saw someone leaving the room, maybe a maid or not, but it was a dress. I don’t know," Oriana said. She didn’t want to make up stories or accuse an innocent person wrongly, but she really wanted to help Adric.
"I’m sorry," she muttered.
Adric looked at the body on the floor, covered with blood. He shook his head, "You did well. We have our suspects now, people who were targeting the King."
Oriana looked at the King. She contemplated telling Adric about the person who was looking at her earlier when they arrived the palace with Freya or not. She didn’t even see the person’s face; maybe it was not necessary.
"You can leave now," Adric waved, walking toward the lifeless body.
Oriana slowly padded her feet to the door. She pushed it open, waiting for Adric to say something else, but he didn’t. She left the room. It was when Oriana left the room that the fear she thought had left returned, gripping her neck. How was she supposed to be fine on her own when she must have seen something she wasn’t supposed to? What if the real killer was waiting for her to stay alone, then make a lethal move?
"Ah!" Oriana jumped when someone touched her shoulder.
Princess Adelaide stood behind her. "Are you okay? Did something happen in there?"
Oriana gulped. There is a saying that killers always go back to their crime scene. Was this one of those cases? Could it be that... "Princess Adelaide, you scared me for a second," she composed herself immediately. If this Princess was the culprit, she needed to act normal.
"I did? I’m so sorry. I only wanted to know what is going on. Did Brother Adric find anything?" Adelaide asked with a harried expression.
Oriana shook her head, "Not really."
Adelaide nodded, sensing the hesitation in Oriana’s voice. "Please don’t get me wrong, I’m only worried why he asked us all to leave, including his family. You know how our relationship with him is strained. I fear he wouldn’t even let us near Father."
Oriana looked down at the Princess’s shoes, then her gown, and she tried to match it with the person she had seen, but it wasn’t the same.
"Are you okay? Is anything the matter?" Adelaide asked.
Oriana smiled, "I’m fine. I need some time to rest," she replied. This was the first time she was seeing this Princess say so many words at the same time. When people commit a crime, they do things out of their usual selves. This Princess was acting really suspicious.
"Where are my manners?" Adelaide sighed. "Don’t mind me, we are all flustered. I should let you sleep," she remarked.
Let her sleep? Oriana repeated the words in her head. It sounded more like a threat than a wish or was she just thinking too much. "Thank you, Princess," she bowed, turning to go back to her room.
"And Princess Oriana," Adelaide called, "make sure you lock your windows. We don’t know who else would be next."
This was it! Oriana thought to herself. This proved everything. She might have seen Adelaide, but she couldn’t remember. However, the princess had seen her and was hot on her tail. "Thank you for the wishes. Goodnight, Princess Adelaide," she bowed and walked briskly to her room.
Freya... Oriana remembered she had told the girl to wait in her room. What if...? She ran as fast as her legs could carry her, her chest pounding rapidly. If anything should happen to Freya, she wouldn’t be able to forgive herself. When Oriana got to her room, she noticed the door was slightly open. She pushed it open and walked inside. There was no sign of Freya. 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢
"Freya..." she called. Each second that passed heightened her fear. Her hands trembling, she knew that if anything should happen to Freya, she would run back and tell Adric who the culprit was. It was nobody else but Adelaide.
"Freya..." she noticed the bathroom door was open. She walked inside and saw hair floating in the bathtub. "Freya!!" Oriana screamed, ready to start crying when the girl raised her head.
"Princess!" Freya cleaned her eyes, now blurred because of the water.
Oriana sighed, "Thank goodness." She held her chest. "You had me there for a moment."
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