Rebirth: The unfavored Princess is the Tyrant King's favorite-Chapter 22: Where were we?
"Lead the way," Prince Nicholas said and stood up from his chair.
"This way, your Highness," Peter said and led the way.
With powerful strides, Prince Nicholas, Joshua, and Peter, along with some guards, made their way to the empress’ courtyard only to find Martha, one of the empress’ maids, on her knees and causing a ruckus. Her loud yelling had even attracted the women in the prince’s manor.
Lady Evelyn, Concubine Yvonne, and Concubine Sheila had all heard the noise and had come out to watch. It was only Luciana who was so tired and was finally catching some sleep that was absent. They all bowed to show their respects when Prince Nicholas and his entourage arrived.
As soon as Martha saw Prince Nicholas, she cried out with an innocent look on her face. She looked like someone who had been greatly wronged.
"Your Highness, it’s all a lie; I’ll never harm the empress. I only added a bit of calming incense to the sleeping incense; I just wanted the empress to feel calm because she had been feeling restless these past few days. This servant has been with the empress ever since I was a child; I can never harm her. Please believe me," she cried.
Nicholas stared into her eyes and wanted to believe her; after all, it was true that apart from Samira, she was one of the maids who had stayed longer with his mother. But he could see the subtle hint of panic that flashed beneath her eyes and her clenched hands that were trembling. It indicated she was not saying the whole truth. She was hiding something.
"I also want to believe you did everything out of the goodness of your heart towards the empress. Let’s wait for the imperial physician to analyze the contents of the incense," he said, and instructed the guards,
"Secure the perimeter and don’t let anyone leave this prince’s manor. Also, go and check the servant’s quarters and find any evidence that would tell us who she has been in contact with."
The guards run out to carry out the instructions, and in the next second, a eunuch announces,
"The imperial physician has arrived."
"Good afternoon, Your Highness," the imperial physician greeted. It was about 4:00 pm around that time.
"Good, come and tell me the contents of this pouch," Nicholas instructed.
Respectfully, the imperial physician bowed and took the pouch from the prince, inspected the contents, and took a whiff of the herbal substance. After a while, he gave his analysis.
"My Prince, this is lindenil from Airambia, a city in Florendel, a rare calming incense that helps one to relax and opens their pores so that they can connect with nature," he said.
Martha slumped onto the floor, heaving a sigh of relief as if she had just been given amnesty. Nicholas’ eyes flashed briefly hearing the origins of the incense, but he kept his thoughts to himself.
"Your Highness, I’m innocent; I already told you. I didn’t harm the empress," she said with a voice full of relief, but her joy was short-lived.
"I have not finished speaking," the imperial physician added, causing all eyes to move towards him once again.
"Even though lindenil is a calming incense, it can only be used by people who are not on any form of medication. If it’s used by people who take in nepenthes arum, like in the empress’ case, it causes restlessness and hallucination, which is exactly what happened," the imperial physician concluded.
"Who gave you the pouch? Tell me and I will give you a swift death," Prince Nicholas asked Martha in a chilling tone. His bloodthirsty eyes stared at her like a bottomless abyss that was about to suck her in.
Knowing she would die either way and that there was no way out, Martha could only carry the secret to the grave. ’Her brother and mother were all in the Noble Consort’s hands. Besides, if she accused Noble Consort Margaret of being the mastermind, it would be the words of a lowly slave against those of a royal. She didn’t dare to name the mastermind and cause her family to die together with her.’
"Your Highness, I’m innocent; no one sent me; I had no idea it had other effects; I really had no idea. Please, believe me; I will never harm the empress," she said, yelling shrilly.
Nicholas’ gaze darkened as he stared at Martha and enunciated his next words like an oath.
"I’m giving you one last chance to think carefully before you lie to me again. Since you’ve been with my mother for a long time, I will give you some time to think over your answer carefully; I just want a name..." he paused for dramatic effect and added after a beat,
"I’ll give you 5 minutes, five whole minutes, to confess and give me a name," he said and walked away into the empress’ inner chambers to check on his mother. He hoped she was not too agitated by everything that happened.
~~~
He found his mother clutching a pillow in her arms and looking around at it with a fierce look in her eyes as if she was being cornered by people in all directions. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶
"Mother will protect you, son; I will not allow them to harm you. You are safe; nothing will happen to you," she kept mumbling the same sentence over and over again. Nicholas turned to Samira, who was standing by the side, and asked,
"How long has she been like this?"
"Since this morning, Your Highness, I’m sorry for not protecting the empress well. In the beginning, she was indeed calm every time we put the incense in her room, so I had no idea it had such effects," Samira said.
Nicholas’ eyes trembled as he realized the underlying meaning behind Samira’s words.
"Since when has she been using incense?" He asked in a commanding tone.
"We only used it every time the empress became restless, Your Highness. We have been using it on and off for about two months now," Samira said.
"Why didn’t you tell me she was getting worse?" He snarled, the anger in his voice palpable.
"I’m sorry, Your Highness, I deserve to die," Samira said, heavily falling onto her knees.
Nicholas walked towards the empress and placed his hand on her shoulder to try and comfort her, but the empress flinched and looked up at him in fear; she stared at him as if he were a stranger.
"Don’t take him away from me; he’s my son. Leave us alone, please, my liege; don’t take him away from me," she begged, tears rolling down her face as she hugged the pillow with all her strength.
"Attend to her and give her some sleeping pills. Let me know when she wakes up, he told Samira and walked away.
His mother’s sudden outburst reminded him of that night several years ago when he was taken away from the empress to be raised by Noble Consort Margaret because his mother was losing her sanity. Even though they were in the same palace, his father had forbidden him from visiting his mother.
Anytime he tried to sneak into his mother’s residence, he would always be caught and punished. It wasn’t until the day he was able to defeat the guard that he was able to see his mother.
At that time, seeing how his father had neglected the empress, he hated the emperor for treating his mother that way. But he was still a child then; what could he do?
Putting his anger aside, he had then pleaded with the emperor to let the imperial physicians take a look at the empress. After a while, with his constant visits and the imperial physician’s efforts, his mother almost recovered until a malicious person poisoned her, and all their efforts went down the drain.
But he realized getting the antidote proved to be more difficult than finding a needle in a haystack, but he wouldn’t give up; he would find all those who wanted to harm the empress and make them pay.
~~~
"Now, where were we? Have you thought it through?" He asked Martha in a cold voice, a murderous glint in his eyes.
At the same time, the guards rushed back and brought a little chest containing some precious jewels and pearls a maid like Martha could never afford.
"Your Highness, we found these precious treasures in this maid’s luggage. There’s an eagle symbol here on the chest, which shows it came from Florendel," the leading guard reported.
Whispers began to circulate in the crowd since the name Florendel had been heard recently by everyone these past few days following the prince’s absence from the wedding with his princess consort.
