Ch. 10: A Poisonous Affair
Disappointment chases at my heels like an overexcited dog for the next few days at the palace. Would it be strange for me to say that my life is the same as before, although I am in a far more luxurious setting? My new home after meeting my father is the Rose Palace, a palace built and dedicated to the emperor’s most beloved woman.
The secluded palace has windows of pink glass and vases with red roses upon every table, coupled with a fragrant garden of several thousand roses. But as beautiful of a residence as it is, it is not a gift from the heart. After all, the whisperings of the maids assigned to me quickly informed me that the crown prince’s mother, Queen Arabella, had passed away here several years ago and the palace has been abandoned since. It is no longer a place of love, but instead somewhere to bury a mistake.
So without as many words, Helio has basically told the whole world that he doesn’t give a flying fuck about me. Well, that was to be expected. My initial hurt from his rejection has dulled out as I remember my original mission since arriving: not dying at age 16 on the guillotine. And in order to do that, I’m going to have to somehow score a stronghold of my own against the empress’ might. I let out a solemn sigh. It will be a fierce, uphill battle without a powerful mother in the palace or my father’s love.
The sweet middle-aged brunette, whose name turned out to be similar to my original one, Marie, scurries over to my balcony seat where I am deep in thought. After everything that had happened in the throne room, I feel like in our short time together she already genuinely cares for me as an older sister or even a mother. She has an ever-present smile on her face as she walks over, tugging me out of my melancholy mood.
“Marie!” I exclaim, deciding to act my age by sliding down the high seat and jumping into her welcoming arms. She is not stuffy like the other maids in the Rose Palace, who deliberately snub me since I don’t matter in the palace hierarchy. On the surface, I am treated like a princess. Today I’m wearing a frothy children’s dress in peacock blue along with matching accessories. But the rough hands and cold eyes make it more than obvious that my presence is not welcome.
“Your highness,” Marie chuckles as she settles me back onto the ground. “Be careful not to ruin your hair.”
“Oh, right. Sorry, Marie!” She spends a good deal of time every morning combing out my pin-straight hair and adding curls to it. In my past life as Maria, my hair had been too short to worry about but here, my icy white hair falls past my waist in a dazzling curtain of white.
“It’s quite alright. I brought you some tea since I thought you might be bored. Are you sure you wouldn’t care for any toys?” she asked with a concerned expression. The maids who entered after her begin to unload my afternoon tea from the trolley to the table.
.....
I shake my head, the sweet aroma of honey biscuits distracting me. Toys were overrated. Other than Doll, who was sadly left behind in Bianca’s home and probably already disposed of, I have no need for any children’s toys. My small hands drum out a little beat on the table as I’m brimming with happiness at my snacks. They were arranged on a silver carrier, with 3 layered plates of treats. If I had known the food at the royal palace was this good, I would have considered sneaking out of my little room to get caught on my own volition.
The tea is too hot when a maid sets the cup down in front of me. I’m not well educated on so I blow hard on the cup until Marie chides me for it. An etiquette teacher is supposed to come in next week and start teaching me. But until then, I’ve been eating as crudely as possible even though I do have some basic table manners from my previous life. After all, it would be quite strange for a kid from the slums to know how to properly hold a knife and fork.
I stir my tea with a delicate, silver spoon so it can cool faster and motion for all the maids to disperse. They turn heel and quickly exit, leaving the balcony to me and Marie. I smile a little on the inside as they leave obediently. It is easy to see why people crave this kind of power.
“Has something made you happy, your highness?” Marie asks, her quick eyes catching my little expression.
I wonder how I should answer, before going for a simple lie.
“Just these pretty flowers at my table,” I respond, my fingers trailing on the pink petals of the roses on my table.
“I’ve never seen flowers like this at my old home.”
Marie’s face instantly deflates and I mentally slap myself across the face. The news of my original whereabouts seems to have been kept a secret by Wolfgang and the normal guards. Still, I’m sure that Marie can guess as she has seen me without clothes whenever I bathe and still recoils from how skinny I am. This week at the palace has done me some good, but it will be a while before I fall into the healthy range of weight for prepubescent children.
“Don’t be sad,” I say when I saw her face. I offer her one of the precious lemon cookies on my plate in hopes that her warm smile will return to her face. It was difficult to vet on my own, but I know that Marie was just a simple laundry maid before I chose her to work for me at the Rose Palace. Since she has no connections to anyone, I want her to be one of my people.
“You are too kind, your highness,” a wide, toothy beam spreading across her middle-aged cheeks. Mission accomplished! Now that her good mood has returned, I can finally ask all the questions that have been bottled up inside of me since I’ve arrived.
“What are people saying about me outside?” I inquire with puppy eyes. I’ve only ever tried to leave the Rose Palace once and was rejected by the guards posted at the entrance for fear of my ‘safety’. The maids assigned to me are careful with their words when I am near and only Marie speaks freely to me. She is my sole lifeline to the rest of the palace, but as a simple woman, not much for gossip.
“Well,” she replies, looking a little torn. “I’m not sure if they are meant for a young princess’ ears.”
So Marie had heard something. Like a fisher tugging at stubborn prey, I set down the spoon I’d been stirring my tea with and walked up to her.
“Please tell me, Marie! Pretty please? Good or bad, I want to know.” I channel my best doe eyes and cling to her hand. It felt a little overboard in the beginning, but as usual, she was quick to give in to my whims.
“Ok, your highness. But please promise me you won’t go around repeating the things I tell you because I don’t want us to get in trouble.” The look of uncertainty is still there but I know she’s going to spill.
“Ok! Ok!” I promise, jumping up and down. Why am I so good at being a little kid?
Marie lets out a sigh first, absentmindedly brushing her hands on the front of her apron, a nervous tick.
“Well... people are a bit surprised because it is the first time a prospective prince or princess has passed the inspection by a holy mage,” she started slowly.
I nodded. That made sense, since the holy church probably called every single one of them fake, whether it was true or not. It had truly been a stroke of genius for me to approach my father first.
“And hmm, what else? Oh yes, the people are also talking about what this means for Princess Julia. Since you are both the same age, now everyone is wondering whether Princess Julia is truly the prophesied child who will lead the Erudian Empire to its golden age or whether it’s you,” she trailed off towards the end and nervously looked around to see if anyone was listening. But this was precisely why I chose the balcony to speak because the wide-open space makes it difficult for any spies to listen in.
“What’s the prophesied child?” I inquire, even though I know perfectly well what it is.
Right around when the empress was a few months pregnant, the Holy Church’s ancient high priest had received a vision from the gods claiming that the promised child who would lead the Empire to the greatest heights it could ever achieve was soon to be born. Everyone had naturally assumed that Princess Julia, who had been adored from the moment she was born, would fulfill the prophecy until little, old me suddenly got thrown into the equation last week.
Marie chuckled at my cuteness as she led me back to the table.
“Your teachers will tell you about it when you’re a little bit older,” she responded with a smile.
“When I’m this tall?” I asked, waving my hand a couple of inches over my head.
“Maybe even sooner than that if you’re lucky.”
“Hooray!” I already knew about the prophecy, but the news warranted celebrating anyways. My teacup had been sitting for a few minutes by now, so I decided to finally enjoy the hot beverage even though every day was warmer than the last.
“Oh?” I said curiously. In my haste to cutely interrogate Marie, I had set down my spoon on the saucer and now the entire tip that had swirled in my tea was black as soot.
“Marie, my spoon broke!” I said, waving around the funny-looking utensil.
All the color drained out of my maid’s face leaving her pasty white.
“Put that down, your highness!” she cried, smacking the spoon from my hands. She furiously wiped at my hands where a drop or two had splashed and then looked at me with a frantic expression.
“Did you drink any of it? I need to know, your highness.” Marie said, her eyes running over my face searching for something. I shook my head, fear snatching away my words as I realized the implications of what had happened. There had been poison in my teacup. And if I hadn’t insisted on waiting until the drink cooled, I would be dead right now.
I begin hyperventilating as I looked back at my innocent tea set on the table. Had anything else been poisoned? Am I going to die? Marie is still talking to me and has begun leading me back to my room in a haze. She leaves me for a moment to go inform a guard to bring me a physician and then she picks me up.
“It’s ok, your highness. Shhhh. Shhhh.” she cooed, bouncing me up and down on her hip. I am still frozen with shock and it is now I feel fat tears rolling down my face. I am truly scared. Even more so than I was when the royal guards had burst into Bianca’s house.
It is only 2 hours later I begin to calm down after Maria has changed me into a nightgown and the royal physician has been in to inspect me. Marie promises me that the royal guards will find the culprit and that they have interrogated all the cooks and maids in charge of preparing my food. I am quite hungry as I lay in my chamber bed, but now I’m too scared to ask for food in fear it too will be poisoned.
This incident has left me pretty shaken up and in need of some serious comforting.
“Marie,” I whine to the motherly maid sitting beside my bed. “I’m scared.”
She tenderly pats the side of my head. It feels nice, its been so long since anyone willingly showed me any affection.
“It’s ok, your highness. I will arrange for a tester to be brought to the Rose Palace first thing in the morning!” she promises.
“Marie?” I asked a minute later. I’m being unnecessarily needy, but just for now, I don’t care.
“Yes, your highness?”
“Please call me Winter. Just in private.” I say quietly.
She looks indecisive, but I do my puppy eyes and she succumbed in seconds.
“As you wish, your highness,” she replied with a slight bow.
“Winter!” I insist.
“Oops. As you wish, Winter.” We both titter at her funny goof and I feel much better already.
A sudden, frenzied knock on my gold and white door ends our bonding session halfway. Marie’s face becomes the emotionless mask the maids are trained to maintain and she lets a worried maid into my bedroom, which is almost 3 times the size of Bianca’s house.
The short maid, although she was still a giant where I was concerned, was wringing her hands nervously, her white bonnet slightly undone. I sat up in bed, all traces of joy or despair emptied from my face.
“You may speak,” I commanded from where I sat.
“Your highness,” she started, ducking into a curtsey first.
“Her majesty, the empress, is waiting for you downstairs in the sitting room.”