Completely ignorant of the plans of Susan's parents to ship her and Williams out of the palace, Luciana paced around her chamber, thinking about how they could handle things.
For now, she had drawn two possible conclusions. Either Princess Amber had done it, or someone else was responsible for it and wanted her to take the blame.
As for the first conclusion, she couldn't believe it, since there was no way Princess Amber could also be responsible for what happened to Prince Harold.
But why Beth, of all people? And how come Princess Amber could not remember anything? How come the king was very sick at the same time? Everything was too smoothly planned. She didn't believe it was merely a coincidence. If Tyra had not been involved in this and only Beth had been affected, things wouldn't have been as intense as this.
That left her with the second conclusion. Someone else had done it but wanted Princess Amber to take the blame. But why Princess Amber? Was it perhaps someone that had a grudge against Harold? Why not just kill Prince Harold? Why go as far as doing this to Prince Harold's wife?
At first, she had been suspicious of the Queen and Ivan, but after Ivan's visit to her chamber the previous day, she had begun to rethink it.
She had worked closely with the Queen and Ivan before, and so she knew how they reasoned. Because of this, she had a feeling that this might be neither of their doings.
She wasn't proud to admit it, but she hadn't married a very smart man. Ivan was not capable of pulling off something like this. Everything was just too perfect and had good timing. It seemed like whoever was behind everything had been planning this for a very long time, and she knew that Ivan did not have that sort of patience since impatience and foolishness went hand in hand.
For some reason, she felt it wasn't the queen either. As far as she knew, the Queen wouldn't go this far, especially not when keeping Princess Amber alive meant that Harold would not be able to ascend the throne since no one would want a human bride.
She also didn't think the queen would hurt Tyra, even though she didn't like her that much.
Everything boiled down to the maid who had witnessed everything. How come Tyra had been sick that night? How come she was the one attending to Tyra? Who had put her in charge when she worked in a different part of the palace?
Luciana sighed in despair as she thought of everyone who was being affected by this evil plot.
A knock came on the door, distracting her from her "prayers" and she immediately went to kneel and bowed her head in prayer since she had no idea who was at the door.
She raised her head when she heard someone approaching and she realized it was her maid.
"Did you find anything? Is the assembly over? Why did you waste so much time?" Luciana asked as she rose, while her maid dropped the tray of food.
Her maid was supposed to find out any information about the missing maid and bring her breakfast. But more than three hours had passed since she left.
When her maid faced her to explain, Luciana noticed the bruise on her face and approached her.
"What is that?" She asked, pointing at the cut on her face. It had been treated and was probably going to heal up by the following day, but it hadn't been there this morning.
"A cut." The maid said stupidly, which earned her a glare from her mistress.
"How did that happen? I sent you out to find something and you returned with a cut on your face. Were you playing around?" She snarled.
One thing a lot of people disliked about Luciana was her arrogance and the way she behaved. Ever since Princess Amber came here, Luciana had been a bit better at treating the maids, but she was still in between a good mistress and an overbearing mistress.
"No, Milady. I was sent on an errand," Her maid, Leana, quickly explained, before going on to narrate what had happened.
She had gone to the kitchen to get breakfast for her mistress and also to hear the latest gossip since that was the best place to know what was happening in the palace. Unfortunately, things were not meant to be smooth for her because as soon as she entered, all eyes went to her, making her confused as she wondered what she or her mistress had done this time.
Ever since her mistress was stripped of her princess title, things had not been easy for her, but she had never thought it was going to get this bad.
"She should do it. After all, she serves only Luciana. She can serve one more person."
Since Princess Luciana lost her title, Leena had been quiet and timid, but she couldn't take it anymore today.
"Have you lost your mind? Who are you addressing in that manner?" She yelled at the assistant kitchen staff, but what she got in return was a tray being shoved at her rudely by the head of the kitchen.
She instinctively caught it and held it in her hand, with a frown on her face as she looked down at the tray, which contained a little tea kettle and cup.
"Take that to Sir Lance's chamber. You should serve him since no one else wants to do it." The head chef said to her before he turned and walked off.
The other maids visibly sighed in relief and also walked away, leaving Leana to do as she had been told.
Leana had heard how he assaulted the maid that served him the previous day, and since then, no one else wanted to do so. Unfortunately, she had just literally walked into trouble.
She turned around and left the kitchen with the tray to do as she had been instructed. As much as she dreaded crossing paths with Sir Lance, she knew she had to serve him or else she would be in trouble, and she had been right to feel that way because even before she got to the door, she heard Lance's angry voice before something was smashed. It made her flinch and spill some of the tea on the tray.
Already shaking from fear, she approached the door and was already thinking of how to get in, when the door opened and a guard rushed out.
When he saw Leana, he gave her a sympathetic look as he scurried off. She took a deep breath and entered the messy room.
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