"He keeps having headaches. The only thing he ate that was different from what every other person ate were the biscuits he received from you that evening," Williams explained.
"Biscuits? Did I make them? But everyone ate the snacks we made, and they were alright," she said, looking at Susan, who gave her a nod.
"We don't think you made them. But we don't know who you got them from either. But that is our clue. You both have similar symptoms, but his symptoms seem to be milder than yours." Williams explained patiently.
Alicia tried to think about it, but she couldn't. The only vivid memory she had from that day all ended in the morning. It was difficult to remember anything else without trying so hard and suffering from a terrible headache.
"You should eat," Williams said to Alicia and turned to Susan. "Stay here with them while I go and check what is going on in the palace," Williams said and headed for the door.
As he approached the palace, he met Harvey, who was headed in his direction, and both men stopped.
Seeing the look on Harvey's face, Wiliams could tell that something was wrong somewhere.
"Princess Tyra says she can't remember what happened that night," Harvey informed Williams.
"What?" Williams asked in disbelief. It didn't make sense that nobody was remembering anything.
"They are letting her rest for now. No one is allowed into her chamber. I got to find out about it from Prince Ivan. How is Princess Amber?" Harvey asked, and Williams shook his head.
"She is awake now, but she still can't remember anything," Williams said, and Harvey sighed deeply.
Even though Princess Tyra was awake now, something told him that this was far from being over.
"There is only one way we can stall this execution until we find an answer," Harvey informed Williams, who looked at him curiously.
"What do we do?"
"Have Lance testify," Harvey informed him.
"You know that is not going to work," Williams said reasonably. "His family tries to avoid anything that is not beneficial to them. I doubt his father would agree to that."
"I work in the court. Don't you think I know that better than you?" Harvey asked quietly before explaining further.
"All he has to do is let everyone know that what is happening to him lately is a result of what Princess Amber fed him."
"Isn't that going to make things worse for Princess Amber?"
"Sir Gregory loves his son dearly. If he so much as suspects that someone poisoned him or fed him with any potion, he would not stop until he dug deep into it."
Williams pondered it. If they approached it that way, they were eventually going to connect the fact that Princess Amber was having the same symptoms and that Lance had seen her eating the biscuits too, just like he had told them. Then, with the royal order, they were going to find out how it had gotten to Princess Amber and probably Princess Tyra too.
But the problem was with Lance. How were they going to convince him to do this? Should they act like they are trying to have Princess Amber punished for making him that way? Or should they ask him to join them to seek justice?
Lance wasn't an easy fellow. But they were going to try.
"We will try to convince him," Williams assured Harvey.
By "we", he meant Susan, but he didn't need to mention that. He had a feeling that Lance had an unusual interest in his sister. He just hoped they could use that to their advantage.
Williams stiffened when he saw his father approaching, and Harvey looked too. They could both tell that he was angry.
"Where is your sister!?" his father bellowed angrily.
Williams glanced at Harvey, "I don't know. The last time I saw her she was with Harvey," Williams said, surprising Harvey, who hadn't expected that.
The older man's attention moved from his son to Harvey, "Where is she?" He asked, and Harvey bowed apologetically.
"I let it slip that I was hungry, and she left to find me something to eat. I will go look for her immediately and ask her to meet you in your chamber," Harvey said with a bow and walked away before the man could say anything else.
However, the older man still looked suspicious and turned his attention to Williams, who looked like he had never done anything wrong before in his entire life.
"What are you and your sister up to?" William's father asked, and Williams shook his head innocently.
"What should we be up to?" He asked, maintaining an innocent look on his face.
"So why were you both present there?" He growled in annoyance, but before Williams could come up with a response, he shook his head.
"Go and get your things ready. When you are done, you and your sister should meet me in my chamber!" He said before walking away.
Immediately after he left, Williams let out the breath he had been holding. He could tell that his father was yet to find out that it was he and Susan who had carried Princess Amber and Paulina from there.
If the man was fuming this way already, just how angry was he going to be when he found out the truth? Williams wondered as he returned to the painting room to meet Susan.
They needed to come up with something that would make their father believe that they were not involved. The only way they could continue to help Princess Amber was if their father didn't know they were involved.
"Is everything okay?" Susan asked when Williams walked into the painting room, and his heart broke when his gaze fell on Paulina who was awake now but was sobbing weakly as Susan fed her.
He shifted his gaze to Alicia, who was thankfully still awake.
"We have to leave you now. I will send the guards to get you. If our father finds out we are helping you, things will become even more difficult for you," Williams said, and Alicia nodded in understanding.
Williams looked at Paulina for a moment before glancing at Susan. "Let's leave. Father wants us to meet him in his chamber," Williams said before walking away, and Susan followed.
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