It did not take long before the news of Alicia being a witch spread all over the palace like wildfire.
It was the subject on the lips of every aristocrat within the palace walls, and even the maids and guards were not left out.
Some of the servants who had experienced Alicia's kindness in the past refused to believe that someone as nice as she was was a witch, while some others thought it made sense that she was a witch.
They believed that only a witch could have the sort of boldness she possessed and even win the heart of a fearsome person like Prince Harold.
However, regardless of the rumour and the Queen's order for the activities to resume as usual in the palace and for the kitchen chefs and maids to prepare a meal for them, none of them dared disobey Harold's orders.
Bewitched or not, they all feared Prince Harold and would rather face the Queen's wrath than prince Harold's wrath.
All everyone was waiting for right now was the return of Prince Harold and his wife, and for them to know whether or not what the Queen had said was true.
Like everyone else, Queen Arya waited too, but with mixed feelings. She knew she was taking a risk, but it was one worth taking for the greater good.
Different thoughts ran through Queen Arya's mind as she stood in the throne hall looking at the King's seat while she waited for Damian to return with Princess Amber. Although she knew it would take some time for them to return, she was too restless to sit still or wait in her chamber.
The door opened behind her, but she didn't turn to see who it was.
"You are going to ruin us all," The queen's brother, who had just walked in, spoke to Queen Arya, whose back was still to him as her eyes were fixated on the throne.
Without turning to look at him, she said, "Whatever I'm doing is for our good."
"Our good? Whose good? You are just being senseless and acting foolishly!"
"YOU WILL NOT..." she immediately turned around to face him with a dark look in her eyes,
"... speak to your Queen in that manner." She warned, but her brother still kept his face rigid.
"Then act like a sensible Queen! Your actions are only going to bring more chaos into this kingdom. If the King was here, he wouldn't have handled things this way--"
"YES! That is because the king is unfair." She cried out.
"THE KING IS ALWAYS UNFAIR TO ME!" She yelled with teary eyes as she moved closer to him.
"He wouldn't have done anything if he were here! The same way he did nothing when that monster killed my son! He did nothing when your nephew was killed! And that is because he cares for Harold more than he does for me! I have been with him for so many years, yet he values that bastard... That... monster more than me and allows him to use his guards as he pleases!"
"You shouldn't speak so rashly!" He scolded as he looked around them. "Why are you acting so carelessly? What has gotten into you? What has come over you and Prince Ivan?"
He didn't even want to talk about Prince Ivan right now, because that boy had gone raving mad. He had practically held Lady Benedicta hostage with a knife and had threatened to slash her throat if anyone so much as took a step forward and tried to stop him.
It had caused quite a ruckus in the palace. Benedicta's parents, especially her mother, had not taken it lightly when Benedicta's fearful screeches echoed in the palace while the aristocrats fought amongst themselves.
Although Benedicta's parents wanted to let Ivan leave so they could save their daughter, most of the other aristocrats refused.
It was one thing to let the Queen have her way and send her guards after Prince Harold's wife, but it was an entirely different thing to let Prince Ivan leave on his own. They would rather die than put their lives at risk of Harold's sword by letting Ivan step out of the palace.
In the end, not only had Ivan stabbed an aristocrat, but he had also left the palace, leaving a traumatized Benedicta and furious nobles behind, with some of the king's guards going after him.
It was clear to both the Queen and her brother that no one would want Ivan to sit on the throne after his action. And the marriage between him and Benedicta was over before it even started.
The queen laughed hysterically and used a hand to clean the tear that had escaped from her eyes before looking back at the king's seat with a determined look in her eyes. Men. All the men around her were useless. She was done relying on all of them.
She would handle things her own way henceforth. She would do a better job of it than relying on this incapable and cowardly lot.
"You should not--"
"I AM BITTER!" She hissed harshly, cutting him off.
"You know what I think? Maybe... it is not such a bad thing that the King is no longer fit to sit on this throne anymore," she smiled maliciously.
"Perhaps this is the Moon Goddess finally stepping in to change the course of our history. It's time for a new era..."
"What are you talking about?" Her brother asked, not wanting to believe she meant what he was thinking.
"Get a rein on your children, dear brother. We need to get our children married as soon as possible. Ivan will marry Benedicta, whether he likes it or not. I have also chosen the proper bride for Williams. He is to marry--"
"Have you really lost it now?!" He asked, angry that she wasn't paying attention to him.
"Can you take my side for once?" She yelled at him and then moved closer to where he stood and placed a hand on his shoulders.
"This is what Father would have wanted!" The queen said, and he looked at her incredulously as he shrugged her hands off him.
"What? You think he would have wanted a crazy daughter?"
"So what do you want me to do?" She frowned at him in anger and stepped away from him.
"Everything we have is crumbling right before us!" She cried in a frustrated tone.
"Tell me! What do you expect me to do? Stay back and do nothing until Harold kills us all? Stay still and watch the witch destroy this kingdom?" She asked angrily.
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