Only a really deaf person would not have heard all the cries around the palace since dawn, especially Paulina's screams as the big men dragged her along with them.
"SHE IS GOING TO HURT MY MISTRESS. PLEASE SAVE HER!" She cried to the two guards, who kept their faces straight and just kept pulling her with them.
Paulina realized that if Tyra had done this to her, then she hadn't been overthinking things when she acted earlier. And it also meant that the rumours she had heard this morning about Tyra were all true. What happened to her? Why was she doing this to them?
She could only cry, knowing that there was nothing she could do. She had no one to save her. Not her mistress, not Prince Harold, not Alvin, and not Williams, who was still guarding his sister's corpse and neither leaving her side nor letting her body be burned.
She was hopeless.
Some people watched, but they were too scared to go closer or even utter a word for fear of being the next one to be dragged like that since this has been common since morning. Except for one person. And that was none other than Lance, whom many of them hadn't seen in days. He didn't look too good. Lance was known for always looking good and dressing like he owned all the treasures of the world, but now he was just wearing simple clothes, and even his hair was not properly combed. It didn't look like it was even combed at all. And he reeked of strong wine.
He was coming from the opposite direction and stopped when he saw this. Putting out his hand, he said a loud "STOP!" making the men stop walking.
Even though Lance did not hold any authority, the fact alone that he was the son, only child, and heir of Lord Gregory was enough authority on its own. One they could not ignore.
"What is going on here?" Lance asked in confusion as he looked at a wailing Paulina.
He had just heard that Princess Tyra was acting crazy and had taken over the affairs of the palace, and since dawn, the thing they had all been hearing are cries from different angles and different people.
"We are acting on Princess Tyra's orders. Please move." A guard said.
Paulina shook her head quickly and began to speak. "I... didn't hurt her on purpose. She was trying to hurt my mistress and—"
"Shush!" Lance rudely cut off Paulina before turning to the guard who had spoken to him just now.
"Did you... just tell me to move? Me?" Lance turned to look behind him, wondering if there was someone else behind him that the guard was referring to. When he saw no one, he faced the guard and asked, "You mean 'I' should step out of the way for 'You'?"
The two guards looked at each other again before one spoke up.
"We are working under the orders of Princess Tyra."
"And what exactly are her orders?" Lance asked. He didn't seem impressed at all.
They stared at each other again. They knew others were also watching. With a sigh, the other one spoke up, "Beat... her to death."
Gasps escaped the lips of all those who had heard. Lance, however, looked really surprised. He looked down at Paulina, who was quietly crying.
"Princess Tyra really ordered that?" He asked her, still in doubt.
Paulina bobbed her head pitifully.
"She must have really gone crazy," Lance muttered to himself, laughing in disbelief.
When the guards were about to resume their journey, Lance put his hand out and looked at them questioningly.
"Where are you going? I'm not done talking."
"What may we assist you with?" One asked impatiently.
"You should be smart enough to know that there are so many reasons why you cannot harm her."
"Sir Lance—"
"If Princess Tyra is trying to get her killed quickly like this, it means something suspicious is up." Lance cut him off.
"But—"
"Do you know the most feared people in this palace right now?" Lance interrupted again before he informed them.
"The King. Princes Harold. Princess Amber. As much as I hate to include this person, I just have to; Alvin. And lastly, myself."
They didn't think so about the last part, but oh well...
Lance pointed at Paulina as he said, "This stupid maid who likes to cause trouble is not only important to Princess Amber, who is important to Prince Harold, who is important to the King, but she is also Alvin's secret love."
"EH!?" Paulina exclaimed in confusion, just like the other people also exclaimed in surprise at this news.
"And I, of course, think she is a good maid and have been planning to accept her as my maid. So you see why you cannot kill her?"
The guards looked at each other, and at once they shoved Paulina towards him as though they had been looking for an excuse to escape from this.
Princess Tyra didn't have the right to simply execute guards like them, even with her golden token. But if they wronged the wrong person by hurting Paulina, there were tons of people who could easily get rid of them.
The guards turned to report the issue back to Princess Tyra, while Paulina cried in relief.
"I cannot believe I spent so much energy talking just because I wanted to save a maid," Lance said in his usual condescending tone as he looked down at Paulina, who was on her knees with her forehead touching the floor in appreciation of his saving her life. She was still so frightened and in awe of the fact that she had been saved that she couldn't say any words. She could only cry.
"What are you still doing there? Let's go check on your mistress." He snapped at her and Paulina quickly returned to her senses when she realized the danger Princess Amber was probably in.
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