Do Not Let Him Drink

Other than the guards in the night shift, most of the people had gone to sleep. The empty hallways of the beautiful palace, dimly lit by the flickering lamps on the walls, gave an ethereal, dream-like quality to the travel-worn Oriana. 

She visualized her soft bed beckoning to her and she could not wait to go to her assigned room. As she reached the second floor of the palace, to her surprise, the entire hallway was empty as well, not a single knight or servant was present. 

'Where has everyone gone?' She could understand that the foyer was empty, but how could there be no one attending to or guarding the prince? Then, Oriana recalled there was one exception—that was, if there was a person inside playing nanny to him.

'I wonder who replaced me.'

It happened that Roman was coming out of Arlan's chamber, carrying empty wine bottles on a tray. The butler and the attendant were both startled by each other's presence.