6 Punishment

"Your highness!" came the sharp voice of her protocol teacher. "A young lady must not run along the hallways!"

But instead of stopping and apologizing, the girl continued to run as if her life depended on it. Her father's newest verdict had shaken her to the core.

As response to her ever growing love for magic, alchemy, dark arts, spell casting, occult stuff, and sorcery, the king had taken drastic measures.

To prevent the princess's hobbies and interests from getting worse, the king was left with no choice but to banish all witches, wizards, mages and casters from their kingdom.

Lily found herself crossing the castle grounds before going to another wing which would lead her to the throne room.

But instead of continuing her sprint, she stopped short as she noted the commotion going about the grounds.

The wizard and his apprentice were standing near a carriage with their things being loaded to the vehicle.

After the last trunk was loaded, Master Chervil hit his staff on the ground and a pentagram glowed which made the carriage shrank in size, small enough to be put in a satchel.

"No don't go..." The princess threw herself towards the Master wizard and his apprentice, who were about to climb on their horses.

"please... don't leave." Lily cried as she tugged on the long sleeve of Master Chervil's robe.

Master Chervil fixed his glasses that sit on top of his nose before addressing the girl. "I am sorry, my child. But it is his Majesty's order. We cannot disobey him."

The princess's heart sank knowing that Master Chervil won't do anything to oppose her father.

Despite crying and begging for them to stay, Master Chervil firmly told her that they had to depart.

With her latest endeavor turning to fiasco, the young highness decided to go directly to the king.

Her father sat on his throne with her mother beside him.

"Father it wasn't their fault. It was mine... please don't send them away..." she implored.

She fought the tears threatening to well up her eyes as she noted her father's stern gaze.

"It is true that you were the one responsible for the arson." Her father's deep voice resounded through the hall. Queen Anemone held his hand to at least calm him down.

"However, it was due to the wizards' influence and lessons that you began to love magic, alchemy, dark arts and the like. You even began casting spells, which most often than not brought trouble in the palace."

King Fennel's gaze grew sharp as he continued his speech. "We couldn't exactly disclose to the people that their own princess loves witchcraft, acts like a witch and casts faulty hazardous spells."

"Papa, they don't need to know. Only people in the palace know about that." She argued.

Her father opened his mouth to retaliate but the queen beat him to it. "Lily, it isn't easy as that." Her mother used the gentle but firm voice that the court philosopher had recommended especially in dealing with the stubborn girl.

"You are going to be the future queen. Once they discover your secrets, people would fear you-not the kind of fear that goes with respect, but that kind of fear that begets resentment."

"I could govern the kingdom in fear." She replied with confidence. Temporarily, she had forgotten about the reason why she came to the throne room.

"Lily!" the king snapped. "That isn't done! Being a ruler, you need to govern the country properly in order to maintain peace. Making the people fear you would raise contempt and resentment. They won't be happy under the rule of a tyrant."

"But what is that got to do with sending Master Chervil and Zeke away?"

"Your Majesty, permission to speak." The gray haired wizard made his presence known. The king simply nodded his head in affirmation.

Master Chervil made his way to the princess and knelt down before her. His kind green eyes held her in place.

"Your highness, there was a need to alter the memories of the people involved." He began which made the princess suck in her breath.

"We let them think that cause of the fire was careless casting of a spell. We cannot let that incident taint the royal family, so we took the blame. Thus His Majesty needed to send us away as punishment."

"But this is not fair!" she stomped her foot in indignation. Blinking her tears away, she turned her attention to the King. "Papa, please reconsider..."

"No." he cut her off. "Lily, if you haven't realized it... You had put the lives of two visiting royalties in danger. It could have sparked a war between our kingdoms."

Lily's eyes widened at the statement. She had never thought about that.

"The punishment for such crime would have been death or exile." The king said.

The Queen squeezed their clasped hands together for support. Worry was etched on her kind face. "We could not subject you to death nor send you to exile, you are our only child." 

Since both Master Chervil and Zeke took the blame, they had to be sent away." the queen gently but firmly said. "In some way, this will be your punishment... you won't able to see Master Chervil and Zeke to learn about magic."

The princess's face fell at those words. Unfortunately, King Fennel had more to say.

"In addition, all sources of magic including the witches, wizards and mages will be banished from the kingdom. Spell books and other magical items in the kingdom will be burned and anything which had to do with witchcraft will be thrown away."

"But Papa..."

Knowing her train of thoughts, the king cut her off.

"Lily, I know that you aspire to be a witch. However, these witches belonged to the dark side... people don't have any positive views about them. Thus, they had to go too. You will be the queen someday and we needed to fix your views and goals."

Hearing her father's last sentence made Lily bristled. Her rebellious streak was ignited.

"Papa! I never wanted to be a queen! I want to be a witch! You cannot stop me from becoming one of them!"

King Fennel's temper erupted in response. "I am still the king and your father... you will become the next ruler whether you like it or not." That was the end of their argument.

Days after, all the wizards, mages and witches were driven out from their kingdom and moved them from another place which was now known as Nightshades Grove.