15 Chapter 15 - The "Not" Forbidden Room

As Belladonna would have it, Lady's Kestra bold request of her liking to the King was nothing compared to the strange things that happened afterwards.

The invitation for dinner, lunch and breakfast became even more consistent. The time spent in the dinning hall became longer as the King would always want to exchange small talks with her.

Lady Kestra was always coming to her, to help with her dress and hair to make she looked even more beautiful before going down to the Dinning Hall. All while she talked on and on about how wonderful the King was.

Wherever this was heading to, Belladonna didn't know, nevertheless she kept jotting it all down, hoping that soon she would be able to finally connect all the dots and it would make sense.

At a point, with how much care and grand gestures the King was showering her, she had written down Niti's theory as one of the possible outcomes of this strange situation.

After all, it was starting to look like he indeed wanted a Queen, a marriage. But it was obvious at the same time, that wasn't it.

So, what exactly was it? This was all so confusing.

The King had invited her for dinner once again and as wonderful as the aroma of the fried chicken and boiled grains was, she was too disturbed with worry to appreciate the splendid juicy taste.

"You didn't seem too pleased with the chicken last time. I told them to prepare different variaties with different textures this time around. I hope you liked it."

"Yes, your Majesty."

Truthfully, she hadn't even noticed that. How could she, when was sitting just some distance away from root of all her fears?

He was a bundle of unknown and she greatly feared the unknown.

Although after the many breakfasts, lunchs and dinners she had been made to have with him, her fear of him was slowly reducing. Even though he still wouldn't take off his golden mask and she was still very much convinced that he wasn't human.

"Your dress is beautiful." His low voice seeped right across the long dinning table, which she was grateful for, through her ears. "You make it beautiful."

She subconsciously looked down at her golden steel plate, where she could see her somewhat moving reflection. Her head was straight like a pin, in short, nothing about it looked beautiful, instead her image looked disproportional, but she had looked into the mirror herself before coming down here, and she knew that she was breathtaking.

It came at a price though and that was Lady Kestra talking her ears off once again about how absolutely magnificent and wonderful the King was.

She just never got tired of that.

"Thank you, your Majesty. You are handsome yourself." She said, feeling that it would feel one-sided and burdensome if she didn't add that compliment.

She heard a low chuckle from him and she looked up immediately, surprised that he was even capable of that small action.

He tapped his fingers leisurely against his golden mask. "You must mean my inner beauty. You know that phrase, right?"

"Inner-- beauty?"

"Yes."

"Yes, I do, your Majesty."

He hummed, silence reigning at the table for a while.

"What happened to your past brides?" She found herself blurting out before she could even stop herself. "Your Majesty." She quickly added.

"Eat," he ordered.

"I need to know what they did that I shouldn't do. My theory is that they failed a test and somehow got erased forever, or maybe they are in hiding..."

"Cease your talking and eat."

"I don't want the same fate," she continued desperately, her voice trembling slightly in fear. "I don't want to never be heard of or seen again. Tell me what I should do?"

"Out of my sight!" He banged his hand over the table and she froze in her seat. Whatever image of safety he had tried to build up to her all these while came tumbling down, immediately being replaced with fear. "Now."

She staggered to her feet instantly, grabbed her book and rushed out.

***

Was it easy to get lost in a large castle, when it was at night and the hallways were lit only by candles, and one's mind was jumbled with fear while one's eyes were filled the tears, as the person ran off in panic?

Turned out it was.

Belladonna could confirm that, because she had gone up and down more than three long stairs to look for her room, and right now, she was certain that she was lost.

Lost in the Castle!

Even now while she had gone down the stairs, she had heard the distant growling of a dragon. She quickly rushed right back up.

Some days ago, she had fancied the idea of coming in deadly contact with the dragon, well not anymore. She was no longer in the mood for that.

Then along the line, she started pressing down doorknobs, to see if there was anyone in the rooms that could help her.

She also shouted for help a couple of times but her voice only echoed back to her.

Maybe they would notice her absence in the morning and find her.

Thank Ignas, she had eaten before this, another 'Thank Ignas" that none of these hallways were said to be forbidden.

That meant it was alright for her to go around exploring till rescue would come.

She had to distract herself from how the King had filled her mind with fear somehow.

So she pressed down the first doorknob to her right, went into the room and explored.

There were so many large pictures frames hung on the walls. Old pictures of young boys, of a family and many others, everywhere.

Then she went to the next. There were shelves and shelves of books there. It smelt dusty and it felt absolutely stuffy.

This must be a library.

It would be a shame though, if this small room was the library the whole castle had as big as it was.

The third she went to had the greatest wonders to her.

There were different glowing gems on wonderfully carved statutes.

The one she found most fascinating was a blue gem on a table at the left side of the small room.

She should probably leave, this place seem really expensive. She knew, yet somehow, she couldn't resist her desire to access the small blue gem on the table that was placed with some other things.

She picked it up. It was the size of her palms put together and she had to hold it with both her hands. Now that it was closer, she realized the blue color was so electrifying, it reminded her of something.

Her eyes.

She could have sworn that when she had first seen it, it was a different shade of blue though.

It also had specks of white and red in it, falling like snow.

Suddenly she heard the door click open. Immediately she put back the gem and hid herself behind a shelf.

Why was she even hiding? Maybe because deep in her heart she knew she shouldn't be here.

"Till you learn how to behave, I will not let you--"

"But Colin, I will do better, I promise."

She heard Raquel and Colin's voice as they stepped in.

What were they doing here?

"I just worry about her ceasily."

"She is not yours to worry about, she is the King's. Don't forget that."

Wait. Were they talking about her?

"But, it is happening again--"

"For your sake and for everyone's, stop meddling! We are servants. We do as we are told. Nothing more, nothing less."

There was silence for a while as they searched through the room.

"Check behind that shelf. It is the last one. It will be good if we find the Lady in some other room asides this th--"

"My Lady?" Raquel exclaimed and she stood up on her feet.

"This is bad." Colin said, leading her out.

"He mustn't know, he--" Raquel mumbled, following after.

They were now out of the room and in the hallway.

"What were you doing there, my Lady?"

"D-did you touch anything?! D-did... did you? Did you?" Raquel questioned quickly, her eyes blinking fast.

"I--"

"Will you stop frightening her Ladyship, Raquel." He snapped quietly to Raquel before turning back to her, his voice calm. "My Lady, what were you doing in that room?"

"Why?" She backed up, feeling defensive and tired of all the nonsense that had been happening to her tonight. She then arched a cocky eyebrow at them. "Is it Forbidden?"

The answer she got was nothing she had expected.

"It is."

Her eyes widened.

"If it was forbidden, why wasn't I warned?"

"Because when they are warned, it makes them even want to go to the room more."

"Well not me, I like minding my own business. Wait, who are the 'them'?"

"Some of the past brides."

"What happened afterwards?" She looked at the door of the room and back at him, banishing Raquel's low incoherent mumblings from her mind. "After they go into the room, what happens?"

"I can't tell you, my Lady."

"You don't tell me anything!" She snapped.

"You are different from them. It won't happen to you."

Then he started walking away, picking up one of the candles hung up on the wall.

While they left, she couldn't help but question herself.

How different from them, exactly, was she?

Back in the room, the blue gem started turning red, like fire was burning in it. It started cracking from the heat, white smoke raised slowly from the gem. Just as sudden as that had happened, the fire died, the cracks sealed right back together and the gem because an electrifying shade of blue once again, with the specks of white and red falling in it like snow.