Mysterious Circumstances

At some point Lady Kaoma fell asleep on the bed waiting for her guardians to return to no avail.

How she managed to sleep in the room with a dead body was anyone's guess but the room smelled like a stale fart but it wasn't her.

She went and looked down over the edge of the bed and stared at the dead body.

Lord Horace hadn't moved an inch but who else could the smell come from.

Before she could ponder this some more the door opened and Lady Hilda hurried inside and quickly closed the door behind her. 

"You're awake," said Lady Hilda with a look of surprise. 

Her ward was doing well given the circumstances and not prone to hysteria.

Lady Kaoma appeared calm and did not seem to need the sleeping potion that Lady Hilda had procured in her pocket for such an occasion.

In fact, she looked relieved to see another familiar face and her eyes shone brightly in the room with unanswered questions.

"Hours have passed, where have you been, it's morning now," Lady Kaoma asked sleepily.

She yawned then covered her mouth embarrassedly but when Lady Hilda ignored her she used that time to also wipe away the matter from her eyes. 

Lady Hilda was busy emptying a huge wedding chest and dumping its contents unceremoniously in the closet to be packed away neatly at a later date.

When the monstrous chest was finally empty Lady Hilda focused her attention on Kaoma.

"Come and help me lift?" said Hilda.

Kaoma got off the bed but not before asking, "what are you planning to do with the body?"

"We'll store him in your wedding chest for now. Later on, I'll have someone I trust to dispose of his body."

 Lord Horace might have looked weak and feeble when alive but as a dead man he was heavy and the two women half dragged half carried him over to the chest.

His bloated body smelled of urine and left a wet trail before they successfully managed to heave his body into the chest.

Then Kaoma watched with fascination as Hilda bent his legs at an angle and pushed his body down in the chest some more before it could properly close.

Then Hilda searched in the deep pockets of her dress this time for a small bag of camphor balls which she poured generously on top of the old man.

When Kaoma raised an eyebrow Hilda said tartly, "it will help to cover the odious smell."

Changing the topic Kaoma inquired, "Where is Lady Gertrude?" 

"It seems that lady luck has finally smiled on us, we found someone to use as a replacement for Lord Horace and she is sprucing him up for your first time as we speak."

Kaoma's eyes widened as the meaning of Lady Hilda's words sunk in, her ordeal was really far from over.

She would still have to lose her virginity soon and not to someone she loved or of her own choosing, it was a huge blow to her pride and hard to accept.

"There must be some other way," she blurted out.

"We are about to pull off a deception that we must take to the grave with us," Lady Hilda said gravely. 

Seeing Kaoma's expression of horror, Lady Hilda snapped, "Think of your little sister, what will happen to her if the rest of us hang from the gallows for our participation in tonight's farce, at least this way all of us can win."

Kaoma stubbornly inquired, "Surely, someone will notice that Lord Horace isn't around?" 

"The only person who would have noticed would be Captain Herbert and coincidentally Lord Horace ordered him to go squash an uprising in the East. So we have up to a month to properly dispose of the old goat's body. By the time Captain Herbert returns you should be pregnant and in full control of this castle and ready to head out and claim those belonging to Lord Horace as well."

Aghast at the conviction and determined look on Lady Hilda's sweet face, Kaoma took a step back shying away from the old woman, "do you really expect me to sleep with another man on this bed," she gestured, "while my husband rots away in the chest over there."

"If you focus on getting pregnant you won't have time to think about a dead body," Hilda reiterated. "No worries, I'll have the chest moved to an undisclosed location later today if it bothers you that much."

With relief Kaoma grouchily muttered, "thank you." 

Lady Hilda fanned her off, "Like I said before our whole plan hinges on you becoming pregnant only then will Captain Herbert have no choice but to back down and fall in line if you are carrying the heir. Even Lord Horace knew that the older his bastard son got and the more power he wielded was dangerous. It was clear to everyone that he was jealous of his own son and saw him as a threat but didn't have the heart to dispatch his own flesh and blood. Lord Horace only kept Herbert around just in case he failed to get that male heir but with you in the equation he no longer needed Herbert hence the reason he sent him on an untimely mission," Lady Hilda chuckled, "just do your part to get pregnant even Lord Horace would approve."

Even Lady Hilda sounded confident in her decision making but Lady Kaoma did not feel the same.

She had so many doubts of being able to pull this off and it felt like a huge burden hung on her shoulders weighing her down, making it hard for her to breathe properly.

Try as she could, Kaoma just could not muster any pity for the dead man. 

She was about to be his fifth wife and all his previous wives had died under mysterious circumstances when they failed to provide him with the requisite heir.

Maybe it's a good thing he died sooner than later or an accidental death could have been her fate as well.