Chapter 4: Poison

Laying down on a red satin carriage seat in a gold and red carriage, laid Grayson. He glanced over, seeing the same man with sandy red eyes and navy blue suit looking back at him. The man said, "I hope you aren't in any pain, Your Majesty. I know lying there unable to move must be quite uncomfortable, but don't worry, Your Majesty, we're almost at the castle, and when we get there, Soren will be able to help you We're going to get you back to normal in no time." Grayson groaned, thinking, 'Aurelio, please, help that girl… She saved my life.'

Screeeeeeeeeeech Eeeeeeeeeeeeer

The wheels to the carriage squeaked as the carriage slowed down. Aurelio looked out the window, seeing the over 100,000 sq ft, beige, and blue castle that had a white roof and over 100 windows. He looked back at Grayson, saying, "We're here, Your Majesty, you're going to be okay."

The door to the carriage swung open, showing two male servants dressed in the same dark gray cloth shirt, pants, and gray shoes uniform, standing, bowing. Aurelio exited the carriage, looked at the servants, and said, "Bring him inside and get Soren at once. He has been poisoned and gentle. He has been through a huge ordeal. " The servants hastily entered the cart, grabbing Grayson gently, helping him out of the carriage.

Aurelio walked over to Rosalie, seeing her wrists bound with a brown rope that was held by a Palace guard who was sitting on a white horse. She looked down as her tears dripped onto the graystone ground. Aurelio looked up at the guard, saying, "Did she say what she poisoned him with?" The guard dismounted from the horse, saying, "No, she won't say a word." Aurelio looked at her, saying, "Pitiful, will you still deny what you've done to an innocent man?" She mumbled, "I didn't…"and Aurelio grabbed her hair, forcing her to look up at him, shouting, "Look at me when you speak. You will show The Gentleman of The Bedchambers some respect. I am of high class, and you are beneath me." She squealed from pain as more tears rolled down her cheeks. Grayson looked over at them, seeing Aurelio grabbing her hair, and began groaning, thinking, 'Don't touch her!'

Aurelio looked over at Grayson, hearing his groaning, and seeing his eyes widened, looked back at Rosalie, she said, "P-Please listen to me, I did not poison him, I saved him, I was giving him the antidote for…" Aurelio interrupted her, shouting, "I will not listen to such nonsense. You were the only one with him, you had to have poisoned him, now tell me what was your motive." She cried, "Please I did not poison him. I was not the one who harmed him, I saved him." Aurelio scoffed, saying, "I refuse to listen to such nonsense any longer. If she will not tell us what she poisoned him with now, maybe spending some grueling hours in the dungeon will get her to speak." Her eyes widened as she stuttered, "N-No please d-don't do t-this." Grayson groaned, thinking, 'Let go of her, I command it as your king, let her go at once.' Aurelio let go of her hair, saying, "Take her to the dungeon and find out what she poisoned him with and why she did it." The guard (who was holding on to the rope) bowed, saying, "Yes, my Lord, we will find out what she did at once."

The guard pulled on the rope, leading Rosalie to the dungeon, as she stumbled behind him.

Grayson groaned, looking at Aurelio, and Aurelio shouted, "Take His Majesty to his Bedchambers at once and get him cleaned and changed into new clothes. I'm going to get Soren."

The servants nodded and brought Grayson inside to his bedroom as he groaned.

Grayson's bedroom was over 1000 sq ft and had a king-sized bed that had gold color sheets and sat on top of a brown colored, marble platform. He had a tall ceiling and a stain red curtain that hung over his bed but was clipped back in gold curtain hooks. There were gold bedside tables with lamps on either side of the bed and a dark brown bookshelf that was built into the wall and had books in it behind his bed. Inside his room also was a gray loveseat that sat in front of his greystone fireplace, and two doors one that led out into the hallway and another that led to his personal bathroom. The color of his walls were light olive green, and there were large windows that had satin red curtain that were also clipped back in their own gold curtain clips. The floors in the room were marble, and in the center of the ceiling was a gold chandelier that lit up the entire room.

The servants cleaned Grayson up, changing him into silk green pajamas and laid him in bed.

Squeeeeeeeeeeeak, slam

The door to the room swung open, and Aurelio entered the room with Soren and two other men named Jabari and Amias. Soren was in his late 20s and had light gray short middle part styled hair, hooded shaped peach colored eyes, and pale colored skin. He wore silver circular glasses, a white button-up shirt, a light gray vest, tan khakis, and brown dress shoes. Amias was also in his late 20s and had dark brown short side part styled hair, almond shaped blue colored eyes, and light tan skin. He wore a white button-up shirt, light tan pants, light blue vest, and gray dress shoes. Jabari had dark brown medium length middle part styled hair, down turned teddy bear brown colored eyes, and brown skin. He wore a dark tan long sleeved shirt, black pants, and black boots. All men were muscular and were around the height of 5'11.

Jabari looked at Aurelio, saying, "How could you let this happen? You're The Gentleman of the Bedchambers." Aurelio scoffed, shouting, "So are you." Jabari said, "And this didn't happen on my watch." Aurelio said, "Yes, because you were away at sea, too busy to attend to your duties as Gentleman." Amias said, "He isn't a child Jabari. He can take care of himself." Jabari said, "Yes, but a Gentleman's job is to protect the King, and in that, you failed Aurelio." Aurelio said, "I did better than you, at least I'm here." Jabari scoffed, looked at Soren, and said, "Go help the king, tell us what is happening to him." Soren nodded, saying, "Right away, my Lord," and rushed to Grayson's side. Jabari looked at Aurelio, saying, "All I know is when I'm here. Things like this don't happen." Aurelio said, "Ah, but you're not here. You're always away at sea, doing nothing but exploring the world." Jabari said, "Me being at sea helps our armies get better strategies for war, but I can see you can't be trusted with the simplest of tasks. What kind of Gentleman can't protect his own king?" Aurelio said, "You shouldn't be a Gentleman in the first place." Soren touched Grayson, thinking, 'What has happened to you, Your Majesty?' Soren looked into Grayson's eyes hearing him groan. Grayson thought, 'Please, you must save her. She saved my life.' Soren looked down at his hands, seeing a white shimmer tilting his head. His eyes widened, and he looked at Jabari and Aurelio and said, "I know what's wrong with the King." Jabari said, "Well, out with it, what's wrong with His Majesty?" Soren said, "He's been poisoned with Jewel Flower Powder. He's paralyzed from it. It's a miracle that he's even awake, let alone still alive… He's going to need the antidote." Aurelio said, "Well, give him the antidote." Soren said, "I would if I could, but I don't know what the antidote is." Jabari said, "You're the Palace Doctor. If you don't know the antidote, what good are you?" Soren said, "I've only ever read of the effects of Jewel Flower poisoning. There is very little research on it because of how rare Jewel Flowers are. It's such a rare flower that unless you've been around it in farming areas, you wouldn't know the antidote. I've never seen a poisoning from this flower, let alone poisoning this extreme. Finding someone who knows the antidote is going to be next to impossible." Aurelio said, "So what does that mean?" Soren said, "This poisoning is so extreme that if he does not get the antidote soon, he will die." Jabari's eyes widened and Aurelio said, "We have to find the antidote at once, until then Amias as Royal Advisor you will advise the kingdom that I will act as king until His Majesty gets better." Jabari said, "You act as King? You couldn't even protect his Majesty, and now you want to take his throne?" Aurelio said, "His Majesty has stated that if anything were to happen to him that I would act as king. You would know that if you weren't always out at sea." Jabari said, "The disrespect you have towards our own King… You should be beheaded for your crimes, not acting as command." Amias said, "My Lord, this was decreed by that King. Do not defy His Majesty's orders." Jabari said, "His Majesty shouldn't have put you in charge, Aurelio." Auerlio said, "But he did, will you commit treason and not follow the orders of your King." Jabari gritted his teeth, and Aurelio said, "Amias, put the decree in at once and tell no one of the poisoning, just inform the people that the king is sick." Amias bowed, saying, "I will start writing the decree right now," and left the room. Jabari glared at Aurelio as Grayson groaned, and Soren said, "It just doesn't make sense." Jabari looked at Soren, saying, "What doesn't?" Soren said, "This level of poisoning, His Majesty should be in a coma, yet he's awake and making sounds… It's as if the effects have been reversed… And the only way that could be happening is if…" Jabari said, "If what?" Soren said, "If someone had been actively giving him the antidote." One of the servant men said, "So the young woman was telling the truth." Aurelio's eyes widened, and Jabari looked at the servant man, asking, "What woman?" Aurelio looked down, saying, "Please excuse me, I have business to take care of," and left the room. Jabari continued looking at the servant man, saying, "Tell me, what servant woman," and the servant man answered, saying, "There was a woman I had never seen before… She kept saying that she had saved His Majesty and had not poisoned him. She must've been telling the truth." Soren said, "She was telling the truth then. She nursed His Majesty back to health, she very well saved his life." Jabari asked, "Where is this servant woman," and the other servant man answered, saying, "Gentlenan Aurelio had her thrown in the dungeon for poisoning His Majesty." Jabari sighed, saying, "That's probably where he excused himself… Aurelio is truly disgraceful." Jarbari looked at Soren and asked, "How much antidote does His Majesty need before he gets better?" Soren answered, "I don't know. As I've stated, this is a rare flower, and it's unclear to me how much antidote he was given. With her knowledge, only she can tell us how much he needs and what the antidote is."

On a dusty, tanstone dungeon floor, laid Rosalie. Her ankle was rubbed red from a black metal chain that was connected to a black metal loop on the floor. In her ear, she heard a whispering voice, saying, "Do not fear." She looked up, seeing a guard and Aurelio approaching her cell, looking at her between the black metal bars. She felt her body begin to shake as the guards growled at her, "Kneel before a Gentleman." She sat up on her knees, her dress now dusty from the dirty dungeon floor, and looked down at the ground. Aurelio snickered, saying, "Pitiful you are. What a pitiful woman she is… I should have you killed, but lucky for you, today I will show you mercy." He looked at the guard, saying, "Release her." The guard's eyes widened, and he said, "But Sire, she poisoned," Aurelio interrupted him, shouting, "Do not defy my orders! Release her." The guard nodded, taking the keys from his pocket, unlocking the door to the cell.

The guard entered the cell, walking over to Rosalie, and unlocked her chain from around her ankle. He pulled her up from the ground, making her stumble to her feet as she continued to look down. He jerked her forwards, leading her outside of the cell, stopping in front of Aurelio.

She felt her heart begin racing, mustering up all the courage she had to ask, "The man, the man I helped… How is he doing?" Aurelio grinded his teeth, grabbing her by the face, forcing her to look into his sandy red eyes, and growled, "He is of no concern to you, and unless you want to die you'll leave and never concern yourself with him again. Don't ever let me catch you back at this castle, or else I'll act on my authority as Gentleman of The Bedchambers and have you put to death."

She felt pain in her eyes from trying to hold back her tears, feeling her heart begin to weigh heavy. She said, "Please, I just want to know if he's alright." Aurelio snarled, "Get this woman out of my sight and alert the guards to this decree. Should they see this woman again, she shall be put to death." Her eyes began to widen as she felt the guard pull on her arm. The guard said, "It shall be done, Sire," and continued to jerk Rosalie by her arm, leading her outside to the front of the castle.

The guard threw her down to the ground, saying, "Don't ever come back," and left back inside.

She stumbled to her feet, feeling her heart weighing heavy and tears swelling up in her eyes. She began walking back towards her home, thinking deeply of Grayson. As she walked, she felt her steps become heavier and heavier, and her mind race deep in her thoughts. She continued walking, frequently looking back until the castle disappeared in the distance. As she walked, she continued to think, 'God, why did you put me here?'