Lucy woke up in her bed and it was already the next day, she frowned at how long she had slept. Just thinking that Nanny Han was dead, made her frown. She was not happy about how things had turned out. Nanny Han was the one that raised her when her mother died, this was a person that took care of her. All through birth, only Nanny Han and her mother had helped her bath.
She would insist on washing Lucy's hair by herself. When Lucy left for the academy, Nanny Han had prepared her hair products with utmost care. She had even made a note on how they were to be applied to her hair and her maids were supposed to follow it to the letter. Nanny Han had taken great pride in her job.
Lucy called in a maid to help her dress. Shilla and another maid entered and curtsied before preparing her bath. She took long hours sitting in the wooden tub staring blankly. This was not her usual in-thought expression, causing her maids to worry. Shilla had spent the last day acclimatising to her new post. She was glad she was still next to the lady, and in those times, she discovered all the staff were secretive and did not talk much, going about their jobs in utter silence.
If Shilla had not spent some time with Lady Wickshire before, she would have been uncomfortable. But she, herself, did not wish to get to know anyone. She did not talk much too, as spending time with the lady had caused her to be quieter. But one of them told her Nanny Han was the highest authority after Lord Torgenn and Lady Wickshire. She had been Lady Torgenn's maid and had raised Lucy after her lady's death.
Even with this knowledge, Shilla did not truly take this to heart. All she knew was that Nanny Han was dead. She did not know how she died and did not ask. Maybe because she sees Lady Wickshire almost as a celestial being, she thought nothing about how the lady felt.
Lady Wickshire, in her mind, was impenetrable. But looking at her staring blankly in that tub, she could not help but worry. After all, everyone had that someone whose absence was capable of breaking them. The maids' thoughts did not last long When Lucy emerged from the water abruptly.
They covered her and helped her dress. Lucy walked at a slow and strolling pace towards the west wing. She walked out into the west wing courtyard and the guards saluted as she passed. Inside the west wing, she entered a small room and took a stairway underground.
It was first dark and silent, with nothing but the ground echoing her steps, soon light entered her eyes. Her appearance caused a guard in black to immediately kneel.
"Take me to the prisoner," she said and he got up and led the way. It was a well-lit hallway stretching in between prison cells on both sides.
Soon she arrived before a heavily guarded door. The guards gave way allowing her to enter. They placed a chair for her and she sat, as they reluctantly left her inside with the chained prisoner.
The prisoner, herself and the largely lit cell, none bothered to speak first. The man chained to the wall looked up into empty eyes. He had heard rumours of Lady Wickshire, but none that ever bothered him. She was just a little girl.
"You wish to interrogate me? Without any guards?" the man broke into a fit of laughter before choking out bloody coughs.
"Worry not, I already know who you are. A little kingdom's queen and a stupid headmistress would not have had the ability to recruit you," Lucy said and the man went silent.
"It was a brilliant plan. You found a way to have the former queen pay you for a job someone else had already employed you to do. She was thinking she was using you, but you were using her. When she was taken down, you found a gullible Lady Beaumont to take her place. That way, you will be only seen as assassins and no one would truly investigate your identity when you are done. It was brilliant, really; but I had known who you were the moment you made your move," she said and his eyes shrunk.
"If you know who we are, then why are you here? What could I possibly tell you?" the man asked.
"Who I am. You are going to tell me who I am," Lucy said.
The prisoner paused for some minutes before falling into a fit of laughter.