"I am sorry, but I have never once felt that way about either of you. I even have a boyfriend that has already met my parents. I cannot leave him for you two."
Her words seemed to vibrate through the room where the two Princes sat and the servants who were on the side overheard. Instantly, the air felt awkward and a little tense.
It was evident to many of the servants that had served the family that the two Princes always liked their young Lady. However, their young Lady never once saw them as potential husbands, no matter what everyone speculated or wanted.
Her current boyfriend had been a surprise to many servants when he came to meet her family with his friends. They felt that they were caught off guard because they assumed that their Lady would only be with a Prince in her life. Seeing her with the new boyfriend made them think that maybe their Lady did not want to be a future royal.
The deafening silence made the spectators wish that they could melt into the shadows like Walliams and the guards could, which some could see through the corner of their eyes disappear in the shadows. The ones closer to the exit thought about just sprinting out of the room but knew that they could not leave without someone dismissing them.
This was when their savior came and motioned for them to leave. The older Head Steward appeared and had cleared his throat to get the petrified staff to look at him long enough for him to let them withdraw the room. Many instantly bowed or curtsied before quietly leaving the room as the Head Steward stayed behind to only close the doors behind him.
Now the room only had the two Princes with Elizabella sitting there. They seemed to have been waiting for the servants to leave them alone as Prince Arnez-William took a deep breath, Prince Andrion cleared his throat, and Elizabella looked down and grabbed a cup of tea. When everyone was in the room with them, the three sitting people had sat frozen.
After what felt like an eternity, Prince Arnez-William finally spoke.
"Are you certain, Bella? We have never heard you even talk about dating anyone else, nor has anyone ever seen you with anybody. When did we start keeping secrets from each other?"
"Ar-Will, I am sorry. But it happened over the summer when I was traveling for some business. We met, and we seemed to click, so we started dating. When I came back home, he and some friends came to see me off before he had to leave with them. That is how my parents met him and my friends. I had wanted to introduce you two to them, but your grandmother had said that you both had gone to do some training and were not in the capital. I did not mean to keep this from you two, but by the time that you did come back, he was already gone, and I was more curious to ask about your training since you would only stay for short periods... I do not know what else to say, other than I am deeply sorry that I never noticed your feelings for me..." Elizabella felt like she was rambling, so she stopped talking to take a sip of the tea while the two brothers tried to take in what she had just said.
Prince Arnez-William massaged his right temple while Prince Andrion rested his chin on his fist while his arm was on the armrest. The news seemed too much for them as they never expected that she would ever like anyone outside them. Now, here she was telling them that she has been dating some guy for a few months at this point.
"I am sorry, but who is he? Do we know him?" asked Prince Andrion as the thought of losing his first crush to someone not on his level made him upset.
"If you must give him a title, then all I can say is that he is the son of a General, not from our kingdom. I do not think I can say much else since how we met was by chance, nor do I want to say what I was doing when I met him or the others. Just know, we understand each other enough to know what the other is thinking. I really like him," said Elizabella, making the two feel even more upset as her words seemed to pierce right through them.
"Please, just stop. We get it. You like this guy more than you like us," said Andrion as he sighed and looked defeated.
"Bella, dear, I think it is not appropriate for us to stay much longer now that we know where you stand. Please, do pardon us for leaving you alone in your hour of need. We must be off," said Prince Arnez-William as he stood up while his brother followed suit. "Our condolences for your loss."
The two Princes soon left as Elizabella looked on and wondered what had just happened. Suddenly, her CD vibrated, and she looked at who it was. When she saw that it was General Griffon, she immediately answered the call, revealing his face on the virtual screen.
"Lady Elizabella, my condolences. I understand that today is the funeral of your family. Still, I have just finished conducting my investigation and have already submitted my report to the Queen," said General Griffon as Elizabella felt her heart pound hard while her breath seemed to have been caught.
"Please, General Griffon, what has happened to my family? Have you found my mother?" she asked, hoping to at least have news on her mother.
"We have yet to locate the Madame at this current time and have no clue to her whereabouts. The area has been checked and eventually cleared, just in time for the memorial. As to who the perpetrator could be, we are positive that we have an excellent lead in the investigation. However, currently, we are unaware if it was only that one person behind the murders of your family. We would like to continue investigating, especially since the person who has our biggest suspicion is someone that cannot be touched without sufficient and conclusive evidence."
"Please elaborate on how you came to that conclusion," said Elizabella as she felt a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach.
"Then, I shall go over the evidence. The security recordings were salvageable; however, they do not record every room in the mansion. Therefore, everything was not caught in the recording, like if anyone uninvited came through an entrance or window. Your mother makes a brief appearance, seemingly on a call with what looked like you. Soon after, the recording starts to shake, and then everything turns dark.
"After much review, we were able to locate the room that had been where the bomb was placed. This particular room was in the basement of the building and had been closed off for repairs since the week prior. Your family had hired a company to fix the repairs, but when we tried to locate them, the company seems to have never been in existence. Through older recordings, we were able to find one of the workers and traced him back to be a servant of the Farnkins family. However, he has also disappeared with the intention that he has left the kingdom with his family to be closer to some relatives. We have found no evidence that he ever left the kingdom, we suspect that the true mastermind has silenced him along the way."
"What are you saying, General Griffon? Did someone contact a servant of the Farnkins to hurt my family?" asked Elizabella a little shocked. "Is this to sow discord with my family?"
"Lady Elizabella, remember that your whole family has been murdered. Who would be left for them to sow discord with? Especially since you as well were meant to be at the event. We believe that their true intention was to eradicate all of you in one blow," said General Griffon as he seemed to hint at Elizabella, while she sucked in cold air.
"That is not possible! The Farnkins have a well-established history and have much prestige in the kingdom! We even hold many friendly relations with them, both business and personal. Madame Farnkins was even my mother's closest friend. Their eldest daughter is someone that I have grown up with. They even wanted to come and visit me during this time but I rejected all company. How could they possibly harm us?" said Elizabella as she felt herself starting to shake her hands that have turned to fists. "They are such close friends with us, especially with my mother. Why would they take her?"
As Elizabella was taking everything in that General Griffon had told her, she never noticed that he was quietly watching her through the virtual screen. He seemed to be completely indifferent to her worries as tried to keep a stern look.
"Lady Elizabella, are you aware of what everyone has been saying behind your back since you were young?" asked General Griffon as he kept a stern look to him.
"What do you mean?" asked Elizabella as she heard his words through her spiraling thoughts.
"Since young, rumors were within the noble circles, that one day you would grow up to marry the next King of Edalelia. With this in mind, there have been many who were for it, and I am sure that I do not need to tell you that there will always be those that will oppose this decision.
"Would it, then, not be possible for people to try and get into your family's good graces to reap future rewards? How well do you think you know the Farnkins? Amongst the gossips of the noble young lords and ladies, there are many who have never truly liked the idea of you marrying one of the Princes. There is even evidence that the Queen herself has sent you her protection since you were young.
"One of them being that she would have the two young Princes play with you or to keep you company during events. We believe that this did protect you, but it also placed a target on your back from other greedy nobles that would rather have their daughters catch their attention to marry."
"Are you saying, my family, died because of me?" asked Elizabella as she started to feel a darkness growing inside of her, something that she has never felt until now. "This is insane!"