"Ah, just in time for dinner." Logan commented as he heard Damien walking down the stairs with me walking behind him.
"I see it is finally time for me to taste the future Knight Commander's cooking." Damien replied as he put me down on my chair.
"Logan's a Knight Commander?" I asked in shock. Wow I surely didn't expect this. I mean Logan is just Logan. He's my housemate who was kind of a stalker, a bit playful, a diligent housekeeper, and that's it.
"Correction, he is the future Knight Commander. His majesty wouldn't have sent him here if he already was, given the situation in Wraindel these recent months." Damien corrected himself, emphasizing the "future" word.
"Uh, yeah. Should I have mentioned that? I honestly didn't think it mattered." Logan answered shyly as he sat on my right. He gave me a small smile before he placed food on my plate.
Damien who is sat on my left chuckled lightly "Surely the king won't just trust and send anyone to bring back his only heir to the throne, don't you agree?"
"Point taken. Although I didn't really think he still cared since he banished me himself." I agreed sounding a bit bitter.
My father judged me as a traitor and sentenced me to eternal exile. Of course I wouldn't expect him to ever want me back. He believed all those lies after all, strongly enough that he banished his only heir.
"Your father is a difficult man to read, but he is not foolish." Logan replied a bit abruptly right after the words came out of my mouth.
"So, why has he summoned me back? Did he finally realize that it wasn't me who killed my mother and that the prophecy is wrong?" tears run down my cheeks and my voice broke. I didn't care about being the heir nor being able to go back at Wraindel. I was being emotional for the chance of finally being able to clear my name.
I hated the fact that they accused me of killing my mother, the person I love the most in the world. Worse, they stole my chance to find my mother's murderer myself. He is still out there, laughing his ass off and enjoying his life while someone else is paying for his crime. And there's that philosophy that everyone believes in. And it's like a collective conclusion that I was the girl in the philosophy just because of my birthmark. I finally have the chance to prove it wrong.
"Woah, um-mm you know.. Uhh tissue! Yes! Where is it? Damn, ow!" Logan stuttered awkwardly at the sight of my tears as he hurriedly stood up from his chair and tripped over the foot of the table in attempt to get me some tissues.
"Pffft, so the mighty Logan is afraid of a crying woman" I snorted at his silliness and at his scrunched face out of pain.
"Forgive him for his boorish behavior, your highness. It appears that proper management of a crying lady is not part of the courses of the Knight's Academy." Damien joked to lighten the mood further as he stood and gave me a courteous bow.
I laughed hard at his foolishness along with Logan. Really, I found it quite hilarious. It's easy to make me laugh. I find almost all jokes humorous, especially the witty ones.
I wiped the tears completely off my face and cleared my throat. "Well umm, I'm sorry for suddenly breaking down like that. But thanks, you both were comforting enough." I thanked them wholeheartedly and gave them a small smile.
"I'm glad my cowardly behavior was actually helpful. And now you know I'm not the right guy to turn to during emotional stuff." Logan laughed awkwardly and scratched the back of his neck.
"Mhmmm." Damien nodded several times in agreement.
"So moving on, I will explain his majesty's actions on his behalf. Actel, your father never believed even for a second that you killed your mother. But all the evidences were pointing towards you. The only way to acquit you from the accusation was to reveal your inability to shift, which was definitely not an option. His majesty had no choice but to banish you, but of course he secretly sent me with you. My sole mission was to watch over you from afar until it is time for you to come back to Wraindel. Your banishment was also an opportunity for him to trick the queen's murderer to let his/her guard down. He believed that this would make it easier for him to surreptitiously investigate the case." Damien explained sincerely.
"You claimed that you have no recollection of the time before you got to your mother's corpse but had no evidence to support it. Your mother's palace attendant that you chased after only supported the accusation. She only saw you covered in blood and the queen's corpse but since there was no one else in the hall it only further supported the accusation. Aside from this, the two palace attendants that were with your mother when you allegedly attacked her both of them claimed that they saw you themselves kill your mother so the two of them hurriedly ran to call the palace guards who captured you that night. The only thing that gave away that you weren't the person they saw was their claim that you shifted into a big lion and suddenly attacked the queen. The whole kingdom doesn't know that you cannot shift, rather the king and queen made everyone believe that you were an animal shape shifter. And that the reason you were forbidden to shift in front of anyone but them was because you have trouble controlling yourself once you have shifted. To keep this lie, your parents never allowed you to be in contact with anyone except during formal occasions or parties" Logan added, mirroring the serious expression on Damien's face.
"Now that my father wants me to go back to Wraindel, does that mean he has found the real culprit?" I asked a bit hopeful.
Logan and Damien looked at each other before Logan answered "Sadly no, but we do know that the culprit was a powerful personne. After a thorough investigation in Wraindel, we found out that no personne in the kingdom was powerful enough to replicate not only your appearance but also your voice and memories. Do you understand what this means?"
"The culprit is from the other kingdom. What was it called? This kingdom is not officially recognized by our world, right?" I voiced my thoughts, recalling my history class about our world when I was 9 years old.
"It's called The Shadow Kingdom. Our ancestors decided to use this name since they were never really able to determine the kingdom's location. Even until now, we know so little about it and the Shadow king. The only things that proves its existence is the prophecy, the mysterious attacks and the records in history." This time, Logan was the one who answered me.
"What historical records? I never learned this on class nor read about this." I asked again. My knowledge in history has always been so little compared to most of the people in our kingdom. I never really liked the subject. It bores me to the extent that I usually end up getting sleepy whenever the topic is about history, especially during class.
But tonight's different than the usual times. For the first time in my life it mattered to me.
"We don't know. Both my father and His Majesty didn't disclose this information to us." Damien admitted. I looked over to Logan for confirmation and he nodded in response.
"So if you still haven't found the real culprit, why does my father want me back?" Now I was confused. The culprit is my only chance to clear my name and my ticket to going back.
"His Majesty does want you back, but to be more precise he needs you to be back at Wraindel. The king is sick Actel, and as his only heir he has no choice but to ask for you even at the price of revealing your inability to shift." Damien bit his lower lip, before he replied.
Silence took over the room at the revelation. I don't know what to say. I'm supposed to feel sad right now at the terrible news of my father's condition but I don't. I don't feel anything at all. The information feels so surreal. I can't imagine my father being sick. I have never seen him sick in my entire life. I've always seen him as a strong man who'd even defeat death itself. He is a very strict man even to me, his own daughter. This gave me the impression that he must be strict to his self too. There's no way he would overlook his health.
But the look on the faces of the two men sitting at each of my side told me that the words I heard are as real as they can get. Both of them wore a serious face as they stared at me, seemingly waiting for my response.
"I-I umm, this is too much information for me to take on one night. I know you want to ask me if I'm finally convinced to go back to Wraindel but I need time to think. I honestly don't know what to feel nor think of all of this." I confessed to both of them when the long, deafening silence made me feel uncomfortable.
"We understand. I hope we had the luxury to tell you to take your time but we don't. Please give us your answer after two or three days." Logan smiled at me patted my shoulders to comfort me.
"Um, yeah. Well now that the explanation is over, I guess I should go up and rest." I announced. The whole conversation did not take over an hour but I felt so exhausted.
"But you haven't finished your dinner." Damien disagreed.
Logan coughed and gave Damien a stern look. Damien in response looked at my worn out face rather longer than I think he should before he sighed in defeat.
"Thank you for understanding. Do continue your dinner even without me." I thanked both of them before I stood up from my chair and headed to the stairs
"Oh Damien, are you going to sleep here tonight? I'm pretty sure you won't fit in my small sofa and I don't have an extra futon. So that leaves you the choice of sleeping I my bed with me." My face heat up at the last words that left my mouth.
"Don't worry Actel. It's only past nine so I'll go back to my play after Logan and I finish eating and clean up." Damien chuckled lightly, a hint of redness was visible on both side of his cheeks.
"Oh, okay. Good night to you two then." I greeted both of them before I finally started to walk over the stairs.
"Goodnight!"
"Have a good sleep."
I heard Damien and Logan respond in unison at my back.