Her P.OV
I couldn't help but start shaking the moment I gained consciousness. My body felt heavier than it usually was and my bones felt stiff.
Using my hands to lift only my upper body away from the stone-cold floor, I found myself lying on, I looked around only to discover that the only thing in the room with me was darkness as I couldn't see or hear even a single sound except the uneven breathing of air from my lungs.
The more I thought about it the more, I couldn't help but be terribly confused at how I came to be lying on the floor in a dark room.
The last thing I remember doing was casting the curse, I had memorized on the piece of paper that I had been given by the people who had successfully blackmailed me.
It was a normal day like any other. I had woken up very early in order to prepare myself to attend to the needs of the queen whenever she decided to awaken from sleep.
I was walking towards her palace from the servant's quarters where I slept when I suddenly came upon a man with dark blue hair, as he slowly fazed in front of me holding patches of my sister's blond hair which I recognized, in his hand.
" Tomorrow, you will curse a woman wearing a red-colored gown or you will never see your sister again," he said before disappearing right from my line of sight, the same way he appeared.
It was obvious that he was a good mage with powerful magic while I, was only a normal maid just trying to earn money for my family.
" What else was I supposed to do except follow his instructions. To protect my family, I'm ready to sacrifice any other person," thought Jasmine silently in the dark with the knowledge that the only reason she must have been placed in this dark room was because they already had evidence that she was the one behind the curse and the Punishers were probably waiting outside in preparation of entering and getting the truth from her.
"I can't do that though. If I tell them the appearance of the person who sent me, wouldn't that person hurt my family as a form of revenge," Jasmine thought as more thoughts started to pop into her mind only to be interrupted and brought back into reality when she heard voices and footsteps of what seemed to be two people approaching the door of the room she was in.
"Wouldn't it be better for us to kill her now before the prince arrives?" said one of the people outside the door of the room she was in.
" We can't do that," replied a different voice which also belonged to a man.
"Since it's only the two of us who have access to the building, it would be terribly obvious that it was our fault if she suddenly died or was harmed in any way.
"Moreover, I do not think she would have the courage to confess when she..." Jasmine heard him say loudly enough before hearing him suddenly stop talking without finishing his sentence only for her to hear him start talking again but in a softer but audible tone.
" Is she knocked out?" Asked the louder of the two who seemed to be the most arrogant one out of the two.
"Of course, I am not that incompetent. The moment she fell after saying the curse and suffering the after-effects, I scooped her up as planned, planning to disappear and get rid of her. It was, however, bad luck for the third prince to have noticed her the moment she fainted,"
"Is it really bad luck though? The third prince is known for his ruthlessness and he definitely wouldn't forgive a maid who used such a terrible curse in the presence of his mother,"
"Are you stupid or are you just pretending to be?" Shouted the louder of the two in anger.
" There is always a chance that she would implicate you and confess to the prince, which is why I asked you to wear the bird mask I got for you in the first place. If not for her royal lust-fullness, we wouldn't have been able to get this close to her," said the voice as he continued talking.
"It's fine, I re-dyed my hair and I couldn't wear the bird mask, you know...," began the other one when again, Jasmine suddenly heard him stop talking and both of them kept silent and she could no longer hear any sounds from outside the room where she was.
But was surprised when she unexpectedly heard start talking again,
" Your highness," she heard them say as she immediately became aware of the presence of a highly placed official or noble.
There was no use pretending to be asleep so Jasmine decided to sit up on the floor rather than lying down and instead, wait patiently for the imminent punishment that she felt, was about to befall her.
She heard the dangling of keys in front of the door and heard the door being unlocked from the outside and as hard as she tried to calm herself down, jasmine couldn't as her heart continued to pound continuously in her chest out of fear.
The door was thrown open with an audible bang as bright yellow light streamed in along with two men whom she assumed had been talking in front of the door and they looked shocked and horrified to find her awake in a different position from the one they left her in.
Behind them, a man wearing a red mask with a notable presence also stepped in and Jasmine had spent enough time in the palace to know who he most likely was.
He had a soft smile on his face but instead of that to help in calming her nerves, it agitated her the more.
Jasmine had heard horrifying stories about him in the servant's quarters which no one dared to say in public or out loud.
It was said that he was in charge of the Shadow knights belonging to the king and he was as handsome as he was merciless.
Seeing him walk towards her, Jasmine clasped her hands together, moving her lips without saying a word.
" Regardless of what happens to me, I will protect my family even If I have to sell my soul to the god of the underworld," she thought in her mind, biting her inner lip to affirm her determination.