It was clearly the middle of the night.
Janice cured the man in front of her with all the power that her mother gave her.
"Noah Gilbert." She thought as she kissed him deeply and passionately.
"I've waited so long for you. Now I won't let you leave." She thought as she continued and Noah gained complete consciousness.
"Mmph." He was trying to respond to her kiss but it felt as though he was paralyzed in the darkness of that room.
And suddenly someone opened the door and dashed in. Within the period of few seconds, the person pulled back Janice and slapped her face.
Hera, with tremendous anger in her eyes, enough to make her bite her teeth and lip, came and gave a tight slap to Janice.
"What do you think you are doing Janice?" she asked with rage.
"Calm down baroness." Said the maid who accompanied her in the room.
Janice was unusually calm. Her cheek was stinging and the hair that she tucked behind her ear to kiss fell all over her face.
"He is the prince.", Janice said calmly.
"What?" Hera was shocked by Janice's words.
"Yes, we came here to cure the prince right? He is the prince, the butler led me here." Janice calmly lifted her face and looked into her mother's eyes.
"We were tricked, Janice.", Hera said in a soft voice.
"I don't know for whom you used your powers but he is not the prince." Confirmed Hera with a disappointment in her eyes.
Amidst this, the maid ran out of the room.
Neither Janice nor Hera noticed.
"The messenger who gave me the message was killed in the backyard of this wing itself." Explained Hera. "This is a well-designed trap." She said with Regret.
"Good." Janice had a selfish and victorious little smile on her face but in the middle of the night. Hera was far from noticing such a small thing. And that too with all the thoughts rushing in her head.
"So what will we do now mother?" Janice cunningly asked.
"I don't know what we can do, If the word gets you we will be in major trouble.", Hera said with worry.
"And if that maid.." she suddenly turned around and got to know she escaped.
"Where did that damn wench go, I know she is also one of the Duchess' men." Mumbled Hera.
Janice wasn't even a little bit worried. She felt a sense of victory.
"Now I can easily break the engagement and ask Duke Gilbert for Noah's hand." She thought.
It was like she suddenly and fortunately found the treasure she almost lost hope to ever discover, and thus it became even harder for her to let go of the opportunity and confess.
Confess that she knew all along the man in front of her isn't the prince and she purposely healed the duke's heir. She could never tell anyone that she gladly healed and kissed another man who wasn't her fiancé.
"I don't want to be a good girl. At least not for now. Not for this." She had the urge to win at all costs.
Hera on the other hand was growing anxious with every passing moment thinking what could she do.
Noah had long regained his consciousness and was shocked by what Hera and Janice we saying to each other.
"So she never wanted to heal me in the first place." Noah felt a sudden rage as her words fell on his ears.
"While I was passing through the main hall, I heard the butler saying that it was the plan of duchess Gilbert. She wanted her niece to always become the crown princess." Said Hera with menacing words.
"Who is this woman and why does she talk about my mother like that." Noah thought with hatred building in his mind.
"Mother?" said Janice with a trembling voice. "Am I wrong here?" she said as tears rolled down her eyes. " What will happen to me now? And who is this man?"' she asked.
Hera couldn't think straight with all the chaos around her.
"Let's go home for now. I'll do something don't worry." Hera grabbed Janice's hand and they both rushed out of the room.
"I'll come back to get you Noah Gilbert." Janice thought to herself and left with her mother.
"Who were they?" Noah got up and sat as he found all the wounds on his body disappeared.
Both of them were rushing towards the main entrance door. "Mother! slow down a bit…" Janice said as she was being dragged by Hera.
"No, we have to be quick." Said Hera as she climbed down the stairs and came on the ground floor.
"Where are you rushing off to baroness?" said a woman who stood in the main entrance door of the building.
"Greetings your majesty." Hera quickly gained her composure and bowed. Janice made a bow too.
"Oh, my my, a young daughter and her mother that too in the resting place of the duke. Indeed a sight to behold." Said a woman who stood behind the queen, wickedly.
"Queen Zelda and Duchess Nilla it may be my pleasure that I could see you tonight here, right where the duke's resting place is." Said Hera with a cunning smile. Janice just stood there without any action.
"My son is here. What did your daughter do to him?" The duchess directly pointed a finger at Janice.
"This stupid duchess." The queen thought to herself.
"Ahem, anyways Baroness your daughter did with duchess' son is none of my business, but I have to tell you one thing tonight." The queen said in a commanding tone.
"Your majesty I don't quite like the fact that you are painting my daughter to be a whore." Hera said with a smirk on her face.
The queen stayed silent for a few seconds and said,
"Baroness, this matter is big so for it to stay among us, let Janice become the concubine. What do you think?" the queen smartly used the current situation.
"I kissed him." Said Janice acting naively.
"I just wanted to help but I didn't know this all will turn out this way. I kissed the duke's heir." She said in a trembling voice.
"Wow this girl is even stupider than I thought, things won't turn out to be hard this way." Thought the Queen.
"What?" the duchess was shocked.
Everyone had different calculations going on in their minds, Hera didn't want to let the royal family go, the queen didn't want Janice as the crown princess but as a concubine, and the duchess wanted to erase Janice completely so her niece could stand a chance.
"I'll have to stay like this for my whole life without marriage if the word gets out but don't you think the Gilbert duchy should pay me back since I cured your son?" Janice asked cunningly.
"What nonsense is this girl spouting." The queen thought.
"Huh?" Hera and the duchess both were shocked.
Janice calmly walked over to the duchess who was standing beside her and kept a hand on her shoulder to whisper, "You are a stepmother after all aren't you? Don't pretend to care for a stepson. Also, the rumours of your affair with the gigolo in the Sun market isn't a piece of old news so don't make me do bad things duchess." She whispered with a smile.
"I'll marry Noah Gilbert and get away from Crown prince and in exchange help me kill the maid and the butler who work here." She whispered.
"Ok?" she asked with a happy and smiling face.
"This girl is a total psycho." The duchess thought to herself as she felt shivers running down her spine. She nodded unknowingly.
"Good duchess." She smiled.
"Mother let's leave." Said Janice and both of them left leaving those two ladies behind.
"I am sorry queen but I don't think that girl can be a concubine." Said the duchess with pity in her eyes.
The queen looked with menacing eyes at the duchess and took a deep sigh.
"Anyways leave it I'll look into this matter myself. Also, there will be other dozens of daughters of baron's who can make a concubine for my son." She said.
The queen left the wing. And the duchess also turned around to leave.
"How did she get to know about the Sun market affair?" she thought as she left the building.
The night was indeed a long one but as they were leaving the sky was clear with stars again.
"I met him today, I'll have to write in the diary that too." She smiled as she looked up at the