"Wha...!!!!" I was left with an open mouth and widened eyes. The person had already muffled me with one hand and enclasped my waist with the other. Since my hands were under his hold, I couldn't move further.
This suddenly reminded me of some other situation from the past. It was an incident that happened a few days ago. Though I couldn't see who this person was still I was able to guess him from the way he held me. Also, the meticulous movements of his hand as he pulled my monarch train safely into the passageway proved my assumption was true. Once he hid me and my dress from the light he slowly relaxed the hand covering my mouth. Meantime, I tried to evaluate this person.
There was only one person in that whole universe who was this tall, who doesn't bother to pay to respect me, doesn't hesitate to touch me, and so obsessed with that dress of mine. Before I could think further, as the next thing, he chose to hide me fully from the light peeping through the entrance of that passageway. For that, he swiftly rotated with me so now that I was further dragged into darkness and I couldn't see any ray of light anymore.
After rotation a hundred and eight degrees together with me, he was standing in between me and the passageway entrance like a wall. His hands were still placed on me, one holding my waist tight and the other placed on my back as protection. I felt a lot more apprehensive since I understood who this person was. I fisted my hands which were placed on his chest and ended up clutching his shirt.
"Victor, Is this you?" I whispered.
"Shhhh..." he hushed me placing his index finger on my lips, still holding on to me. "Her Majesty will find us!" he leaned as he whispered by my left ear.
This added to my agitation. Even though I could hear him very well, there was no way for me to see him in this darkness. I didn't know what he was really up to since I couldn't see and judge from his expression. All I could do at that moment was grit my teeth and clutch his shirt as tight as I could.
"Are you afraid?" he softly whispered in my ears once again. This calm self of his was nothing like his usual demeanour. I immediately looked up trying to find some clues from his face but ended up confronting the darkness again.
"What are you afraid of?" he breathed again by my ear once again making me squirm.
I was indeed scared of him. More than that, I was extremely annoyed. This guy had successfully made my already tensed heart beat even faster. If this continues it'll explode and I'll die in his embrace and that could be the most disgraceful death for me. To avoid such a scenario I chose to attack him.
I bit his finger which was still placed on my lips. Of course, he had already seized my hands and my mouth was the last weapon I could use to protest.
"What are you? A stray cat?" he whispered without even flinching a bit. The doubt of whether he was a human or not naturally raised in my mind because of his ability to withstand pain. Though I wanted to, I couldn't bite more violently since it may cause a wound in his finger. I let his finger go. He snickered once annoying me to a great extent.
"Let me go!" I struggled.
"Calm down!" he replied in an appeased voice then released me at last.
"You never learn. Do you?" I lashed at him.
"What do you want me to learn?" he replied.
Fed up with his annoying talk I moved him to a side with my hands and hoisted myself to see beyond the passageway. Within a few seconds, I saw the queen.
"Athena! Athena!" she continued calling my name as she passed the passageway.
"See. We would've been caught if you continued to make noises," Victor whispered by my ear once again.
I closed my eyes once in dismay then averted my gaze back to the entrance. This time, I saw Henry followed by Merlin moving in the direction of the queen. Luckily this time, Victor had seen them too. So I did not need to explain anything and moved towards the entrance. When we peeked out of the passageway, we saw Henry and Merlin just behind the queen.
"What are you puppets up to?" Victor asked me in a suspicious tone.
I had no idea about this too. I never thought of them to be courageous enough to muffle the queen with a cloth dubbed in sedative. So I continued to look at them with wide eyes. Within a few seconds, I witnessed them muffling the queen of Astrana with the cloth!
I helplessly looked at Victor. He too seemed a bit shocked.
"Those idiots!" he gritted his teeth as he covered his face with a black cloth and started running towards the three. Then only I noticed that he had already changed his clothes into the one he wears when doing the spy works. I could say he did it because he was going to help me with some tricky mission that day.
'What a professional!' I couldn't help but praise him internally.
In the meantime, the queen already collapsed on the ground. Seeing what was going on at that moment, I was dumbstruck and forgot to move.
"Bring her to the chamber!" Victor immediately ordered the two pointing to my chamber. "Hurry!" he said. The two seemed a bit flustered so they obediently followed his orders.
After resting the queen on my bed, the three returned.
"Where is Flora?" Victors asked them.
"She went to the royal pond" a distracted Henry replied.
"We were following her. But the queen came. We didn't know a better way to continue the plan. So..." Merlin paused. "Will we die?" he looked at Victor with a thoughtful expression. Victor frowned, sighed once, then looked at me.
"What do you think? Will they die?" he tilted his head as he asked me. I could say that he was mocking me and trying to scare them even more. Even I could imagine how exactly his smirk will be under that mask. This had already brought back my long lost courage.
"I'll save you, Henry!" I immediately stepped forward. "I know how to save you," I said. As of now, let's halt the plan. You don't need to worry about Flora!" I said.
"But... but Your Highness, we have already added the sedative in the water. She had already drunk a glass of it!" Merlin said.
"What?" I almost shouted. "When?"
"Before you all come here, Your Highness!" Henry confessed.
"Then, you said she was going to the royal pond?" I asked.
"Yes, Your Highness. She was already half conscious back then. She was staggering her way to the royal pond" said Merlin.
"What?" I shouted this time and was going to run towards the royal pond. But before I could do so I saw a girl faltering her way towards me. She was walking like a zombie because of the sedative. Thinking about the mess my soldiers had caused, I facepalmed in distress.
"Flora!" the two chorused.
"You see her?" Henry asked Merlin.
"I see her!" Merlin replied.
"I see her too!" Henry again.
"I think we all see her!" Merlin replied again.
"Shut up" Victor stopped them from blabbering. "Someone's coming up!" he said as he swiftly entered the passageway again since he was not wearing the royal guard uniform. The other two stepped close to me in fear. The scariest thing at that moment was the fact that a half-conscious Flora was also walking towards the same stairs.
"Don't be scared" I quickly warned them.
"O...K... Your Highness!" they replied.
"You're very brave. Remember?" I said.
"Yes Your Highness!" the two replied in chorus.
"Good," I said. Before too long we all saw the shadow of the person who was climbing up the stairs. The person finally reached the first floor leaving all the three of us in awe.
"Ed... Edward!" I whispered his name in horror. Flora was standing a few feet behind him. Still, Edward wasn't aware of that!
"Your Highness!" the two behind me immediately shouted their lungs out as they bowed and showed their respect.
"Brother!" I bowed too.
"Little sister. Are you alright?" Edward worriedly asked.
"I'm fine, Brother" I replied.
"What took you so long? I was worried" he replied. I could understand him. It must be possibly the longest nature's call he came across. It was reasonable for him to be worried!
I could only sheepishly smile in reply.
"Did mother come here? I saw her guards by the entrance when I came here" he said.
Yes. That was a tough-luck for all of us. Only the princess's guards could enter the princess's palace. Neither queen's guards, nor Ed's guards enter this palace. That's how much they cherished the princess! They were only allowed inside the palace in some extremely important situations.
"I didn't see mother," I said confidently.
"Ok. Let's go ask the guards then!" Ed replied. By this time, Flora had already reached behind him. She was a step away. I prayed to all the gods I've ever known to show me a way out of this. I had done this in order to stop Ed from meeting Flora. But now, it seemed impossible.
"Brother, don't!" I tried to warn him but before that, he had already turned and crashed on Flora. Flora was already in a half-conscious state. I couldn't even blame her for collapsing in his arm. Thus, finally, the encounter that I tried to stop happened two years early!