In one week, it would mark three years since her mother had died. Anne Blackwell was a queen loved by everyone who crossed paths with her except for her husband. The man was merely captivated by her beauty and used his power to make her his bride. When he finally married her and trapped her in the castle, his interests went away.
One of the reasons Amelia hated her father was because he did not look into who had killed her mother. Even if he no longer loved Anne, the least he should do was find the killer for his daughter's sake. Then again, Richard Blackwell never cared for the child he bore with his wife. Amelia never knew why he disliked her for all these years and at this age, she didn't care for him to tell her.
"Sleep in peace mother," Amelia curtsied paying respect to her late mother. Without waiting on her father to be the one to solve the mystery behind her mother's death, she'll do it herself.
The doctor ruled out her mother's death as a cold that had gotten out of control but Amelia knew better. Her mother was perfectly fine up until one week, her health started to decrease drastically. Amelia had the assumption someone started to poison her mother.
They normally ate together in the comfort of her mother's tower but Anne requested Amelia to stop visiting that week because she had urgent matters to take care of. Her mother had to know someone was targeting her through her food. Why did her mother eat the food if she knew it was poisoned confused Amelia.
"The bath is ready. Oh," Gina covered her mouth upon seeing that Amelia was outside looking at her mother's tower. "I'm sorry for interrupting you," she bowed.
"Is my father still not letting anyone go inside to get rid of the dust building up? And the garden, it has not been tended to. My mother enjoyed seeing the flowers in her garden bloom. Even in her death, he is failing his wife and her daughter is no better."
From her room, Amelia good see the once vibrant garden surrounding her mother's tower had dried up.
"Don't say that. Anyone can tell how much you miss your mother and I've heard the many times you have kept pushing for your mother's belongings to be taken care of."
"Begging for it to happen means nothing. Her tower should be treasured but he's allowing it to rot. The only way for me to enjoy breakfast would be to see him choke. I should make a request to the chef," Amelia flipped her wild bed hair over her shoulder and left the balcony to head to the bathroom.
Gina became nervous as always when heard Amelia hoping for her father's death. "I hope you don't plan on killing your father, Amelia."
Twenty minutes later because time was limited, Amelia had freshened up and dressed up for the early morning breakfast with her father. Gina fixed the small tiara on Amelia's hair as they walked to the door.
"Perfection," Gina snapped her fingers taking one final look at Amelia before opening the bedroom doors.
"Good morning princess," Cyrus Bael, Amelia's personal bodyguard, bowed as he greeted her.
"Good morning Cyrus. I hope you weren't watching my door the entire night and got some rest. The people here can't help waking us up so early," Amelia side glanced at Gina.
"I was only going to wait for you to fall asleep but you didn't until the early hours of this day."
"So you have not slept. Let's hope breakfast goes by quickly or it is at least entertaining enough to drive the sleep away." There was always entertainment in the form of drama when it came to Amelia being around her father. "Let us go before he sends the army to my room. Get some rest right after this Cyrus.
Cyrus Bael was also handpicked by Amelia herself when she needed a personal bodyguard. She didn't trust any of the men chosen by her father as they would only report her every move to him. Her father was furious when she bought Cyrus from a slave auction as he was one of the northerners they fought many battles against. Amelia didn't care about that fact when she laid eyes upon Cyrus.
The brutally beaten man who everyone laughed at her for picking turned out to be an excellent fighter and handled himself well against the men here. Cyrus pledged his loyalty to Amelia after she saved him even though he was from the north and she was a Blackwell. He had his own reasons for not wanting to return to the north instead of being her guard.
Amelia walked with her head held high as any royalty should as she made her way to the large dining room. The closer she got to the room the more she felt annoyed and she hadn't even seen her father yet.
"Greetings her royal highness, princess Amelia Blackwell," a scrawny guard announced her presence at the top of his lungs.
"Why is there a need for the announcement? Just loud for no reason early in the morning," Amelia mumbled, almost wanting to turn around and scold the man for doing it so loudly when she passed by. One of these days he'll give an unsuspecting person a heart attack.
"Stop being so grumpy and smile," Gina nudged Ameilia then kept her head low now that she would be in the presence of the king. The way she spoke in the privacy of Amelia's bedroom could not happen when she was in the presence of the king.
Amelia put on her best fake smile and approached the table as Gina went off in a corner and Cryus followed behind her.
"You're late," her father scolded her as she took a seat. He expected when he made the announcement for everyone to be at the dinner table, that Amelia would be there on time before him.
"Why must you always bring that thing with you? I have told you many times to choose one of the men from our guards and not something from the north," King Richard said looking at the northern man his daughter had following around her.
"They are like a bunch of wild animals from what I've heard. Not something a princess should have around her. Are your teachers not doing their job, Amelia?" Annabelle Levine, the king's prized mistress spoke up. She couldn't miss the opportunity to poke at the daughter of the woman she hated more than anything.
"Father, I was told you wanted breakfast with your family. Why do we have a guest seated at the table?" Amelia asked, openly dismissing the woman.