On hearing the king's cry, his sons and the doctors rushed into the room. Ale, realizing what had happened, could not hold back his tears and threw himself on his mother's bed, kissing her between sobs. The body was inert, but still with a little warmth, and he absorbed that warmth like someone clinging to a last thread of hope. Luc didn't shed any tears. He just watched his brother's sobbing with hatred. He thought his mother was an idiot and her death was a choice. The treatment was within her reach and she refused to receive it, out of an unacceptable feeling of loyalty. She approached her father and, helping him to get up, left, taking him to his quarters. There, she called her personal servant and ordered him to bring one of the doctors, because they had all been called to give an opinion, but they arrived too late. The doctor who was accompanying her left to advise her at the last minute that she had little time. Luc imagined that he was told to act this way.
"Give my father something so he can calm down and rest. He hasn't slept for many days." Luc asked the doctors who answered his call as soon as these entered the room and approached the bed to observe the king.
"Yes your highness. We will take good care of your father and ... My sincere condolences your highness. Your mother was a great woman." One of the doctors said sensing Luc's coldness as to what was happening, but without judging, because he knew that each person reacts to grief in a different way.
Luc received the condolences with an indifferent nod of his head. He sat down in his armchair and stared into the void. He couldn't help but remember his childhood and the company of his mother, who was always very affectionate. She was a great woman. While she lived, she spread joy to everyone who had the pleasure to spend time in her company. This covered a very large amount of people, as she always made trips and visited villages. He could remember how often she was kind to everyone. She never let a single person down. And her kindness led to her death. He had no doubt about that. He expected the people to keep their mourning at home. In his studies, he learned that when the queen or the king dies, the palace must be opened so that the subjects can pay their last respects. Whoever wrote this law was certainly not a king. It was dreadful to have to attend to all those people, when what they needed most was privacy to say goodbye to her. Luc took a resigned breath and getting up after one of the doctors assured him that his father would sleep through the night, went to a guest room. He thought about asking the doctors to give him some sleeping pills as well, as he knew he would not be able to sleep.
As soon as he found a room he liked, he went after Martha, for he knew she had great affection for their mother, she always accompanied her and the queen always made a point of her presence, and the twins ended up becoming attached to her as well. He found her in the kitchen, stirring her spoon in the pot, tears streaming down her face.
"Martha..." He called out carefully so as not to startle her.
She turned around. She recognized Luc's voice. She was not ashamed of her tears, but wiped them away with a handkerchief she took from her apron pocket, to speak to him.
"Oh my son! What a tragedy! So young... They didn't even find out what disease that was.... I am so sorry my son." She said and hugged him. After she let go, she pulled herself together. She was ready to attend to him. "Do you need me for something?"
"I need someone who truly loves my mother to deliver her into your care.... All I could think of was you. Can you prepare her for the funeral?"
Tears ran down Martha's face again.
"Of course my son. It will be an honor."
"Then drop whatever you are doing and go to her. I want her ready today... I'll accompany you while you fix her..."
Martha turned off the fire in the wood stove, which was the most technological item they had there. They were not a people who cared about advancements, only natural remedies that could be extracted from plants, which scientists worked on them day and night.
Just as I said, Luc stayed in the room the whole time Martha was taking care of her mother. He made a point of observing the smallest details of the preparation. He even helped when Martha washed her hair. The care with which the slave woman gave her mother ended up moving Luc. After washing her hair, he returned to his chair and stared at Martha, but without seeing her. He remembered the moment he had arrived there with the slave girl. Ale wanted to take care of her himself, but Luc had authority over him, and after asking him calmly, he ordered him to leave the room. He stared at him with hatred as well as pity and left, slamming the door hard. Martha brought him out of his reverie and called him to see how his mother had looked. He looked surprised. She was no longer cadaverous. The makeup Martha had applied to her face made her look beautiful. The look of a queen who was just sleeping peacefully. She looked beautiful, just like in her glory days. Luc would even venture to say that she had become younger. Martha had placed the queen's crown between her mother's hands and a beautiful pearl dress. He always thought she looked more beautiful in that color. It fit her very well, and he always told her so.
After Martha left to call for the guards who would take her in a coffin to the throne room, where the people would bid her a final farewell, Luc stared at her for a while longer. Standing there. He couldn't help feeling angry with her, but his love was stronger. He gave her a dry kiss on her forehead, so as not to ruin her makeup, and it was time for the guards to arrive with the coffin. Ale had come along. Luc noticed that the coffin was made of mahogany and had gold stripes. She would be buried inside the chapel on the outskirts of the palace. The men did their job with the same care and affection as Martha and took her away, leaving Luc and his dark thoughts behind.
The next day the palace was opened for visitors and the people who wished, to bid the queen a final farewell. Ale did not stop shedding tears at the farewell ceremony to the queen. Dartan, still narcotized, seemed not to believe it. Luc did not attend.
When she was taken to the chapel, where the priest commended her to the angels, Dartan did not follow the crowd that came to watch her burial. For him, it was not only his wife and queen who was being buried, but also his heart. He went back to Luc's room, with the help of some slaves, who tormented him until he agreed to eat some soup. He could not go back into the room he shared with her without her being present. It would be more painful. He thought about his children who didn't have the chance to say goodbye to her. To hear her last words. Maybe she had some advice for them. He knew that he had been selfish. But one day his children would understand him. They would find a love like his and their mother's. He knew that his sweet Lea was no longer there. He always felt her presence and there in the throne room, even though it was crowded with people, it was empty to him. The light that illuminated that place was missing. Dartan surrendered to the murmurings of losing the woman he loved for many months to come.
The days that followed were gloomy. Even the weather was gray. The brothers and the king only met at the meal table and avoided talking about any subject. The servants feared making noise, and the palace was plunged into an unbearable silence and an atmosphere of loneliness. Dartan preferred Luc's room to any other part of the palace, and abandoned even his people. He refused to receive them, either for complaints or for gifts. He didn't want to see anyone. He didn't even want to be king at that moment. He was plunged into his pain. So deeply that he didn't know how to get out of it, or even if he wanted to get out.
And so a few months passed, and the time saved for mourning was over. Things in the palace gradually became normal. The king returned to some of his duties, preferring to leave to Luc the greater responsibilities, since he had shown himself to be competent in managing the kingdom, when his own father, who lived crying in the corners of his palace without caring about anything else, besides his own pain.
One afternoon, when Dartan was on his way to his quarters, as he passed through the upstairs library, he heard altered voices. Recognizing at once that they belonged to his sons, he entered, interrupting the debate. Luc was grabbing Ale by the collar of his blouse.
"Let him go Luc!" Dartan ordered sternly.
Surprised by his father's unexpected arrival, Luc immediately let go.
"Dad... It's not at all what you might be thinking..." Luc began, but was interrupted by his father.
"I'm not thinking anything! I see! How long will you keep picking on your brother? Aren't you old enough for that? Don't you ever get tired of annoying me? This is disrespectful to your mother's memory!"
"You should understand that Ale doesn't..."
"I don't care about anything else! I'm disappointed in you. You are an ungrateful and selfish son! You should respect the memory of your mother, who is gone, leaving her last thoughts and concerns to her children." Dartan snapped back indignantly, his voice embittered.
"I'm sorry." Luc said and walked away casting a bitter glance at his brother.
Dartan looked penalized at his poor Ale who had always suffered from his older brother's humiliations. He pulled him to see that he was smiling, grateful for saving him from Luc's hands, and gave him a strong hug. Ale didn't say anything, he just let himself stay there snuggled in his father's arms.
This event, was not talked about between them on the rare occasions they got together. It would have been as if it had not happened, if Luc had not become more withdrawn and more distant in his relationship with his family. He spoke only as much as was necessary. Dartan didn't like this situation, because he loved both his sons too much, but he didn't know what to do to get closer to his son again. And he didn't want Luc to think that he was sorry for breaking up a fight between him and his brother. His desire was for them to get along, to get along. He couldn't feed Luc's animosity against his brother, and he feared that if he called Luc in for a talk, it would end up happening.
Sure that Ale was more attainable than Luc, Dartan called him into his office after Luc returned to the throne room to attend to complaints after lunch, he wanted to try to ease that hostile atmosphere between his sons. Ale sat loosely in an armchair across from his father. He felt like grabbing a drink to make it easier to endure his old father's litany.
"Ale... You, of the two of you, are the most sociable. Look for your brother. Try to make peace with him. Your mother would be very upset if she knew what was going on here..."
"Dad, it's way past time for you to forget about Mom. How long are you going to mention her in your blackmailing conversations? It may work for Luc, but not with me. She's no longer with us and there's no point in searching for her in our memories because they too will be washed away with time. It's killing you. You've even given the throne to Luc, and you're not living while you still can. You are not eternal. One day you will join Mom. But until then. Try to live." Ale said already tired of his father's lamentations.
"You've never talked to me like this before. What's happening to you?"
"I'm just opening your eyes. I'm sorry if I was rude. But I think you could really use a shake-up and a reality check. Get yourself some women. Go have some fun. Mom wouldn't approve of your attitude of embracing loneliness after she left."
"I don't know, Ale... Sometimes I feel watched by her.... I don't want to hurt her."
"It's just your pain. Mom can't see us anymore. She's in the world of the dead."
"Ale... Go to your brother and invite him to go to the village bar together. Or whatever else you like. I just don't want to see you two act like you're enemies anymore."
"I can't drag Luc along, but I'll invite him if it puts his mind at ease. But I can already tell you that he won't accept, and I recognize that my attitude might soften his heart and we might even be friends again.... But I want him back on the throne." Ale said and walked away.
Dartan understood what his son wanted to tell him, and when he left he reflected on his words for a long time. He was right about some things. He had to stop using the memory of their mother to blackmail his children. Until that moment, he had not realized that this was how his children saw his attempts to make them come to their senses. And from that day on, he began to attend the throne again. Not like before, because now the people had grown accustomed to Luc and loved him, so they allowed him to attend and even give his opinion on how to resolve a complaint or make a request. And not a few times, he left the throne to Luc and locked himself in Luc's room, which was now his indefinitely.
A few months later, Luc, accompanied by two guards, would stop by the servants' quarters to inspect them. It was unusual for princes to go to this trouble, but he needed something different to occupy his mind and forget the hatred that Ale provoked in him. He did not want to feel that way about him, but Ale himself would not allow him to forget his evil deeds. He made sure it reached his ears. So he needed something different to clean his mind of all the filth that Ale deposited there.
They passed through many corridors and Luc was impressed with the hygiene and organization that the employees maintained there. He had to remember to praise them at the monthly staff meeting. It had been a few years since he had attended one. The last one was held when his mother was still healthy. As she walked, she heard a beautiful hymn.
Passing by the door of one of the rooms, he discovered where the beautiful hymn that he and his men heard while walking came from. The door was ajar, and curious to meet the owner of such a magnificent voice, he put his head in the doorway and saw the sight that would never leave him in his entire life.
Sitting in front of a small dressing table was a beautiful maiden combing her beautiful black hair that reached her waist. Luc had an almost uncontrollable urge to take the brush from her and make the same path through her hair. Through the mirror he could see that the young woman was gifted with great beauty, her eyes were as green as emerald and her skin was velvety.
He left before the young woman could notice his presence and resumed his way. But he was unable to bear the curiosity that grew in his chest and turning to Dete, his best friend and one of the guards who had accompanied him since childhood, he asked;
"Who is she?"
"A servant girl. Luc, please forget about that little girl."
"She is a lady and I demand to know who she is." Luc retorted even more curious. "Is she someone you have affection for?"
Dete bowed her head. She was about to deny satisfying her will, when she remembered that Luc would not harm her, for he was not like his brother.
"That... Lady, was born of Martha, the trusted maid of her late mother. Her name is Pamela and she is now only sixteen years old. Yes, she has my affection, but I love another woman. To me she would be like a.... Sister.
"And why have I never seen her here? I have never seen her waiting tables or even helping with the palace chores."
"Luc, she's just a slave! Surely you didn't even notice her presence."
"Dete... I thought you knew I'm not like Ale. I respect everyone and have never failed to greet anyone who stands before me. I would know if she had already served us the table. Her beauty would not go unnoticed and you know it."
"I'm sorry, Luc, you're right. I know I can trust you. I believe that of all the nobles, you are the one who understands certain attitudes. Pamela is a young girl. She only helps out in the kitchen. Martha forbade her to venture to do any other kind of service here in the palace, because she became afraid for her safety, once she proved that she would be more beautiful than a slave should be, because she knows well that the people who stay here in the palace are noble and if they lay their eyes on her daughter, they will covet her as a mistress. Since she was born a slave, they would never give her a decent home. As for denying yourself to the nobles, you know well that it is forbidden for slaves. That being the case, if any are raped, it will matter little or not at all. Martha, knowing this, hides her in the kitchen, dreaming of a marriage for her daughter that will give her her her own home and a decent life, since slaves who marry are forbidden to the nobles, as the king does not look kindly on her and considers it a crime to touch a woman with a husband.
"You're right Dete... Some nobles behave like animals. Martha did very well." Luc said thoughtfully and resumed his usual silence as they walked through the palace.
Dete smiled to himself. Luc had always been his friend and never allowed him to call him his highness. He loved him like a brother and looked favorably on his future king's interest in Pamela, for he knew her character and knew that from that day on, this young woman would be his protégé. Who knows, maybe even he himself would arrange a good marriage for the young woman. In any case, he would not tell Martha about the prince's interest, because he knew her anxiety and knew that she would suffer in advance, for she did not have the same faith as him in either of the two princes, although Luc was her favorite, he always believed that a pretty face like his daughter's could change her principles and her attitudes, letting any man convert his decency for lust and for the darker side that everyone kept inside. He had already tried to tell her that men of character don't corrupt themselves so easily, but she didn't believe him. Dete suspected that because she had been there for many years, she had seen the noblemen she believed to be good, do harm to a girl. He himself had seen it. But these nobles were not good-hearted. They were only kind and respectful to the equally noble girls. Luc was not part of this class of noblemen. He was incapable of doing harm to anyone.