Cordelia and Meredith poured the last pile of sand on the makeshift grave that was dug for the King in the garden that now looked like an arid land. They leveled the top of the grave with their shovels to make it as smooth as possible. Cordelia had a stoic look on her face while Meredith looked pitiful. They stared at the grave for long while before Meredith broke the silence.
"Princess Cordelia, where will we go to now?", she probed. Cordelia raised her head from the grave before looking into space. As she stared into space, she caught the sight of Edgar coming towards them like a vagabond. Cordelia moved quickly to him. Meredith was a bit surprised by her sudden movement but finally realized where she was going to and followed her like a pet.
Edgar stopped walking. He looked so pale like a ghost and his face looked like he cried buckets. Edgar turned his gaze towards Cordelia,
"Your...highness...the kingdom is ruined. No one is alive. Everybody is dead! DEAD!!", he yelled the last word.
"Edgar, calm down. It's alright. At least you have your parents living in Leera village", Cordelia comforted him.
"What about His Majesty, your Highness", Edgar asked.
"He is also dead", Cordelia answered, her voice devoid of emotions. A person who had no idea about the horrible massacre that took place would think that the princess was being indifferent towards her servants but she was the one who had the most tragedy. Edgar still had his family living another village. He only came to work and make ends meet. Even though, Edgar felt extremely bad for what happened, he still had a place and a family to go back to. Whereas, Cordelia no longer have one and same thing goes to Meredith. Meredith never knew her birth parents but the castle was like a home to her.
"Your highness-", Edgar spoke,
"Call me Cordelia, I'm no longer a princess", Cordelia interrupted. "Let's go to your village, Edgar. We cannot stay in the midst of dead people".
Edgar nodded his head and he turned back around while the woman followed behind him. They went back to their carriage and entered it while Edgar sat on the coach box. He snagged the reins of the horses and controlled the horses to turn to the road they were coming from.
Cordelia looked over her shoulder to the destroyed kingdom of Evalon which used to be her home. A wave of sadness hit her as she continued to look at her kingdom. She knew things would never be the same again.
...
The sun was already setting. Beautiful colors of orange,red and pink splashed across the sky. The carriage had already entered the village of Leera. There were loud chatter of voices of people walking and going about their business on the streets. The happy noises of people was a sharp contrast to the sullen and melancholic feeling inside the carriage.
About thirty minutes later, the carriage stopped moving and Edgar jumped down from the coach box. He opened the door of the carriage.
"We are in front of my parent's house, your highness. You can come down", Edgar said while holding the door for Cordelia and Meredith to come out.
As Cordelia and Meredith stepped out of the carriage, a woman in her late forties came out of the cottage which was Edgar's parent house .
"Edgar what a surprise, you are here", Edgar's mother chirped as she hugged her son.
"Good evening, Mother", Edgar greeted with a small smile. The woman released her son to at the two strange women beside her son. Edgar took his mother's gaze as a cue to introduce Cordelia and Meredith.
"Mother, this is...", Edgar paused, looking confused on what to call the princess.
"Good evening ma'am", Cordelia curtised, "My name is Cordelia. This is my friend Meredith", Meredith slightly bowed at the woman.
Edgar's mother had a skeptical look on her face as she noticed the different as she noticed the different modes of greeting.
The woman named Cordelia had auburn hair, big blue eyes and fair skin while the woman named Meredith had black hair, dark eyes and tanned skin. Just by the look of their skin, Edgar's mother could tell the social class of these women.
"Oh! Where are my manners? I am Eunice, Edgar's mother. Please come inside the house", Edgar's mother said as she led them into the house.
"Who are these people?", Edgar's father asked as he came out of his room. Edgar introduced them to him.
"Can they stay here for a few days? We were traveling so we decided to stop here and rest", Edgar asked his parents.
"Yes, of course they can, I'll arrange a room for them", Eunice said, "Are you people hungry? What will you like to eat?", she asked them.
"I'm not hungry, we have eaten a while ago", Cordelia blatantly refused food. She lost the appetite to eat.
"Me too", Meredith seconded.
"I'll have little food", Edgar said, he didn't want his parents to be suspicious if he too refused food.
Cordelia and Meredith sat on a small sofa while they have little small talks with Edgar's family. Edgar went out to loosen the horses from the carriage and tied the horses with ropes to a tree.
Later, that night was not the most pleasant for Meredith and Cordelia but they forced themselves to sleep.