Layla's Point of view
Later that evening, I summoned Ashina, my closest friend, to my room. She's a very pretty and wise lady, blessed with different knowledge. Her inner workings would be valuable in navigating this crisis.
I reminisced on what she told me on the day I saved her life.
"Ashina, where are you from?" I asked and fixed my gaze directly at her.
"My queen, it's a long story, but I'll summarize it: my mother is from Crescendo and my father is from Craftanwood, but I grew up in Craftanwood with my parents. When I clocked 18 years, I lost my father to a longtime heart illness, then we moved to Moonshine to earn more money to survive; after a year, my mother died, leaving me all alone by myself, and now I'm an orphan." My eyes were filled with tears that's about to roll down when she was summarizing her journey to Moonshine.
I remembered every bit of her story, and I chose to be the only person I could trust on this mission.
Now I need her help more than she needs mine.
A few seconds later, she walked into my room with her shy-looking face; she wasn't covering her face like me, so I was able to see her rough but beautiful face all the time.
"Ashina, I need your guidance on a very important issue," I said, even though my voice was barely above a whisper.
"I'm very sure inspector Asher's findings have raised more questions than answers." Ashina's expression turned grave.
I tried to hide my shocking look from her, but I couldn't help but show her how surprised I was when she mentioned inspector Asher, like someone she had known for years.
"Do you know him before?" I curiously asked.
"My queen, I've known you ever since we came to Moonshine, and there has been no criminal he can't solve." Ashina's explanation sounded so serious.
"Then I guess the official report seemed convenient." I said to her, and her eyes narrowed.
"Convenient? What do you mean?" Ashina quickly probed.
"Firstly, I need to know whether I can trust you before I reveal so much to you, Ashina; do I have your words for it?" I asserted just to be sure.
"Yes, you can trust me with anything, my queen; I owe you my dear life since the day you saved me." She spoke up confidently.
"Alright Ashina, this is it. Inspector Arsher needs more evidence and testimony, and to do that, one has to be very close to the royal house in Craftanwood, so I've decided to go undercover, and that's where you come in." I said before she cut me off with a question.
"What do you mean, my queen?" She demanded more explanation.
"Ashina, I would need you to accompany me to Craftanwood as my friend in order to aid my escape through the guards placed at the outskirts." I gently explained to her, and she didn't waste much of my time before she nodded in acceptance.
"My queen, I'm fully ready to go with you whenever you are ready." Ashina's confidence ran through her words.
I walked up to her with my two hands open wide for a good hug, then I whispered my gratitude into her ears.
"Thank you so much, Ashina."
As we exchanged hugs, my determination grew stronger. I am finally going to uncover the truth behind my father's death, with all the help I'm getting.
After two hours of having relieved Ashina from my room, I heard a soft knocking on my door. I slowly stood up to the door without my mask on to check who it was, but before I could reach there, unfortunately, the door opened widely sideways.
"Oh my goodness, I forgot to close the door when Ashina left." I mimicked myself.
But before I could run to my bed to put on my mask,
Suddenly King David's eyes met mine.
I was so shocked to the extent that my heart almost popped out of my chest as my scared gaze fixed on King David, who had graced my room with his presence.
"Who the heck are you, and where is Sheila? What did you do to Sheila?" King David's loud voice echoed in the room as he rushed into the spacious room and began searching everywhere for Sheila.
I tried to calm him down before revealing all my secrets to him, but he was restless as he saw me as a stranger in his house.
This isn't what I planned to do; he wasn't supposed to discover who I am now until after I finished telling him my whole part of the story.
"Where should I start now that he has seen my real face?" I was lost in my deep thoughts.
However, he came back from the convenience after he had searched the two rooms in the room. He stood tall in front of me with a lot of questions plastered on his face.
"Hey! You better start talking right now. Who are you? How did you get in here, and what did you do to Queen Sheila just to wear her favorite royal attire? I won't repeat myself again." He was burning so hot at the spot he stood.
I walked up slowly towards him, but he took a step backward on every step I took to approach him, then I stopped.
"Your majesty, it's me, Layla, and not Sheila; let me explain." I tried to let my wolf self out, but he refused to listen.
"I am not mad to believe what you just made up right now, oh! Oh! So you are the powerful Witch Melissa, the Moon Goddess. My father had informed me of your great power, but I don't remember him ever mentioning that you can also shapeshift into someone else's body. Let me tell you, I'm not my father. I will deal with you and your evil powers if you don't bring back Queen Sheila." King David's blood keeps on boiling so hot every second and every minute.
I was lost, and I didn't even know what to say to him to believe I was the same person he told me he had longed to see so many years ago. I am the same Layla accused of killing my own family in cold blood.
After a few minutes, I couldn't take his insolence and accusations anymore. When he moved away from his spot, heading back to the door to call on the guards, then unexpectedly, my voice opened.
"David, I am Layla... I am Layla... I am Layla of Craftanwood." The whole corner of my room echoed with my name on my lips continuously for 30 seconds, before the room became silent, and both of us stood there like a Statue of Liberty gazing into each other's eyes like we were going to swallow ourselves.
"What! What did you just utter out of that mouth of yours? You are who?" He demanded the truth from me.
"Yes, King David, I am Layla Adolphus, daughter of King George Adolphus of Craftanwood.
The expression on his face became strong and unclear if he was angry or calm; he collapsed on my bed, but his gaze never left my eyes.
Suddenly, my eyes became itchy, and I slowly rubbed the soft skin of my eyes. I didn't seem to know what was going on, so I raced to the mirror beside my bed to check what had entered into my eyes, but on getting there I saw my eyeballs so blue as that of King David.
"What's this in my eyes? I said to myself with my heart rising.
Then I began to pant in fear; all of a sudden my body started getting weaker; I felt like my heart was failing me; it felt like I was dying, and my ambition for revenge would be buried with me 6 feet under the ground.
Then gradually my body slowly fell to the floor beside my bed.
"Layla...Layla...Layla." King David raced to lift me up to the bed and kept on calling on my name
. I could hear his voice, but I couldn't respond.