By the time they got to the castle, Tom was already all sweaty, with his fabrics soaked. His armpits itched for air, but with the way he pressed his both arms together, air couldn't penetrate. He has never been this scared his whole life.
Tom obediently followed the soldiers, with the arrow still stuck in his leg. He walked into a huge hall to find the queen seated, staring at him.
Tom couldn't believe he was here, he needed a pinch to confirm that this was reality.
"Greetings your majesties," Tom bowed to the royal family, who had their eyes glued on him.
"He tried to run away so we shot his leg," a soldier explained when they saw the look on Logan's face.
"Why did you try to run away?," Logan turned to Tom.
"I was scared, I didn't know that they came for me, I just don't like the presence of soldiers," Tom explained, as sweat dripped down from his forehead.
Logan just kept calm, watching the man silently.
"Is he the only family member they have?," Xander was the one to ask.
"The house was empty and he also said so," one of the soldiers explained.
"Do you have daughters?," Queen Zenith asked, making Tom's heart beat rapidly.
He thought of denying them to save himself, but one a second thought he knew that they'd discover that he was lying.
"Yes, two daughters," he sincerely answered.
"And where are they?," the queen gruffly asked.
"Lashonda should be here in the dungeon cuz of her foolishness, but I have no idea where her elder sister Peggy is," Tom narrated and they all exchanged glances.
***
Lashonda eyes flicked open, she writhed on the bed before she sat up, holding on to her chest as she groaned.
"Where am I?," she muttered, staring at the strange environment.
Lashonda snapped her eyes as she noticed a movement.
"Hey! Reveal yourself, I've seen you already," she sternly yelled, climbing down the bed.
Leo noticed that there wasn't a need to keep hiding anymore, she already saw him.
He walked out of his hiding place, with a menaced look on his face. His expectation was that Lashonda will back off and get scared once she sees he was a soldier, but she disappointed him.
"Where am I? How did I get here? The last thing I remembered was that I fainted," Lashonda asked, while Leo kept watching her in silence.
"Are you listening?," she asked as she shook his shoulder.
"Do you realize that I'm a soldier?," Leo chided.
"Sorry, I didn't know that it was forbidden," Lashonda sarcastically said, beating his shoulder repeatedly like she was arranging it back in place.
"You want answers?," he asked with a hoarse voice.
"Yes," Lashonda nodded repeatedly.
"Then follow me," he ordered before walking away, while Lashonda followed behind him immediately, trying to keep up with his pace.
"Wow, this is beautiful," Lashonda adored the castle.
"I guess all the money in Rafera was used in building the castle," she added.
"Do you realize that I can hear you?," Leo grunted.
"Yes! I'm speaking the truth ain't I?," she fired and Leo could only shake his head at how stupid she was.
***
Hazel had a smile on her face as the carriage stopped at Logan's palace. She held her beautiful blue gown as she climbed down the carriage, sashaying towards Logan's chamber.
"Hazel," the butler called out to her. "This way please, lord Logan isn't around at the time."
Hazel's smile immediately dropped when she heard what the butler had just said.
"Oh," was all she could say before following after the butler.
She had lost her patience long ago, she's been so anxious to finally meet him again. Just for her to arrive and she also has to wait!!.
Hazel followed behind the butler with a faux smile on her face.
***
"Peggy is my daughter, but I have no idea that she's in the castle," Tom squealed.
"She came to poison the king, so I just wanted to know if you were also a part of the plan, to avenge your daughter that was arrested," the queen questioned.
"I might have given birth to Lashonda, but I'm not her father, I don't even care about her. Why will I do such a thing?," Tom said and Seraphina couldn't help but frown. "Lashonda deserves to be punished, she's the reason for the problem at first."
"Are you saying that you don't care if she dies?," queen Zenith queried.
"Yes your majesty."
"How come you suddenly do not care about your daughter? Is it because she's in trouble?," Logan queried.
"No, that's not the case. Everyone in our community knows her, she is always getting into trouble, I never liked her for a day," Tom fearfully explained, while Logan scoffed.
"No one cares about your daughter. The question is! Do you believe your daughter could poison the king?," Xander grunted his question.
"I don't know. But Peggy can go to any length to protect her sister, so I won't be surprised if she did such a thing," Tom replied, leaving everyone silent
"Bring her in," the queen sternly said.
The soldier dragged the crying Peggy into the hall and pushed her to the cold ground. With her head bowed to the ground, she continued crying with her eyes already swollen.
"Your father here said he believes you could do something like that without being sent," the queen informed Peggy.
Peggy drifted her tearing eyes to meet her father.
"Why are you staring at me? Did I even have an idea that you were in the castle? Please tell them the truth that I wasn't part of your plan," Tom yelled at his daughter.
"Father you know I can't even hurt a fly," Peggy squealed, with tears pouring down her eyes.
"I don't know, I mean people change, you can possibly do anything to protect that naughty sister of yours."
"How will killing the king protect her!!!," Peggy snapped at him.
***
Lashonda, who had even arrived at the hall before Peggy was brought in, stood in front of the entrance dumbstruck and unable to move.
"My lord, she's awake," Leo announced to Logan when Logan's eyes met with his.
"Peggy please don't bring me into this," Tom pleaded.
"You don't want to be brought into "this" so why then did you admit that Peggy could have possibly poisoned the king?," Lashonda angrily yelled at her father as she walked in.
"Lashonda! You're the genesis of all this, and like I've said. Don't bring me into this," Tom spoke, unable to look Lashonda in the eye.
"You're such a disgrace of a father," Lashonda insulted.
Realizing that everyone was staring at her, she bowed to the queen.
"Greetings your majesty."
"I almost thought I was invisible," the queen scoffed.
"My apologies, your majesty," she respectfully bowed again.
"My sister here won't even dare to poison a mere servant, talk more of the king, and to think of it she doesn't stand to gain anything. If the king dies, I surely will still remain in the dungeon. I assure you that if she was capable of killing someone, this man would have been long gone," she narrated, glaring at her father.
Peggy began wiping her tears slowly, she had a little hope when she saw her sister.
"What rubbish. How are we sure she wasn't holding grudges against the king?" Xander fired, not ready to give up.
"Your majesty, we barely know the king. How will we hold grudges against him?," Lashonda replied.
"The wine your sister made with her very own hands, was confirmed that it contained poison. How're you going to explain that?," Seraphina asked.
"Your majesty, thorough investigation should be carried out. Because I'm sure whoever did this knew that he/she won't be caught, cuz there's already someone to be blamed. One can't foolishly do something without a proper plan, knowing that he'll be implicated."
"Will you shut up! Do you mean the royal family is dumb?," Vance (Xander's head guard) snapped at her.
"I didn't mean such, you were in so much hurry to read a wrong meaning to my statemen. Don't you want the investigation to be carried out? Are you scared of something?," Lashonda queried.
Peggy knew that Lashonda was speaking the truth, but she wished she could just stop talking before she gets herself into trouble.
"I can see you wish to die!," Vance grouched.
Xander sat in silence, glaring at her, Lashonda was really annoying him.
"You all see what I was talking about," Tom gibbered.
"She's actually making sense," Logan voiced.
"You're a fool, that's why you're easily fooled," Xander insulted.
"Don't forget what I said to you earlier today, I wasn't joking," Logan warned, threatening him indirectly.
"That's enough," the queen snapped at them. She cleared her throat before she began speaking.
"An investigation will be carried out and if nothing is found, then your sister will die. Someone has to be punished for what happened to the king."
"So it's okay for the innocent to die?," Lashonda blurted.
"Are you questioning me?."
"No one has proven your sister innocent yet," Seraphina fired.
"Moana was right anyways," Lashonda muttered, making the queen frown.
"You must have a lot of courage. Take the both of them to the dungeon. Take the man away," the queen ordered before walking away.