The Royal Mark-Chapter 195: Swallow the Soil and Pots
As soon as Dasher fetched the hound keeper, he was given the pouch and he let the hounds have a good sniff on it before commanding them to go and look for the scent. Everyone followed the hounds who led them to the southern part of the castle.
King Allister and Prince Andrius kept a frown on their faces while following the dogs. It is the part of the castle where the queen keeps her rare orchids and plants. They have been there before and they don’t think that there’s anything suspicious there.
When they arrived at the location, the hounds didn’t stop sniffing the ground and plants in the back garden of the castle. One of the dogs started barking and scratching one of the doors leading back to one of the towers in the south of the castle.
"What is that dog doing?" King Allister asked the hound keeper.
"Your Majesty, it is trying to tell us that there is something behind that door."
"The watch are you waiting for? Open it!" the king ordered the gardeners working in that area.
"B-But Your Majesty, it’s the queen’s plant nursery. She doesn’t want other people in there. People and animals could bring diseases to the plants. She only allows two of her ladies-in-waiting to go inside with protective clothing. It can only be opened with a spell too," one of the gardeners said.
"Drake, bring those ladies-in-waiting in here. Dasher, fetch the queen and Milda, bring them here. Let’s end this search once and for all."
Drake and Dasher bowed to the king and left. After they were gone, the hound keeper let the other hounds take a sniff at the pouch once more and soon all of the dogs were whining in front of the door.
"How dare you bring these filthy mutts to my garden! You know that this place houses the most expensive and rarest plants in the whole Vectus and you brought your dirty animals here!" Queen Irina fumed with anger the moment she arrived in the southern garden.
"B-But Your M-Majesty, they just took a bath yesterday..." the hound keeper said.
"Silence! I don’t care, you insolent peasant!" Queen Irina shouted surprising everyone, even her children. Even though she openly expresses her hate towards Mistress Valeria which people understand why, she never shows arrogance and disdain for others.
"Open it!" King Allister ordered Queen Irina’s ladies-in-waiting but they only lowered their heads, cowering in fear.
"I said open it! Or do you want me to exile you and all your family members to Vrenada and be food for the vampires?!" King Allister roared in so much anger.
What his queen showed only increased his suspicion that she was really involved with everything that Drake had mentioned. Not only that, even her ladies-in-waiting appear to be more scared of her than him.
The two ladies kneeled before him and pleaded in tears, "Your Majesty, please just send us to the dungeon, whipped us a thousand times, but please spare our family."
"So you are really refusing to open the door? Baahu, Kaizer, bring me the husbands and children of these two, including their parents!"
Baahu and Kaizer hesitated at first but when they looked at Prince Andrius and Prince Drake who nodded at them, they went back to the castle to fetch their families. Since everyone associated with the queen and Milda had been arrested including their families it was easy for the mages and guards to look for them.
When the two came back, King Allister saw one of the husbands of the ladies-in-waiting carrying a baby not more than a year old and pointed at the father, "You! Put that baby on the floor."
"Your Majesty, please whatever my wife did wrong, please punish us, spare our children, please... They have done nothing wrong," the father said.
"I said put that baby on the floor or my guards will take that baby from you together with your other children!"
The father looked at his three other children who started crying when the royal guards stood behind them. He had no choice but to put his baby on the floor in front of the king.
King Allister pulled out his sword and raised it, ready to swing to the baby’s neck who started crying as well.
"This is absurd Allister! Stop this madness!" Queen Irina said. "Valeria aren’t you going to stop him?"
Mistress Valeria laughed surprising everyone, "Why should I? You tried to harm my granddaughter. This one is on you!"
King Allister swung his sword aiming for the baby’s neck with full force but the mother of the child embraced the king’s arm causing him to drop his sword.
"I will open it, Your Majesty. But please promise me that you will protect my family against your queen once she punishes me for this. Give me your word," the mother whispered.
"You have my word," King Allister tersely replied.
The lady-in-waiting hovered her hands to the knob of the door and started casting her spell.
"What do you think you are doing!" Queen Irina yelled ready to run to her kady-in-waiting to stop her.
King Allister halted the queen by pointing his sword to her neck. "Move and I will slit your neck. If ever you are innocent I will apologize later and make it up to you. And pray that you are, because if not, you will be sentenced to death for committing treason. Not only that you tried to get rid of a divine mage by conspiring with the witch queen but you also committed treason for endangering the king’s descendant."
Everyone looked at the door when they heard it click.
"The door is open, Your Majesty," the lady-in-waiting said.
"Thank you. You can go and take your family with you," the king said to the woman who opened the door before turning to the other lady-in-waiting, "But you, you will stay."
King Allister, accompanied by his sons, Arla, the head of the royal guards, and Mistress Valeria, entered the tower through its door and ascended to the top. The tower wasn’t particularly tall, as the southern part of the castle, overlooking a cliff, made it an impractical choice for attacks in the past due to its challenging accessibility.
When they reached the top Mistress Valeria gasped as she covered her mouth with both hands upon seeing
"Arla, please confirm if it is what I think it is," King Allister said.
"They are exactly what you think, Your Majesty," Arla replied.
"Mother..." Prince Andrius murmured as she shook his head.
"Arla, have your group take care of this since this concerns my now grandson, Christopher. And later work with Valeria in safely storing these in the alchemy room," the king ordered.
"Let’s go we have some work to do," King Allister uttered before leaving the tower.
Arla took one plant before climbing down the stairs.
King Allister glared at Queen Irina as soon as he emerged from the tower door.
The head of the royal guards swiftly walked to the queen and Milda and said, "Queen Irina Van de Aart of Zemaria and Princess Milda Van der Aart of Zemaria, you are both under arrest for treason and conspiring with the enemies of Zemaria Kingdom which resulted in harming the Crown Prince of Arcanis and a member of the Royal Family by law, Prince Christopher Jorgensen.
You are also responsible for the attack on the second Princess’ ship, causing the abduction of Prince Christopher, Princess Elsa’s Mages and Ladies-in-waiting. You will be both sentence to death for directly harming the members of the Royal Family including a divine mage."
"You have the nerve to arrest me! I will–"
*SLAP*
Queen Irina covered her cheek that’s stinging in pain and looked at Mistress Valeria wide-eyed before cursing her, "Damn you, you–"
*SLAP*
The queen received another slap before even finishing her sentence. 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂
"Do you want more? I can do this all day! You are a filthy evil being! Two slaps are not enough! If it is up to me I will make you swallow all the Wolfsbane and Belladona that you have in that tower including the soil and pots!" Mistress Valeria shouted at the queen.
"Valeria that’s enough... Guards! Take them to the dungeon as they wait for their execution day," King Allister said.
Queen Irina hugged and covered Milda with her body when the guards moved closer to them.
"Mother!" Milda wailed in tears and she hugged back Irina.
"Allister! Milda is innocent. This is all me. She has nothing to do with it. I had the necklace enchanted without her knowing it. She is just a jealous child wanting your attention and love which you poured into your other daughter. Please... don’t drag her into this. Don’t punish her for what have I done!"
"I will have her investigated. But for now, she can contemplate the things she had done to her sister in the dungeon. Guards! Take them now!"
"Andrius! My son, your sister is innocent. True that she envies Hera and Elsa but only because she was thirsty for your father’s love. She did not do anything wrong. She’s innocent!"
"I will see what I can do, Mother. But for now please don’t struggle and follow what Father said," Andrius remarked before turning around to stay on the King’s side.
