The Royal Mark-Chapter 196: Set Her Free
Accompanied by Arla and her fellow mages, Mistress Valeria assisted in relocating the Wolfsbane and Belladonna discovered in the queen’s garden to the alchemy room for secured storage. Meanwhile, King Allister retired to the drawing room in the company of the two princes.
Upon entering, he sank into the sofa, visibly drained by recent events. "Andrius, Drake, I regret the need of my actions regarding your mother, but as the ruler of this kingdom, it was a decision I had to make," the king conveyed, resting his forehead on his hand, elbow propped on the armchair.
"I understand, Father. I just got nervous when you were about to kill the baby," Andriu said who looked tired and stressed as well.
"I was never going to kill that baby. I was just bluffing. I know the mother is not going to let her baby die like that. I saw her breastfeeding her child and the connection of a mother and a child during that stage is strong. She would basically do anything to save her baby," the king said.
"I see... I admire you, Father, for planning it so well in a very short time."
"As the future king of Zemaria, there will be a lot of times that you will make hard decisions like this. So, do not take for granted everything that you see. At one point or another you will be able to use them," King Allister said.
"I will remember it, Father," Andrius replied.
"Father, will you really have to execute Mother and Milda?" Drake asked in a shaky voice.
King Allister sighed and said, "Are you feeling guilty, Son?"
"Yes and no. It is hard to explain. It’s like I don’t know them anymore. What I saw today is not the mother I grew up with. Today, she was like... She... She was like a monster..." Prince Drake started crying, pouring his emotions out.
"I feel the same, Son," King Allister said as he lightly squeezed Drake’s shoulder. "This is the first time that I saw your mother like that. I felt like I was looking at a different person. I know how much you love your mother and I am sorry you are hurting this way.
She is still my queen and I wouldn’t want her dead. It is just sad that her love for me turned into hatred and vengeance. The least punishment that I could give her is exiling her to one of the islands in the south, so you can still visit her.
As for Milda, I don’t know what am I going to do with her. She has always been the quiet one among my children. I thought she and Hera got along well but I was wrong. I never thought that she was jealous of her all these years. I also thought that she never wanted to leave Zemaria and be sent to another kingdom so even if I didn’t want to marry Hera off to Arcanis I agreed to just to not make Milda feel like I was pushing her away from us.
I might be a wise and just king, but I am a failure as a father. I failed my own children and I am sorry I let you all down." King Allister was not able to control and hold his tears anymore for he, too, sobbed together with Drake.
When the two stopped, Andrius cleared his throat before giving his opinion.
"I think Milda’s only fault here is to push Hera to her lover so she could be married off to Arcanis. And their fights were just a simple sibling rivalry and jealousy. I don’t think Milda is aware of what Mother was doing since I believe Mother loves us and does not want to put us in harm.
So she could be telling the truth and did everything by herself without Milda’s knowledge. But I also think that she could be using Milda discreetly to accomplish her plans just like what happened to the amethyst necklace of Elsa.
That’s why, Father, I am asking you to please give our sister a chance. I know that you already made up your mind about our mother but Milda is your daughter and I know that you love us equally and you are hurt too just with the thought of exiling her from the castle.
And if you do this, I promise you to look after her myself. I will make sure that she will not follow the footsteps of our mother and help her heal and recover from the envy and jealousy that she planted in her heart," Prince Andrius pleaded to the king.
King Allister stared at his son and sighed multiple times while rubbing his chin.
"Alright, Andrius. Treat this as your first task as trial King of Zemaria. Watch out for your sister and make sure she will not get into trouble. Her bashfulness worries me sometimes. Check in on her every now and then will you? Especially once your mother goes to the South, it will hurt her a lot, and she might feel alone since she’s closest to her."
"Thank you, Father. I will make sure to never disappoint you," Andrius uttered.
"Go and fetch your sister, both of you. As for your mother, I want to rest today and sleep this out before taking the best course of action," the King said before leaving the two princes.
Prince Andrius and Prince Drake wasted no time in going to the dungeon where Princess Milda and Queen Irina were. Fortunately, the head of the Royal Guards placed them in the cleanest cells there are.
"Guards release Princess Milda. The king has set her free," Andrius said.
The princess and the queen quickly stood up and peeked through the cell bars when they heard Andrius’ voice.
The guard immediately did what he was ordered to do.
"Just me? How about our mother?" Milda said when the guard didn’t unlock the queen’s cell.
"Only you Milda," Andrius said before turning to his mother. "Mother, I was able to change Father’s mind and reduce your sentence. Even though you did all those things I cannot bear to let you die that way. However, please understand that I cannot disobey the king’s command. I cannot free you."
