"Someone among us did it," a middle aged man said with his hands clasped on the table in front of him.
"Who could it be?" A younger man asked thoughtfully looking around the large room with more than thirty people sitting quietly with half of them having their hands resting on the tables in front of them.
"Knowing the culprit should not be what we should be worried about now. We should use this opportunity to send the Queen away for ever just as we planned. That is the right thing to do," a lady in her early twenties said calmly.
"Most of us believe you did it to frame the Queen," the younger guy who spoke earlier said.
"No, I did not do it. My father only gave up his position to me recently. I am not foolish to make such a decision. I have someone else on my mind. My father told me to take him down and that is what I plan to do not fight for the Queen's crown," the lady replied with a smile that had a magical ability to get the attention of all the men in the room.
"And who could the person be?" a man in his mid sixties asked as he could not help but pity the man who will fall into the trap of this fox.
"My first love," the woman replied with a light excited voice. "Shouldn't we be worried about the girl who almost got killed and who the culprit could be."
"Yeah, but what makes you think the girl only almost got killed and isn't dead," another man asked finding what the girl said very suspicious.
"I know she isn't. Do you think we should be careful with the way we take care of the Queen. If she dies, the prince and princess will only hate us," the young lady reminded them.
"We are keeping the king out if this decision. We have enough time to worry about the Queen's life. We can keep her out of the way for as long as her existence is still needed. When she becomes an obstacle, we will think of the right way to completely keep her out of the way," a man in his late seventies said slowly and calmly. His hoarse voice filling the room with power and authority.
The other people in the room agreed with him immediately some nodding and others humming their agreement.
"What is important now is that we find the person who is trying to interfere with our plans. I want the person brought here before the end of this month," the old man ordered.
***
Rose looked at the pretty woman at the door and could not help but admire her. The woman had an ideal mixture of confidence, intelligence, elegance and gentleness in her countenance. She was someone anyone will definitely have to paused to look at when they see her.
Most importantly, the woman looked so familiar yet she could not put her fingers on it. She tried hard to remember who looked just like this woman and when she could not remember anyone, she began thinking of someone who at least looked a little like her.
The woman was definitely a doctor. She stared at the woman as the woman walked to her with a warm friendly smile on her face. Rose found herself feeling comfortable in the woman's presence.
"Hello, my name is Leah. I am a doctor here," the woman said in a voice that was so motherly and nice. The voice had a calming effect on Rose who was angry and scared that Liam left her all alone with a bunch of strangers.
"Hello," Rose replied with a slight wave and looked down but she soon had her eyes back up looking at the woman.
"Are you okay?" the woman asked taking gentle patient steps towards Rose who was in a pathetic state.
"I am fine," Rose said putting on a confident countenance and cleared her throat while watching the woman walk to her.
"You look fine now. When you arrived here weeks ago. I was scared that you won't survive it. The wound was fatal but you look good now," The woman continued talking calmly in tone Rose found soothing.
Rose moved away from the woman when she got closer when she remembered how pretty the woman who gave the wound was. She found herself feeling threatened in the woman's presence.
"I am not going to hurt you," Leah told her when she noticed Rose drop the confident façade she put on earlier. "I work here and I heard you wouldn't let anyone come close to you."
Rose nodded.
"Mr. Hale told me to check on you since I look nice," the woman said with her smile broadening with a hint of pride. "Do I really look nice?"
Rose found herself nodding with a slight smile. The woman seemed to have a magnet hidden in her that could atttract people to her.
"Wow, you are very pretty. When my son talks about how beautiful his friend is, I told him it was impossible for anyone to have such beauty especially more beautiful than me but now I believe him. You are beautiful and I have to bow in the presence," the woman said with a slight bow of her head.
That would have sound crazy and creepy from someone else but hearing that from the woman before her, Rose found herself smiling brightly she almost chuckled.
"You will definitely be prettier than his friend," the woman murmured as she walked to the window of the room and pushed the curtain away slightly. "If you curl up in that manner, you will hurt yourself," she told Rose.
Rose found herself uncurling automatically but when she straightened her frame, she winced when the pain hit her hard.
"I warned you," the woman scolded with a gentle smile Rose found motherly. "I will like to check the wound."
She helped Rose raise the shirt of the hospital cloth she wore. She examined the wound for a while before smiling. Rose exhaled in relief when she saw her smile, at least she did not hurt herself more.
"You should not do that again. It could be fatal, okay? If there is anything wrong, press that button and I will come to you but don't do that again," the woman scolded her warmly.
Rose's eyes slowly became clouded with tears. Leah's smile was so sweet and the way she scolded her reminded her of her mother. Her mother scolded her in that same manner with a smile but with words that clearly warned her.
"Are you okay? Did I scold you too much?" Leah asked worriedly. The last thing she wanted was the princess to cry because of her. "I am sorry."
ραпdα nᴏνɐ| сom "No, it's okay. I just remembered my mother. She always smiled like that to me whenever I did something wrong. She smiled even when scolding me. I miss her," Rose said as the tears began flooding down the smooth hill of her cheeks.
"As soon as you get better, you will go home," Leah said adjusting Rose's hair.
"No, not my foster mother. My biological mother. She is dead. She died when I was young. I was adopted by Valerie only a couple of years ago," Rose narrated easily. This was a topic she hated talking about but it felt natural to tell Leah.
"Oh I'm sorry. Do you want to talk about her?" Leah asked sitting on the chair beside Rose's bed and held Rose's hand in her soft hands.
"She loved tulips but I love Rose," Rose said smiling as she remembered how her mother always looked at the garden of tulips with so much admiration. "She never got the chance to tell me why she loved tulips."
"Did you want to know?"
"I wanted to know then and even now."
"Why do you love roses?"
"I don't know. I love everything about a rose including the thorns. A rose is so beautiful that every one wants to take it away so it made a means of protection; the thorns. The thorns of a rose protects her from getting killed by just anyone," Rose said thoughtfully. She have never thought of this before but talking with Leah made her mind drift towards that.
"This is the most beautiful reason I have heard. I am falling in love with rose flowers now. Was that some sort of initiation?"
"Maybe," Rose replied with a mischievous smile. "What is your favorite flower?"
"I don't know. I like all beautiful flowers. I have never thought of any flower I love most but I love the scent of lavender most," Leah replied thoughtfully.
"I love the scent of lavender too," Rose said truthfully. "You look familiar."
"Really?"
"Hmm. I feel like I have seen you somewhere."
"I don't think I have seen you before or I will never have forgotten your beauty."
"Same here that is why I am so confused. Do you have a sister?"
"No I don't but I have a brother and a son."
"A son?" Rose's eyes brightened when she realized who looked like the woman.
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