Chương 16: Chapter Fifteen: Something Isn’t Right

Playing dumb seems to be the only safe option, "What is there to talk about?"

"You sent him to the Wistful Island. For eight years…It's a severe punishment." She chose her words carefully but even I could hear the underlying question. Why? Why on earth would you do such a thing to your own child?

"It's a severe crime to abuse your sister. An infant. If that pageboy hadn't gotten there in time. If she hadn't woken up…" The words float in the air but don't really reach me. Not my problem nor my fault until you made it that way. It wasn't even that bad. The coma was the result of The Penguins doing and completely unrelated to this poor kid. Something tells me if I explain it that way that evil bird will have my head for lunch and dinner.

Niathe chides sounding remarkably rational compared to how she usually is, "El." Short fuse meets secret dynamite. Who's worse?

"I will not overturn my decision." Uncommonly steadfast in his decision he declares.

"Besides, the Island will be good for him." Pause.

"It won't be easy. But nothing good ever is. For now, we can just focus on this one." He boops me on the nose and I swat him away. That's awfully apathetic of you. Derrick is an ass but he's still your child. What a deadbeat. The one time he stands up for someone and it goes so south. No wonder he can't make any decisions for himself. I wouldn't trust him with a possessed ragdoll. Niathe sighs and agrees albeit reluctantly, "As you wish."

Eager to raise his blood pressure she poses another question, "What shall we tell our mothers?" He groaned and stroked my head harder. Ow. Ow. Is this what sympathy pain feels like?

"Which one? The Queen or the Duchess?"

"Ow!" Unable to control the pained voice in my head, I clutched his stupid fingers and shuddered at the burning sensation in my scalp. He smooths out the rugrash I'm getting from his anxiety, "Both? What kind of explanation shall we give them?"

"None." Then why did you ask. She pinches my cheek both of them dreadfully addicted to torturing me instead of themselves, "If they do not ask we will not bring it up. If they do ask, tell the truth. Is your mother even coming? I haven't seen her in an age."

"Thank you and the cronies sends their best regards." He adds somewhat ruefully, "At least Derrick can keep them company from now on." Oh. So it's not that bad of a place. At least it can't be if you're parents chose to live the rest of their days there.

"No, don't thank me. I'm just as guilty as him. I told him to apologize to her, unaware of how deep the resentment was buried." Yes, you are.

"All that matters is that you're here and you're not going anywhere."

"…" Niathe pinched harder and I felt bad for him. For a millisecond before I reminded myself of what a wimp he is. In that case, he deserves the non-answer she just gave him. They whispered sweet nothings to each other after that awkward moment and he rocked us back and forth in the chair. I yawned but stopped short as his words rang in my ears. Guilty, huh. Come to think of it, he is technically pretty guilty. He did release Derrick early.

That could be just a coincidence, but how did Derrick even know where I was? My guards were still searching for me. The only people I can think of who might have told him are the hidden guards or the kitchen staff. But why would they do that? If those hidden guards are everywhere around the estate, why didn't they help me? Something doesn't add up. Derrick mentioned that the Duke had something to say to me. I assumed he meant it as an apology, but he never said the Duke explicitly asked him to apologize. Did he?

Am I just being paranoid? This all feels so fishy. Niathe has been keeping a close watch on me for a while, but today the guards were especially lenient. They've always been pretty lax, but it's as if they were ordered to be that way. Or they knew it wouldn't be an issue. Everyone I've ever met seems that way. The gossip mill, guards, etc. How does anyone get anything done in this unruly house? Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

But isn't it such a coincidence that the Duke and Niathe happened to be together right after? I mean when exactly did the Duke release Derrick today and why? Besides instead of silencing a servant and keeping this matter quiet like most rational people would. The duke embarrassed himself and severely punished his child. In front of an entire audience. Just before a large group of guests would arrive for a large party… It just doesn't make sense to me. I wouldn't have done half the things they had.

Everything was just so rushed today. My mother always said, "A series of coincidences aren't coincidences at all." Some invisible spectator jumps to my mind like a foregone conclusion. Testing me. Baiting them. Waiting for the chaos to erupt. What if all along she's been testing him? Who benefits and who's harmed the most by this arrangement. Off the top of my head, Druvis and her son. I got sick and he got exiled. She's basically trapped here, chained her neglectful lover. Derrick is being sent away.

Possibly for a month, a year, a decade. Times different for long life species. Me. I got sick but I'm showered with attention. Niathe still gets her big party, sympathy, and protection from her husband. It's still not right. What is it? It's going to drive me crazy thinking of all this drama. This far my life's been pretty much uninterrupted by events like this. Only one common factor coincides with the last. Druvis. Something about her is driving a wedge in this house. Why was I given a quest to banish Derrick?

What purpose does that serve me? What do they all gain from him being gone? What does the Duke gain from him being gone? At the same time, someone knocked hurriedly on the door and broke me out of my trance.

"Father? It's us. We're worried about Ria! Can we come in?" A collection of voices begged to be let in. Chattering amongst themselves and audibly clawing at the door. The Duke asks carefully for permission, "Nia?"

"Of course. They must be terribly shocked by what happened. Let them in Helen." She's still here? Helen is a trained knight and a werewolf. Yet, she showed up just in the nick of time—right after the incident occurred. Was it a coincidence? Eyeing her suspiciously I clenched my fists. New theory. Niathe and Druvis are always the center. Niathe's behavior is just as strange as well, especially considering how she dealt with Druvis and then by comparison the guests at the tea party.

She's not an extremely benevolent person. Yet she's allowing Helen to guard both her and me even after she failed in her duty to protect me. Could that be a coincidence? I don't think so. A railroad of thoughts whistled by and the cogs turned. You'd think a baby wouldn't be able to outsmart or outrun her. But what if that's part of the trap? I've always been curious about the world around me, so it makes sense that I would try to escape and eventually wander around the house.

However, it doesn't make sense how few guards and servants I have. I know my siblings have an entourage around them at all times. I previously attributed my smaller number of attendants to my age, as I am still physically a child. But that's not accurate. Niathe did this on purpose. Niathe set this up deliberately; she chose to place me in just enough danger. For what?

"Is she ok?" The baby. Her son. And then she was forced to come back by her mother. Forced to be his wife again. Forced to have his kid again. I would hate this asshole's guts if I was her. What if all this time she's really been trying to find out who killed her son? A trap like that would take time. More than that. It would require your soul. You'd have to be willing to do anything. What if she already had a target in mind from the moment she stepped foot in this house again.

The realization sends a chill down my spine. No. I mean… that's just ridiculous. Who would do that? It never really made sense why she returned and settled down again, falling in love once more. She's been playing the dutiful wife—perfectly. Even in front of me. It's just weird now that I think about it. How can she not be angry with him? … If she has been working the long con to uncover the hidden orchestrator behind her son's death, it would make sense now.

Maybe she didn't leave me alone in those first few months out of trauma and cowardice. Maybe… She left me as bait. Ouch. Whoever it was probably didn't rise to the challenge because it was too obvious, so they waited. And then they struck. They sent a seemingly harmless snotty child after me to a secluded area behind the kitchen, where nobody would have noticed me being abused by Derrick. Even if they did notice, Derrick is a very strong, angry noble child with a vendetta against me.

It probably would have been dismissed as sibling rivalry, not abuse. So, what changed? An accident. His uncouth words. A witness? The boy—his name slips my mind. Gillard. The pageboy said Derrick was seen near the kitchen. He interrupted Derrick unintentionally, saving me, giving me time to escape, and providing a witness to the— He's a witness. Oh my god. They're going to kill him.

"She's shivering, is she cold?" I wiggle away from the Duke. Uncomfortable and queasy. Someone's trying to kill me. Warm hands pick me up and hug me to their beating heart. Smoked wood with a metallic tinge to it. Erichean. He pats my back softly and sways with me in his arms. I nestle into his embrace and feel the cogs grind to a halt. What do I know now? Someone—Most likely someone I'm related to is trying to kill me. Only a few people could have that much influence.

Niathe's willing to sacrifice her pawn to defeat this person. Pawn being me. Gillard is going to be very dead soon. I think she knows who now. But Druvis seems so… for lack of a better word. Airheaded. Compared to everyone else she's so young and weepy. No backbone to speak of unless it concerns her children and even that is as fragile as a twig. I have no doubt this means she's not going to stop using me as bait in her plans anytime soon. The hidden guards work for him and maybe someone else.

They're everywhere in the shadows. Which means this person is everywhere in the shadows. My little trips to the library. My intelligence gathering. There's a bunch of pieces from the puzzle that I'm missing.