The Crown's Obsession (WN)

Elizabeth didn't reside in the castle, but with the little number of days she had spent in here, she had tried to cover as many places as she could with Markus, and sometimes without his company. Living in a place like this was what she had dreamt about in the past and now in the present, but she would have never guessed that there would be these many conspiracies placed against each other.

For as long as Beth remembered, she was ambitious, and she didn't see it to be a bad thing. Unlike Madeline, who was shy, she had always been open with her thoughts of what and how she wanted, and she didn't see it to be a terrible attitude. Everyone had goals and motives in their lives, and hers was to have a comfortable and generous lifestyle.

Raphael had not heard anything, said Beth to herself. If he did, he would have gone to the King by now. All she had to do was follow what Markus had told her to do. Calhoun was a smart King, and if she tried to offer him the drink, the man would positively make her drink the poison. The best option was to have Madeline do it.

Reaching the room in the West Wing of the castle without anyone's notice, she started to look for the bottle in the room. Finding it, she quickly put it in her skirt pocket and left the room.

"Where is Beth?" asked Madeline who was on the other side of the castle in the guest room where her parents were in. After speaking to Calhoun, she had decided to check on her sister Beth in her room, only to find it to be empty.

"Is she not in her room?" asked her mother. Madeline frowned, wondering if Beth went to meet Markus in the dungeon. "Is he really going to be executed tomorrow?" questioned her mother in a worried tone.

"That's what the High House has decided. That Mr. Wilmot will be beheaded not only for killing the maid but also for trying to conspire against the King," answered Madeline.

"What is going to happen to Beth? She must be feeling devastated right now with the news," her mother let out an exhaustive sigh from her lips. This was something even Madeline was worried about, which was why she had come looking for Beth.

"Coming here to the castle was not a good idea," whispered her father, shaking his head in the process, "This place is not for people like us. We don't belong here. And that man, I knew something was not right," said her father, speaking about Markus, "You should not have coaxed Beth."

"Me?" her mother looked taken aback, "I didn't do anything. I was only trying to comply with her wishes and see what was best for her."

Her father rubbed his forehead, "No, this entire thing. Nor would we have attended the ball, nor would Madeline or Beth have witnessed something like this situation and gore that is going to take place tomorrow. Beth will be shattered tomorrow when Markus dies."

"I was doing what was best for our daughters. I am their mother, and I wanted them to live a better and peaceful life-"

"That's enough," interrupted Madeline, and both her parents stopped arguing. "I just wanted to know if you knew where Beth is."

Her father looked at her with a passive expression on his face. All these years, Madeline had been closer to her father than her mother because they somewhat shared similar interests in things around them, while Beth shared a lot of similar qualities with her mother. But since Madeline had found out about who she was, and about her grandparents, an invisible wall had appeared between her and her father. The people whom she loved had turned to strangers because of the untold secrets.

"I will go find her," said Madeline, taking her leave from her parent's room.

Mrs. Harris saw the door shut, and she said, "You cannot speak to her like that anymore. She favours the King."

"He is a bad influence on her," replied Mr. Harris, "There is a reason why our kind doesn't get too close to other creatures, especially the vampires who have no moral values. You said she broke something."

"That's what she said. It was supposed to rest, wasn't it?" asked Mrs. Harris.

Mr. Harris knew this was a bad omen. Something terrible was going to happen again just like many other times in the past. "Should we request the King to give his permission to take her back home for two days?"

"And do what?"

"I can ask my parents to come and take a look at her. To see if there's any need to do something." The King had mentioned that Madeline and Beth's grandparents would arrive here at the castle, but so far, there was no news about them visiting the castle.

Mrs. Harris walked to her husband and asked, "Do you think it might trigger Beth too?"

"It should have happened years ago. But Beth has turned normal like us," answered Mr. Harris.

"Everything will be alright," Mrs. Harris assured her husband, even though deep down she knew there was no way to fix something that was broken years ago.

Madeline, who was looking for Beth, finally found her sitting in the inside gardens of the castle, all alone by herself. Beth appeared to be staring at nothing in particular and with a sad expression on her face.

Walking to where Beth was sitting, Madeline took a seat next to her sister.

"What am I going to do, Maddie?" questioned Beth to her, "I came so close to getting married to someone I like, and look what happened. Why is this happening to me? Why is he being executed." She turned to place her hands on Madeline's hands, "He didn't do it, Maddie. He didn't kill those women. Please believe me," she said in an anxious tone.

Madeline knew it wasn't done by Markus, and Calhoun had framed his cousin because the man had gone to accuse and tried to trap the King. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she was aware of the fact that she was staying silent and helping someone who had actually killed people. But Calhoun was not the one who killed Lady Layla.

"It was the High House members decision. They gave their verdict," Madeline tried to make Beth understand as she doubted her sister would listen if she said that Markus was not a good man.

"He is the King. The King can do anything. Markus is his cousin, and if you tell him, he will listen to you and stop the execution. Because of the sisterhood we share, ask him!" Beth cried in frustration.

"I am so sorry, Beth," Madeline didn't know what to do right now because this was what she wanted, for Beth to stay away from Markus. Was it wrong that she didn't feel any remorse? She didn't know what would happen tomorrow, but today, she was glad that it wasn't Calhoun who was framed and Beth's feelings that was not going to be hurt by the Wilmot's.

Sitting closer, Madeline put her hands around Beth's shoulders for a hug and patted her back.

"Will you make that drink for me? The one you used to make back in our house," Beth asked Madeline.

Pulling away, Madeline nodded her head, "Let me go get it right away."

"Let me come with you," offered Beth, who had sadness in her eyes.

Madeline didn't refuse, and both the sisters went to the kitchen of the castle. Though there were servants to do the work, Beth insisted on drinking the juice which was made only by Madeline. Madeline made four glasses out of which one she drank, and the other two was gulped down by Beth, leaving one lone glass that was untouched. When Madeline was speaking to one of the servants in the kitchen, Beth took the opportunity to slip in the liquid to the glass.

By the time Madeline turned around, Beth said, "I should go back to my room and rest. My head has been hurting," and before leaving, she said, "You should offer it to the King. I know he will like it, like the rest."

Madeline nodded her head, and she was about to pick up the glass from the slab when Raphael entered the kitchen, "What is that you have in there in your hand, Lady Madeline?" Beth gritted her teeth, seeing who it was. Was he following her?!

"This is an orange juice that has spices added to it," answered Madeline with a small smile. She offered, "Do you want to drink it?"

Beth's eyes widened, and she quickly said, "He can have another drink made by the servant's. Things that are made by your hands should be given only to close people." To Beth, Raphael was nothing less to an annoying fly that kept hovering around her.

"Beth!" Madeline went to scold her because of her impolite words to Mr. Sparrow.

"What?" Beth asked.

Raphael's eyes crinkled as he smiled, "How can I refuse when you are the one who is asking me," and he took the glass offered by Madeline in his hand. Beth's expression fell from her face, and before she could pull herself up, Raphael drank every single drop of the juice and placed the glass back on the slab. "It was a wonderful drink," he complimented and stepped out of the kitchen.

Beth wanted to harm the King only because he was the reason why Markus was going to be beheaded tomorrow. But that didn't mean she wanted to hurt someone innocent, but what if it was an idiot?

There was only one bottle of poison, and that was consumed by the homeless-looking man! What was she supposed to do now?! Leaving Madeline behind, she quickly tailed Raphael, Beth didn't know what she should do. The poison was meant to freeze a vampire's body and put them to sleep, but Raphael was not a vampire. At least that is what she gathered by his eyes as they were black.

Raphael had moved to another corridor and Beth followed him, her hands wringing each other. Should she perhaps go back to her room and behave like she knew nothing? But before she could decide, Raphael fell on the ground, and she cursed herself while walking up to where he was.

"Mr. Sparrow?" called Beth. There were other things she had to do than babysit this grown man.

With her finger, she pushed the man's arm but he didn't react. Did he die? Beth turned behind her to see if she could see someone and get help. It wasn't like anyone would suspect she did anything to him. But when she turned around, her eyes came to look at the empty corridor.

Beth looked around and she then heard, "You passed the test." And she turned back to see Raphael standing right in front of her. He placed his finger on her forehead. Within a second, Beth fell unconscious.

Madeline had followed Beth when her sister had dashed out of the kitchen, wondering where Beth was going, and in time, she caught Mr. Sparrow carrying Beth in his arms.

"What happened to her?" asked Madeline in deep concern.

"Sleeping."

Madeline looked down at Beth's face and then back at Raphael. He said, "The process of going to read through her memories will take time, and this seemed like the perfect time to do it."

"How long does it take?" asked Madeline.

"Nearly thirty hours is needed for her to slip into her deep subconscious state and it will also give her mind the time to calm," replied Raphael, "Once she's reached that state, going through her memories will be easy."

This meant it would take the same amount of time for her to check her own memories, thought Madeline to herself.

"I will take her to her room," and Raphael left the corridor with Beth.