Chapter 63 - Tell Me

"My Auvera was murdered? And the murderer was none other than the first Queen?" The King's eyes were full of tears because he was reminded of the day when the love of his life had left this world for good.

King Dragomir was going through the greatest shock in his life. Never in his life had he imagined that Auvera was murdered. He had accepted that Auvera's death happened from some natural cause, which even his greatest healers and shamans could not heal. He had always blamed God for taking away his love from him.

And the greatest regret in his life was not being able to save Auvera and spend his life with her. After he became the King, he had promised Auvera to give his unconditional love to her only. And he had even kept his promise by not letting any other women share that love which was rightfully hers.

Later, he took Auvera as his concubine and promised to protect her from any harm by keeping her safe inside his well-guarded Palace.

And now, he just heard that the Palace was never safe for her in the first place. And to top it all, one of his Queens had poisoned her and taken her life mercilessly. The emotion was just too overwhelming for him to bear.

If the whole Kingdom's weight was not on Dragomir's shoulders right now, then he would have taken his life in an instant just so he could reunite with Auvera. He wanted to ask for her forgiveness for not being able to see through all the plotting against her and letting her die.

"And to make matters worse, I never doubted for once that her death was not natural. Has Auvera even gotten peace? What if her soul is still lingering in between the worlds, seeking for justice?" Dragomir was burying his face in his hands and was thinking about his beloved.

"How am I going to face her if I ever meet her in the afterlife? But I don't even deserve to meet her in the afterlife after letting her killer on loose for so many years." Dragomir clenched his fist and started to hit himself on his forehead. "How could I not smell anything suspicious? Everything happened right under my nose and I never found out anything."

However, a part of Dragomir was still not ready to believe that Lillian had murdered Auvera for real. He knew she was a little hot-headed and she would throw temper tantrum at times. But to murder someone was on a completely different level.

"But why would Lillian do such an unthinkable crime? She claimed to have poisoned Auvera, but the healers did not find any poison in her body. No, Lillian must have been frustrated about something and she must have been shouting some nonsense. Or my ears were just playing tricks on me."

Dragomir did not know what to think and feel anymore. He stared at the ceiling for a while and slowly whispered to himself, "What if she was saying the truth? People tend to show their true colors when they think that they are alone."

"I have always overlooked one thing about Lillian. She is a witch with great power. Concealing the presence of poison is not that hard for her, is it?" Dragomir knew well about Lillian's background of witchcraft. He knew well that people from Frostford were gifted with the art of magic. But he never once doubted that Lillian would misuse the sacred art of magic and use it against Auvera.

Now his mind started to dwell upon the past events. He started to revisit his time with Auvera. He began to remember how Lillian would frequently visit Auvera's quarter when she was sick and would play with baby Adeline. He began to remember how she even used to feed soup to Auvera with her own hands.

He clenched his fists so hard that his nails were about to pierce through his palms. "All that care and sympathy was just a façade and nothing more. How many times did she lie to me and others? And how many others did she harm?"

The pain and discomfort in his heart escalated and he broke into tears. He was blaming himself for the death of Auvera, for not being able to see through Lillian's façade, and for being oblivious about the whole thing for so many years.

After shedding some tears he calmed down a little from the shock of the revelation of Auvera's murder. And now he was feeling immense rage towards one person.

He slammed his fist so hard on the floor that a small crack appeared on the place where his fist had landed. And he roared with scalding fury towards the first Queen, "Lillian! How could you?"

He punched his fist again leaving an even bigger crack on the floor and screamed, "How could you ruthlessly murder the one person whom I held dear? What did she ever do to you to deserve such fate?"

The veins on his forehead started to bulge. He looked determined about one thing. "Auvera, I could not have saved you from your untimely death. But I promise you, I am going to bring justice to you. I am going to make her confess to her crimes and give her the harshest punishment."

He felt like storming back to Lillian's quarter and instantly confronting her about Auvera's murder. To be honest, he didn't just feel like confronting her, he wanted to do exactly what she did to Auvera. He wanted to poison her and kill her. He thought that only death would be the fitting punishment to Lillian.

Dragomir got up from the floor and was about to storm off towards Lillian's chamber. But he was interrupted by a guard who came knocking at the door. He bowed to the King and said, "Your Majesty, Princess Adeline wants to see you. She is standing outside."

If it was any others, Dragomir would have denied seeing them now. He might even have taken out his boiling anger upon the unfortunate visitor. But he could not do that to Adeline. He sighed and said, "Okay, Allow her to come inside."

The guard bowed again and then left the King's room. Then after a while, Adeline entered the room and bowed to her father.

Adeline had missed her father and she also wanted to ask him a few questions about the test as well. "I hope I am not disturbing you father. It had been a while since we last talked and I missed you." 

It was only Adeline who could come and visit the King saying they missed him. If it was anyone else, he would have scolded them by now.

It was safe to say that Dragomir was not in the best state of his mind. But even so, he tried his best to hide his anguish because of recent findings and mustered up a smile. "I missed you too my daughter." And he hugged the Princess for a little longer than usual. He felt sorry for her for having to grow up without a mother.

But at the same time, he felt blessed that at least his daughter was safe. He had already lost Auvera and he could not even imagine losing their daughter as well.

And it was then a sudden realization crossed his mind. He felt a chill shiver run down his spine. And he tried to remember something, "Did I also hear Lillian saying something about Auvera's child? Yes, I definitely heard her saying 'How is no one able to harm her?' Was she talking about Adeline?"

Dragomir looked at Adeline with worried eyes and asked, "Has Lillian ever tried to hurt you?"

Adeline's eyes were wide open and a small gasp escaped from her mouth. She was caught off-guard. She could not help but think, "Did father find something?"

But she immediately covered her nervousness with her smile and questioned him back as if she had no idea what he was talking about, "First Queen Lillian? Why would she try to hurt me?"

But Dragomir was persistent in his question. He had already overlooked Lillian's witchcraft once and lost his dear concubine and he definitely did not want to lose Adeline as well. "If not her then has someone else tried to bring some harm upon you recently? She might have sent someone else to hurt you."

Adeline was starting to believe that her father knew something about Lillian's crime. But a part of her thought that her father was just being cautious for some reason. So she did not want to confirm anything to him.

She knew that if she told anything about Lillian's crime to him, then there would be a huge clash between Lillian and her father. If it was the clash between brute strength then she would not have worried. But knowing Lillian's cunningness and dark magic, she knew this would be a clash that her father would lose.

When all these thoughts were roaming in her mind, she forgot that her father had asked her a question. And she was just standing there without answering him.

But even though Adeline was not answering, her facial expressions were giving all the answers. And Dragomir knew something was wrong without Adeline even saying anything.

"Tell me what she did to you? It is an order from Your King."