CH 101

Erna had disappeared without a trace.

All that was left was the neatly piled cushions and folded blanket. There was also a small paper bag filled with brightly coloured sweets.

Bjorn sat motionless, patiently waiting for her return. The abandoned sweet bag, which she always clung to like an extension of herself, hinted that she couldn’t have gone too far.

She’s not a child.

As he poked at the candy, a gentle smile curved his lips. He delicately plucked out a pale yellow pill and popped it into his mouth, relishing the zesty aroma of lemon. It was the same fragrance he tasted every time he kissed Erna.

Savouring the candies flavour slowly in his mouth, he looked upon the forest bathed in the warm glow of the late summer sun.

According to the lawyers in charge, Walter Hardy’s deceitful business schemes would soon be at an end. Despite surpassing his expectations in investments, the situation was not too difficult to handle as noiselessly as possible. That was the only thing Bjorn had asked for.

While he understood the gravity of the situation and the demands it had placed upon him, he prayed that rumours of her disparaged father would not reach Erna’s ears. He didn’t want to see his wife distraught.

Bjorn loved Erna’s smile and he would endure far worse to ensure that she would always light the room up with it. It felt like a dream whenever she would smile at him and if he had to risk some trouble for it, he was more than willing to do so. Just for the sheer value of having Erna’s beauty by his side, he was willing to endure anything.

Bjorn checked his pocket watch, then looked over at the candy bag again. He knew that he was going to have to confront Walter sooner or later, sooner would be better, before Walter caused Erna any heartache.

“Erna.”

He repeated the name with a sigh as he knocked the candy bag and the sweets poured out. Your Wife the candies had written upon them. Erna Dniester, his wife, she belonged to him.

“Your Highness?”

Bjorn flipped open his pocket watch again as he heard a familiar voice. It was Lisa, the young maid who followed Erna everywhere.

“Where’s Erna?” he said.

He barely looked at Lisa, as he scanned the area of the garden, at the milling crowds and clustered groups, but she was no where to be seen.

“Was she not with you, Your Highness? I thought she was,” Lisa said, perplexed.

“So you don’t know where she is either?”

“Well, she was deep asleep here, Your Highness. I had to help with the picnic for awhile and when I came back, she was no longer sleeping on the blanket, so I thought she went away with you.” Lisa couldn’t help it, but a tear began to streak down her cheek.

Bjorn gazed at the forest intently, before turning his gaze back to the picnic. He checked his watch yet again, the picnic would soon be over and Erna had disappeared. The gravity of the situation hit him and he stood up from his seat, no longer able to ignore the urgency of the situation.

*.·:·.✧.·:·.*

“Erna?”

Pavel muttered the name in disbelief. He was too preoccupied with the scene before him to remember titles.

“Oh my God, Erna!”

Erna had been walking like a ghost for some time and stopped when she heard her name being called with a familiar voice. Her white dress, which had grass clinging to it, rippled in the breeze, dancing with her loose hair.

Pavel leaped off a nearby rock and ran to her, too consumed with worry to even notice the paint cans he knocked over as he went.

“Are you alright, Erna? What happened?”

Erna looked dazed, like she was daydreaming and judging by the blood shot eyes and puffy cheeks, she had been crying. Her face was pale, more so than usual, she almost looked lifeless.

“Erna, can you hear me?” Pavel grabbed Erna’s shoulders and shook her gently.

“Pavel?”

Erna blinked a few times and she flushed before finally recognising Pavel. She looked at him anxiously.

“Did you come out here alone? Where’s your husband, or maids? Did something bad happen to you?”

“No, no not at all,” Erna said, hurriedly, shaking her head. “The path…I…I lost my way.”

“Erna.”

“I went for a walk and I think I wondered out too far. I don’t know the way back.” Erna wiped away the tears with the back of her hands.

Pavel figured she was lying, but chose to play along and nodded. Seeing that Erna seemed like she was going to collapse at the slightest touch, he didn’t press it any further.

“I’ll go and get someone, so just, wait here for a minute, okay?” Pavel led Erna to the rock he had been sat at and let her sit down.

The field was a favoured spot for reporters trying to get glimpses of the Grand Duchess and Pavel knew all too well how they would treat Erna if they saw her with him. Though he felt ashamed of his own cowardice, he couldn’t bring himself to subject Erna to more trouble.

Seeing no other option, Pavel decided to let go of the rising frustration, for Erna’s sake, it was best that he went and got someone as discreetly as possible.

*.·:·.✧.·:·.*

Is she hiding some where?

That was the typical response from those who heard Erna had disappeared. Before, she would appeared intermittently, without much care, but now that she was fully gone, people took notice.

“Ruining such a wonderful day like this, only to make the Duchess Heine seem more pitiful,” a middle aged woman clucked her tongue disapprovingly, as she watched a group of servants hurry off to search the forest.

If they had just left her alone, she would turn up again, in time. The Prince was making an awful lot of commotion organising a search party. Many of the nobles had chosen to stay behind, even though the picnic finished earlier than planned.

The spectacle was just too much to miss, beating any other form of entertainment. Despite not recognising that, or simply ignoring the attitude of others, the prince acted without hesitation. Although he was a rather self-indulgent prince, especially after that absurd marriage, he had become soft. All because of that second wife of his.

There were few words of sympathy for the prince, who had fallen from grace because of her. The conversations shifted away from him as he reappeared from the forest, indicating that Erna was still missing.

“If anyone outside were to see him, they’d think he lost some great treasure,” someone remarked on the Princes frantic searching.

Just as the disapproving comments started up again, the Grand Duchess appeared from the forest, escorted by two men.

“Isn’t that the painter?” someone said, recognising Pavel Lore.

The onlookers, who paid no mind to any of the servants, fixed on the red headed painter. It seems that the painter is the man to have found the Grand Duchess.

“ERNA!” Bjorn shouted.

Erna stopped as she came out into the field and stared at Bjorn, looking like a lost baby deer. She was dishevelled, puffy eyed and clothes covered in grass stains. The painter’s coat draped over her shoulders.

There was no room for baseless suspicions, along with Pavel, there was another man with him and there were no hints of any dubious actions. Just a passer by helping out a lady in trouble. There was nothing more to it than that.

Bjorn was well aware of this, but fell into a fit of rage. He despised Pavel Lore, who was standing triumphantly at Erna’s side. Erna saw him and almost seemed to shrink behind the painter. This only made him more upset.

Bjorn clenched his fists so tightly, it hurt, his mind raced as if he were being chased by something.

When had this started? He thought, over and over again.

Was it from when he had hired Pavel to do their portrait? Were they sharing affectionate glances around the canvas? Or when Erna was picking out a gift for him on their honeymoon?

Deep down, Bjorn knew that the thoughts were nonsense, Erna had always argued against bringing Pavel in. 

Uncontrollable emotions consumed him. Bjorn grew cold as he looked at Erna, who hid behind the painter. 

Everything always seemed like it was going to be fine when she smiled, but Erna was trembling now, behind that man’s back. She had returned, but seemed like a completely different woman. The embarrassment mingled with anger and Bjorn felt like a child who didn’t get their own way.

Pavel was like a thief, a dirty little thief. How dare he. Blinded by rage, Bjorn’s reason left him to be consumed by the flames of his anger, until all that remained was the paralysing anxiety, which bordered on terror and seething hatred for the painter. The fact that it was a misunderstanding no longer mattered.

Bjorn strode across the field. All the onlookers lost interest now that the Grand Duchess had been found and wondered off.

Louise had been watching her brother with a strange sense of unease, but as the tension had relieved itself with the appearance of the Grand Duchess, she let out a sigh and turned back to her own business, but that was interrupted once more, by people screaming.

Bjorn had strode across the field, right up to the painter and without warning, threw a punch, catching Pavel completely by surprise, sending the man sprawling to the ground.

“OH MY GOD! BROTHER!,” Louise screamed.

Bjorn didn’t stop there, he began to kick the painter as he lay on the ground. 

“BJORN! STOP IT!” Erna, shocked by the display, grabbed her husband’s arm, trying to pull him away.

The commotion drew back the dispersing crowds, sensing the entertainment was not yet done. Words of shock and amazement could be heard rippling through the gathering crowd, but no one was willing to intervene. 

Pavel was finally able to get to his feet and although the fight had been one sided up to this point, he looked like he was going to endure the Princes beating no more. The onlookers grew in excitement.

“PAVEL!” Erna shouted, but the two men were already entangled.

They swung their fists at each other. Pavel was as tall as the Prince and a little muscular, fought back with all his might and the fight intensified.

“Stop, brother, what are you doing!?” Louise tried to intervene.

She rushed in with Bjorn’s friends, who had heard the commotion and rushed to the scene to help. Unexpectedly, they were all jostled into the arena and rushed to Bjorn. Together, they were able to separate the two men.

“LET ME GO!” Bjorn shouted, wiping away the blood spilling down his chin.

Both men looked badly beaten and were breathing heavily, rage in their eyes, they were clearly ready to go at each other again and not willing to relent until one or the other was dead.

“Calm down Bjorn, do you have any idea what you’re doing!?” Leonard said.

“Let me go, you bastard!” Bjorn spat, trying to shove Peter and Leonard off him.

“YOUR HIGHNESS!” 

There was a scream from within the crowd. The two men, who had only been able to see one another, turned their heads to see Erna laying face down in the grass.

“Erna…” Bjorn muttered and rushed to help her “ERNA!”

The onlookers who could no longer enjoy the situation held their breath, and the tumultuous fields became quiet in a second.

The weighty hush was stirred as the footsteps of the princes carrying his wife rang through the air.