Chapter 108 - : Monkshood

I just stepped inside the building, but Rufus immediately rushes towards me and hugs me tightly. 

"Where did you go? We thought something might happen to you. We almost called the Queen. It's a good thing you're back." Rufus breaks off from the hug and holds me in my arms. 

I blink my eyes at him and look around us. I sighed when I realized there's only one teacher around. It means it's not that big issue. I look back at Rufus. "What happened? I got better this afternoon and decided to stay at the pastry shop nearby. Did something happened while I was away?"

I ask him in a confused voice. I need to act like I don't have any idea what is happening. I cannot let them see anything suspicious from me. 

Rufus looks at me from head to toe, front to back. He sighed after. "I'm glad you're not hurt or something. Let's sit first, and I will explain things to you."

He then guides me to sit on the sofa. Miss Mareoun, one of the teachers who accompany us to the Saiven Kingdom, inch closer to me. "Csille, are you okay?"

I nod my head at her. "Yes, Miss Mareoun. I'm okay, thank you for asking." I look at Rufus, who is sitting on the other side. "What really happened? I heard from the guards that there is a commotion happening in here."

Rufus nods his head and looks upstairs. "Yes, something happened. When we arrived after our training. Sir Farren immediately went inside his room to change his clothings. However, he immediately went out and told us that something was inside his room. When we follow him inside. We find a flower in a pot on his table. It is called monkwood-"

"It's Monkshood Prince Rufus," Miss Mareoun cuts him off, and I almost laugh because of it. Monkwood? What monkwood is he saying? If we're not in a serious situation, I would have teased him right now.

Rufus' face reddens, and he nods his head. "Yes, it's Monkshood. Prince Fraser explained to us that that flower is a very poisonous plant. Even its foliage is poisonous."

I pretended to think of something. "Monkshood? I think I heard of it before. I know! I have read it in one of the books in the private library of Prince Fraser. As far as I remember, just merely touching the foliage will make you dizzy and nauseous."

Rufus nods his head. "That is how Prince Fraser explains that plant. Prince Fraser even said what the meaning behind that flower."

I pretended to frown. "Meaning behind that flower?"

Rufus nods his head. "Yes, have you forgotten how Prince Fraser loves flowers so much that he started learning its language? So, he told us that the meaning of the Monkshood flower is warning someone that a foe is near. And that's not it. The person who brought that flower here also left a note."

"A note? What's the content of the note?"

Rufus shakes his head. "I didn't know. Prince Fraser immediately throws me out the room to discuss things with Sir Farren and Leander."

I frown. Prince Fraser is with Leander and Sir Farren but not Rufus? Rufus is his cousin and is even older than him. Although Rufus sometimes may look like he doesn't care about what is happening but he is still his cousin. How can he just throw him out? 

Also, Miss Mareoun is already here. Should the one he is supposed to talk with is Miss Mareoun? 

I look at my hands and smile sadly. I was gone, but he didn't even bother waiting for me. Rufus waits for me, but he cannot do that? Didn't he say he would wait for me? Wait, my face! 

I sigh and look at Rufus. "Did they already know who's behind this?"

Rufus shakes his head. "We don't know. They have been there for more than an hour now. We don't know what's happening and what will Prince Fraser do. He just asks me to look for Miss Mareoun."

What will Prince Fraser do with this? I hope he already deciphers what I wanted to say. Please be safe, Princess Paislee.

I am about to ask them more questions when the door upstairs suddenly opens, and Prince Fraser, Princess Paislee, and Leander walk out of it. They then walk down the stairs.

Rufus and Miss Mareoun immediately stand up. "Prince Fraser, I heard from Prince Rufus that you call me here. Do you need me to do something for you?"

But before Prince Fraser can answer Miss Mareoun, Rufus cuts him off. With an excited voice, he walks towards Prince Fraser. "Fraser, look, Csille went home already. We don't need to worry about her. Isn't that good news? We-"

I immediately cut off Rufus. Worry about me? Yeah, right, he looks so worried about me that he even lock himself with Leander and Princess Paislee to talk about the flowers. Yes, I can definitely feel his worry. "It's not about me, Rufus. That's not important. Can't you see the most important thing for Prince Fraser to do is to find who is the culprit behind the flower?"

Prince Fraser frowns and is about to refute, but Rufus cuts him off again. This blabberhead. I didn't know it has some use. 

I know Prince Fraser will just disagree with me. He'll probably say he's worried for me too. Yeah, right, but not the same way he is worried about Princess Paislee. 

There's a big possibility that I was abducted, but the first thing he did is to talk with Leander and Princess Paislee about the flower.

Curse the flower! I know I shouldn't be hurting because this is my decision, but it hurts. It hurts that I become his second priority, and in the future, I know I wouldn't even be included in his priority list. It's starting. He is probably starting to develop feelings for Princess Paislee without him knowing it. 

"Yeah, do you know who's behind this flower? What do they want, and what is inside the letter?" Rufus asks Prince Fraser.

Leander sigh. "It's better if we talk about this while we're sitting."

Rufus, Leander, Princess Paislee immediately sits on the sofa while Prince Fraser is looking at me. However, I just pretend that I didn't notice it. 

I'm sorry, Prince Fraser, but it would be better like this. You're already developing your feelings for Princess Paislee, and I cannot ruin that. 

Prince Fraser sighs and sits on the sofa too. "We still don't know who is behind all of this." Prince Fraser put the warning letter I have written on the table. "This is the content of the letter."

Rufus immediately takes the letter and reads it aloud. "Beware in the competition! Shoes?" He then looks up to Prince Fraser. "What does it mean?"

I took the letter away from Rufus' hand and pretended to read the content. Please be convincing Ysavel. We need them not to be suspicious of you. You cannot risk being known.

"Right now, we still don't know. There's a big possibility that it's a threat," Prince Fraser answer Rufus.

I frown and put the letter down."If it's a threat, then why Sir Farren? That person could send it to me, or to you, your highness, or to Rufus. However, the culprit decided to put it in Sir Farren's room. If it's a threat, why would the culprit leave a clue? Wouldn't that ruin his plan to harm Sir Farren?"

Prince Fraser nods his head. "You're right. That's one thing we still don't understand. We're not sure if this letter is supposedly for Sir Farren or for someone else."

I inconspicuously clenched my fist. That letter is definitely for Princess Paislee. Do you think I would be that dumb to left that flower and the letter in the wrong room? 

I sigh. "But we still also don't know if it's not for him. What if it's supposedly for Sir Farren? Do you think the culprit will be so dumb to threaten the wrong person? Isn't that an absurd thing? When did you see a bad guy sending the threat to the wrong person?"

All of them got silent because of what I said. That's right! Think about what I have said. Listen to me. Listen to the letter. Something will definitely happen to Princess Paislee, and you need to do something about it. You need to avoid it. Although I still doubt if it will work, but there's no harm in trying. If I couldn't control my movements, then I will try to control what will happen.

Prince Fraser sigh. "If that's the case, we will do precautionary measures about it. We will make sure that every shoe will be check before someone wears it in the competition, and that applies to every representative of the Vrawyth Kingdom."

Oh, great! Now I am included? Why can't they understand that it is only meant for Princess Paislee? We don't need to to this unnecessary precaution.

"Why would we need to do that? The warning letter was sent to the room of Sir Farren. What does it have to do with us?" I ask in frustration.

Not that I'm against it but isn't that unnecessary? The letter and the flower were left inside the room of Princess Paislee. Why would we be included in this?

Prince Fraser shakes his head. "We're only doing this for everyone's safety. What if the letter was sent to the wrong room? It's better to be safe than sorry, Csille."

Everyone safety my face Fraser! I was gone, but all you did was stay inside the room of Princess Paislee, and now you're talking about safety in front of me? You're Fiancée was out when you saw the flower. Shouldn't the first thing the came to your mind is your fiancée's safety? 

I sigh, trying to calm my irrational mind. Come on, Ysa! Why are you thinking like that? So, what if Prince Fraser didn't look for you? Who are you in his life? Have you forgotten that you're the villainess and not his female lead? Don't forget that Ysa!

I nod my head at him. "Safety?" I scoff. 

Rufus elbows me and moves his eyebrows up and down as if asking what I am doing. 

Prince Fraser sigh. "Csille-"

I sit up straight and look at him straight in the eyes. "So, what would we do now? Will we let other people know about this?"

Prince Fraser looks at me for a second before he shakes his head. "We won't. Let's keep this to ourselves for now. Not until I haven't talked to the Queen about the Strzalka. I already sent a letter to my Mother, the Queen, and we were just waiting for her reply. Hopefully, we will get a response one of these days. If that happens, I will also raise this situation to the Queens. For now, we're going to keep everything to ourselves."

All of us nods our head. Prince Fraser then looks at Miss Mareoun. "Miss Mareoun, I ask for you to come here because I don't want to worry the teachers more. Just informed them what happened and tell them I will be the one handling this matter."

Miss Mareoun nods her head. "I will follow your orders, your highness." She then looks at the clock. "If there's nothing else, I will be taking my leave now."

Prince Fraser shakes his head. "Also, please warn everyone that do not leak what happened right now. No one besides the Vrawyth people know about this. There's a big possibility that the culprit behind all of this is the Strzalka, and no one should know that we already know their existence."

Miss Mareoun nods her head. "If that's the case, I will order everyone to keep their mouth shut."

After a few reminders, Miss Mareoun hurriedly left the building. Prince Fraser sigh. "Csille, where did you go? You should have stay inside the residence. Do-"

"Your highness, if I stay inside the residence, do you think you can still talk to me right now? If you don't want to talk to me or if you don't want to see me anymore, please just say it straight to my face. Not like this." I stand up from my seat. "I'll be taking my leave then. I know my existence doesn't matter in here. If you'll excuse me."

I heard Prince Fraser and the rest are about to refute, but I toned them down. I'm not mad at him. More like disappointed. But what can I expect from the male lead? I'm not his female lead. How can he get worried about me?