Is this how it has to be?
The thought consumed me.
I just…can’t accept this. No matter how many times I think it over.
I was at a door I passed through every day—but I couldn’t bring myself to go through. Hugh freely named his accomplices, so a castle-wide sweep for spies began—a full-scale arrest under Sirius’s command.
Nathan’s injuries were being treated, and Sil was seen by a physician too, just in case.
And as for me—well, I guess everything was back to normal. Meaning, I got Klifford back. He was officially my bodyguard again.
I was encouraged to rest, so I had Klifford escort me to my quarters. And I was standing at my door right now.
At first, I entertained notions of doing as I was told and taking a load off. In the end, the mastermind was caught, and the case was closed with no major casualties.
But I couldn’t bring myself to rest peacefully in my room.
I turned around. “Klifford.”
“Yes?”
I looked up to see myself reflected in his deep blue eyes. “I’m going to see Hugh. Take me to the dungeon.”
Klifford just stared blankly back at me. He tilted his head as if he was going to ask me something. “As you wish.”
We hurried to the training grounds, below which the dungeon lay. Along the way, we ran into many an obstacle—soldiers here, yelling traitors in the middle of an arrest there—but thanks to Klifford’s expert guidance and my Princess Privilege, we arrived safely.
We descended from the training grounds to the dungeon. There were three guards stationed at the entrance. When they saw it was me, they fumbled to attention.
I asked one of them, “Which cell is Hugh Roberts in?”
“On the ground floor, Your Highness! Furthest in the back.”
“Thank you. Don’t let anybody come through for a while. And one more thing—”
I added a request—scratch that, an order. I didn’t know if he would respond accordingly, but I had seen him giving instructions nearby. If he wanted to, he could come here at a moment’s notice.
Once I got the guard’s firm nod of assent, I proceeded down the stairs. Klifford took the lead, lit torch in hand.
Was it…Hugh who explained this to me? That cells were arranged according to the severity of the crime.
Anyway, these cells made Klifford’s cell seem…nice, by comparison. The corridor I walked down to visit Klifford in his cell was downright cute. As we walked down this corridor, my nose was assaulted by a putrid stench. The corridor itself was given a basic amount of cleaning, but the cell interiors were all in very bad shape.
And in the holding block furthest in the back—nobody was being held prisoner except Hugh. This isolated him even more.
Klifford stopped in his tracks and illuminated the cell at the end of the row with his torch. And there was Hugh—in his bodyguard’s uniform minus the jacket—squinting at us.
He rose from his cot that was covered in blood…or some sort of stain. With each movement, the chains around his wrists and ankles rattled.
He’s being polite?
Hugh bowed to me. It was only two days prior that I had come to this dungeon with Sirius, Sil, Hugh, and Nathan to visit Klifford.
And now, Hugh was in a cell.
I opened my mouth and slowly spoke, “Your golden tassel…why did you cut it?”
Hugh’s eyes widened in surprise. “You came all the way down here just to ask me that? It’s such a trivial question.”
“No…I think it’s a very important question. Did you cut it yourself?”
Hugh must have had his own reasons. That’s how I felt about it, after the fact. I also thought that it might have something to do with the real reason he committed that act of treason.
“Nobody else is here besides myself and Klifford, so you have no reason to lie anymore.”
“Are you suggesting I’ve lied about something?”
“Your reason—your motive behind your act of treason.”
“My motive…” Hugh murmured.
“The reason you gave…it doesn’t mesh at all with the loyalty I know you have for my brother.”
“It doesn’t…mesh, you say? But wasn’t the reason I gave fortuitous for you? I thought it was something you could agree with.”
His method was one thing I couldn’t agree with. But I did object to the idea of a king marrying another man and still being forced to produce an heir—I objected to Esfia’s monarchy as it existed.
“Was this—truly your line of thinking?”
I just didn’t have closure. The fact that Hugh was the bad guy and the motive he gave was just so inconsistent. Even if Hugh personally did object to Esfia’s monarchy as it existed now, the actions born from such a belief were just too extreme.
And it was so unlike Hugh to act in a way that would hurt Sirius so deeply.
Think, Octavia…
Yes… It would be easier to believe if he—
“If you told me you were acting under somebody else’s orders, this would all be easier to believe.”
Silence… A dead end, eh?
Okay, what if I command him? As long as Hugh still considers himself a bodyguard…
“Hugh, my brother never released you from my service as bodyguard. And you were given the position officially in writing. It needs to be nullified in writing as well.”
“…………?”
“Just as you served my brother, now you must serve me. You are still obligated to obey my commands.”
Hugh smirked. “Your logic is twisted.”
“So what if it is? I am Esfia’s eldest princess, and I say it’s so: You are still my bodyguard.”
And he’s also still Sirius’s bodyguard.
I repeated my first question. “Why did you cut your golden tassel?”
“It was partly because…I felt it was what I deserved.” It sounded more like a monologue than an answer to me.
“You asked me once whom I would obey if I was given two conflicting orders. Is that somehow related?”
What if Hugh was given two conflicting orders? In that case, the pertinent question would be, whose orders?
If somebody gave Hugh an order…it had to be Sirius, right? Or, in terms of authority, my father or Edgar. Does that include me and Alexis as well?
The lantern light shook a little. I glanced at Klifford. He was trying to show me something in the hall…
I glanced discreetly where his lantern light had moved. And I saw the faint outline of a man’s silhouette in the distance. He was almost invisible, unless you squinted your eyes. I had given the guard a command, but all I could do was hope he would catch my unconventionally delivered message.
He actually came…
But the man was showing no sign of emerging from the shadows.
“I chose to obey the order I wanted to obey. If I was to obey only one of the two orders I was given—then I was unworthy of affixing Sirius’s golden tassel to my sword in its proper form.”
“Then what about today? Wouldn’t it be more proper…to not wear the tassel from my brother, just as you did earlier?”