Alicia paced around Harold's bedroom, feeling guilty. Her brain kept trying to conjure up the scene that was happening between both brothers. What was she going to do now?
Her head was hurting badly and her body ached from being dumped on the floor earlier, but that was the least of her problems. Harold was angry.
How was she going to face him? Was he going to yell at her? Snub her? Kick her out of his room?
By the time the first bell rang, Harold still wasn't inside, and it made her more concerned. What if he was being punished because of her?
She decided to take the risk and leave the bedroom to go look for him. She had caused this mess and wouldn't allow him to be punished because of her.
As soon as she opened the door, she saw Harold standing there. He had been about to open the door before she did.
It startled her and made her heart skip a beat from his sudden appearance. Looking at his face closely, she noticed he looked fine. There was no sign of a bruise or anything, but he didn't look happy and his facial muscles were all rigid as he looked at her with displeasure.
She gave him a chance to enter, and as soon as he did, she closed the door and turned around to look at his back.
"Harold, I am sorry. I didn't mean to cause such a mess. I swear. I just... I know I should have ignored it, but I couldn't help it. It's probably not common here to see domestic violence as a crime, but the case of domestic violence is rampant during my time and people die from it. It is a crime. And I'd feel guilty if I didn't at least try to stop it, but I swear I didn't mean to cause a scene like that or get you in trouble. I will take responsibility for my actions tonight, and if there is a severe punishment, I am ready to take it. And I promise that this is the last time something like this is going to happen. I will be careful from now on—"
"Stop talking and breathe." He ordered, looking at her sternly.
She stopped talking immediately and gasped for air, only now realizing how long she had been talking without a break.
He only eyed her and went towards the bed. "Come here," he said quietly.
Not sure why he was calling her towards the bed, she went with heavy steps and he signalled with a nod for her to sit down. She sat down while he stood in front of her.
She watched him take out a little bottle containing some kind of oil from his pocket. Then he took out some kind of black ball as small as a bead from a folded piece of paper and picked it up with his fingers before moving it towards her lips.
"Open,"
Alicia looked at it skeptically. Was he expecting her to eat this thing? What the hell was it? It was even smelling bad.
"Open," he repeated coldly this time.
For some reason, she decided to trust him and opened her mouth. He dropped it inside and ordered, "Swallow."
She did, wincing at the bitter taste in her mouth.
"It... tastes bad. What is this?" She asked as she grimaced.
He ignored her but instead reached for her hair with his fingers. He parted it in the middle where Ivan had grabbed it and began to apply the oil from the little bottle to it.
Whenever the oil touched her scalp, she felt a hundred times better, and surprisingly, her body felt a lot better. What kind of medicine did they have here?
As much as she was grateful for his care and concern, she felt uncomfortable that he was snubbing her. She was not used to the two of them being in the same space and not talking to each other. Or him being this angry at her.
The second bell rang.
When Harold was done, he brushed her hair to the back with his hands and closed the bottle of oil before dropping it beside the bed.
When she noticed he was about to leave the bedroom, she stood up and hurried to stand in front of him.
"Go to bed."
"Where are you off to?" She asked, not moving away from his path.
"I will talk to you when I get back." He said calmly.
Feeling dejected, she nodded and moved away from his path to let him leave. His stare lingered on her sad face for a few seconds before he left the chamber.
Outside the palace, Alvin waited for Harold to show up. Although he knew that he should never have drawn his sword at Prince Ivan, Princess Amber's safety had been paramount in his mind, and he didn't mind receiving any punishment for that.
When Harold showed up, he bowed and looked down guiltily, "I apologize for my reckless behaviour tonight."
Harold looked at him in confusion before waving it off while rubbing the back of his neck and saying, "You've turned soft-hearted. You didn't even leave a scratch on him." He said, sounding mildly disappointed.
"Since it's like this. There is nothing I can say."
Alvin looked up at him in confusion. Did it mean he was not going to get any punishment from Harold for his reckless behaviour tonight?
"Be careful from now on. Things are about to get very... serious." Harold warned.
"I will," Alvin said, bowing.
"Continue to keep an eye on the princess. She has a talent for drawing trouble even if she doesn't want to."
Alvin nodded and bowed again. It really seemed like he was not going to get punished. Saving Princess Amber was a top priority now.
Meanwhile, Alicia lay on the bed, feeling too uncomfortable to fall asleep. When the third bell rang, she became even more wary, wondering whether he was leaving her to sleep here alone tonight because he was mad at her.
How was she going to sleep tonight at this rate?
While contemplating what to do to make him forgive her, she had a bad feeling that someone was inside the room with her and turned around immediately, reaching for the knife on the side of the bed.
When she saw Harold staring at her, her eyes widened in surprise, and she returned the knife immediately and looked at him and then at the window where she guessed he had entered from.
"Wh-hat..."
She tried to ask him a question, but she didn't know exactly how to ask him that. Why did he leave earlier only to return through the window?
Once again, he ignored her and went to sit on his side of the bed and began to take off his boots. He was kind of pleased to see how smartly she had reacted when he entered. Unfortunately, she hadn't been too smart to detect him.
"Are you still piss—"
"Everyone thought Beth was the problem..."
He started talking with his back still turned to her.
"Luciana was sent instead. And then I thought Luciana and Beth were the problem and offered myself instead." He paused again before he began to speak in an exhausted tone, "But then you jumped on the prince and raised your voice at the queen."
He finally turned to look at her as he asked, "Do you know the kind of situation that puts me in?"
"I know! And I am sorry."
Just how many times had she apologized tonight? She could not remember ever apologizing to anyone as much as she had done tonight to Harold.
"I know you may not like Prince Ivan and Princess Luciana that much, but imagine Luciana was your sister and her husband was treating her that way—"
"You do not regret your actions tonight, do you?" He interrupted, looking at her closely.
She looked down, guilty as charged, "I'm sorry. I just... if that were me, I would have liked someone to stand up for me too."
"I would never treat you like that." He spoke softly, making her raise her head to look at him.
She saw the honesty in his eyes and took a moment to reflect on how he had been treating her since she arrived here. She believed him. He would never treat her like that.
The two stared at each other for a long time until Alicia snapped out of it and spoke while looking at the side, "I promise to be on my best behaviour from now on."
Harold snorted. His snort clearly implied that that was not going to happen, and Alicia understood it.
"Go to bed." He said to her before taking off his shirt.
As soon as Alicia saw this, she turned immediately and covered herself with the quilt.
He smirked at her before he blew out the lantern on his side of the bed, making the room dimmer than it already was since they were only left with the lantern on Alicia's side of the bed.
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