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The Unofficial Empress - Chapter 22
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Life in the Kabayanihan, the central town of the east region is half as good as in the empire’s capital. People are divided into two factions, the Hong supporters and the Angenas supporters. These people are the root cause of riots and lack of peace in the region. Others who do not want to be caught in between the two powerful forces choose to remain neutral. Sometimes, other turncoats speak for one party and against the other or vice versa. The never-ending issue wouldn’t so easily die.
Even if Angenas is back to power, Hong supporters and those corrupt officials are still trying to destroy the renewed and more productive empire. Instead of helping the emperor to make the empire better, they create useless issues that makes the empire hard to unite.
Three months have already passed since Marco and Alexandra stayed in the region. The issues are not new to them anymore. Even Captain Fajardo sighs every time he reports about certain incidents. Lino visits once or twice a month and stays for a week while courting Agatha. Letters from the palace keep coming and going.
Agatha, the newly appointed lady-in-waiting, with her new uniform came knocking by the door and Alexandra told her to come in. With a letter in hand, the lady-in-waiting greeted. “My lady, the third prince told me to give you this,” she said so Alexandra frowned but still took the letter.
“I never wrote a personal letter to anyone in the palace,” she said as she opened it. The letter contains apologetic and encouraging words from the crown princess. She smirked as her lips quivered. Agatha was scared the way Alexandra grinned after reading the letter.
“Is something wrong my lady?”
“Get me a cup of tea, please. My head is spinning,” Alexandra leaned by the couch and looked up to the chandelier. “That fraudulent scum…”
“Who?” Marco asked suddenly popping out over her face.
“What?!” she was so startled that she got up so quickly causing their forehead to collide. “Ouch!” she mumbled and she heard his growl as well while holding his forehead. “Can’t you make a sound when you walk?” she scolded while rubbing her reddened forehead.
“Did you get so excited seeing me?” he smirked as he closed the door.
“You’re getting more and more shameless. First, fake pregnancy, now miscarriage. What’s next, your highness?” she asked crossing her arms and leaning by the couch. “I beg you not to be another disgrace to my reputation.”
“If anything, it’s not a disgrace but an honor,” Marco shot back with a smug smile plastered on his indifferent face. “Besides, there’s no other reason to say aside from miscarriage. It wouldn’t be good if I told them it was fake. You could be the one to be subjected to scrutiny…”
“First, why did you create that fake…”
“Ssh,” Marco pressed her lips with his forefinger and he looked around. She pushed him away and wiped her lips. But for real, she didn’t dislike it– his warm finger on her lips and his body near hers. “We can make a real one if you insist,” he said playfully. But his expressions are hard to read.
“No thanks. You can’t force something that is not acceptable.”
“Unacceptable,” Marco echoed seriously as he sat down. “Who in the empire would accept a child born from two opposing families? He’s a rather double-edged sword who may stab either side.”
“Is that how you think of your own child? A tool?”
“Tool?” he smirked. “I may be insensitive but I am not a heartless man. Why don’t we try to have one for you to see? Hm?”
“It’s not a funny joke. Why did you come?” after her question, Agatha came in with the cup of tea she requested. The poor lady-in waiting trembled and almost scalded her skin if she did not react on time. Alexandra shook her head. Hasn’t she grown accustomed to the third prince yet? “Agatha, you may leave us alone. Thank you for the tea,” Alexandra said to let her escape the suffocating room. “Tea, your highness,” she offered as she lost her appetite for tea.
Marco accepted the tea and sipped before he spoke without anymore teasing. “Apparently there is a rumor circulating in the region about the palace maid recruitment,” he began to speak and Alexandra settled down beside him. “Five months ago, maybe your lady-in-waiting has heard about this rumor during the palace maid selection…”
He told her that according to Captain Fajardo, people are gossips about a scary rumor circulating in the region and other nearby towns. Every two years, young women from different parts of the empire are being trained with pay until the selection happens to replace the old and unable maids or those who resigned.
Rumors began six years ago. Every palace maid selection, one or two maids go missing or found dead in an alley after being chosen to work in the palace. Records state that they were from the second prince’s chamber. Allegedly, they were victims of sexual harassment but no one can prove anything.
Five months ago, in the imperial palace, second prince Nico’s chambers…
Three new maids were assigned to his chambers yet they disappeared the following day. Nico thought that no one would dare do such a thing because before their deployment, they would be asked whether they would be willing to work in the palace with the given conditions.
Without informing the guards or the other princes, he wandered around the palace and secretly investigated. For a whole day, he did not find anything not until after dinner when he returned from the crown prince’s chambers. He took another route back, and the route is not usually guarded and it is the darkest part of the palace even if there are lights in the hallways. It was fine because he has undergone heavy training together with his brothers. He can fight.
While on his way, he heard muffled voices. At first he thought they were just his imaginations but he stayed longer to listen carefully. There was nothing when he stopped by so he continued walking but still being bothered. He looked around to make sure that nobody is around but then a woman chased by a palace guard called for help.
She stumbled in the dark hallway and the guard was about to unbutton his uniform while saying rude and unpleasant words to scare the lady and prevent her from screaming when he stepped up. “Stop!” he commanded so the man froze and the woman gathered her torn skirt and moved away. She was trembling as she stood by the wall fixing herself. Nico looked disgusted at the frozen guard. “Turn to me and surrender your weapon,” he said but the guard just ran away.
Nico chased the guard but he could not catch up to him. The palace has so many tricky hallways and rooms. He arrived at the garden where the hallway has led him. He only saw a pair of guards patrolling the area. “Darn it,” he mumbled with clenched fists and the two noticed him so they greeted him. He surveyed their clothes if there were wrinkles, their skin if there were scratches, but found nothing. There were no evidences so he didn’t mention anything about a fugitive he was chasing.
Unknown to them, the outlaw was hiding behind the fountain’s brim.
Nico went back to the hallways where he saw the woman with torn clothes. He saw no one there but heard sobs from the other end of the hallway. They are wearing palace maid dresses and their ribbons were color red. Only then that he realized that they were his missing maids when the color of their uniforms were exposed through the light from the lamppost.
He walked up to them and the maids knelt down in fear and greeted him. He called them to his study and scrutinized them silently. The three had the same bruised wrists caused by a sturdy rope. The two maids were trembling in fear. One has blood flowing down her leg while the other has bloodstains at the back of her dress.
The first woman he met at the hallway was clenching her teeth and fists without saying anything. She had no other injuries except for the bruise on her wrists, a small scratch on her forehead, and a cut on her lower lip. “Your highness, the royal physician is here,” his butler announced by the door and the doctor entered. The doctor was shocked upon seeing the two young women drenched in blood, one on her dress and the other on her leg. Without explanation, he knew what it meant.
“You should treat them and send them back to their room later, Rone. I want to know their conditions when I get back,” he told his butler and the doctor respectively before he left the room.