Synopsis and Starting Chapter Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Chapter 60
Chapter 61
Chapter 62
Chapter 63
Chapter 64
Chapter 65
Chapter 66
Chapter 67
Chapter 68
Chapter 69
Chapter 70
Chapter 71
Chapter 72
Chapter 73
Chapter 74
Chapter 75
Chapter 76
Chapter 77
Chapter 78
Chapter 79
Chapter 80
Chapter 81
Chapter 82
Chapter 83
Chapter 84
Chapter 85
Chapter 86
Chapter 87
Chapter 88
Chapter 89
Chapter 90 - Light And Shadow>
Chapter 91
Chapter 92
Chapter 93
Chapter 94
Chapter 95
Chapter 96
Chapter 97
Chapter 98
Chapter 99
Chapter 100
Chapter 101
Chapter 102
Chapter 103
Chapter 104
Chapter 105
Chapter 106
Chapter 107
Chapter 108
Chapter 109
Chapter 110
Chapter 111
Chapter 112 - The Morning Comes>
Chapter 113
Chapter 114
Chapter 115
Chapter 116
Chapter 117
Chapter 118 - After The Storm
Chapter 119
Chapter 120
Chapter 121
Chapter 122
Chapter 123
Chapter 124
Chapter 125
Chapter 126
Chapter 127
Chapter 128
Chapter 129
Chapter 130
Chapter 131
Chapter 132 -
Chapter 133
Chapter 134 - Epilogue 1.3
Chapter 135 - Epilogue 2.1: Traces Of Life
Chapter 136
Chapter 137 - Epilogue 2.3
Chapter 138
Chapter 139
Chapter 140
Chapter 141 - Epilogue 4.1: Ever After>
Chapter 142 - Epilogue 4.2
Chapter 143 - Epilogue 4.3
Chapter 144 - Epilogue 5.1>
Chapter 145 - Epilogue 5.2
Chapter 146 - The Most Romantic Weekend>
Chapter 147 - Short Stories 1.2
Chapter 148 -
Chapter 149 -
Chapter 150 -
Chapter 151 -
Chapter 152 -
Chapter 153 -
Chapter 154 - Short Stories 3.1: Unexpected Things Happen>
Chapter 155 - Short Stories 3.2>
Chapter 156 -
Chapter 157 -
Chapter 158 -
Chapter 159 -
Chapter 160 -
Chapter 161 - Short Stories 5.1: The Man Behind The Mask>
Chapter 162
Chapter 163
Chapter 164 -
Chapter 165 -
Chapter 166
Chapter 167 - Short Stories 6.2
Chapter 168 - Short Stories 6.3
Chapter 169
Chapter 170
Chapter 171
Chapter 172
Chapter 173
Chapter 174
Chapter 175
Chapter 176
Chapter 177
Chapter 178
Chapter 179
Chapter 180
Chapter 181
Chapter 182
Chapter 183
Chapter 184
Chapter 185
Chapter 186
Chapter 187
Chapter 188
Chapter 189 (End)
Categories Genre: All, Completed, Fantasy Status: Completed ______
Total Chapters in book: 189
Estimated words: 290059 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1450(@200wpm)___ 1160(@250wpm)___ 967(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 290059 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1450(@200wpm)___ 1160(@250wpm)___ 967(@300wpm)
______
LIST OF LAST 10 CHAPTERS:
Page No. 189 Page No. 188 Page No. 187 Page No. 186 Page No. 185 Page No. 184 Page No. 183 Page No. 182 Page No. 181 Page No. 180 Page No. 179 Chapter 33
Chapter 33:
It was a horrifying scream. It sounded sad and raw. I was deep in sleep, so when I first woke up, I couldn’t tell if it was real or if I was just dreaming.
However, another scream made me jump, confirming this was really happening.
“… your highness! Your highness!”
I could hear the maids and the servants hurrying around outside my room. The scream continued. At some point, I realized it was someone screaming a name.
I couldn’t quite catch the name. I could hear people running around outside in confusion.
“… to get her hig…!”
“…rry up… to get to the roo…!”
“… consciousness…!”
Four or five different voices mingled together that I couldn’t understand anything. This made it even scarier for me.
I quickly realized this wasn’t about a ghost. Someone, a real live person, was creating this havoc, not a ghost.
My fear lessened. I put on my coat and opened the door that led to the maids’ room. In the next room weren’t the maids that were supposed to be waiting in case I needed something. It was empty and the door to the hallway was wide opened.
I had a clear view of the hall and what I saw there was something unexpected.
A white-haired woman was on the floor being restrained by my maids and the guards. One of the maids was covering the old woman’s mouth. I realized it was this woman who was screaming.
When I approached them, they seemed embarrassed and tried to greet me properly.
“Oh!”
“Your highness!”
“Greetings, your highness!”
The maids and the guards looked uncomfortable at my appearance. I ignored them and turned to the elderly woman.
She was thin and weak. Her long white hair was knotted badly. The maids were the ones holding her down. If the guards pushed her, it looked like her bones would break.
Despite her feeble state, she continued to fight wildly and desperately.
I became curious.
Why was this elderly woman here? What was she doing?
“Your highness!”
A familiar face called me from behind. When I turned around, Samantha was running towards me. She looked disheveled. She probably just woke up now like me.
She approached me and looked around. When she saw the elderly woman, she became pale.
Samantha quickly put on her poker face and bowed to me deeply.
“I apologize for allowing them to disturb your sleep, your highness. In the morning, I will accept any punishment you deem appropriate. For now, I will take care of this situation, so please return to your bedroom to rest.”
The maids agreed I should return to my bed and tried to take the old woman away. However, I had no intention of doing what they ask.
“Stop.”
At my order, the maids paused. The guards and the maids turned to Samantha for an order. They weren’t going to do my bidding until Samantha approved it.
So clearly, Samantha was in charge. It looked as though she knew already who this elderly woman was. it was obvious she didn’t want me to find out about her.
I asked, “Samantha, who is this woman?”
“Your highness…”
Samantha looked at me with unease
I knew I couldn’t stand down. If I did, I was letting Samantha win. I would truly become the emperor’s puppet.
I didn’t dislike Samantha. In fact, I needed her help desperately if I wanted to survive in the castle. In the last month, I saw her skills and her kindness, and I liked what I saw.
What I really needed was for Samantha to become my person, not the emperor’s. I knew she was trying to protect me, but if I let her, I would become a powerless person.
“Who is this person? Why is she here?” I asked her firmly so there was no doubt I was giving her an order, not a request.
Just then, another voice yelled from afar.
“Mother!”
A middle-aged woman ran towards us. She was a voluptuous brunet. When she saw the white-haired woman, she screamed. She reached the elderly woman and checked to make sure she was unhurt. She relaxed a little when she realized her mother was fine but became pale when she noticed me. She bowed deeply to me.
“Greetings, your highness.”
I remembered her face. She was the woman who was responsible for maintaining this wing. Her name was Agnes. When I first arrived here, she was the first one to welcome me.
I asked Agnes and Samantha calmly, “Is this Agnes’s mother?”
This was very strange. Agnes may have been the director of this wing, but it was still the royal family’s property. Having one’s sick elderly mother, who may have been also mentally ill, probably wasn’t allowed.
There could be only two explanations for her situation. Either Agnes was keeping this a secret, or someone higher up was allowing her mother to stay.
Agnes explained, “Yes. This is my mother, and…”
Samantha interrupted Agnes, “The emperor allowed it.”
“His highness?”
“Yes.”
I couldn’t understand. The emperor I knew was a cold killer who murdered his own father and was feuding against his stepmother, the dowager empress. Being kind to an elderly woman didn’t seem like something Lucretius would do.
I would have expected Samantha to be the one who allowed it, but the emperor?
Samantha must have read my mind.
She explained, “Dame Dotrya was also Empress Beatrice’s nanny.”
Oh! I finally understood. The ghost the maids were talking about must have been this woman.
The elderly lady continued to cry as she called out a name.
“Bea, my baby Bea…”
I knew who she was crying for her.
It wasn’t a ghost of Empress Beatrice that roamed this place. It was her nanny who had gone mad after losing her empress.
Total Chapters in book: 189
Estimated words: 290059 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1450(@200wpm)___ 1160(@250wpm)___ 967(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 290059 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1450(@200wpm)___ 1160(@250wpm)___ 967(@300wpm)
______