Once the alleged offender was proven guilty in a court trial administered by the Supreme House, it meant the criminal shall only receive a death punishment and would not be pardoned regardless of status. However, the rulers had the right to carry out torture and decide what kind of death the offender deserved.
Lauren was suspicious of Queen Thalia. She witnessed how the queen had always been protective of her daughters and even of his son during his prime years, so she found it hard to think that Queen Thalia had something to do with her own son’s death.
But after connecting the dots and witnessing how the Queen reacted with the witnesses and circumstantial evidence they presented, Lauren grew more suspicious. She couldn’t help but think that the Queen must have known Cassandra’s crime all along, that perhaps they conspired in doing it to set her up for the crime.
The night of Eloise’s engagement soiree, the Queen went berserk. With her firstborn’s death and Eloise’s failed union with a royal that would have secured their status, she must have been desperate and acted on impulse. Cassandra only cared about not losing power in the castle, so she had no problem killing his brother.
That was the assumption Lauren had.
Although she wanted to prove the mother-daughter’s conspiracy during the court trial, she had no evidence to support her claim of the Queen being an accomplice to the crime. No evidence meant she was only spurting baseless accusations, the reason why the Supreme House did not entertain it.
She might have failed to hit two birds with one stone, but still, Lauren was satisfied with the outcome. Her innocence was proven and Cassandra would meet her doom.
Besides, the game was just getting interesting. It would be a shame if Queen Thalia would die too soon. Lauren thought that the old witch deserved to witness how she would slowly be stripped from everything she had. After all, that was how she wanted her perfect revenge plan to be.
"I need my hair to be fixed. Can you please call Sally-" Lauren bit her tongue and heaved a sigh.
The morning after the court trial, Cassandra’s public execution was to be held in front of the castle at sunrise. Lauren woke up earlier than usual just for it. However, she forgot again that Sally wouldn’t be there to attend to her needs. For the past three days, she had been constantly forgetting about the fact that her maidservant was no longer alive.
Alec who was having his blood tea at the corner while waiting for Lauren to finish dolling up asked, "Do you love your maid so much that you keep on mentioning her name even when she’s dead?"
Lauren didn’t answer and just started to do her own hair.
"Thinking about it, I have never made a big deal with any of my subordinate’s death before. I guess I’m still a bigger evil than you."
"I’m not evil. I’m just serving the people what they deserve," she said but after a moment, she wondered if that was the truth or if she was just gaslighting to appease her guilt.
How could she not be evil if she was constantly causing the death of the people around her?
While in her dark thoughts, she came back to her senses when she felt hands working on her hair.
"What are you doing?" she asked Alec who stood behind her while she was sitting on her vanity table.
"Helping you do your hair, of course."
Lauren furrowed her brows. "Do you even know how to do a lady’s hair?" She grabbed the comb from him. "Never mind. I did not ask you to do it so I suggest you go back to your tea and let me finish. I shall be quick."
"Are you underestimating me? I excel in everything I do, Lauren. Being a man doesn’t mean I find it hard tying a lady’s hair in complicated knots. Let me show you."
Her eyes squinted. His confidence made her curious if he really knew how to do it, so she let him be.
Although Alec’s hands were big and calloused, she didn’t feel their heaviness against her hair. His fingers moved fluidly and without hesitation as if he knew well what he was doing.
"Done," Alec said after a few minutes of delicate work.
Lauren looked in the mirror. Each side of her hair was braided to the back, where the rest of her hair was cascading down the braids. She let Alec do it hoping that he would do a bad job and she could mock him for it, but unfortunately it didn’t go as she expected.
She couldn’t help but smile. "How did you know how to do it? Do you fix your women’s hair after bedding them?"
"I don’t," he answered with his eyes narrowing darkly at her. "Why, did I bed you before I fixed your hair?"
Lauren swallowed hard. "Well, you didn’t..."
But she was basically one of the women he bedded right? Didn’t that count?
"I’m done. We should head out now."
She stood stiffly from her seat, a little uncomfortable with the topic. However, when she turned to Alec, he was standing too close and didn’t bother backing away that she almost hit her face on his broad chest.
He pushed her chin up and her eyes widened when he suddenly crouched for a kiss.
She shivered at how his tongue grazed her lips before tugging the bottom to part them. She wanted to move away but before she could, his hand was on her nape, pushing her for a deep kiss. But unlike the first time he kissed her, it wasn’t as rough. It held tenderness.
"I deserve compensation for good work, didn’t I?" He said breathily after the kiss. The mischievous smile on his lips made him look more dangerous.
Lauren breathed as she looked at his face an inch away from hers.
She hated to admit this, but she felt different every time Alec kissed and touched her. There was this unfamiliar warmth and security despite how his eyes threatened her with deadly darkness.
And the thought that she was slowly letting him get through the walls she took painstaking years to build... scared her.
Because all of this was nothing but a game of deception. And it should remain as it was.