[MUSIC RECOMMENDATION: THE TRUTH UNTOLD ~ BTS FT STEVE AOKI]
Almaria, without giving any answer to Khelan’s question, rushed to her closet, her hair still dripping water as it was not properly dried. She picked out a gown and let it down her neck.
Almaria looked around for the person who was playing this bad joke on her; the maids who had attended to her that morning were still cleaning the bath she used, nobody else was in her room.
Now dressed in a plain gown, with her hair still wrapped with a cloth, a few strands stuck to her wet face. Almaria stomped out of the room with the two parchments; she didn’t care about the maids that walked through the passage.
The servants who saw the queen dowager bowed their heads and faced the pillar as she passed them. It was better to appear invisible if you’re working in the palace during this time.
Khelan rushed after his mother; he needed answers on why such rumors even existed to start with. He became terrified at the probability of the rumor being true; the thought of it made his knees grow weaker with each step.
Getting to Deonisia’s room, Almaria shoved the innocent maid who was trying to serve aside, and the maid ended up landing on the floor with her bottom and the hot water spilling on her. The maid gritted her teeth stifling the cry that was threatening to leave her lips.
"I’m sorry, Queen Dowager; please spare me." The maid regained composure and bowed deeply while on her knees, with her head touching the ground. She begged for the mistake that was not her fault.
"Get out!" Almaria ordered, grateful that the queen dowager didn’t decide to punish her further. The maid disappeared from the room.
Deonisia gauged her cousin’s expression and dressing. She didn’t need to be told that something was up. She looked behind Almaria and noticed that Khelan was standing at the door, but he didn’t make an attempt to enter. Deonisia ignored this.
Almaria stretched her hands and gave the two parchments to Deonisia.
Lady Deonisia took the paper, her eyes scanning Almaria before she twitched her lips to read the contents. Her eyes narrowed at every word that was inscribed on the parchment. She raised her face, now understanding the reason for Almaria’s panic.
Deonisia clicked her tongue and said, "Did the maids see you like this?"
Almaria had a shocked expression on her face; there was a huge secret that is now in the hands of anyone who wanted to bring them down, and all her cousin could ask was about her appearance.
"In pickle moments like this, your appearance speaks volumes. The way you act will only give people the answer they need. Seeing that you panicked will only raise more dust as to whether it’s true or not." Deonisia explained.
Almaria touched her face; the different oils and milky substances she mixed in her bath to make her skin soft and glow up had dried up. She moved her hands to the cloth that still wrapped on her hair, and she felt the tangled fringes of her hair.
"I couldn’t help it; I was just scared." Almaria confessed; her body, which had been trembling before, now started to calm down.
"Khelan, you too, come inside and sit, or else, you want your leg to go numb." Deonisia called the attention of eavesdropping Khelan. Almaria, who had totally forgotten that her son was also dragged into the mess, turned to see him standing at the door.
Khelan rubbed his hair gently, stepping inside the room. He looked like a sore thumb standing in the room, unsure of what to do.
"He doesn’t know the truth," Almaria whispered to Deonisia.
"But your actions gave away. He doesn’t need to hear the words." Deonisia didn’t bother herself by lowering down her voice.
Almaria stood up immediately and went to stand in front of Khelan. "Son, no matter what they say. The throne belongs to you; you have royal blood in you. Your mother has worked so hard to get us here; don’t let anyone make our efforts useless." Almaria held Khelan’s hands tightly, looking at him with a newfound determination of fighting for the throne.
Deonisia massaged her palm, "Seems Kitanna has finally made her move." She let the other two know.
Khelan was surprised to hear Kitanna’s name mentioned, so he asked, "Kit? Why would she? She’s my sister." He asked looking from his mother to his mother’s cousin.
Almaria’s lips curled, "I told you, didn’t I? Someone who has an eye on the throne. That person is Kitanna. She’s not as perfect as she appears in front of you; she’s two-faced. And has been planning to steal the throne from you. Kitanna sees you as someone incompetent." The queen dowager’s words, like poison, seeped into Khelan’s body.
Khelan clenched his fist, "I will never let anyone take the throne away from me!" He gritted his teeth.
"Good...good...if Kitanna ever gets her hands on the throne, I will be thrown out of the palace. Think about me, and your newborn child," Almaria continued to fuel the burning fire.
"I will go and have her locked up in the dungeon right away!" Filled with rage and fear of being seen as a bastard by the servants, Khelan rushed to leave the room when his mother held onto him.
Khelan turned to look at the queen dowager with a slight frown. According to her, Kitanna was dangerous; why was she then stopping him from punishing her severely?
"Wait... before you do that, we have to make sure we break everything that makes her confident."
Deonisia watched as Almaria did a good job of convincing his son that the throne belonged to him, and Kitanna was trying to steal it away. It pricked Khelan’s ego, and that was needed for the battle. A man with a fragile ego would do anything to prove his worth. Seeing that Khelan did not ask further about the rumor means that he knew but decided to keep it aside like it never happened.
Almaria rubbed her son’s hair gently, petting him. "Don’t worry yourself; mother will solve it. Just like the way I’ve been doing it until now. Go and be a king," she spoke softly, her voice sounding nothing less than a whispering spell.
Khelan nodded, and he moved to drop a slight kiss on his mother’s cheeks. Bowing to Lady Deonisia, he exited the room.
Almaria sighed deeply when Khelan left the room, "I’m glad he took it better than I had expected. He didn’t ask about who his father is."
Deonisia relaxed in her position, "He wouldn’t, ever. Khelan will clear whatever he heard today from his memory." Deonisia’s words sounded very confident that Almaria looked at her with furrowed brows.
"How do I know that?" Deonisia scoffed before she answered, "it’s better to believe that a lie is the actual truth. It saves one from feeling guilty about their sins." Her lips curled.
"Don’t worry; I’m not saying it to judge you or your son. We are in the same boat of people with thick skin; we are birds of like feathers."
Almaria sat there staring at Deonisia; she didn’t know how to feel about the words she had said. But that wasn’t her problem; it was how to get that annoying bug out of their way.
"What do we do about Kitanna?" Almaria asked.
"If she’s playing dirty, it won’t be bad if we do the same," Deonisia said with a straight face. After all playing dirty was their expertise.
"Call a meeting, gather every member of the royal family, including that guard of hers. I want to see whose side each person is on. Then we move down to the servants; let’s get our people ready. It’s going to be a messy war inside these walls soon." Deonisia’s voice sounded distant even though she was in the same room as Almaria.