Away from the celebrations of a new king, Harper entered the palace court and demanded answers. Her father was still held in the palace to receive treatment, which relatives say they should be grateful for since the king would not ask them to pay, but Harper wasn’t satisfied.
The king had offered for Harper and her mother to stay in the palace to be at her father’s side, but Beryl wanted to go home. Beryl chose to visit the palace every day instead of having Harper stay in such a dangerous place.
Harper sat down on a chair where she was to wait until someone was ready to see her.
"They shouldn’t be . My father is a victim, yet they treat me ," Harper muttered.
"I hear a new king will be crowned today. The court is busy overseeing that it is going well. You should count yourself lucky that there are men here to see you."
Harper looked at the stranger who needed to tend to their own business. "I was speaking to myself."
"Then you should speak quietly. I was here first, and you sat down muttering. Free me from what you speak," Kate said, annoyed that Noah had left her here.
"I can mutter as I like. You have no idea what I faced. My father was one of the victims found by the murderer, whom the guards had been searching for. They don’t want anyone to know, but it was Quinn Monroe," Harper revealed.
"If the court or king didn’t want anyone to know, then you shouldn’t speak of it. There are consequences for speaking of private matters," Kate warned Harper.
Kate turned away from Harper, not wanting to bother herself with a young lady she didn’t know.
"I don’t believe Cassius had any part in it. His brother was the one who always acted odd and didn’t like me. They say that Quinn killed Cassius, yet they speak of Cassius as though he did something wrong," Harper complained.
"Perhaps he did," Kate said, searching for her husband.
If not for the young lady who thought it was important to continue their talk today, Kate would have been home to avoid the crowds coming to see the new king. She could have avoided hearing the young woman beside her speak of murderers.
Still, Kate was relieved that the murderer wasn’t tied to Simon. They merely had some fascination with what Simon did to his victims.
"I should be in the palace with my father. None of my peers has had the fortune of staying the night in the palace. Well, besides Penelope," Harper said, but she didn’t think of Penelope as her peer.
"If you wait a little longer, someone will come to speak with you. Well, if you are lucky," Kate said, because there were few men present.
"You are here," Harper pointed out.
"Because I am to be paid for coming here on a busy day. Listen," Kate sighed, wanting this talk to end. "If the court says Cassius was part of the crimes, then you must believe they found something. They took someone I loved from me, but I confess her deeds were not kind."
"I know Cassius. We were to wed. He wouldn’t have done the crimes they claim he committed, and speak of marrying me. I must see evidence," Harper said, yet you believe what she was told.
Kate stared at Harper, curious if this was how she looked, ignoring the signs that Simon might have shown her.
Kate smiled. "I envy that you got to know the man he is before you married him. You were lucky not to end up in his house of horrors. To not have his name attached to you or not be tied to his home."
Kate continued to say, "For everyone to still add your name to his though you have remarried. Be thankful that he died before he ruined you. Before he tortured you. Be even more grateful that your father is alive. Some of us lost both parents along the way."
Harper didn’t understand what the stranger was talking about. She leaned closer, trying to identify the woman.
"Don’t get too close to me," Kate said, disturbed by the closeness. "No one will come to you now, so you are better off going to your father’s side."
"He will not speak," Harper muttered.
"You said he is a victim. Have you stopped thinking of yourself and considered that he is still reliving the horrors and doesn’t want to speak of them to his daughter? Have you thought of your father, or do you only think of yourself?" Kate asked, but soon regretted it.
Kate didn’t think she was the best person to say this.
"What do you know? Have you ever faced the ladies excluding you from their events? Have them not think you could marry a good man? Cassius was my chance to prove them wrong, but now he is gone before I could have shown the other ladies," Harper argued.
Kate changed her mind. Surely she could not have been this foolish in the past. She would not have been so desperate to marry a murderer.
"In the past, I would have been the lady to oust you from my circle, but later in life, I faced being excluded because I didn’t live up to the expectations I boasted about. My former husband was Simon Farley," Kate said, noting Harper’s eyes gave away that she knew who he was.
"I had something to prove back then and pushed to marry Simon because of his title. I ignored everything about him because I wanted to prove that I could marry a nobleman. He didn’t spare me from his ways on our wedding day. Be grateful you did not marry," said Kate. Chapters fırst released on novel※fire.net
It was silly for the young lady before Kate to be upset that the man involved in her father’s torment wanted to argue against what the court knew.
"Like it or not, if the court deemed him a murderer, then they found something. Go be at your father’s side instead of thinking of your failure to impress your friends. I think you are nothing more than a joke for coming here," Kate said, understanding why Harper would be ostracised.
Harper was still in shock that she was speaking to Kate Kennedy. She had heard about the duchess’s sister, but she had never been so near to Kate before.
"If you need, the court allows me to speak to young ladies here so they avoid sharing my fate. I think you should come and make friends," Kate suggested.
Harper stood up and walked away from Kate without giving her a response.