ALL NOVEL Maiden’s Independence – 3
Three months after the incident in the center of the kingdom’s throne room, Brodveth kneels in front of the throne with respect to the King and Queen.
“Your majesty, I attended my scheduled presence to deliver my report about the mysterious abnormalities near the Harswell forest.”
“Before anything else, Cavalry Captain, I would like to ask you a question,” the King said.
“Feel free to raise any concerns, your majesty.”
“Why did a Cavalry Knight bring a quill and paper to the battlefield?”
“A—Are you pertaining to me, your majesty? I’m thinking that it’s required for us to plan the action to lessen the casualties and—”
All of a sudden, the King stopped him by dominating his low-tone voice.
“Because you wanted to draw your own conclusion! WAHAHAHA!” The king laughed, which bounced across the throne room.
The queen reacted negatively, winking her eyebrows while showing her gritting teeth. He was lucky that there were no other important people in the room besides them.
“Never mind this bastard. You can continue with the report,” the queen ordered.
By then, Brodveth had started his status report.
“Yes, your majesty. I would like to recall what happened three months before.
“The incident of the rampaging bears left us hanging because of what happened to Elara and the princess. Because of that, some sections of the knights were redirected to the site to investigate.
“We didn’t have any leads on how Elara healed her wound back. The claws of the bears may have poison on them.
“Ellyn was also wounded back then, but her wound is cleansed and she didn’t experience the same regeneration as Elara did. About this case, we can’t clarify it until Elara wakes up.
“Still, the investigation for the rampage continued until the second month. The abnormality of the wildlife suspects that there’s a person behind it.
“But recently, there are cases that more animals are being possessed. Boars, snakes, and even rabbits became ferocious that it attacks any heat it sees.
“It took late before we realized that the investigation team sent to the area returned with more than half of the casualties. This led us to the retreat.
“The witnesses of the sudden attacks were too scared to talk. They are sent for rehabilitation and counseling. Also, job requests near that area are forbidden.
“Adventurers lower than D-rank can’t hunt monsters in the vicinity of the forest. We already came up with the forbidden zone’s radius together with the guild master.
“But because most medical herbs live in the Harswell forest, we’ve been encountering a shortage after a month. Many adventurers resigned and became jobless.
“Even merchants who pass the forest encounter monsters. The kingdom’s trading capabilities degrade because of this reason.
“If this remained unresolved, it will cause for the kingdom to decline economically. There’s already a mark of shortage of food and high inflation rates.
“If the prices continue to go up, it might cause an uproar and possibly another rebellion, a reasonable one. There’s no way that we can recover if we’re still recovering from what happened two years before.
“The civilians are also wary when we caught massive amounts of illegal slave traders and bandits inside our territory.
“This might have been an achievement, but for some, it inflicts fear on them because what happened was too sudden.
“I, as the representative of the knights, continue to do the best that we can do to alleviate this matter. That concludes my report,” Brodveth said, finalizing with a bow.
“Don’t bow like that. You’re like you’re attending a wedding,” the queen suggested.
“My apologies, your majesty.”
“We can still handle another rebellion,” the king said, “but we can’t handle the monster’s invasion in our kingdom. From what I can tell, their numbers are massive.”
“That’s right, your majesty.”
“Instead of being controlled, the animals’ minds are somewhat manipulated right, like drugged,” the queen asked.
“Yes, your majesty. May I humbly ask if you have an idea about the information I’ve given?”
“Rather than an idea, it’s just a hunch. Isn’t it possible that the suspect in manipulating the bears’ minds is connected to the previous attack two years ago?”
“I’ve consulted the royal maid substitute about this. She doesn’t know whether someone can drug a lifeform in the Grayrats.”
“So, it might also be possible that it isn’t connected to slave collars?” The King inserted. “Isn’t the Grayrat’s method of enslavement using collars?”
“Yes, your majesty, but according to our investigations, the only strange things we discovered in the bears’ bodies are the chemicals for the drug and the poison in its claws.”
“Yet it isn’t possible that someone can plant poison in their palms without them being aggressive, except—” The queen said. “Howdy hell. The more we dive deeper, the more it becomes complicated.”
Suddenly, the double doors, which are the entrance to the king’s throne room, opened.
The doctor in charge of Elara rushed breathlessly toward the king. The alerted guards blocked his way.
“Stop there! State your business with the king!” The guard said. They used their spears to block his path through the carpet.
“Your m—majesty, I h—have an important n—news!” The doctor said, accompanied by an exhale each second. “The r—royal maid—”
“It’s alright, let him pass through,” the King commanded with a gesture to let him through. “It’s rare for someone dying to hear my jokes.”
“If there’s someone like that, he’s willing to accept death already,” the queen remarked.
After the permission, the doctor runs in front of the king and kneels. Before the doctor explained, he catches his breath first.
“My king and queen, I’m sorry about the sudden interruption, but the royal maid—”
“Sorry, doctor, but right now, I’ll only allow good news to enter my ears,” the queen said, looking down at him with tempered eyes.
“Then I shall deliver to you this bright news that happened earlier. The royal maid’s hand moved unconsciously for a second.”
“Then?”
“It is a hint that the royal maid will wake up sooner than we thought. I would like your permission to utilize her nutrition after she wakes up.”
Both the queen’s and the king’s eyes widen in joy. They’re happy, but they can’t smile obviously. They wanted to leave this formal place to visit that dear person in bed.
“Oh my—she’s alive,” the queen gasped while covering her mouth with her hands.
“Veniara was right about her,” the king muttered. “She’s a strong woman at will.”
“Cavalry Captain, as a proxy to us, can I request you to deliver a message to the substitute?”
Brodveth bowed in seiza. “As you wish, your majesty.”
The afternoon came…
The former maid who became the princess in bed sets her eyes open slowly as the new world welcomes her. But for her, the nightmare that happened three months ago was her yesterday.
“Prin—cess,” she first muttered with her weakened voice even if her vision isn’t clear yet.
As her view sharpens, eliminating all blurs, she saw a maid beside her. This maid, Ellyn, who wears Elara’s previous outfit poured tea into her cup.
“Yo! Welcome, princess!” Ellyn exclaimed with a funny face.
“You look pathetic,” Elara muttered in her deep voice.
Ellyn didn’t reply. Instead, she showed her a small mirror, reflecting Elara’s face towards her.
“What the hell is that,” Elara asked.
“A mirror. You look pathetic.”
In a rush, Elara sits up straight and checks her abdomen under her cloth. The mark of the bear’s claw still lingers in it.
She clutches her hand while gritting her jaws. She tried to escape the bed, but her weakness made her lower limbs immobile.
“Senior Ellyn, where’s the princess!? Is she safe!?” Elara exclaimed, hyperventilating while thinking of the outcome she don’t want to happen.
Ellyn pushed her back to her pillow and explained. “Don’t panic, Elara. She’s fine and doing much better than before.”
“I—I’m sorry. What happened yesterday was—” Tears came out of her eyes even without grasping the whole situation yet.
“You’re wrong in two things. One: Neither was our fault. Two: You might not believe me, but you’re already three month’s coma.”
“I slept for three months?”
Ellyn explained the whole situation that she gathered starting from the incident up to the results of Brodveth’s investigation. But she didn’t bring up what happened to the princess.
Elara has no option but to believe everything she heard, even with the most unreliable person present. She knows when Ellyn talks seriously and not.
“Did you lie about this incident being involved with the Grayrats?” Elara asked.
“I can’t let the king have this problem again. That name left a huge trauma in the kingdom’s hierarchy.”
“Guessing his patterns, Elliot doesn’t seem to grow bones. What is he even plotting? Is he planning to recreate another revolutionary group again?”
“He’s a stupid antisocial madlad. If he’s creating a group, it isn’t a group of people.”
“Group of animals? Sounds befitting. Calling him a spider before felt so worth it.”
“If you know, Brodveth’s waiting for your awakening to question you something about what happened. They don’t seem to believe me and the princess.”
“I’m willing to cooperate with my last breath, but first, I want to see the princess,” Elara asked, pulling Ellyn’s sleeve towards her.
“Are you sure? Are you ready to get heartbroken?”
“Heartbroken?”
Yet Elara insisted on going to see her. She needs to verify that the princess is safe and alive. What she’ll see will define what she’ll do next.
Ellyn brought a fantasy duplicate of a wheelchair which is made of wood. Except for the metal wheels, everything is wooden.
Ellyn assisted Elara’s wheelchair as they go out of the mansion. Elara tilts her head the moment she realized where they’re going.
“Why are we going in the barracks? Don’t tell me you’re going to fight me in this state.”
“Who knows?” Ellyn smirked, leaving Elara confused.
The two came into the cavalry zone and saw various rookies training under the sunset. The smell of hay mixed with the sweat from the knights’ hard work.
Elara searched for a red-haired girl until she saw one together with Cavalry Captain Brodveth. Her fists clench and shake as her loud breathing amplifies.
Her lips flatten in the solitude of darkness as she drowns in frustration. The energy she gathered in her sleep exploded and leaked.
“Why? Why did you allow her!?”