Rosie's Games

Chapter 109: Trouble 1

"So, you were indeed planning something," Rosalind snickered.

josei

"I have no idea what you are talking about." Victoria leaned back. "It was not me who asked the Emperor to hold the banquet. I told them not to. After all, you are leaving and never coming back. Why would you need a banquet? In the end, Martin convinced me that this is for the best. He told me to at least pretend that I am happy about it. He did not want the Crown to hear about any disagreements on my part."

"So you agreed to play the perfect stepmother," Rosalind said. If she was right, one of the people who was watching her try on some dresses earlier was from the palace. Sadly, she did not know who it was.

"How can I show my hate when people are watching?"

Rosalind frowned and look out of the window.

"I can only hope that the Duke would treat you well," Victoria muttered. "I heard the Duke had a way of… killing his brides. Must be nice to marry a man like that."

Rosalind looked at her.

"That is better than taking many women, isn't it?"

"You— "

"At least I know that there will only be one and that is me. Other women who would even think about marrying him would die trying. Literally. Isn't that… wonderful?"

"Martin did it to have more heirs."

"Heirs…" Rosalind made a deliberate pause. "I am the heir. There can only be one heir in this generation and that is me."

Victoria glared at her but did not say another word. Rosalind already knew that riding with this woman would be awkward, but she was here for that. For a few minutes, the carriage was wrapped in another blanket of suffocating silence.

"It won't stay like that forever." Victoria was the first one who decided to break the silence. When Rosalind only stared at her in response, she added. "The heir… will have to change."

"Changing the heir?" Now that was something that Rosalind found entertaining. There were no changing heirs. "Did you think you can take the blessing away from me?"

"I would do what is necessary."

Necessary? What was the woman talking about?

"I wonder," Rosalind responded. As if on cue, the horses pulling their carriage suddenly started going awry. She heard a neighing and the carriage stopped moving.

Rosalind immediately turned her attention towards Victoria. The woman was smiling at her. Then she suddenly took a small dagger from her purse and did not hesitate to stab her arm. The action was quick and totally unexpected that Rosalind was not able to react immediately. She blinked at the blood oozing from Victoria's arm.

"What are you— "

"Tonight, you and I will disappear," Victoria said as the screams and the sound of fighting reach Rosalind's ears. "They will find me alive… and wounded while you… will have to die. Don't worry, you are going to die while saving me. At least that's what I will tell everyone when they asked."

Victoria then opened the door of the carriage.

"What is going on here! Grace?"

For a moment, Rosalind stood there, frozen. She wanted to move but for some reason, she couldn't. It was not a surprise but… it was something else.

"The tea that you drank earlier should have put to you sleep. I did not know if this was the Blessing of the light, but that tea always works on Martin." Victoria informed her but her words only seemed to echo inside her head as if she was talking at her from a far far away place.

Rosalind's head became heavier and heavier. She did not sense anything from the tea earlier, but if it was made for Martin then that should explain it. Slowly, she felt herself drift into a dreamless state.

......…..

When Rosalind opened her eyes again, she was already inside a small room, sitting in a wooden chair, arm bound by some sort of fabric. She squinted at the only candle that barely illuminated the whole room. The air is thick and wet, it smelled like… urine and feces and death.

Right.

This was the smell of death.

Someone must have died inside this room.

She quickly examined her pieces of jewelry. At least they have not removed her ring. She could easily–

"Hm?"

Her eyes found some weird inscriptions on the floor. It was surrounding her. Sorcery? Black magic? The ring that was given by Pratt was surrounded by script too. Even the room where she would be transported to has inscriptions. She immediately wondered if this was meant to stop anyone from coming in or…. from getting out?

If it was the former then it should be fine but if it was the latter then… she was somewhat screwed.

"You are finally awake. I was expecting that you sleep for another eight hours but they reminded me that you are different. The tea did not work immediately on you. It only worked because of some additional inscriptions that we put on your shawl." Victoria walked inside the room. She had changed her dress. There was a noticeable bandage on her arm too. It was as if the bandage itself was not done by someone who knows what they were doing. Instead by an amateur.

Victoria was indeed very smart. The woman actually thought about everything, even the fact that her wound should show some signs of neglect and infection for it to be believable once the North began investigating her death.

Infection can easily be cured by the light Blessing so Victoria would never care about any of those things.

"As expected, dark magic and sorcery was the only thing that could stop the light."

"Dark magic?"

"You have never heard of them, have you?" Victoria snorted. She clapped her hand and a man walked in with a stool in hand. After making herself comfortable, Victoria added. "The only thing that could stop the light is obviously someone who had been working with the darkness."

"You — you are working with sorcerers?" Actually, that didn't come as much of a surprise to Rosalind. In the past, the one that killed Federico was an expert in dark magic. Now that she knew that Victoria was working with them, she could not help but wonder if the woman was involved in Federico's death in the past.

Was it possible that Victoria was the one who killed her father-in-law?

"'With' is the wrong word. They— are working for me. I pay them. Ah… you will not understand what ten gold coins can do in this world."

"Actually I do," Rosalind said. She wanted to prolong this conversation, but knowing that the woman was working with sorcerers didn't sit well with her. She needed to get out of this place as soon as possible! But just as she tried to teleport, she was surprised to know that the ring did not work.

It failed to get her out of the room.

"What are these inscriptions," Rosalind calmly asked. She cannot let the woman know that she had a way to leave this place.

"These? These are simply things that would stop you from using your Blessing."

Rosalind said nothing. Her heart was stuck in her throat as she thought of the past and the reason why the Blessed individuals started to become at odds with each other.

Someone created a weapon that could hurt them.

And that weapon came from the North.

But this inscription is not from the North. Or… was it?

Either way, she was in trouble.