The Crown's Obsession

Lucy heard her brother say something to Theodore before he left the room, but her eyes hadn't moved away from the man with four eyes. And even though she was quietly glaring at him, he offered her a bow before asking,

"Good afternoon, milady. How have you been doing?" Theodore had the polite smile that he would often use for the other people, and the vein on her forehead popped up at his question.

"I am doing fine," Lucy responded to his question, her tone turned colder than winter. You must be busy. Being the King's right-handed man and being an advisor must be a lot of work."

Theodore hadn't known about Lucy's arrival. Therefore when he had entered the room, he had been taken aback for a moment before he composed his expression. She was shooting invisible arrows and daggers at him by glaring at him with her eyes. She had matured when it came to her thoughts and behaviour, and if it was possible, the air of allure around her had increased.

"Yes, it is. I hope you are doing well back in your mansion. The King worries about you."

Was there something she was supposed to be worried about? Even Calhoun had asked her a similar question. Remembering the young lady who was in the room with her, Lucy put up a smile on her face, "I am doing fine."

When Theodore smiled, offering another bow, Lucy wanted to take the kitchen scrub and rub it over his mouth.

Turning to a slightly confused Madeline, Lucy asked, "Do you want more tea?"

Lucy enjoyed Madeline's company, and she found it easy to speak to her, much easier than the lady's she met at the soirees. She came to learn the way of how Madeline had ended up staying in the castle. She decided to speak to her brother about it because certain things needed to be handled delicately.

She didn't know what advice Theodore had given, that was if he had given, but taking it to be her responsibility to advise as she was Calhoun's sister, Lucy tried to make him understand how love and relationship worked. She knew Calhoun was new to this feeling, and he loved Madeline dearly. But the girl needed some space to breathe.

"...I hope it goes well because she is a lovely person," said Lucy, when they were alone while speaking to Calhoun in the room afterwards, where he stood in front of the tall glass window.

"Don't worry. She has me. Travel back home safe, Lucy," said Calhoun. She stared at Calhoun before she bowed her head. Sometimes talking to her brother was the same as talking to a ram, but she hoped he would change a few things for the better instead of staying bitter. "Do you want me to send someone with you to the cemetery?"

Lucy shook her head, "No, that won't be necessary. I have my maid with me. I will be fine," she smiled at him. "Stay well."

When she left the room and started to walk away and reached the place near the stairs, she caught sight of Theodore, who was coming in the opposite direction.

He was carrying a stack of parchments in his hand as he was making his way up. Now that it was just her standing at the top, watching him, she noticed the way his hair had been parted from the side. His jaws were sharp, and for a moment, she remembered the way her fingertips ran across those jaws and the softness of his hair.

Lucy shook her head to rid the thought out of her head.

When he caught sight of her, he stopped walking and bowed his head.

Lucy's eyes hardened at his actions. In the past, she had tried to understand him, it wasn't like she hadn't made an effort to understand him, but it seemed like she had barely touched his surface, and like him, she had slowly stepped back.

She would have walked away from there, but today the hate and the bitterness she felt for this person only increased.

"Have a good day, milady," said Theodore.

Clenching her fists which were hidden in her dress, she asked in a low voice, "I wonder how you sleep soundly at night."

Shifting her gaze away from him, she walked past him without waiting to hear his response to her words.

Decades had passed, and one would think the pain would have subsided by now, but it hadn't, and it had only continued to pile. Once she reached near the carriage, she took a deep breath to calm herself and caught sight of her maid waiting for her.

Lucy got inside the carriage, followed by her maid. The horses pulled the carriage away from the castle towards the royal cemetery. She always felt riled up when she visited the castle because of Theodore's behaviour, and it took her a while to return to her normal self without acting like a child wanting to throw something at him.

Reaching the cemetery, the carriage stopped again, and this time, Lucy said to her maid, "I will be back, stay here with the coachman."

"Yes, milady," obliged the maid.

Lucy carried the four bouquets that she had earlier carried before leaving her mansion. As she walked towards the graves, she could hear the birds and the other animals who resided near the cemetery built inside the forest, making sounds that were calm and felt quiet to her ears.

Her footsteps turned slow when she came to stand in front of the graves that belonged to her parents, placing one bouquet each, and she prayed. She then walked towards the grave that belonged to her caretaker Nana.

The woman had been killed because of her, and even though she knew if the woman was alive, she would forgive her. Lucy couldn't forget the pain that she felt in her heart. And a tear slipped down from her eyes.

She placed another bouquet on the grave, not letting go of her hand. She whispered,

"I am so sorry."

She took note of how the tombstone in front of her looked clean, and she wondered if the caretaker of the cemetery had received instructions to clean the tombstones, but then she noticed all the tombstones looked clean.

Offering her prayers, Lucy then walked to the right side while carrying the last bouquet in her hand to another grave that was old and belonged to her grandfather. She wasn't close to him, but she knew her grandfather wasn't resting here anymore. In the past, she had seen Calhoun standing in front of it for a long time when they were here to bury Ruby.

"I don't know who you are," confessed Lucy, "But you seem to be important to brother Calhoun. I hope you are at peace."