The Crown's Obsession

Theodore and Lucy travelled back in the same carriage to the castle, and while Lucy looked outside the small window, Theodore watched how hard she tried to keep her eyes glued at the window.

Lucy didn't remember when was the last time she had travelled in the same carriage with Theodore or spent this much time with him after she was married to Samuel. She felt him watching her, but every time her eyes tried to meet his, he was looking in the other direction, making her wonder if she was only overthinking and being too receptive about the situation.

Maybe she was behaving too childish by having a dig at every opportunity, but she didn't mind it. Her hand clutched on to her clean skirt when she remembered the tears she had spilt after Theodore had refused her feelings.

When they finally arrived at the castle, Theodore opened the door and stepped down from the carriage. A stool was brought forward so that Lucy could step down on it, and Theodore stretched his hand for her to use it as a support.

Lucy stared at Theodore's hand, a hand that she had familiarized in the past, and her gaze then moved to look at his red eyes.

"Are you scared to take a simple hand that is being offered, milady?" taunted Theodore, and Lucy placed her hand on his to hold, and she got down.

"You might be scared, Advisor Theodore," said Lucy as they let go of each other's hands, "I have never been the one to be scared of things," she offered him a smile before walking inside the castle.

Lucy had not bothered to look at the time when she had left the castle, and not even the time she spent in the cemetery, not realizing there was someone who had caught sight of her and Theodore stepping out of the same carriage.

As she walked in the halls, Lucy came across her aunt, "Good morning, Lucy dear. Where were you? I was looking for you all around the castle," smiled Aunt Rosamund.

Lucy made a slight bow, "Good morning, Aunt Rosamund. Was there something you needed?" she asked curiously.

"Yes, Calhoun said the tailor would be arriving early this morning, and I thought I would let you know so that you could be ready to give your measurements. But it seems like you went outside. No worries though, the tailor has not arrived yet," informed Rosamund.

"Is that so," responded Lucy. "I will change my clothes to something more easy then."

"Of course," Rosamund agreed, and when her niece was about to head to her room, she said, "By the way, Lucy."

Lucy stopped walking, and she turned around to meet her aunt's gaze, "You should be careful with whom you spend your time with. If word was out about what you do outside the castle and alone with a man, the slander will be something hard to handle, isn't it?" smiled Rosamund before leaving the corridor.

Even in the past, her aunt had been subtle about hinting her and Theodore spending time even though they didn't speak much in the corridors, thought Lucy.

When the tailor arrived with his assistant to take the measurements of the ladies of the royal family and who was going to be part of the Hawthrone family, the measurements were written down in the book. Lucy tried to ignore her aunt's words because the woman often liked to comment on things that had nothing to do with her.

Away from the room where the ladies were gathered, Theodore entered the room where Calhoun and Markus were speaking.

"Oh good, Theodore is here," said Markus, "How are things going on with the tailor? Did the ladies decide what and how they want?"

Theodore offered the man a polite smile, "I don't remember me joining the tailor with his work, Mr. Wilmot," he replied to Markus before turning to speak to Calhoun. "King Castell has agreed to your demands but he has his own conditions that he would like us to fulfill."

Markus looked appalled by Theodore's audacity in answering back to him.

"Did you bring the parchment?" inquired Calhoun and Theodore pulled out the scroll.

"It came this morning," informed Theodore.

When Markus left the room after a while, Calhoun said, "He has some suspicion that something is in there in the dungeon."

"He won't stay quiet for long," replied Theodore and Calhoun smiled.

"We can take advantage of him being a blabbermouth," responded Calhoun. "I know he and Rosamund are waiting for a chance to call the High House. Let them do it because I am waiting for it."

During the time of midnight,Theodore was making his usual rounds in the castle corridors when he caught sight of Lucy walking towards the West Wing. He wondered if her old habits were hard to let go of. In the past, Lucy loved walking in the quiet side of the castle, dancing on her toes and she also had the habit of leaving the castle without anyone's notice.

Pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose, he started to follow and saw her stop. When he got a little closer, he caught sight of Samuel who disappeared behind the doors of one of the empty rooms.

Theodore was torn between letting Lucy continue to follow her husband and somewhere he wanted to catch hold of her hand to stop her. But it was time for Samuel to disappear from her life. He had given the man many chances to fix his relationship with Lucy, and she didn't deserve it.

If he knew in the past that Samuel would turn out this way, he would have never sacrificed her like this but it was done. He was done sheltering Lucy and it was time for her to step into the light to see what kind of sc.u.m her husband really was, thought Theodore.

Theodore's eyes fell on Lucy's bare feet on the cold ground. From where he stood, he could tell she was nervous and anxious, her heart beating as she made her way towards the door. For more than five minutes, Lucy didn't move as she was still contemplating and he watched her finally place her hand on the door before, pushing it as slow as she could.

Theodore saw her face turned pale like a ghost, her eyes wide in disbelief and shock. Even from where he stood, he could hear the gasps and m.o.a.ns that came from the room.

And it was then that Lucy's heart cracked before shattering into pieces. Tears started to slip from her eyes, rolling down on her cheek as she stood there in shock, watching Samuel being pleased by a maid.

Theodore knew he was cruel in letting Lucy witness Samuel's deed's, but he doubted if he had told her by words she would believe him. And even if she did, and then asked Samuel, he would have lied to her all over again.

When she had seen enough, he walked to where she was and he placed his hand over her eyes that were wet. He wasn't going to let anyone hurt her again.