Natalia considered Marie for a moment, thinking about her next words to the young woman. She hesitated to ask what she wanted to ask, but now that the girl was looking back at Natalia with a worried expression she couldn’t back down anymore.

“Are you pregnant?” she finally asked.

Marie looked back with wide eyes. Lyra stopped her movements, with the herbs and bits of medicine resting on her hands while Joy turned to look with surprise at Natalia, her cheeks flushing. “How can you say that about my Lady?!”

“It just seems odd…” Natalia responded, not backing down as she withdrew the helmet, “In the time we’ve been traveling, you haven’t had your period, and I thought that maybe it was just late, but now that I look at you and think about it…”

“N-no, no, no, how could that be?” Lyra said with a worried expression on her face as she looked down at Marie. “My Lady is a fair maiden, not married or engaged with anyone. There’s no way she could be with child.”

“Yes, that’s right. Perhaps from your world it would—”

“Enough,” Marie said, stopping Joy as she was about to continue, making her and Lyra turn to look at Marie with surprise. “I am… yes, I am pregnant…”

The expressions of surprise in Lyra and Joy’s faces faded as they were replaced by regret at their lady’s confession. Marie on the other hand had a face of defeat now that she had admitted to Natalia the truth of the matter. The pain had eased and the nausea had faded more by now, so Marie took the opportunity to sit up straight in the bed, softly placing her hands on her dress as she looked down.

“I am not going to intrude into your business more than I should, so I’ll keep this quiet,” Natalia said with a soft voice, sitting next to Marie as the girl bit her lower lip.

“No, I’ll tell you… that’s what I came here to do anyway,” Marie responded with a dejected smile on her face, turning to look at Natalia again. “This is… my sister’s fault as well.”

“Your sister?” Natalia asked back with confusion.

Marie nodded, turning to look back down to her hands again. “Yes… This happened as part of her betrayal to me, to get rid of me permanently.”

“My Lady…” Joy followed up with a sad expression on her face, which was being shared by Lyra as well.

“Some time ago, me and my mother, with a few other young ladies, went on a trip outside the capital. It was to better train our manners and get to know each other,” Marie said, her tone of voice low. “But somehow, in the middle of night while I was sleeping, I was moved out of my room to my sister’s room. How that was done, or who did it, I still don’t know, but I know that it must’ve been someone under my sister’s orders.”

Natalia frowned once Marie started telling her story. “And you didn’t wake up? Or realize anything strange while you were being moved?”

Marie shook her head. “No, they did something in my room, or to me, but all I remember was that that night I felt really sleepy and fell asleep right away, so I never realized what had happened to me until later… when… the pain…”

Tears started pooling in Marie's eyes as she clutched her dress, and her voice started fading. Natalia placed a hand on the young girl’s hand and spoke with a soft voice, “It’s okay, you don’t have to force yourself to remember if you don’t want to.”

Marie released the dress, took a short breath in and wiped her tears. “I can’t run away from it forever… and it’s important that you know what kind of people you might be dealing with in the capital.”

Natalia nodded in response after a short pause. “Very well, I’ll keep listening.”

A soft smile surfaced in Marie’s expression as she placed a hand on top of Natalia's. “That night… all I remember was waking up to a man on top of me, in a strange room…” Marie continued, clutching Natalia’s hand as she continued, “He was… very strong, very heavy, and… very harsh. There were tools all over the place, and there was a strange smell in the room that made it hard for me to move. He… he hurt me more as the night went on and before the first rays of light of the day came, he swiftly left, leaving me with a battered body, swollen eyes and even a broken arm.”

Natalia had a deep frown on her face as she looked at Marie’s crying face, at how large tears were rolling down her face. She wanted to clutch her hand as well in rage, but it wouldn’t do any good to the crying girl right now. Joy was looking down at the floor, her expression hidden behind her hair, while Lyra at her side was also quietly shedding tears as she too clutched her dark dress.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

“This man—this monster—was never caught?” Natalia asked, her voice steady and firm.

Marie shook her head, her hands trembling under Natalia’s. “There was nothing that could be done to this man…”

“What do you mean?”

“He was…” Marie said with hesitation as she bit her lower lip. “Grand Prince Kafka, the emperor’s only brother…”

Lyra and Joy had their heads down, while Marie's tears were falling and her expression was that of a mix of dejection and anger. Natalia kept her eyebrows furrowed. “But, aren’t you from a large family as well? From the Great Field Marshal? Couldn’t you have gotten justice with his help?”

“No, the Grand Prince is someone that the emperor holds very dearly. He was someone that lost his ability to walk due to an injury he got saving the emperor’s life, so there was no way that father would risk everything to protect me—his second daughter—when he had a perfectly fine first daughter,” Marie said, the anger in her face getting more intense. “In the end, with the help of the best Imperial Healers, my wounds were quickly healed and the whole thing was brushed aside…”

“Is this why you ran away?” Natalia asked.

She shook her head. “No, it was because a couple of days later, rumors were being spread that I was to be the Grand Prince’s next wife, and it could only have been my sister who started those rumors, since the only one that knew that it was the Grand Prince that did this to me, on my sister’s room, was me.”

Natalia tilted her head, considering the parts of the story that Marie had told her so far. “Why would your sister do this to you?”

“She’s always been jealous of me,” Marie responded with a shake of her head. “I’ve always been trying my best to get into the Crown Prince’s heart, while she had always been a spoiled child, expecting things to be handed to her. So when she realized that the Crown Prince would never pay any attention to her, like she had always wanted, she decided to get rid of me completely, since the Crown Prince was already turning his attention to my family.”

“So she did this to you, and set you up with this Grand Prince so she could get the Crown Prince?” Natalia asked, somewhat incredulous about Marie’s sister’s actions.

Marie nodded her head in response before stopping for a second to shake it instead, closing her eyes as she said. “I don’t know how she could do this to me, she used to be a good sister, despite being spoiled, and she would always stick to me, but then this happens to me and she’s suddenly engaged with the Crown Prince, while I’m being forced by Imperial decree to marry the man that…”

She started tearing up again as she was remembering the things that happened. Natalia had heard enough as she pulled Marie closer into an embrace, letting the girl softly sob on top of her. Natalia looked coldly to the side, not at anything in particular. “So this is why you ran away.”

Marie nodded. “I couldn’t marry such a man,” she said, turning her head to look up at both Lyra and Joy, “And I couldn’t let them execute them, since they were being held accountable for what happened to me by my father.”

Natalia turned her head to look at both women, who were now holding themselves back while still having a defeated expression. “But why would they be held responsible for something that is none of your fault?”

“We…” Joy responded with a cracked voice, “We were supposed to watch over her, to answer to all her needs, and ensure that she wanted for nothing, so when this happened, and we were not around, not even close to her… we were deemed irresponsible, and to keep the reality of what happened quiet, we were to be put down.”

Lyra clutched her dress after Joy finished talking. Natalia’s frown didn’t lessen at all and all she did was look at the floor, thinking about what she had just heard.

A few minutes later, Marie seemed to be calming down as she pushed herself away from Natalia. She wiped the few tears that were still stuck on her cheeks and looked up at Natalia with red, swollen eyes.

“Thank you for listening to me, Lady Natalia,” she said with a low tone of voice, almost whispering.

Natalia shook her head instead as she said, “I should be the one thanking you for sharing all of that with me. It gives me a new perspective of the kinds of things we might face when dealing with your nation—as you said before.”

A small nod was Marie’s response, before she looked up at Natalia again. “So… can you… please… promise to protect me when we get there?”

Natalia considered Marie for a moment, looking at the young woman’s tear smeared face before giving her response. “I could always send you to our base, you’d be protected from everything in the meantime.”

Marie shook her head. “No, that would only deem you and your people as kidnapping, or even worse, as protecting a criminal from the empire. I need to go back with you after this.”

A moment of silence was left in the air, with Marie looking down at her hands again and Natalia looking at the young woman. “Very well. I promise to protect you when we get to the capital.”

Marie's eyes brightened in that moment, quickly turning her head to look at Natalia again. “You will?!”

“Yes,” Natalia said with a nod, “and I’ll even make sure that those people that did this to you don’t get away with it.”

Marie lunged herself on Natalia. “Thank you! Lady Natalia!”

Joy and Lyra were also smiling, their desire to join in to this hug being suppressed by their duty and difference of status. Natalia felt somewhat awkward as she gave the young woman a couple of taps on the back before Marie quickly released herself.

“Then, I’ll prepare things tonight to ensure that I’m in my best condition for the trip ahead!” Marie excitedly said, standing up from the bed and quickly moving to the door.

“Thank you, Lady Natalia,” Joy said with a polite bow which was shared by Lyra for a moment before quickly turning around and leaving the room with Marie.

Once the door to the room was closed, Natalia sat still on the edge of the bed, looking at the door. Her expression was somewhat odd as her lips seemed to tense and relax a few times. She raised her hand, looking at it for a moment before tightly closing it with strength and shaking her head a couple of times, wiping the odd expression as it was replaced by a cold and determined one.

She looked out the window, at the already dark skies. “It seems like… There’s trouble in the future.”