"What?!"

Qaya looked on in utter shock, as she tried to steady herself and stomach everything, she just heard.

What was she to do in this situation? She took a sharp breath and quickly composed herself.

"I am still confused by all this, how about we all take a seat"

"Excuse me" one of the investigators asked confused by her request and turned to Rachel

"Well, it is her right to be made to understand the gravity of this situation...not to mention she is the King's fiancee"

"Are you sure this isn't just preferential treatment?"

Qaya cut in as she strutted to her seat "sadly, no. Everyone has that right"

"So you want to arrest me because there's reasonable suspicion to think I own an illegal business, me??"

She laughed heartily and shook her head

"Evidence was provided against you" someone added.

Qaya just rolled her eyes at the comment "every day I spend here just reminds me that I'm surrounded by fools"

Everyone gasped and tried in futility to suppress mumblings of disapproval

"Whoever tried to frame me, obviously didn't think this through. Until just recently my family was financially struggling and I was in a coma" she paused and gestured waving around invisible evidence "am I the only one seeing the stupidity in this claim?"

The head detective cleared his throat "you make a very valid argument but so was the evidence provided"

"And what's this evidence?"

"You have to follow us, that's why we need you to come with us and aid the investigation"

"I refuse" she answered flatly and stood up annoyed "this is just disrespectful, if I'm found to be innocent, is there anything you'd do to restore my reputation? No! There isn't"

"I know nothing about this whole situation, and I've told you that it's barely been months since I awoke from my coma, there's nothing else I can help you with"

"But...my lady"

She didn't answer, she walked away from them into the palace library locking their voices away and the whole world. In truth, she didn't have the energy for all this drama.

***

It spread like wildfire that the future queen might be responsible for THE heinous crime and the fact that she refused to cooperate with the investigation team did not help matters. The whole populace were now divided, angry at the fact that she was using her station to evade protocol and justice. Qaya on the other hand did not care for anyone, she secluded herself to the palace library, reading and preparing for her exams.

It was at this point that she wished Zachary was in the palace, he was such a thoughtful human being and friend, in this world where it seemed like she was always the bad guy, Zachary would have at least given her a glimmer of happiness. Her family had abandoned her and she was literally living at the mercy of her captor; so as much as Qaya tried to console herself with reading, her heart still bleed and she yearned for someone to comfort her and vindicate her name.

Meanwhile Awin was beside himself with rage in Melinda's office.

"Are you dense? What did I ask you to do?"

Melinda flinched, the man before her looked like a full blown maniac, and he was just two paces away from strangling her but she wasn't scared neither did she regret it. For a change it felt nice that he wasn't just neutral about her, the Awin that would treat her like an inconsequential given was looking at her like she was a plague. She couldn't show it but she was on the moon.

"This was just the way it appeared, I didn't mean to drag Qaya into this"

"Do not lie! Any sensible person can see that this is a setup"

"The evidence produced says otherwise" she answered still holding a pokerface

Awin snickered "really? The man that produced this evidence, where did he materialize from?"

"Your highness, why would you ask me?"

"Why?" This time he shouted slamming on the table "who else could do this besides you? Do you know any other person? I swear Melinda, if things go awry because of this...I will make you pay for this"

Melinda kept mute as she watched him stomp out of her office. And slowly her pokerface morphed into a sour expression mingled with a hint of pride.

"How could I be pinned as the perpetrator?"

***

Qaya grumbled as she snaked through the many people in the market, it took tremendous willpower to leave the palace but she knew she had to, to keep herself from running mad.

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

She was going to meet someone she was beginning to miss and hoped will make her feel better.

She arrived at an open-air cafe and sat down with a sad smile.

"Was it hard to find this place?" Jaslin asked as her cousin settled down

"Not really" she wanted to say she was a regular when she was Qaya Wright but she held back.

They sat down quiet for a long minute, until Qaya awkwardly broke the silence.

"Didn't think I would be the first person to reach out?" She nervously quipped as she ate

"Why?"

"Don't worry"

"So...are you ready to reconcile with your mother?"

"We were never fighting"

"But you never apologized"

"Jaslin, if I wanted to talk about my mother, I would have met her, not you"

"I understand"

"I don't know if you noticed but then if that were the case it would be very concerning" she chuckled "I was battling with resentment towards you"

Jaslin kept quiet, within her she was relieved that Qaya was beginning to open up to her.

Qaya continued "You have every right to be angry at Qaya Wright, but that day when you told me off and basically told me to kill Qaya Wright, I was hurt."

"I was going through a rough phase, trying to separate and ascertain realities and I thought that as my cousin, that your love for ME would been have greater than your hatred for Qaya Wright. And that time, I couldn't even express my sentiment because you made a point, so all I could do was mentally struggle"

They were quiet again, and awkwardly ate their snacks. This time Jaslin spoke up.

"At the time, it felt like all you were doing was atone for your sins as Wright, it made me realize that you might not love us as Qaya Heris...that was my attempt at getting you to love your family and not see us as a way of making penance"

Qaya nodded. She understood what her cousin meant. That was the kind of relationship between them. All was sorted once they reached a mutual understanding.

"How are you handling things at home?" Qaya asked trying to lighten the mood

"What do you think?"

Qaya sighed "Thank you for taking care of everyone"

Jaslin smiled and held Qaya's hand "how are you?"

"Tired" Qaya bowed her head, trying her best to hold back tears "I couldn't tell mother and father why I agreed to Awin's proposal because it was so embarrassing"

"It's not too late, you can summon courage and tell them, you know they'll do anything to make you happy"

"It's okay, Jaslin, my stay at the palace isn't so bad, the food is amazing,no, it's heavenly and i have a nanny, a friend that cares for me and even a child"

"A what?!"

Qaya laughed heartily "that's what Awin said you should have seen his face..."

As the girls were chatting and catching up, someone bumped into their table.

"I knew that you looked familiar" the voice belonged to a gruff man, that looked like he invested all his money for toiletries into hair products, as his beard was so huge his lips and neck were almost non-existent

"And you are?" Qaya asked, trying to veil her repulsion

"Of course, our highness wouldn't know me. Please don't sell me into slavery" he said feigning fear "how dare you come and show your face here after all the evil things you do?"

Jaslin was quick to understand what was happening, she grabbed Qaya's arm "let's go someplace else"

The gruff, hairy man yanked Qaya "just where do you think you're going? I'm not done talking"

At this stage, a commotion was already created and everyone's attention was on the scene.

"I implore you to let go of me, you have no right treating me this way I'm innocent"

The man rolled his eyes and pushed her so hard that she fell to the ground. Another man stepped in, holding the man back "are you crazy? Rough handling a woman, and the King's fiancee at that?"

"The king? marry a vile woman like her? Impossible!"

Jaslin helped her cousin up and stared daggers at the man "I will make you pay for this outburst, mark my words"

"Really, what are you going to do, sell my wife into slavery? I was looking for a quick..." WHAM!

The man was shut up with a resounding slap.

"Utterly disgusting" Qaya spat

The man looked around, everyone stared on in shock, others whispering among themselves. The man felt defeated and insulted and this only infuriated him the more

"You this evil woman!" He yelled

He motioned to hit her back but was held back by a hand, then a violent kick, he flew into a table.

"Rivan?" Qaya muttered as she stared at a disheveled Rivan, it was almost as if he appeared from nowhere.

"Forgive me, I was just passing by and heard the commotion. I especially couldn't tolerate someone being mistreated for MY own wrongdoings"

"What?" Qaya and Jaslin asked in unison

"You heard me right, I am the sponsor of the trafficking business."

***

A week later

"Only five minutes" the man warned and looked through the keys in his hand, as they walked through the hallway.

Melinda was almost traumatized by the sight; different people clamouring for attention, swearing and spitting as she and the warden got closer to Rivan's cell.

"You want me to stay there...in his cell?" Melinda asked in shock as they kept going deeper into the prison's premises.

The warden just rolled his eyes and kept walking, they stopped at a field, where some prisoners were busy working.

Melinda caught sight of Rivan, he was reading under a tree, he didn't seem to have been going through any untoward thing and by the looks of it he was treated well compared to the other prisoners, but he looked tired, his face had lost all colour and his eyes were sunken.

She walked up to him.

"I wasn't sure you wanted to see me" she muttered and sat beside him.

Rivan put his book away and snickered "but you still came"

"I owe you that at least" she answered drily and picked up his book, flipping through the pages

"..." Rivan rest his head against the tree and closed his eyes, this past few days had been torture for him.

"So are you really responsible..." her voice trailed off as she saw Rivan's sour expression

"You tell me, your paper published the story after all"

"And you admitted to it, when there was proof that Qaya was the culprit"

Rivan groaned and got up, he was already annoyed

"So it's MY fault? Can you even hear yourself? You've become so absorbed with your hatred for Qaya that you can no longer think straight, tell me one thing why are you doing this?"

"Calm down, I don't hate anyone, I was just acting on the orders of the king"

"The king asked you to frame Qaya?"

"No one is framing her! Why can't you entertain the possibility that she was responsible"

"Because then I would be a fool, it's insensible to assume that, Melinda, what happened to your values, did you discard them. What are you becoming?"

Melinda took a step back and looked at her feet. What WAS she becoming? She had no idea, but she knew she wasn't wrong. She couldn't be and even if she may have slightly deviated from the norms of virtue, she had the right to, the world had been so cruel to her, so why couldn't she return the favour?

"I don't know what you're talking about, Rivan but you're being insensitive"

Rivan paused and sighed. "Melinda, I will stand by you and support you because I value you but I will not watch you go on the path of destruction all in the name of loyalty to that... man"

"I used to think you were a friend. But recently you've become a thorn in my side, going on about things I don't understand."

"What I'm trying to say is that, I don't appreciate this friendship, so let's put an end to it" she retreated with a cold expression but abruptly stopped in her tracks.

"See this as me returning the favour, after all you were the only one that visited me when I was at my worst"

And bitterly and coldly, one friend walked away from another. One woman left to her home in relief, and left the man to fall in the abyss of loss.