Zachary entered Awin's office with an ugly scowl, he was the only one in the room.

His mind was frantic, he was annoyed by the whole case.

Two women would have their name sullied because of the King's cheap tricks.

Awin entered the room with a blank expression and scoffed at his aide.

"Days like this make me regret why you abdicated your title" he commented and put away documents. "You were so commanding I was almost offended"

Zachary kept mute and just stared intently into nothingness thinking

"You've always been a quiet one, I just hope you aren't distressed by this one case when they are so many ones you'll be presiding over"

"I'll leave first" was the only thing Zachary said and he left the King's office.

As he neared the court's exit he saw Qaya Heris sitting like a statue, the only sign that she was a living being was the stream of tears that flowed down her cheek.

Zachary was stunned by this sight because Qaya Heris was someone that had been making headlines and from his observation, she was a stern and relentless woman, so he couldn't fathom that she'd be crying in such a space without reserve.

He walked up to her and tapped her. She didn't respond but she let out a slight heave, almost like she was annoyed that someone had seen her.

"Ms. Heris-Mariale?"

His baritone voice shook her from her daze

"Go home"

She stared at him for a while and finally got up and as if she was hypnotized she made her way for home.

Zachary looked on at her in concern, she seemed so invested in this case. If only he could do anything but his hands were tied. As he watched the lady go, he muttered under his breath

"Sometimes I too regret abdicating my title"

Qaya walked home in a daze, everyone was worried because the coach man had reported not seeing her and she'd been five hours later than one would normally come.

They were all stupefied when she came in, shoes in hand, blisters on her feet. She didn't look like she was crying but she seemed dead in the eyes.

"Where have you been?" "We were so worried" "why are you like this?" "What happened?" "Where you attacked?"

She quietly swarm past the sea of complaints, questions and words of concern that were thrown at her.

She walked up to her room and slumped into her bed.

"I wish I died, why do I have to live this torturous life?"

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Qaya was sad but most of all livid and it hurt her more to know she no longer had the right to be angry as Qaya Wright.

***

Everyone was worried ever since Qaya came back from the court, it'd been almost a day and she never left her room.

She turned away all the meals that were sent to her and she became greatly annoyed when they insisted on her eating.

Rachel had come to visit. Seeing as Qaya has failed to submit her report on the court disclosure meeting, she had no choice but to come to her house and scold her.

So she was surprised when everyone told her of the state she had returned in.

She strolled into the girls room, she was sitting in the same clothes she wore the day before, in complete disarray.

"Ahem" Rachel cleared her throat.

Qaya slowly turned to see her, no surprise was evident in her gaze.

She stood up and walked over to greet her.

"How are you?" Rachel warmly asked as she drew Qaya in a hug.

"I assume you came because of the report, I apologize I was unable to get on it"

"I reckon you did just that"

As they broke from their hug, Qaya slumped into her bed.

"Is anything the matter?"

Qaya sighed and scratched her head. She covered her face in her palm.

Rachel opened her bag and brought out documents and books.

"You seem to be very concerned about the ruling in the disclosure meeting, were you close with Ms. Wright or do you know what happened- I mean how she really died?, I assume it's the latter, since you're not the friendly type"

Qaya kept mute for a while not knowing the appropriate way to answer, the whole time, she'd let Rachel Esq. Know that she was heavily involved in the case and knew what happened to be certain about who was in the wrong but she didn't give a reasonable justification for her claim, but seeing that Rachel isn't one to probe someone even if her vocation demands it, Qaya hoped she wouldn't have to explain.

"It's neither and both" she said trying to hide the irritation she felt with herself.

"It's that complicated?" Rachel chuckled and started making notes from the documents before her

"I can't even explain it to someone else, when I'm still confused myself"

"But Rachel didn't you see what happened? The proceeding was flawed, there were obvious holes, the whole evidence was very obviously haphazardly put together but the whole world is going to ignore it? It's suffocating"

"I understand where you're coming from but as a woman of law and taking all the technicalities into consideration, order was upheld. There's a reason the King's court is referred to as Court of order and not justice"

"I see, people are looking for justice but the king only restores order" Qaya replied, spite heavy in her words.

"People can't go to Gainili's court of justice because as it is, the sanctuary is quite meek, they do not succumb to the extreme levels of retribution the society believes in, the king however will go to any level to see that his power is not undermined even if he ends up trampling on justice, I am not just talking about Awin but all other Kings that have presided over the court."

"It's so annoying, I should have appealed to the Gainili's sanctuary court, it's too late now, the sanctuary can't treat a suite that the king has already decided on"

"Why are you hurt? Tell me"

"Because my death was played down to be a repercussion of my actions" Qaya shouted in her mind

"I am certain that the evidence the king presented was fabricated and so two women will have their name sullied even in death" she said, pushing her initial answer back in her mind

Rachel looked on skeptically for a while "tell me, how are so sure?"

Qaya sighed "for starters I have Qaya Wright's diary"

****

Zachary's horse galloped through the thick forest it was already dark and he was relying on his instincts and the trust he had in his stead to navigate.

He was a good distance away from the capital, he was journeying through the ruined city; it was a big town that was devastated during a war, the enemy country having a weak military used biological warfare, sending contaminated livestock and launching air missiles that shot up vile viruses, the people who were not infected fled from the city and as it was a time of war, the infected were left to rot and die;die and rot.

Zachary passed by a monument in the name of the victims and former inhabitants, it was a calm serene place.

With close to a century of human absence the ruined city or as others called it, guilt land became a beautiful haven.

Despite this many people refused to visit there or even look at the direction.

Because despite it had become a beautiful place with fertile land, the place was believed it to still be infected and there were stories that some of the corpses or rather skeletons were as they were before they died.

The picture the whole of Easteford had painted was a sickness ridden place with corpses in different poses;praying, sleeping, vomiting, commiting suicide and all the things they imagined people doing in that scenario.

People couldn't settle there also because of the guilt, those people were abandoned to die on their own, no help was sent their way and they were the only place the enemy nation were able to hit.

So just why was Zachary in such a place ...

To be continued