“He is my son, you little bitch! I am his mother, he’s nothing without me!”
“Isn’t it the other way around?” sighed Mariana.
The Imperial Soldiers chuckled, some blushing a little bit too. As soon as she saw that, the Imperial Concubine glared at them, and became even more hysterical, agitating her cane all around.
“How dare you laugh! You punks! You useless men! You good-for-nothing!”
With each word, she was dangerously swinging her cane around, making the Imperial Guards dodge it or experience painful hits. She was one of the only Concubines about as old as the Emperor, and though she had lost his favor long ago, the Imperial Guards were completely flustered at how to deal with her.
“Imperial Concubine, please, calm down.”
“Calm down? You’re telling me to calm down?” yelled the Imperial Concubine. “I’ll have you hung! Or beheaded! And then drowned!”
“Oh, really...” sighed Mariana.
While the men were flustered and trying to control the old lady, behind them, they didn’t notice the trio that were walking on their toes to get to the door. Opheus’ mother was so awfully noisy and agitated that even she didn’t see her own son sneaking behind the Imperial Guards and into the Second Prince’s apartments. Mariana smiled, seeing that they had succeeded, but she got hit by the cane right after, making her remember that she had inherited the worst part of the plan.
As soon as they were inside, Opheus guided Cassandra and Missandra towards a quiet room, apparently familiar with their surroundings. He checked inside to verify it was empty before letting the girls in. All three of them released a long sigh of relief.
“That’s one crazy old woman,” said Missandra, immediately getting a glare from her older sister.
“You have no idea,” sighed Opheus. “If it wasn’t for Mari, she’d be still sneaking girls into my bedroom every night. A nightmare, I swear. Oh, anyway, we are in. Now we need to find Father.”
“Do you have an idea where he could be?”
The Fourth Prince shook his head with a frown.
“Not really... I’ve only been here a few times when I was younger. My mother and his were close a long time ago, though it might just have been to try to get rid of each other. They did end up trying to kill each other until Lady Kareen became the favorite and they changed objectives. Lovely ladies. Anyway, I think the bedrooms were that way, but it is definitely going to be guarded by Vrehan’s personal militia.”
“Any way around?”
Opheus took a few seconds to think, fidgeting with his earring again.
“There are some rooms that were only used for storage back in the day,” he said. “Mari and I used to sneak in there when the Imperial Concubines were having tea, to be alone.”
“Mariana is a childhood friend?” asked Cassandra, surprised.
“She’s been an Imperial Servant here since she was young, and my best friend. If my Mother wanted to punish me, she’d take it out on her.”
Cassandra was surprised. She hadn’t thought some friendships could actually occur between members of the Imperial Family and the servants, since the gap between the two was so large. However, seeing how Opheus had always gone against his family’s usual patterns, it wasn’t too surprising. He had probably married Mariana so they could protect each other. It was a rather touching story, not something she would have suspected to occur inside the Imperial Palace.
Once again making sure there was no one ahead of them, Opheus and the two young women walked out of the room, cautious. They could actually still hear the screams of the Imperial Concubine from time to time, and Opheus made a grimace every time. They carefully took one corridor after another, but if there were any servants around, they had probably gone to see what was going on at the entrance. After a while, though, Opheus started frowning a lot.
“It’s strange. I don’t remember this place being so deserted when I was young.”
That sentence made the girls worry, but it was too late to turn back. Indeed, the atmosphere in this area was a bit unusual. Most of the doors were locked, and it felt like no one had ventured here in a very long time. Cassandra realized that she was getting the same feeling from when she had seen Kairen’s childhood bedroom. It felt sad and desolate around here, but she couldn’t tell why. It was rather clean, but there wasn’t a soul around. The further they walked in, the more that uneasy feeling grew.
All the doors they walked by on their left side were locked, and there were barely a couple of windows on their right, for the light to get in. They had slowed down their pace, since their steps resonated in the silence. Even Opheus kept a sour face on.
“It’s weird,” said Missandra. “We haven’t come across a single servant or guard since we came into the area. If that crazy prince is so on guard, why is there absolutely no one here?”
Cassandra didn’t have an answer, but she felt just the same. Something was strange. It was as if no one was allowed here at all. Even if that area was completely deserted, there should at least have been a couple of guards or a servant sweeping the dust.
However, they had no time to stop and check what was going on behind those closed doors. In a tacit agreement, they kept going, following Opheus’ lead.
Suddenly, an old maid appeared out of the blue at one of the intersections. She was carrying a tray with food, and she froze upon seeing them, looking shocked. Opheus moved immediately to stand between the sisters and the maid, preventing her from seeing their faces.
However, the old woman looked more shocked to see him, her hands shaking on the tray of food.
