The Crown's Seduction-Chapter 368: Duties

As the plague raged on, many continued on with their duties to the land. Of those people, Dani, Zaila, and Krisha were currently hard at work coordinating with their queen to ensure that the people around them were working exactly as intended, overseeing some of the things that their queen simply had no time to do anymore.

"This is a nightmare..." Dani sighed as she fanned herself with her hand. "I didn’t think we’d be hard at work right now, but here we are."

"I seriously thought that with most of the pressing matters already taken care of, we’ll have a simple life just following the queen," Zaila sighed back, her work already piling up on her desk as she shook her head. "We haven’t even had a break yet since it all started."

"Not like we can afford to do so," Krisha scoffed, her own work piling up in front of her even as she did her best to work faster. "There’s just nothing we can do to see this coming. We’re already short on people needed to help, and we don’t have the luxury of just standing by and doing nothing."

Dani shrugged even as she nodded at her friends’ words. There was simply no avenue for them to rest now with everything firing on all cylinders. Ebodia had already sent their own healers to help, and even that wasn’t enough to stem the tide of the sick and wounded filtering in from the northern provinces.

And that wasn’t to mention the fact that their king was supposedly dead.

"Say, do you all believe that King Nikolai’s already dead?" Zaila absently asked. "I mean, they saw some proof a few days ago, right?"

"Honestly, I doubt it," Dani scoffed despite the hint of doubt in her voice. "He’s too strong to die of some random disease."

"But this illness can kill people in hours," Zaila reasoned. "I can see it happening, even if it feels like it’s impossible."

"To be fair, I also believe that His Majesty isn’t dead," Krisha casually chimed in. "They didn’t find a body, right?"

Dani nodded at that. It was also the reason why she didn’t believe that news that Nikolai was dead. What evidence they were presented wasn’t conclusive enough, and what little news they received after everything that had happened did little to confirm such events. Although...

"Did Her Majesty say anything about it?" Dani couldn’t help but ask, her brows furrowing in deep thought.

"She hasn’t said anything to us ever since they found out," Krisha sighed. "Beyond just giving us orders, she looks like she’s just going through the motions."

"Right..."

Dani narrowed her eyes at that. It was true, after all. Mineah almost looked lifeless as she simply went about her day trying to keep the kingdom running. Without Nikolai to help her, she was in charge of practically everything there was to be done in the castle, and that was even with the Queen Mother helping her as best she could.

"We should really do something for her," Dani suggested. "There must be something we can do to help her."

"We’re already doing that," Krisha sighed. "It’s not that we have to do more. It’s that we’re already doing what’s expected of us."

"To be honest, I think we should do more too," Zaila hummed in agreement. "I feel like Her Majesty isn’t giving us too much work beyond running some of the organizational and logistical side of things because she doesn’t want us to be too tired."

"That, and we kind of have to be by our side," Dani added with a frown. "We can’t just leave her here alone, especially now with His Majesty gone."

It was a dangerous world out there. While she knew that there was nothing they could do other than to support Mineah to the best of their abilities, perhaps there was something else they could do to try and relieve some of the burden that their queen was clearly going through right now.

"To be fair, I think we’re just moments away from being called up to heal up north," Krisha stated aloud in thought. "We’re all capable healers here, ones that are on par with the queen herself on a good day."

"I honestly thought we would’ve already been called up for it by now," Zaila shrugged even as her tone suggested a hint of seriousness in her words. "We’ve already called for help from Ebodia. We should be out there instead of just pushing papers here."

"While that’s true, I also think Her Majesty needs us here more for her own sanity," Krisha postulated once more. "It’s not like we’re useless being here. We know how she works, so we’re the only ones here that are capable of keeping up with her orders."

Dani couldn’t help but nod at that. They have indeed worked with Mineah for so long that they sometimes already knew what she was about to ask them to do before it even happened. It was just a part of their job as her personal shadow maidens. They were there to be her arms and legs whenever she needed them, and that was precisely what they were doing right now.

"I suppose that’s one thing we need to keep in mind," Dani agreed with another sigh. "Still, we shouldn’t be talking too much. We have much work to do, and I’m sure there’s more to come with everything that’s happening."

"I suppose so," Krisha chuckled. "We shouldn’t be wasting our time talking to each other instead of actually doing the work given to us."

Sharing a laugh with one another, the three shadow maidens went back to work, hoping that their efforts would be appreciated even as they felt like they could do so much more. Still, that wouldn’t be for long, for they knew that they were going to be called up to assist in the healing efforts sooner rather than later.

And sure enough, it finally happened. And not a moment too soon as well.

"Huh, so it’s finally happening," Dani let out a small scoff right after she got word of what they had to do. "Her Majesty is asking us to go up north to help with the healing efforts."

"To be honest, I kind of expected it to never happen after all this time," Zaila chuckled as she stood. "Still, it’s going to be a welcome change from just doing paperwork all day and coordinating with the other ministries and such."

Dani nodded in agreement. She too could admit that she was getting bored just doing normal mundane work helping the kingdom run as it was intended. It just got boring after a while, and she couldn’t deny that she would rather do something that had more tangible results like healing rather than overseeing the logistical side of things.

"In my part, I’m happy for you two," Krisha faintly clapped from her own desk. "As for me, I’m pretty sure I’ll be stuck here taking on the slack you two will be leaving."

"Oh right, you’re pregnant," Zaila smirked as she crossed her arms over her chest. "Serves you right for getting yourself knocked up."

"Hey, I wanted this," Krisha pouted. "And aren’t you the one that was most excited for me when I shared the news?" freeweɓnovēl.coɱ

"That was back then. This is now," Zaila teased with a smile. "But seriously, even if you wanted to, I’m sure Her Majesty herself would stop you from leaving the capital."

"I agree on that part. It’s just the way things work now," Dani shrugged as she stood up from her desk. "On the bright side, you’ll be here safe and sound without having to worry about getting sick and losing your baby."

"And on the other side, I’ll be picking up the slack you two will be leaving behind," Krisha sighed as she pouted. "I’m sure Her Majesty would tell me to rest, but I don’t think I’ll be able to do that myself. I just want to feel useful right now."

"Hey, you’re being plenty useful right now," Dani reassured her. "And as we all said, we’re all the only people that Her Majesty could completely trust. With Zaila and I gone, you’ll be the only one to hold down the fort for the two of us."

Krisha smiled at that thought, and Dani and Zaila shared a confident smile before moving to hug their friend.

"We’ll be back before you know it," Zaila chuckled as she squeezed her friends in her arms. "And no, we won’t need healing by the time we’re back."

"Same here," Dani smiled. "We’re not going anywhere where our lives would be in danger. Just sit back and relax, Krisha. Well, not too much though."

"I know," Krisha smiled back as they all broke away from their group hug. "I’ll keep things here in order until you two get back."

The three then shared a knowing nod before promptly separating into their own groups. Leaving Krisha behind, Dani and Zaila made their way up north, hoping to make a difference against this deadly disease.