Under the vampire Lord's protection-Chapter 561: Small frights

The hallways were quieter than the previous night, which made a lot of sense since everyone was resting after the great congregation and the execution that had taken place.

Although Ada still walked around with a heavy weight tugging at her shoulders towards the ground. Not only that, but it had somehow grown bigger, heavier as if something else pressed on... Even though no matter how hard she thought about it, nothing seemed to come to mind on what was so troubling.

Ada was given no additional time to think of this ghost that dragged her spirits down for a stern, masculine voice rose ahead of her.

"You! Nurse! Come with me!"

There was no other nurse around besides her. The man, the soldier, stomped straight in her direction, his expression announcing nothing good.

Many possibilities raced across her head at that moment; perhaps he simply needed a nurse who would tend to an injury or a malady or... Perhaps...

Her heart heaved as memories of the maids being called and dragged into dark corners to satisfy the soldiers’ sick pleasures.

She shivered even more as the man appeared to be in a haste upon grabbing her by the arm and guiding her away from eyesight.

The soldier led her into a small closet that held a plethora of cleaning supplies. After turning around to face her, his expression shifted all the way from harsh to... Confused before utter shock as his eyes widened.

"Ada! It is me, Edgar! Don’t be afraid," his hands cupped both of her cheeks.

"Oh, Lord!" the sigh of relief she pushed lasted until all the pent-up tension keeping her muscles rigid deflated, "I did not recognize you under this new appearance! Your voice sounded so different too... I thought...," tears welled up in her eyes.

"Well, fear not for now," Edgar paused, stood straight and looked back at the shut door behind him, earning him that same, scary air he had upon first coming to her, "I try to mimic the other soldiers when speaking. It makes more sense that way,"

The tiny window allowing some light inside the closet baked the shadows into his features, further accentuating the impact of his expression on her.

"I suppose you know that the crown prince is planning to attack Umbraria in the coming days," he half asked.

"Yes, all of the castle knows by now," she nodded profusely.

"Please, tell me that you’ve made progress! After what happened between Lauden and Allegra, we cannot bear the risk of staying too long even though he is gone. Nothing guarantees that they did not torture him for information before chopping his head off," Edgar too spoke quickly.

"Yes, the first thing you should know is that before falling Lauden left a message with Allegra, telling her to look through the northeastern side of the dungeons. I reckon that is where they are keeping the Sterlings and Lord Silas. I cannot get a hold of Floriel, otherwise I would have sent you word of it already,"

"I don’t know if we can trust his word, but I suppose looking into it won’t hurt," the man paused to extend his ear beyond the door once more before continuing, "As for Floriel, I do not know if she will be returning at all. We sent her back to Umbraria when she brought the potions to us. By then the word about a war had already spread among the soldiers so we wanted to be safe rather than sorry,"

Another sigh of relief escaped the young woman, "Oh, good! I thought something had happened to her," her hand rested upon her heart when speaking.

"No, hopefully, it is all alright on that front, but do tell, what about Lady Arabella? Have you seen her yet?"

The question froze the blood in her veins as images of Arabella being dragged by a leash, fully exposed and degraded across the hallways struck Ada at once.

"Well, yes... I have seen her...," she mumbled, looking down at the floor.

"She is not alright, is she?"

In response, Ada merely shook her head before her tears grew too heavy to contain, "They have done the unspeakable to her, Edgar," her hands flew to cover her face.

"We will fix this," he took her hands by the wrists and gently pulled them away from her crumpled demeanor, "We are very close to. Please, hold on for just a while longer," when Ada finally calmed down a tad, he added, "I have not seen the king since our arrival and word goes around that he is bedridden. You’ve seen him, haven’t you?"

"Yes," she nodded after sniveling a few times, "We know he’s been poisoned, but even though we suspect the prince, for now, we have no proof,"

"I see," he nodded, "I suppose I should go back before my absence is felt. I have not been assigned to the dungeons, but I will try to investigate what Lauden left us with,"

Edgar exited the closet first, then Ada followed, catching the eye of a few passing maids in the hallways.

The look they gave her would have been an odd one if not for the circumstances. They sure saw the soldier exit the closet before her and definitely drew a simple conclusion.

Despite her burning face, Ada adjusted her dress and hair as though it had been ruffled, choosing to play right into their most obvious assumptions.

Having people think she had been dragged for copulating was much more fitting and served their purpose better than to have them suspect the two of conspiring.

The nurse went back to the infirmary, hoping to find Morgana but no one sat in the medicine closet. 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

The cauldron had vanished too, replaced by small vials of red liquids and a note scribbled right near the flasks.

According to Morgana’s words, the remedy to save the king was finally done. The instruction left on the paper was clear; Ada had to take one of the vials as well thus doubling their chances, in case she reached the king first or if Lord forbid, something was to happen to any of them.