"Richard?" Victoria called again when she noticed the blank stare on Richard’s face. "Richard?" She called again but still no answer. Her heart beat close to her ears when she imagined the worst. It couldn’t be, could it?

Maybe she should slap him. He was just playing tricks on her, right? He was pretending to be... dead, right? How she wished someone could tell her it was just but a dream.

"Richard? Please answer me!" She called clutching the sleeves of his shirt, slightly lifting him off the ground, but when she released him and saw his body go limp on the ground, the world seemed to have come to a halt for her.

"Richard? This is not possible!" She said staring at Richard’s limp body as if it was some kind of disastrous plague. "It’s not possible!" She shook her head, resting her back on the walls of the hallways.

"Please, someone should tell me this is a dream," she said waking up to face the knights who had come back accompanied by the chief physician. They couldn’t help but give her a sympathetic look. "Tell me this isn’t real," Victoria said holding the physician by his collar.

"I’m sorry Your Highness but this is the truth, painfully," the physician said hoping to be freed from the choking experience, which Victoria gladly did, now slumping on the floor. It was until now that she realized how much Richard meant to her.

Crawling back at the limp Richard, she made her last attempt to wake him up, by even slapping him, but all in vain.

"How could you?" She asked beating his chest with her fists, tears uncontrollably streaming down her face. "I loved you, you fool, and now you leave me, just like that?" She held his collar again staring intently at his emotionless eyes, but again, she remembered he was no more.

"Who will take care of our child now," she asked, not bothered by the fact that the knights or chief physician heard what she had said. "What will I tell him or her when he asks where his father is?" Sniffing was the only option left, as she slouched on the cold floor, wallowing in sadness and self pity.

"I’m sorry Your Majesty but we need to take his body," the physician said but the look he got made him take a few steps back, swallowing nervously.

"You are taking him nowhere!" She said laying her hands protectively on a limp Lord Richard. The knights retreated at their Queen’s command. Who would dare to go against Her Majesty’s will, unless you wanted to court death?

"Let her be for now. Maybe this is her style of grieving," the physician said keeping a distance from where Victoria and Richard were. The knights simply nodded at his words. "Inform Princess Roselyn about this. She’s the only one that can help us."

"Yes My Lord," the knights said and left to convey the order.

’Her husband is dead, and now her...’ The physician shook his head at the thought. He still couldn’t process the fact that Richard was indeed the father of the child Victoria was carrying. Who would have thought the royal advisor had an affair with the Queen? But it made sense now. Richard was the only person close to the queen after her husband’s illness.

****

Roselyn was reading a book in her room but her thoughts were far away. Instead, she found herself staring blankly at it. It was a war and political book. She was working in every means to prove to Alexander she was worth the crown princess’s title, and gaining political knowledge would be a headstart. She didn’t want to be a burden to the Valorian Royal Family, but an asset. But would the thoughts of her father let her?

She had hoped that he would change his mind after some time and get back to Valoria to take her but days had passed, and still, no sign of him. Her mother had stayed by her side all this while despite having told her she would be alright alone. Her mother believed she would be the cause of their reunion, and staying in Valoria was the only way to draw her callous father. But his heart was as hard as a rock. Not even the love for his wife could make him change his mind. And even though Roselyn hated him for renouncing her, she knew he did it for her own good. He always did that! And it was partly true.

Alexander never loved her in the first place. If not for Isadora’s disappearance, she was certain he would not have consented to this marriage. And he started behaving differently of late. It was like she never existed to him, just a woman to fill the crown princess position in the future. But that was not what she wanted. She yearned to be loved and cherished by Alexander. She wanted to have children with him and be the lovely wife just like her mother. Unfortunately, it seemed she was the only one reminiscing on a ’brighter future’, and it pained her.

Sighing, she placed the book on the table and stretched herself, yawning like a cat when the door to her room flew open. Her head whipped to that direction, anger boiling within her being as her eyes searched for the shameless jerk who had dared enter a lady’s room without knocking.

"I’m sorry princess but you have to see this," a Knight clad in all black, a crest of the Valorian Royal family embedded on his armor, reported. The seriousness on his face signalled Roselyn something was a miss. She clenched her fists, resisting the urge to punch him and chose to bite her lips instead.

"What is it? Is everything alright?" Could they have been attacked? That was not possible. Crescia was gathering her troops so it was impossible to have received a surprise attack.

"It’s about Lord Richard and Her Majesty," the Knight answered, earning a frown from Roselyn.

"What about them? Is Her Majesty okay?"

"It’s Lord Richard my lady. He’s dead!"