"What do you mean he’s dead?" Roselyn asked confused by what the Knight had said. She had seen Lord Richard this morning, alive and kicking. So how comes this Knight was announcing him dead while he was not. He must be courting death!

"I mean... he’s dead My Lady. If you don’t believe me, you can go see it yourself. Besides, your presence is needed to calm Her Majesty. She’s sad and won’t let go of his body."

Roselyn frowned at that. Why would Victoria act so emotional because of Richard? Yes they were close but wasn’t that taking it too far? Why was she thinking about it when she had not yet confirmed the Knight’s madness.

"Okay, let’s go." The Knight nodded and led the way towards the dreadful hallway. Roselyn was certain that this was where Alexander’s room was located. Was he alright? She couldn’t imagine something bad happening to him. He meant the world to her and if he died, she would... She sighed at the thought. There would simply be no reason for her to live as well. Where would she even go to? Rejected at her own home, and no husband to marry... She pushed the bad thoughts at the back of her mind trying to focus on something positive but the sight that welcomed her eyes destroyed her already sour mood completely. So it was true?

The sight of a zombie like Lord Richard lying motionless on the floor and a crying Queen Victoria was the sight that welcomed her. Victoria still held Richard’s cold hand not willing to let him go that easily. Her eyes looked void of emotions and swelled due to all the crying. It was like her tears had ran dry. Lord! Roselyn had not expected this! But why would the queen act so naive because of a Lord? Wasn’t she taking this too far?

"I’m glad you are here," the chief physician said striding closer to where Roselyn stood.

"What happened here?" Roselyn chose to ask instead.

The physician threw a quick glance at the duo before he sighed, "it’s a long story My Lady and I bet you don’t want to hear it."

"Why not?" She asked, curious as to why the physician would withhold information from her.

"Because it’s not something you’d like to hear princess," the physician said looking her in the eye, making her imagine the worst. The last time she had seen something as shocking as this was when Alexander had got poisoned. He looked scary to even look at. But Richard was even worse. His whole body looked pale and his face hsd lost color. If what had transpired to Lord Richard was not a good experience, she was better off knowing the truth.

"You have to help My Lady. We have to take Lord Richard’s body from this place and Her Majesty just can’t let us." Roselyn’s gaze shifted to the queen who was staring at Richard’s face blankly. She still couldn’t understand why Victoria was acting this strange but she had to help anyways. Seeing her crying also pained her. This woman meant everything to her and she had to offer her the support she needed.

Sighing, she put on a determined look on her face ,"leave this to me." She took a step closer to where Victoria was and squatted to be at the same level with her. Lord! Was she even alive? Roselyn was sure she was yet to notice her presence, so she cleared her throat to only get a blank stare from an unconcerned Victoria.

"Look, I’m sorry for your loss My Queen. It’s okay to grieve for Richard’s death however you want. I understand you two were close..." Was she even listening. Only God knew how much self control it took Roselyn to speak to her near a dead person. Never in her entire life had she seen one, let alone being close to one. Her father had made sure of that. She was always the sheltered princess of Arcadia.

"I don’t what you are going through right now because I’ve never lost a loved one, or someone close to me," she said taking Victoria’s hands into hers, "but crying won’t bring him back." She immediately regretted having said those words because Victoria started crying again.

’Damn it!’ She cursed, clenching her fists hard. What had she done now. The only option available was to embrace her. Weird, she thought. Who would have thought she, of all the people would console the Queen.

"I’m sorry," she said patting Victoria’s head lightly as she hugged her tighter in her bossom. "It’s okay to cry." She nodded at the knights to take Richard’s body away now that Victoria was in her embrace. The knights took the signal and placed Richard’s body on a stretcher before walking out of the hallway, leaving the two women tied in an embrace. The chief physician smiled at Roselyn, as if silently telling her, ’she is all yours now. I trust you can do this.’ Roselyn just smiled back at him before he also walked out of the vicinity leaving the two of them alone.

After crying for what looked like eternity, Victoria slowly mellowed down as the hard and bitter truth slowly sunk into her heart, mind and soul. Lord Richard was gone forever and she could do nothing about it. The thought alone was too much to bear. How would she even survive? She had looked forward to a better future with Richard by her side but now...

"You are okay now?" Roselyn asked noticing some movement from the previously stationery Victoria. She simply nodded and detached herself from Rosslyn’s embrace, wiping the remnants if tears from her eyes. Roselyn just stared at her as she contemplated on whether to ask her the burning question. She still felt pity at her. Maybe he was an important person to her, but to Roselyn, he was just a subject like any other.

"I still don’t understand why Your Majesty should cry... mourn over your subject?" She asked, unable to contain her curiousity any more. Maybe there was more to Lord Richard that could meet the eye.

"He was not just a subject to me. He meant everything to me Roselyn. He was the father of my unborn child!" She said placing her hand on her belly. "And now this child will come to this world, without a father!"