A Night With The King

Sophie didn’t see or hear from the king again for the next couple of days and honestly, she liked it and hoped he would stay away continuously and not come near her again. The day the stuff happened and he had said he would come back for her. She had expected the guards to show up and throw her out of the emerald house and back to prison but nothing like that happened. That day went by as usual with only the maids who came to give her food showing up at the right time. There was no talk of what happened with the king, and neither did any of the guards show up to throw her out. The next day and the other day that followed were also spent panicking, wondering if the king was taking his time and plotting how he would send her away in the cruelest way, but after three days of no news from him, she began to relax again. Today, she decided to clean the house, she woke up early and went about tidying everything in the three rooms and then the living room, when she was done, she took her bath before she ate the breakfast that was brought to her, if only they would just let her make her own food in the kitchen that was in the house, it would have been nice but she asked Emily, she didn’t reply to her.

“I kind of want him to show up so I can ask him but then, I still eat regardless, he should keep staying away,”

She told herself. Being alone almost all the time with no one to talk to, she kind of developed a new habit of talking to herself.

“I hope he doesn’t show up,”

She said again just a moment before she heard the gate being unlocked.

“It is not time for lunch yet, maybe they have something to do here,”Belonging © NôvelDram/a.Org.

She commented. She willed herself not to be worried that the king might finally want to punish her. She waited, whoever it was, she was sure it wasn’t the king.

“I spoke too soon,”

Sophie lamented when the king walked in. For once, he didn’t come through the connecting door which is why she didn’t think he was the one and it was daytime.

“Are you surprised to see me during the day and sober?”

He asked. She so wanted to scoff and tell him it doesn’t make any difference but she didn’t want to be rude to the king today.

“Your Majesty”

She greeted, ignoring his question.

“Sophie, I saw that video you did, what were you trying to prove by recording it?”

He asked as he walked by her and took his seat, she turned to face him. Now that she had time to think about it and he was sober, she couldn’t think of why she had thought it was a good idea to record the king while he was out of it but she had to give him an answer.

“Your majesty, I had nothing to prove but I hoped you will match it so that you can have an idea just how much trouble I had to go through just for you that night,”

She told him. Okay, that came out a little too bold and way out of place.

“Is that so?”

he asked, looking around the place.

“This place looks better in the day,”

He commented. She didn’t respond. She wanted him gone so that she can be alone again.

“Sit down Sophie, I have a few questions for you. I went to see the driver yesterday and I want to verify something,”

He said. She took a seat, putting enough distance between them. She wasn’t scared of being questioned because she knew she had nothing to hide but she was scared that he might not believe her.

“Don’t look so scared, if you have nothing to hide, there is no reason to look like you want to run and hide,”

He told her. She didn’t even know her fears were visible.

“Sophie, tell me the truth, just between us, do you really have no idea what happened that night?”

He asked.

“I don’t, I have no idea what happened, it was all him.”

“Why didn’t you just return to the palace after what happened? Why did you stay away for days until you were found?”

His questions were crazy because if she had returned that day, she would still have been sent to prison.

“I couldn’t, one, I am not from here and since I came here, I have only worked in the palace, I don’t know anywhere else, also, I was scared that I would be beheaded if I returned without the diamonds.”

She answered his question and there was a moment of silence.

‘You didn’t shoot him, of course, you didn’t do that, he confirmed that you didn’t but he said you had people with you,”

He went on.

“People? I don’t know anyone in this kingdom except the people in the palace and we are not even close,”

She blurted out. How could that driver lie like that? She had no one here, if she did, she wouldn’t be in the palace in the first place.

“You don’t know anyone? We both know that’s a lie, I mean, someone is responsible for the pregnancy you are carrying,”

He said and she was tempted to tell him he was the one responsible but she knew better than to spill, he didn’t even believe he kissed her and blamed her for it, if she told him he was the one that got her pregnant, he would certainly not believe her and might even send her away this moment.

“See, you don’t even want to tell me who got you pregnant,”

He continued when she remained silent.

“That’s because it doesn’t matter, my baby daddy isn’t going to be in our lives and he has nothing to do with what happened,”

“Wrong, if you reveal who he is, that might help clear your name faster as he would be investigated. You are making things hard for yourself by keeping his identity a secret but I am not going to force it out of you. What I do know is whether you are guilty or not, you will have to leave the palace as you can’t continue working here. As soon as the investigations are done, you will either be freed and sent away from the palace or sent to prison, there is no in-between.”

He recounted what she already knew. Having him say the words that she already knew still brought her to the reality that she had no plan in place on how she would raise money to survive, at least he wasn’t sending her away from the kingdom.

“I know I am innocent and I will be ready to leave as soon as the time comes,”

She told him. He didn’t say a word in response but she could feel his eyes on her, she couldn’t look at him directly and just stayed like that with the uncomfortable silence almost choking her.

“Did I really kiss you, Sophie?”

He asked. His question shocked him and she looked at him directly, she was right about him watching her. She nodded because she couldn’t get the words out. She expected him to say he doesn’t believe her or something but instead, he just kept looking at her and this time, she couldn’t take her eyes away even if she wanted to, she felt trapped by him, he kept looking at her, not even breaking eye contact and for a moment she deluded herself into thinking that he might get up, close the distance between them and kiss her, she knew if he did that, she would not be able to resist him not with the way he was looking at her right now and how she was almost melting just from his gaze.

“I am getting married to Princess Roseline soon, in a couple of weeks,”

He announced, once again shocking her and bringing her out of her crazy thoughts, it was like a wake-up call. It was what she needed to hear to bring her back to reality but she didn’t even know why he felt the need to tell her that. They were nothing to each other.

“I am aware of your upcoming wedding, my king,”

She told him. Everyone in the kingdom knew about his upcoming wedding, he was literally the king.

“Right, everyone knows but I am telling you just so you don’t have any thoughts that anything could happen between us just because I kissed you when I was drunk, I am going to marry her,”

He said. If only he knew that he did more than kiss her about three months ago but that doesn’t matter to him and it shouldn’t matter to her. It wouldn’t have mattered at all if she wasn’t pregnant right now.

“Okay,”

She answered. She didn’t know what else to say, she couldn’t even be bothered by him getting married when she already knew about it and also knew that nothing would ever happen between them. The only reason he slept with her was because he had been drunk and out of his mind.

“Okay? That’s all you have to say?”

He questioned. What else did he want her to say?

“Don’t answer that,”

he said when she tried to respond. He stood up and started walking away but stopped and turned back to her.

“Hopefully, you are innocent like you claimed, if not, you will pay for lying to me too,”

He let out, turned around, and left just like that.

“Fuck!”

She let out when she was alone. She could finally breathe down again now that he was gone but it didn’t last.

“What will I do?”

She let out. She was close to tears but she knew tears would not fix her problem.

“It is going to happen anyway and I have always known it, I am just going to wait and not kill myself before that time,”

She said, trying to cheer herself up. What else could she do? Not like she could beg the king to loan her money.

“Or, maybe I could,”

She let out; as an idea formed in her head.