"Let me be certain I understand you correctly." The Queen Mother's voice had dropped to a whisper—the kind that preceded storms. "The royal physician refused to attend the Princess... because he was treating a paper cut?"
The maid watched the Queen Mother's expression transform into something arctic. In that instant, she understood she had delivered a catastrophic answer.
"I have committed an unforgivable transgression. Please, Your Majesty—have mercy."
Terror seized her limbs. She threw herself to the floor, pressing her forehead against cold stone.
The Queen Mother's face only grew more severe.
"Return to the physician. Say nothing of my presence here. Simply inform him that the Princess's condition has become critical—that she teeters on the edge of death."
She paused, letting each word fall like a blade.
"If you fail to bring him back with you, understand this: you will never set foot in this palace again."
"Y-yes, Your Majesty!"
The maid scrambled to her feet and fled as though death itself pursued her.
Silence reclaimed the corridor.
The Queen Mother's hands trembled at her sides.
> "What manner of chaos has consumed this palace? How has governance deteriorated to such depths?"
"Your Majesty, I implore you to temper your fury. Such agitation will only harm your health."
Baroness Pinatelli's voice was measured, careful.
"How dare an untitled physician—a commoner with nothing but his skills to recommend him—disregard a summons from the royal family?"
The answer, of course, was obvious. Any physician with ambitions would naturally prefer currying favor with the Regent's daughter over attending to a princess everyone seemed determined to forget.
The Queen Mother's eyes narrowed.
"There must be compelling reasons why he would prioritize Duke Claudio's household over Her Royal Highness."
Baroness Pinatelli observed quietly.
The Queen Mother understood human nature well enough. The weak bowed to the strong; the powerless were trampled by those with authority. This was the natural order of courts and kingdoms.
What she had not anticipated was that even the lowest palace servants would dismiss Medea so brazenly—so openly.
If they treat her this way while she still holds the King's Seal... what would become of her if I had actually stripped it from her grasp?
She could envision it with terrible clarity: the miserable future that awaited her granddaughter.
The Queen Mother released a heavy sigh.
"It is finished. Everything has fallen to ruin."
Some Time Later
Commotion erupted beyond the bedroom door.
The awaited physician had finally arrived.
Before the Queen Mother could compose herself and assume a proper seated position, the bedroom door burst open with a violent crack.
"Confound it all—are we quite finished with this farce? Where is the Princess?"
His displeasure manifested in every slovenly step. The medical bag dangling from his hand appeared hastily packed, its contents likely jumbled together without care.
"What possible urgency could justify such dramatics over a simple fainting spell? Has the Princess collapsed once before, or twice? Her constitution is robust enough—she will rouse herself in due time. Did you truly need to drag me away for this?"
He clearly possessed no intention of conducting a proper examination.
The physician strode into the bedroom, irritation radiating from every gesture.
"Resting comfortably, are we? This is hardly a matter of life and death! Damnation—if Lady Claudio's treatment suffers because I was summoned here on a fool's errand, will you assume responsibility?"
So consumed was he by resentment at being pulled away from his preferred patient that he failed entirely to notice the figure standing in shadow behind the curtain.
The physician shook his head roughly and dropped his bag without ceremony.
"The Princess possesses such a vile temperament. And now I am expected to abandon my current patient for her sake? Preposterous."
The shadow shifted.
A hand reached up and drew back the veil.
"She is nothing but a marionette with severed strings—what authority does she truly command?"
The physician's mouth, still twisted in irritation, went rigid.
His eyes widened in dawning horror.
"Y-Your Majesty the Queen Mother... why are you—"
Why here? Why now? Why witnessing everything?
He could not formulate answers to the questions flooding his mind.
Before anything else, the weight of his own words crashed down upon him. Every drop of color drained from his face.
"Your Majesty... I beg you. Kill me swiftly."
The physician abandoned everything—his dignity, his medical bag, his pretensions—and threw himself to his knees before the Queen Mother.
"If death is what you desire, then I shall oblige you."
The Queen Mother's expression remained glacial.
"Guards. Remove this creature from my sight. It appears his duties as palace physician have become burdensome to him—I shall grant him relief."
"Your Majesty! Please, I implore you! I lost my senses—I was not thinking clearly!"
The physician pressed his forehead to the floor, pleading desperately for mercy.
The Queen Mother's gaze held no warmth.
"Expel him immediately. He shall be stripped of his position for disloyalty to the Crown. Furthermore, he and his entire household are hereby banned from the capital for life. Never again shall he be permitted to masquerade as a servant of this palace."
"Please! Simply execute me and be done with it! Your Majesty, I beg for mercy!"
"What are you waiting for?"
Knights entered and seized the physician by both arms, hauling him upright.
"Your Majesty! Your Majesty!"
"Silence. If you raise your voice once more, I shall silence you permanently."
The Queen Mother delivered the warning with frigid finality.
Baroness Pinatelli stepped forward and stuffed a white handkerchief into the physician's gaping mouth.
"Your Ma—mmph! Forgive—mmph!"
The Queen Mother turned away without sparing him another glance as he was dragged from the chamber.
"Pinatelli. Has Sir Hertos arrived?"
Hertos served as the Queen Mother's personal physician—a man whose exceptional medical prowess had earned him noble title and her absolute trust.
"Yes, Your Majesty. He departed immediately upon receiving your summons. He should arrive at any moment."
The Queen Mother treasured Hertos so completely that she permitted no other physician to attend her. Even Duke Claudio's family would never dare summon him for their own ailments.
To grant Medea treatment by her most valued physician was tantamount to a public declaration—an announcement that the Queen Mother cherished her granddaughter.
True to expectation, Hertos arrived swiftly—his carriage might as well have flown. He was intimately familiar with the Queen Mother's temperament and knew better than to keep her waiting.
He treated the Princess with practiced skill and meticulous care. Not a single gesture betrayed anything less than complete respect for her royal status.
"How is she?"
Hertos shook his head slowly at the Queen Mother's anxious inquiry.
"Her condition is grave, Your Majesty. Both mind and body have been worn thin as parchment. I cannot fathom how she survived five days sustained by nothing but tension and terror."
He paused, choosing his next words with care.
"These are symptoms I typically observe only in soldiers returning from prolonged campaigns on the battlefield. For a young princess to exhibit such signs..."
The Queen Mother stood in rigid silence.
"Your Majesty, I must speak plainly. If her circumstances do not change, I would not be surprised when the Goddess sees fit to claim Her Highness."
"Unacceptable! You will restore this child to her former self!"
> " Her former self, Your Majesty? Which version would that be? "
Before the punishment began?
Before the funeral, when the Queen Mother had berated her grieving granddaughter?
Or further still—when the late King and his Queen yet lived?
Faded blue eyes studied the Queen Mother with quiet understanding.
She offered no response.
Because she knew that none of those possibilities remained within reach.
"Grandmother!"
A memory surfaced unbidden: young Medea, beaming with uncomplicated joy in her father's arms.
The child had not changed. She could have been protected.
But the Queen Mother had not protected her.
"I..."
Her voice fractured. She turned and departed unsteadily.
The Return Journey
The Queen Mother departed only after issuing strict orders that Hertos was to personally attend the Princess until she achieved full recovery.
Throughout the journey back to her own chambers, she remained lost in thought, her silence absolute.
Then something caught her attention.
"What is that?"
Baroness Pinatelli followed the direction of the Queen Mother's gaze.
"That is the Cottage House, Your Majesty—the residence of Duchess Claudio and her daughter."
In her consuming grief following her eldest son's death, the Queen Mother had sought to dull the agony of losing a child by keeping her sole surviving son close at hand.
Her daughter-in-law and grandchildren had received abundant affection, and Duke Claudio's family had traversed the royal palace as though it were their private domain.
The Queen Mother had even granted the Duchess and her daughter separate lodgings within palace grounds, citing the considerable distance to their estate as justification.
Thus the Cottage House had come into being.
No precedent existed in Valdina's history for collateral relatives—anyone beyond direct royalty—residing within palace walls.
Yet the chaotic circumstances of the realm, combined with the Queen Mother's influence, had permitted the arrangement to persist unchallenged.
"Ha."
The Queen Mother released a bitter, hollow laugh.
The name "Cottage House" suggested a modest dwelling—something simple, humble, befitting guests rather than royalty.
But the reality before her eyes told a different story entirely.
Brilliant light flooded from every window, dazzling even from this distance.
She turned and looked back toward the Princess's Palace.
Even when lit, it had seemed dim. Now, swathed in darkness, it was scarcely visible at all.
A desolate feeling emanated from its walls—utterly different from the Cottage House, where strains of music occasionally drifted through the night air.
"I have sequestered myself for far too long."
The old woman's belated lament descended into the darkness, unanswered.
In the Days That Followed
Madame Quiggin was dead.
She had perished in her cell while awaiting trial for crimes against the Crown—and before the blood in her veins had even cooled, violent winds began sweeping through the palace.
"Find everything."
"Every coin. Every falsified document. Every last accomplice."
Under the Queen Mother's protection, Baroness Pinatelli summoned investigators and initiated a systematic search for all parties involved in the conspiracy.
The Reckoning Begins A large-scale investigation had commenced.
To Be Continued
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