Chapter 25: Chapter 25

“Wake up.”

I continue to hear a voice in my sleep and I groan, turning away.

I carry the pillow and press my ear in to it when I hear the voice again, loudly this time.

“Get up, Minerva.”

It persists for a while before I get annoyed.

I throw off my pillow with a sleepy huff.

“Gosh, Gwen. Leave me alone. I am so going to k-”

When I open my eyes to see no one, I pause, “Where are you hiding?”

The scent is the air doesn’t smell like hers. She hasn’t been here for a while and all I can smell is me.

Goddess, is this room haunted?

No, way. I have been here for a while. It can’t be.

I would know if it’s haunted, right?

Yeah, yeah, I would.

With caution, I walk towards the door with my pyjamas and open it as fast as I can.

When I arrive at Gwen’s bedroom after she opens the door, stopping my persistent knocking.

I smile sheepishly.

“Can I stay here for a while?”

Her eyes drifts down to my pillow immediately and she frowns after a yawn.

“What are you doing here by this time. It’s night in the night.”

As she proceeds to yawning like a cat, I point out, “It’s actually the crack of dawn.”

She freezes, “What’s the crack of dawn?”

I sigh and find my way to her room.

“You have a lot to learn.”

“What?” She is confused as she closes the door behind me.

“Go take a bath.”

“What?”

I roll my eyes, “Seriously? This is what I am dealing with?”

*** *** ***

“Pull it out!”

“That’s what I have been trying to do long ago. The damn thing doesn’t want to work.”

“Because you’re not doing it right. Jam it and pull it back up.”

She stares at me with wide eyes while her hands freezes on the stick, “If I was someone else, I would have thought that we were having s-”

“Don’t finish that sentence,” I hold up a finger, “Now, get out of the way. I got a fish to fry.”

“That’s not a fish, Minerva,” She argues as I push her away and skilfully pull the wooden stick out of the flour.

My body is covered in flour once I get it done.

“Don’t ever attempt what you just did again,” I warn her.

“You mean cook?” She snatches the stick from my grasp, “I hardly know why we are even here but so far, I am enjoying it.”

Yes, being covered in flour feels nice…

I’m kidding.

“I don’t know what you both are doing here either.”

As the voice shocks me out of Gwen’s madness, I turn to see Grace standing by the entrance, looking like a real queen.

Something that I’ll never be.

I mean she is a queen, why wouldn’t she be dressed like one.

“Er… I actually didn’t invite you in here,” Gwen narrows her eyes at Grace, “This is my domain.”

Okay/

It’s actually mine, not hers.

“Do you need anything, my queen?”

Gwen rolls her eyes at my question.

“No, I just wanted to say that the food is ready?”

“The food is ready?” Gwen frowns.

“Yes, it has been ready for a while now.”

She slowly turns to me with a deadly glare, “Please, don’t tell me that we have been working for nothing.”

I blow out a breath as I use my apron to wipe my face, “At least we were working, right?”

She glares daggers at me continuously as I turn away from her while laughing sheepishly.

Oh boy!

She pushes off her apron and rushes away with Grace.

In a hurry, I do the same too.

Since what occurred this morning. I have been avoiding been stuck alone.

The castle is starting to creep me out and it is annoying that I can’t leave here.

Grace rushes to Sebastian as we step inside.

I just turn my eyes away and focus on the-

Oh my gosh, her parents are here.

Goddess, they will notice the mark.

I begin to cover it with my hair as I slowly walk to a seat.

Sebastian’s mother sees me first, like always.

“Who are you?”

I raise an eyebrow as I sit.

Seriously?

Grace notices my situation and rushes to my rescue.

“She’s a friend of Gwen, remember?”

His parents look at her, straight in to the eyes… I think.

Then they nod like robots, almost like Gwen, when she is enticed by something.

Oh well!

I guess the traits are from parents to their offspring.

I wonder where Sebastian got his ‘stupid’ trait from?

“I remember you. You’re Gwen’s friend.”

At the statement and my confused expression, Grace turns to me with a tight smile as Gwen sits down.

“Mom, you’ve met her before. She’s Sebastian’s m- Oh, what was that for!”

I step on her foot rather very painfully… for her.

When she turns to glare at me, I glare at her too.

Goddess, how did I get to know her?

How did this innocent me, get to know any of them?

Her parents watch our interaction with curious eyes.

“Are you two together?”

It is her father who speaks first.

“What?”

“Yeah, we are literally sitting together.”

“That’s not what he meant, Gwen,” I point out and smile at her parents, “We are just friends.”

“Why don’t you both get some rest. It has been a long ride for you to come here.”

I notice how Grace tells them this and they listen without any defiance in their bones.

I don’t think Gwen or Sebastian observes this at all.

Although I begin to be suspicious, but later, I dismiss it.

Grace is very sweet. Maybe that’s why they listen to her so much and very easily.

Yeah, yeah. That must be it.

Stupid me!

I am probably finding a way to convince myself.

Settling my eyes on the female, I eat.

I have suddenly come up with the conclusion that I don’t like her any more.

I don’t think that I ever did.

Look at her big eyes.

Her stupid nose!

No, Minerva, be creative.

Her flimsy structure.

I don’t know what Sebastian sees in her. I don’t know what I saw in her.

Gwen was right all along. We need to murder her…

“I don’t think that we can do that. Our chances may be long gone.”

Slowly, I turn to Gwen with a confused face,”What? How did you hear me?”

“You’ve been whispering for a long while now.”

As she says this, my mouth jumps in to my hea- I mean, my heart jumps in to my mouth.

“You are so lucky that my dumb brother is too busy smooching that nitwit. So he didn’t hear a word you say. I doubt that he can hear us now.”

When I open my mouth to speak, she cuts me out.

“Please don’t tell me about treason. As long as I am involved, I can insult those two as much as I wish.”

My eyes shift to the couples as they hurry to their feet and rush out of the dinning room.

“I bet that they are going to do the ‘dirty’.”

I ignore her suggestive eyebrows and I follow them, also ignoring her call.

The walls becomes my hiding place as I spy on them.

They enter a dark alley and I make a silent prayer to the Goddess.

Wait, when did the castle have dark alleys.

They better not be shooting a movie or something

Oh well!

Spying on them becomes confusing when I don’t see Sebastian again.

“Is it done?”

“Positive. The king won’t know what hit him.”

“Good, be done quickly and return back to me.”

“Yes, my love.”

Wait, wait. What? The crazy ass daughter of a sl-

Someone drags me back, really hard.

“Damn it, Gwen!”