Memory in the End

Chapter 10: Poison and Betrayal

Father is getting old. He's not yet at the age to be resigning as king, but he is getting to be at that age. So when he suddenly fell ill, nobody thought anything of it. They called in the best physicians in the kingdom, and Father received all of the treatments that were proven to work. Father is sick, but he will get well soon, that's what I had thought. But then a month passed, and then two months, and halfway through the third month, I was beginning to feel uneasy. Father was old, but he was not at all unfit. Any form of illness should have been gotten over quickly.

I've never took a liking to Victor, nor his daughter Xenia. In the few conversations I had with him, I'd always feel uncomfortable. But then, I thought it was simply because he had replaced Father's previous advisor, whom passed away. The previous advisor was a nice old man, and he would read me stories, some of them about the Magnificent Five, in the library when he had time. He was also the one who encouraged me to be strong, and to not depend on a man. Nevertheless, Victor unsettled me.

His daughter was just as unlikeable. For a girl who was the same age as the princess, you would think that she'd hold back on any snide remarks towards me and play nice. But alas, she somehow formed her own group among noble girls that were against me. Their small group didn't matter, though. Their gossip wouldn't change the fact that I was the princess, and everyone else in the kingdom was happy.

In the months that Father was ill, Victor always took it upon himself to converse with my father privately in the king's chambers. Sometimes their talks would be regarding matters of the kingdom, and sometimes they would play a simple game of chess.

"These are important matters, so I would rather that we not be disturbed," Victor would say, "I will prepare tea for the king. There is an old remedy that has been passed down from generation to generation in the Lynx family.". And he would order the servants to leave them be. No one thought this to be suspicious. After all, Victor Lynx was the king's loyal and trusted advisor, and the advisor could never possibly seek to harm the king.

One day, during the third month, I decided to help prepare Father's supper. You see, when I was younger, I was playing in Father's office and found an old recipe for stew. On the back of the recipe was a picture of my father, and a woman that...I knew her to be my mother, even though I had never seen her. Father had burned all the pictures of mother when she died. He couldn't bear to see her face after losing her, and yet he saved this one picture. I suppose he just couldn't erase her from his heart entirely.

So with some help from the kitchen staff, I made the stew in hopes of cheering up Father and making him well. As I searched through the spice cabinet for the ingredients needed, I noticed a small bottle at the very back. The container was of a different shape from the other spice containers. I took a small sniff of the contents. It smelled pleasant, almost like rosemary. Thinking it was just another herb, I decided to include it in the stew.

How naive I was. How stupid I was. Why was I not more suspicious? Was I too distracted by mother's recipe?

That mysterious herb was my undoing, and possibly my father's as well. He seemed to grow sicker after I had served him his meal. Now, I was the suspicious one. The princess cooked something herself, and the king grew more ill.

And then it happened...I realized why Victor had always made me feel uncomfortable. I found out his plan, but by then it was too late. It was too late for me to do anything, or convince anyone, because Victor had already taken everything into calculation. He would make the princess his rat. He would make himself the savior, and get rid of the next heir to the throne, leaving a vacant spot for him to fill.