Diana Of Alcotta (Yrsoreth Chronicles 1)

24 ♛ Woman from Silk Chambers

❈
❈
❈

It was baffling when Niccolus, who was usually indifferent with the plans of his mother, entered with light steps and whistling, while Diana was having tea with the queen.

"Nothing much," he answered the queen's inquiry of his good mood. Leaning from his seat, he grinned at Diana. "Say, Diana... have you ever been to Peduha Slums?"

"Does the place interest you, Your Highness?" she diverted by asking a question. Her chest constricted due to an intense clash of her heart against her ribcage. "If you do, may you take me there one day?"

"But you have been there, Silk Chambers, four years ago."

The way his eyes glittered with recognition and the smug grin, Diana came up with an answer. He knows. After all the times they encountered, he was able to remember the whore four years ago.

The whorehouse called Silk Chambers had long stopped operating. There were various rumors about why it went out of business, but none of them were proven. It just stopped accepting clients, and the employees were distributed to other whorehouses with a lesser reputation. The once beautiful building with a lingering scent of cheap perfume and tobacco is empty, with rumors of wandering ghosts.

"Am Right, Diana? Or should I say... Pamela?

Queen Claudette, who does not like to be left out, questioned Niccolus, in which the latter vaguely explained through the condemned words of 'four years ago' and 'Silk Chambers.' The queen then understood, probably because she knew full too well what scheme it was.

Pamela. It was Diana's alias in her one night trade. Niccolus personally met with her to instruct her job on Xander, who was already intoxicated with aphrodisiac. And yet, the makeup on her face and time did not elude Niccolus of the truth.

But she would lie through her teeth.

"Pamela?" Diana tilted her head in question. "Who is that woman, Your Highness?"

Even if the truth would be screaming in between them, she would never admit it.

"You. She's you, I'm certain. The  whore."

Diana gasped at the word and fanned herself as if appalled. "Your Highness... such word. Who dare, a woman of ill-repute, be connected me, the future queen." She hid her trembling lips behind the fan.

Her confidence might have been successful that Niccolus' smug grin slowly faltered until he frowned. Even the queen scolded his son of comparing a noble lady to a whore. "What if this misunderstanding will spread?" Queen Claudette asked in a masked concern.

"Too late, Mother. It already did."

Diana bit her lip but rearranged her face into a surprised act as she removed the fan. "Such impudence–!"

"I had people investigate the previous whorehouse and found the owner in prison. And you know what's funny? He liked it there, 'Safer inside,' he said.

What he said could probably true. Although the Silk Chambers was one of the best in its field, there were rumors that they also abduct young girls for auction.

This was true with Avelyn, Bludis' daughter. Diana shook off the memory. It has been a long time. She made syre to cover her tracks. Her thoughts were also cut off with Niccolus' continuation.

"But the bar owner confessed, at least. There was indeed a girl who asked for a one night job. She was accepted because her skin was exotic, 'honey tanned,' he said. And her manners were of a high-class artisan that it was hard to believe she was of common birth. Now, which noble lady would perfectly fit the description?"

Pairs of eyes zeroed to Diana, who, despite it all, held a tight reign in her act, lying even to her teeth.

If they knew, they would use it against Xander. And if he does find out, Diana doesn't know what to do. She does not wish for his love in return, but no woman would want their beloved to view them as a dirty whore, no matter what the circumstances forced her to.

Her heart was given to Xander and might be never returned whole, but at least she wished to have her dignity intact.

"The rumors are already spreading, " Niccolus stated. That owner from the whorehouse wouldn't stop. "Though that Pamela whore was said to have died. What do you think?"

Too late. Xander might have heard it from now. "Do you mean there is a rumor that I used to be a prostitute?"

Nobody answered. Diana realized that her eyes moistened with tears. No. They'd think it's because she was caught. So she twisted her words to match the devastation on her face. She clung to Queen Claudette. "Y-Your Royal Highness, what would happen if my reputation is tarnished? I will be queen! How can I stoop so low to be a prostitute?!"

She then cried in her arms, to the point of sobbing, which was her real emotions. At last, when her sobbing seized, Queen Claudette wiped her tears. "Isn't it a blessing in disguise?"

Diana blinked. "What do you mean?"

"It may be just a rumor, but it will destroy Xander's reputation. It may be only a small part, but it will still chip away his influence. No one wants to follow a leader with a famed whore for a fiancee.

Once everything is over, we will clear your name and be betrothed to Niccolus. And then, be his queen. But first, there are things to be done."

If it would be out that way, it was indeed a blessing in disguise. She could use it as a reason to be closer to the queen and Niccolus. They may believe her denials or not, but it solidified her act of ambition to be queen. "...What should I do, Queen Mother?"

She ignored how the queen's eye twitched by her endearment, just like the last times, becoming frequent.

"You'll know soon, dear. Now, I think you must return first and take a rest. Ignore the rumors."

Diana agreed, after squeezing Queen Claudette, a clingy hug and curtsied to Niccolus. She left the too with a bright smile. As Diana walked through the castle, she ignored the hot stares and whispers trailing behind her like fire.

Her only regret was the off timing. Xander was still in a fervent search for Kirien and her daughter Feliziia, and here she is, destroying his reputation.

She entered her bedroom and requested the headmaid to relayed the cancellation of her classes with Countess Huxlin in the afternoon.

They were just rumors. Although they are true, their words were irrelevant.

It does not matter what others call her. What Diana feared was that the curse of words would stick to her son. Aleck does not deserve to be called a whore's child.

Even if time would turn, she'd still choose to sell herself for the island and give birth to the precious boy.

Yet, she was not invincible. Even side characters needed time alone, even before they disappear.

Diana sat on her bed, facing the window, composing the words he'd tell Xander when he asks. She was not even finished when there was a knock on her door. After her permission, it opened, and Xander's commanding voice said, "Let's talk."

❈
❈
❈