The Lost Princess - A 'Selection' spinoff

CHAPTER 36

Mei nodded. "Do so as soon as you could. But in the meantime... I was going over a few things, when I found something you may want to know".

"What is it?" Aurora asked, worried when she heard the Queen's tone.

"Well, over the years, there have been many reports on a missing princess reappearing. And they coincide with just the day before an imposter girl has arrived at the Illean palace claiming to be Ella. Now, before the palace could confirm these claims, it had been proved that they weren't truly Ella, but how did the press know about this?" Mei asked.

"They have their ways," Elena said, shrugging.

"True, true. But the same has happened when you truly found Ella, and the articles released in the past few hours," Mei said.

"So there's someone from the inside conveying the information," Aurora stated.

"Yes. But what's more interesting is that different versions of the same article have been released in different languages, by newsletters from around the world. And I found something in common," Mei said. "They are in the languages of the Kingdoms of Italy, China, Hindustan, Australia, France, Germany, Switzerland...".

"All of them are the strongest allies of Illea," Elena said, gasping. "How did we miss this?".

"Probably because the Advisor would have pulled up the first article that she or he had seen. You would have tried to do damage control immediately, without getting the full picture," Aurora said.

"Exactly," Queen Mei said, nodding. "Just to break your ties with the other nations. Someone is trying hard to isolate the Illean royals".

"Then it will be easier to target and eliminate them," Elena said.

"But why us?" Aurora asked.

"You'll learn about that later," Elena told her.

Aurora resisted the urge to demand for information.

"I was doing some more research, and saw that the most recent article was first published by a Chinese newspaper. When I interrogated them, they had no idea who had written it. My tech team went over their employee records, and found out that there's an ID called 'Guang' that they had no idea about. There are no records of their address or salary, or any other details," Queen Mei said.

"Doesn't 'Guang' mean 'light' in Chinese?" Elena asked, wrinkling her eyebrows.

"It does. I was talking to Vienna and Dhiya too, who found similar discrepancies in the newsletters who had released the articles - their IDs were Lumiere and Roshani," Mei said.

"Both mean 'light' in their respective national languages," Elena said, collapsing on one of the chairs.

"I'm yet to check with the others, but I'm sure they'll give me similar news," Mei said. "You know just as well as I do that this is too big of a coincidence".

"It is them," Elena said, a mixture of fear and awe in her voice.

"You must be careful, Elena. Tell Elora to remain careful too. She is, most probably the next target," the Queen said.

"I will," Elena said.

"Thank you so much for your help, Queen Mei," Aurora said, giving the Queen a Kowtow.

The Queen nodded. "It's the least I can do. Elena and Elora saved my son's life, so many years ago. I am indebted to them".

Aurora began wondering even more what adventures they had during their Selection.

"Thank you, Mei," Elena said.

"Remember. Be careful. Don't trust anyone but your family," she warned.

Elena nodded at her.

"Let me know if ever you need anything," the Queen said, cutting the call.

"Wow," Aurora said.

"We need to get back to the hospital wing. I need to find my sister," Elena said, hurrying out, with Aurora at her tail.

*** 

When Aurora and Elena arrived at the hospital wing, everyone were already there. Elanor and Eric were supposedly inside in Elodie's room, building something with a mound of blankets and pillows.

Lucian was looking at something on the internet, frowning and thinking deeply.

Adelaide and Kate were talking to each other softly, and Elora sat on a nearby chair, her eyes closed, looking very regal in a dark blue dress, her circlet resting on her forehead.

"The press meet was horrible," Elora said, once she saw them.

"It wasn't that bad," Adelaide offered.

"Did you throw something at one of the reporters, or-?" Elena asked.

"Nothing of that sort, but... They kept asking these questions on how I felt that my daughter had killed my husband, and -".

"She snapped and spoke in a monologue. I'm sure the press won't be writing any bad articles on Aurora from now onwards," Kate ended.

"That bad, huh?" Elena asked, before looking at Kate and asking, "Did she like rant and snarl such that they couldn't even note down half of what she said?".

Kate nodded.

"Hey, my respect for Queen Elora just tripled - if only I knew to deal with the press that used to hound my family and me before I came here, my life would've been so much better," Adelaide said, grinning.

"We have news," Aurora said, quickly recounting what Queen Mei had told them.

Elora's eyes widened. "She thinks it's them?".

Elena nodded. 

"And we may even have some proof that it's them," she said, dropping into a chair near her.

Eric came outside Elodie's room and said, "The twins are fine now. They're napping together".

Elora nodded, and went back to whispering with her sister.

"No," Aurora announced, causing everyone to look at her. "I demand that the two of you tell me what's going on. I am to be the next ruler of Illea and I wish to know whether I need to start worrying whether the Northern and Southern rebels still exist".

"They don't," Elena quickly answered.

"Then who is this group you two are referring too?" Aurora demanded.

Elora sighed.

"It's time I tell you about the Illuminati".

[PS : The drama is just starting]