Young Royals Season 3 (Version 3)

Chapter 60

Outside the hospital room...

She stood near the nurses' station watching the bodyguards watch her. One of them had been posted just outside the Crown Prince's doorway for some time and was just joined by his colleague from the waiting room.

Simon, Linda and one of the nurses hurried into the Crown Prince's room and she supposed it meant he was waking up.

Then almost immediately the two nurses who'd been inside his room filed out, followed by Linda.

Linda glanced around for a moment, then noticed the detective there and waved at her, approaching.

"He's awake?" The detective asked her, smiling discreetly.

"Yes! Waking up. Thank goodness! Simon's been beside himself. I don't know what we would have done..." She had a far-off glance for a moment.

The detective nodded. "Thank goodness." She agreed still smiling.

"We won't stay long, if you want to go in and speak to him..." Linda offered.

"I actually need to speak to his parents..." She glanced behind her down the corridor away from Wilhelm's room, wondering when the Queen might show up.

"I'm sure they must be very worried about him. " Linda smiled, sincerely concerned for them.

"I'm certain they will be. But...I'm also curious why they weren't there to report August with the three of you...you know what I mean?"

"Oh! We...had a meeting with the headmistress after the group chat...thing." She made a hand gesture as if it helped explain. "And they were going to let us know what they found through their own investigation...I just hadn't heard anything for a while."

The detective looked at Linda quizzically. "Group chat?"

"Yeah, someone found the dead pixels...and sent them in a chat during school. So the headmistress called us in to talk about it."

"Ah..." She lifted an eyebrow skeptically, contemplating Linda and wondering if she really believed it was normal for the school administration not to report August in the meantime.

"And then today I got a call from Boris, the school psychologist, saying that they were at the police station, so...I guess they decided we should report August." Linda smiled, unsure of the detective's lack of reaction.

She watched Linda and was fascinated for a moment that someone could be so pure and trusting. She caught herself staring slightly too long and put on a smile again as she continued to contemplate the information.

"I...need to make a phonecall." She excused herself quickly then walked away down the corridor, pulling her phone out of her pocket as she went. She glanced around and noticed there was more hospital security suddenly as well.

She called her colleague and lowered her voice as she stepped into an alcove near the service elevators.

"The school and the Royal Family knew and didn't report him. I think they're protecting this kid. Somebody needs to go pick him up now."

Her colleague agreed to head to Hillerska immediately and she hung up the call. Just then she heard the elevator arrive and she spun around to see two bodyguards leave the elevator, then Duke Ludvig, followed by Queen Kristina, and finally their advisor whose name she didn't know.

She stepped to one side as the bodyguards made a path and watched the Royal Family pass by and head to Wilhelm's room. They didn't pay any attention to her or greet her, just made sure she wasn't too close to the Queen as she passed. The detective watched them skeptically, then slowly returned to the nurses' station behind them.