Regrets

Sir Luke was returning to the castle to inform his friend of his shocking findings when he heard the news about their queen. He found his devastated friend still in the dungeon holding his lifeless queen’s body on his lap.

“Zania. Zania,” the king murmured while the guards shook with fear. It was clear that the king had not signed off on his queen’s execution as they were made to believe.

“Forgive me, Zania. Forgive me…”

Three hours later, King Maxwell blankly stared at his falsified signature that led to his wife’s execution. His heart shuttered into tiny pieces because he had no doubt who the culprit was.

“You falsified my signature and executed Zania,” he asked the moment Lady Mary was brought in and forced to kneel before him.

“She killed our child. She deserves it,” Lady Mary spat out before weeping bitterly for her child. Unfortunately for her, her feigned emotions no longer affected him. He knew everything.

“You told me that my wife had a lover. You faked videos of her with another man,” he accused with a voice devoid of any emotions. All the fights and misunderstandings he had with his wife were all orchestrated by his mistress. He could not believe how blind and stupid he had been.

“Let me guess, she denied it and you believe her. What is it with all of you and that wimp?”

Her words made him wince. No matter how much he wanted someone to blame for everything that happened, he was the reason Lady Mary had so much influence that eventually led to so much pain and loss.

“Zania was admitted with miscarriages all those days you said she was with another man. Every time she was pregnant you got someone to accuse her friends of a crime and got them killed. You paid guards to make her believe that I executed her friends to stress her out until she miscarried. You paid her guards to make me believe that she was with her lover every time she was admitted.”

His tears streamed down as he recalled how mad he would be when his queen finally returned. He would flaunt and pamper his mistress to make her jealous.

“You are a liar and murderer, Mary. You lied to me about my queen cheating, about carrying my baby and that miscarriage. You got Celia, all Zania’s friends and the animals killed to torture my wife,” he listed her crimes while she trembled before him.

“Max, please. I only showed you the evidence my contact gave me. I had nothing to do with all these things. I swear to you,” she tried to explain, but she could tell that all her lies had finally caught up with her. The message she received from her mother informing her of her father and brother’s executions had already told her that he knew everything.

“Take this shameless woman to the people and let them stone her to death,” he instructed his trusted guards with the same cold voice. The guards were only happy to execute the order.

“Max, please. She killed our baby,” Lady Mary pleaded in desperation as the guards shoved her outside. Nothing had gone according to plan. The king was not meant to find out the truth. Unfortunately, for her, Sir Luke had unveiled all her plotting.

“There was never a baby, Mary. You lied, tortured and killed our queen,” it was Sir Luke who responded before shutting the door and worriedly studied his friend, whose eyes were glued on the file he presented him with.

“Max,” Sir Luke called to him after an hour of complete silence.

“All along, I thought Zania was making me a monster. It turns out I was worse than that,” he said bitterly the moment his stuart walked in to inform him of Lady Mary’s death at the hands of the fuming people.

“Where was my wife on the 7th of May?” King Maxwell asked his stuart, who was taken aback by his question.

“Lie to me and I will kill you,” the king threatened. His friend’s findings told him that he was lied to for over five years. Mary, his elders, the midwife and some guards and maids had connived behind his back to destroy his marriage and ultimately, his queen.

“She was in the hospital, Sire,” the stuart responded truthfully.

“Why?”

“She had a miscarriage, Sire.”

“July 28?” he questioned again. He knew those days like the back of his hand because those were the days his queen was supposedly with another man. The images of her with her lover ate at him like an acid on a naked skin. He recalled how he tried to forget by drowning his sorrows with alcohol. Just how furious he was and how he tore at her when she finally returned. His hands shook at how he treated his wife after she had miscarriages. No wonder she hated him.

“In the hospital, Sire,” the stuart responded again.

“Do I have to ask why?” he roared.

“She had a second miscarriage, Sire.”

The king winced. He had no doubt that his friend’s investigation was accurate, but it still broke his heart to hear it confirmed.

“How many miscarriages did she have?”

“Five, Sire,” the butler responded with a tremulous voice, confirming what the king had just discovered a few minutes before.

“And no one felt I should know this?” the king inquired.

Lady Mary and her skimming father had put everything into place, but he could not understand why no one ever told him that his wife was admitted into the hospital so many times.

“You instructed me not to tell you anything related to her, Sire,” the stuart replied softly with his head down and eyes casted. He always assumed that his king knew about the miscarriages because he always fought with his queen when she returned from the hospital. He also used to be extra nice to his mistress and made sure to pamper her in his queen’s presence.

“Does her includes my children?” the king pressed on. He knew that he was not being fair to his stuart when he was ultimately responsible for everything that happened, but he could not help himself.

“Yours, Sire?” the stuart could not hide his shock as he repeated his words.

“Who the fuck do you think knocked her up?” the king snapped, startling the middle-aged man.

“You hated her, Sire,” the stuart pointed out with confusion written all over his face.

The castle staff all knew about their queen’s miscarriages and sympathised with her, but they also believed that she was carrying her lover’s babies because she and the king hardly ever spoke without fighting.

“Did I say that?” King Maxwell snapped again while his butler shook his head. His king did not have to say it, everyone knew that he hated his queen because his actions said it all.

Two days later, many household at the Jolly island were mourning loss of their relatives. The fuming king had executed most of the castle staff and everyone implicated in his queen’s set up and murder.

It was in the evening of fourth day when Sir Luke mounted the courage to approach his friend’s chambers. The nation needed to know when their queen would be laid to rest and none of the elders wanted to face the fuming king. Over ten of their fellow elders were executed just two days ago, no one was willing to risk their life.

Sir Luke took in deep breaths and embraced himself for the worst before knocking. The royal stuart had informed him that the king had insisted on the queen’s body to be brought into his chambers and he had not left the room since