Back To Reality
With a throbbing headache, Ariel woke up, holding her head about to pull it off since it was one of the heaviest parts of her body now. Her eyes were tightly closed, rolling on the bed almost about to fall now when she felt someone pushing her up. She couldn't remember anything that happened while she was in the woods but she remembered seeing her husband, his deformed face caught her vision.
"King Vladimir!" She came back to reality, opening her eyes only to find the four Lords of Vallat and Amira, on their faces, were expressions of worry.
Were they worried about her?
Amira was leaning close to her with a hot towel that she was using to wipe off the sweat from Ariel's body. "You're finally awake." Ariel nodded in response.
Of course, she was awake but couldn't remember the slightest thing that happened in the woods with her husband.
"Did you see the King?" She heard Lord Luthur's voice.
She didn't know the day he started showing affecting or feeling remorseful towards the King.
"Did you see him?" Amira spoke with a calm tone as she continued with her task.
The other Lords waited in anticipation, wanting to hear from Ariel, and couldn't wait for her to say something.
"I saw him in the woods but can't remember the slightest thing that happened between us." Ariel sighed. This was too much for her to handle. All she needed was peace of mind.
"Oh... something happened between you both?" Lord Orpheus said mockingly but it wasn't time to joke around and Amira cautioned him immediately.
She turned back to face Ariel whose body has calmed down and back to her normal body temperature. "Can you recall his appearance? How he looked like?"
Well, she remembered clearly what he looked like. His scary appearance even frightened her still.
How was she supposed to say this...
...the deformed face of his?
"A part of his face was deformed?" Ariel revealed.
Amira gasps, something happened to him...
..."anything else?"
The wounded chest. Ariel recalled how she applied herbs on his wounded chest. That was the only thing she could remember now as the headache wasn't helping at all.
"His chest was badly wounded."
Jaws dropped in the room, breathes hitched, eyes widened in anxiety.
What could have happened to him? This was what they all had in mind. A hidden puzzle to solve.
Amira bowed her head and repeatedly shook it in disappointment.
"Where did you meet him? Where...What place?" Amira was anxious, a great consequence would befall her soon. Her heart was shattering into pieces.
Ariel thought it was a normal thing to worry about the king, but didn't know about the hidden meaning of their anxious state.
"I met him...we met at the woods, outside Vallat by the River of Valox." Ariel shutters, these were the only things she remembered.
How they met, his wounds, his partly deformed face. Now she needed to rest her head and have a good beautiful sleep.
No!...from the look of things, her needs can't be reached. Why would she think of having a beauty rest when her husband is missing?
Her revelation gave them a hunch ok where to find their King.
He needed to be found before the news reached the highest authority about his disappearance but it had reached them already. The news about the King's disappearance had already spread like wildfire.
"Princess Ariel, we'll help you fetch your maid and I'll inform Duchess Graciela to keep you company only if she's less busy," Amira said, handing the towel to her. She stood up about to leave with the rest of the Lords and turned to face Ariel again hoping to say something reasonable. "One more thing, don't leave the castle." She warned and walked past the exit door with the Lords.
Her maids immediately rushed in. Sabre was in a panic state. She took the towel from her and continued from where Amira stopped.
"My Lady, you've been unconscious for some days now. How are you feeling?" Sabre asked worriedly while Nadia stood beside her with her arms crossed.
Ariel was feeling dizzy, her eyes heavy and her stomach made some grumbling noise. "For how long have I been unconscious?"
"For three days," Sabre revealed.
The young princess sighed in relief and then glanced in Nadia's direction. "Help me to get cleaned up."
Nadia reluctantly did as she was instructed and Sabre followed from behind.
She got cleaned up, dressed, and headed to the dining hall where her lunch was served as instructed by Amira.
Ariel ate in silence, she kept on glancing at the empty chair where the king usually sits. The salty water from her eyes rolled down her cheeks, she wiped it off I'm no time and continued with her food before going to stay in her favorite spot in the garden.
She had a glass of strawberry drink but her mood was sour and the sweetness from the drink didn't do any good or lighten up her mood.
Under the giant mushroom. She was lonely, so lonely to the extent that she had slept off there while thinking about her cruel husband. This husband that scared the hell out of her was the one she was missing now.
"Princess Ariel!" She heard a call.
Thinking that it was her husband, she immediately rose with a brightened face but it slowly faded away when she found out that it was Duchess Graciela.
Ariel's brow knitted in displease. Duchess Graciela understood her predicament and sat beside her to calm her nerves.
"Missing your husband already?" Graciela teased but the latter beside her was in no mood to play. She spread her arms waiting to get a hug from Ariel.
"Thanks for coming, Graciela." Ariel fell into her embrace, wailing like a child.
The Duchess patted her hair and assured her that everything would be fine but Ariel was not buying it.
His voice kept ringing in her head. She heard her name being called by him.
"I missed him!"