The Crown's Entrapment

Back in the Keen Manor, Clara was doing all that she could to help along with her mate’s inevitable takeover of the Keen Manor. While the coronation had come and gone, she didn’t get the opportunity to rest. She had to try and make things work, and she was more than prepared to do the preparations for her to settle into Gilas’s family.

Unfortunately, this also meant that she had to try and help with cleaning out the Keen Manor from everything that Nasser had done.

“This is a mess, huh,” she couldn’t help but sigh as she stared at the number of chambers previously inaccessible to all but Nasser and his loyal men. “I didn’t think that this place had this many hidden chambers.”

“Unfortunately, this manor was built that way even before Nasser came to power here,” Lady Shila explained, her tone taking on a comforting tone as she spoke. “It’s not really his fault that they’re there. He simply used them all for some of his work.”

It was an undertaking of epic proportions. With Nasser gone, they had to clear out everything that he had been doing before he was caught and executed. From all of the experiments he made, down to some of the dealings he’d made with Helion, the amount of paperwork that they’d assuredly get would be enormous enough to warrant a full team to even carry out of the manor.

“So we just take our time and clean out each room one by one,” Clara suggested. “I don’t think any one of us knows just what’s in each room, so we’ll have to take care to avoid any unwanted traps that might still be in there.”

“On that, I agree,” Lady Shila nodded. “Or at least, that’s what my son would say if he was here.”

Clara sighed. Gilas was unfortunately not with them due to pressing matters regarding the Kingdom’s overall safety. She wasn’t privy to them just yet, but she knew that she’ll get her information soon enough. She still had a part to play to keep Cordon safe, and she wouldn’t say no to helping Darius even if she had already let go of him.

“And I’m inclined to agree with him,” Clara scoffed. “Who knows what Nasser has in store for us.”

“I’ll warn the servants to take care in clearing out the old rooms then,” the older woman sagely nodded. “We’ll also have to supervise just in case…”

Clara didn’t bother replying to Lady Shila’s unspoken worry. While they had already purged the servant staff of anybody that had sympathies to the former Keen patriarch, they couldn’t take the chance that some of them might’ve slipped their net. It was best that each room was cleaned out under their supervision, making sure that any and all evidence that might be of use to them would be kept and stored properly.

“Alright then,” Clara clapped her hands, signaling for the servants to keep alert. “Let’s start cleaning this place out.”

***

Hours passed, and Clara took a deep breath as she helped haul yet another stack of boxes full of Nasser’s dirty work. Most of them were only filled with papers and files, but there were also some filled with some random substance of unknown purpose. Maybe it was from Helion to help him practice some kind of dark magic, or maybe even catalysts for some spell or another, but until they had a talented mage look at them, they’d just have to store them with caution in case they might be unstable. They couldn’t second guess themselves, especially now that they were already essentially just cleaning up the house.

“Another stack of paperwork then?” Clara asked as she saw a few servants approach her with arms full of files and records. “Stack them along with the rest. We’ll have to sort through them at a later date.”

Clara sighed as she stared at the amount of work in front of her. Hopefully, Lady Shila was faring better on her side of the house. Although, she should really check up on the old woman in case she needed help.

“I’ll be back.”

With a nod to the servants, Clara went and looked for her mother-in-law, only to stop when she saw her standing right in front of the door to her room.

“Mother?”

Lady Shila flinched at her sudden presence, almost frowning before quickly flashing her a small smile.

“Clara?” she asked. “Are you done downstairs?”

“Far from it. I just went up here to check on your progress,” Clara lightly chuckled before her eyes landed on the door in front of them. “You can always just ask the servants to do it for you, you know.”

“Yes, but I feel like I should be the one to do this,” Lady Shila sighed. “He was my husband, and while he acted that way, I still cared for him. It would only be proper for me to be the one to do this.”

Clara sighed. She could only imagine what it feels like to get rid of your former husband’s personal things. The memories that some of them might give the older woman could be too much for her… It was almost like the time when her parents died…

“Let me help,” Clara offered, placing her hand on the knob. “It’s the least I can do.”

“Clara, you don’t have to,” Lady Shila smiled. “This is my responsibility.”

“But I can’t let you do this alone,” Clara insisted. “I know what it’s like to sift through broken memories, and I can’t bear to see you fight through the memories of the past all on your own.”

“Clara…”

Clara refused to budge, insistent on doing this with Lady Shila just so she could help the older woman process everything that had happened. She knew what was going to happen, and she wouldn’t dare be absent when her mother-in-law needed her most.

“Alright, fine,” Lady Shila sighed before giving her a small smile. “Thank you, Clara.”

“Again, it’s the least I can do,” Clara smiled. “This way, you’ll have a shoulder to lean on just in case it gets too much.”

The two shared a look of grateful understanding before Clara opened the door. Immediately, Lady Shila took a deep breath, the sight of her old room with Nasser already affecting her this much.

“L-Let’s start then,” Lady Shila weakly chuckled.

Clara nodded. It would seem that she was right. Thankfully, she had her past experience to draw from to deal with situations like this.