The Crown's Entrapment

Clara, Aurelia, and Queen Xenia were all on their way out of the Castle Infirmary when they noticed a sudden commotion. A man seemingly lost his balance on the job, but thankfully, someone caught him just in time.

“What is going on back there?” Clara asked as she stared at the commotion.

Aurelia shrugged. “I don’t know, but we’re about to find out.”

With the three of them sharing a look, they all made their way back into the infirmary. Naturally, the Queen took to the front, imposing herself as was her right as the highest authority in the room.

“What’s happening?” Xenia quickly asked the man after they arrived.

“I-It’s nothing, Your Grace. I just felt dizzy after checking on the prisoner, Lady Pinra, from the dungeon upon the King’s orders,” the man who was one of the senior royal physicians commented.

“How is she then?” Clara curiously asked. She and Gilas had reported to their King on how Pinra wasn’t acting her usual self during their visit, and it would seem that the King had tasked a physician to look at Pinra.

“She’s just mentally unstable from what she experienced, milady,” the physician reported. “Aside from that, there’s nothing else noteworthy to report.”

Clara raised an eyebrow at the physician’s reply. Usually, she really wouldn’t care about what happened to her enemies. However, even she was slightly disturbed at what she saw of Pinra when they saw her down in the dungeons. The woman was a wreck both physically and mentally. Even she could admit that Pinra used to have this sharp edge to her to accompany her good looks, and seeing her look so… lost and defeated… She couldn’t help but wonder just how hard the woman had fallen.

“Are you sure?” Queen Xenia asked before Clara could do it herself. “She had no physical ailments? Maybe some form of sickness?”

At that time, Gilas also arrived at the scene. [What’s going on?] he asked Clara through their Mate Bond.

[Why are you here?] Clara asked back instead of answering.

[To pick you up and have lunch together,] he remarked with a smile. [I cooked something for you…]

Clara blushed at the sudden offer, but she quickly composed herself by changing the topic and getting Gilas up to speed as to what just happened.

Meanwhile, the physician hummed to himself as he leaned on the nearest wall for support. Clara could swear that she saw his fingers trembling, but she just assumed that they were merely just the light playing tricks on her.

“Nothing that moving her to a more comfortable prison would fix,” the physician remarked. “Her illness stems mostly from… trauma, I suppose. If we were to better care for her, then some or even most of her symptoms would disappear.”

“I see,” Aurelia nodded in the deliberation of what she just heard. “So you suggest that we perhaps move her onto house arrest or something similar?”

“That’s the gist of it,” the man nodded in agreement. “In addition, Lady Pinra is also experiencing what looks to be selective long term memory loss.”

“Memory loss?” Xenia blinked in curiosity. “I would’ve assumed that her screaming at Gilas to come to her would mean that she still had some of the grudges we assume she has.”

“Well, that’s the thing, she doesn’t even know why she’s locked up.”

Clara almost let out a skeptical scoff at what the physician just said to them. Likewise, both Aurelia and Xenia also showed their own doubts by looking at the man in front of them like he had just grown a second head. Then again…

“That… could explain why she sounds so desperate,” Clara postulated, recalling the brief time she and Gilas visited the woman in question. “Come to think of it, Pinra never called me by my name even once. She just fixated on Gilas and ignored everything else.”

“I’m just saying that it can be a possibility,” Clara murmured, her brows furrowed in deep thought. “And if that’s the case, then…”

Xenia blinked at her. “You’re saying that we should try and nurse her back to health?” she curiously asked. “Didn’t you just agree with me that Pinra’s a monster that we shouldn’t have us touch without a ten-foot stick?”

“I know, but…” Clara trailed off, Gilas’s earlier words about responsibility and rights still ringing in her head. “She’s still a person… And her general well-being is our responsibility.”

The Queen held a long look at her as she hummed. “Hmm… I was the one that decided we shouldn’t kill her. It’s a fitting punishment at the time, and it’s clearly taken a toll on the woman if she’s been reduced to… this…”

“I agree,” Gilas quickly hummed as he announced his arrival. “Apologies for simply butting in, but as much as she’s been a monster in the past, she’s still family. At least to me…”

Clara nodded her head in agreement. As much as she doesn’t like to believe it, there was a growing sense of pity in her for the state that Pinra found herself in. And if the physician was to be believed, then the Pinra currently locked up down beneath their feet didn’t even know what was happening or why she was down there in the first place.

“Uhm… If I may add…”

The trio all turned to look at the physician once more. If Clara was any more observant, she would’ve seen the trickles of sweat running down the man’s forehead. She also would’ve probably questioned the seemingly favorable observations that the man was giving for Pinra. However, she was far too busy thinking about Pinra to even notice such discrepancies.

“What is it?” Aurelia asked.

“F-From what I’ve observed, Lady Pinra only has one thing in mind, and that is you, Lord Gilas.”

Clara raised an eyebrow as the physician turned in Gilas’s direction. She would’ve gasped in surprise if she didn’t know such a thing already. It was the most striking thing that she could remember during their visit to Pinra’s cell, and it was the main reason why she was so averse to having him be alone with the woman in the first place.

The Queen raised an eyebrow. “Yes, and?”

“While Lady Pinra has exhibited signs of lost memories, her memories about Lord Gilas are seemingly spared from such effects,” the physician explained. “She seems to remember bits and pieces of her life only if he is present in said memories.”

“Wait, so does she even remember Nasser?”

Clara watched as the physician pondered over Gilas’s question. Beside her, the Queen also took special notice of the man as he seemingly agonized over such a simple question.

“B-Based on my observations, she probably might not even know who he is,” the physician stuttered, his breaths coming out ragged. “The only person that can probably hold a proper conversation with her would be Lord Gilas himself.”

“Are you sure you’re alright?” Xenia asked once more.

“I-I’m fine, Your Grace,” the man weakly smiled. “Just… It’s difficult to even speak with her, you see…”

“Then the fact that you even got this much information out of her is commendable,” Gilas praised.

“Thank you for the praise, my lord,” the man gratefully smiled. “Also, if it isn’t too much, then I suggest that her shackles be removed. She doesn’t look like a threat to others in her current state.”

“But wouldn’t that just allow her to be a threat to herself then?” Clara asked. “As we’ve all established, she’s mentally unwell, and perhaps even…”

She couldn’t find it in herself to continue the sentence. Even thinking about Pinra offing herself was something that should be unheard of, and yet she still felt bad just thinking about it.

Thankfully, the physician shook his head. “While it can difficult to tell, Lady Pinra doesn’t seem to exhibit suicidal tendencies. There could be some instances where she might… claw at herself, but it’s nothing that a bit more care and hands-on observation would prevent.”

To her surprise, Clara found herself agreeing. Truly, the world must’ve gone insane if she was even considering trying to help an enemy this way. But then, was someone with their mental faculties this damage could even be considered dangerous?

No… They were nothing more than feral animals at that point, which was probably even a worse fate than death, she thought.

“If so, then perhaps I should ask Darius to change Pinra’s accommodations,” Xenia hummed in thought. “It’s going to be risky just to move her, I think, but perhaps we can at least not have her kill herself somehow.”

“I agree,” Gilas readily nodded. “And if it isn’t too much, I can help with setting up said accommodations. If we’re assuming that Pinra would calm down if I’m near her, then it would be best that I will be there for her even if it’s only by line of sight.” He then looked at Clara and asked, “That would be fine, right?”

“Yes…” she trailed off, finding nothing for her to use to reason as to why Gilas should stay away from his cousin. “Just be careful, alright?”

Gilas nodded to her, and Clara blinked as an inkling of doubt suddenly wormed its way to her chest once more. For some reason, she had a feeling that there was more to this than they first heard. Looking at the physician, she couldn’t help but doubt the smile forming on his face. He was a trustworthy man, even vouched for by the King himself… And yet… Why did she feel like he wasn’t telling the whole truth?