The Crown's Obsession

"Let me show you a fun place of the castle," Calhoun said, walking ahead of her and Madeline took a few seconds before she followed him. She noticed how he slowed down for her to catch up.

"You said you had the wolves with you for a long time. Were they little pups?" Madeline asked with a hint of curiosity in her voice.

Calhoun was pleased with her question that she was taking an interest in knowing more about him now. Baby steps were good with him than no progress, but he was no idiot to not listen to the words and her actions carefully, "I had them before I entered the castle here."

"Entered?" asked Madeline, her eyebrows knitting together in question.

"Mhmm," he responded to her without giving away too much information, "They are one of the most loyal animals, and they wouldn't think twice to follow my words. We are here," he said when they came to stand in front of large walls that were made of holly.

Madeline's eyes moved from the left to the right, looking at the tall green holly and taking the sight of it. She had read about this, but this was the first time she had come to see and witness it.

"Welcome to Devon's hedge maze, Madeline," Calhoun announced to her, his body turning to look at her with his hands in his pockets to see that she was fascinated by it, "I have a proposal to make," his words caught Madeline's attention.

"What is it?" she inquired.

"It seems that you want to leave this castle behind and go back home. Let's have the maze decide if you can be allowed to leave," his red eyes continued to look at her, his expression serious as he said this. Madeline could feel her heart rejoice by his words.

"You are serious?"

"Absolutely!" he answered her burning eyes. He caught how her stiff shoulders turned slack at his words as if she was happy and it somewhere made Calhoun happy but for different reasons, "It is also a very good exercise. The maze is a big one, and it has many paths to pick or leave. If you are successfully able to get out of the maze's exit point by the time of the evening, I will let you go."

Madeline was eager to step into the maze quickly, but she had never walked in one. She had heard that the castles often had bigger hedge maze compared to the other mansions which were small and it made her doubtful if she could do it, but at the same time, Madeline was desperate. She would do anything to get out of here.

"You mean it?" Madeline wanted to make sure he wasn't playing with her.

"You have my word. Get out of the maze successfully, and I will have the carriage prepared for you to go home," Calhoun promised her, his eyes gauging her face and his tongue reached to run over his fang.

She hadn't entered the maze, and she hadn't come out from the other side of the maze yet, but she could see the light of hope where she would be able to leave the castle.

"Do you agree to it?" he asked her.

"Yes," came the immediate reply.

"But," came the pause and she should have known there would be the other side of the deal to it. Calhoun said, "If you don't make out of the maze before the clock strikes six in the tower clock which I will ask the servant to do, then you will never bring up the topic of leaving again."

Madeline pursed her lips, "What time is it now?" she asked, and this had him smile at her.

"Smart girl," he pulled out the pocket watch from his vest. Flipping it open to say, "It is three minutes past one. Plenty of time to take a full walk in the maze and leave. Ready?" he asked her.

Madeline nodded her head, "Ready."

"Good luck. Your time starts now," he smiled, flipping the watch back from where he had removed to notice her run towards the entrance of the maze. He stared at her back, seeing her walk to look around. After a few minutes, he finally turned around to make his way towards the inside of the castle.

Madeline who had entered the hedge maze turned her head left and right. Now that she was in, she realized how tall the holly plant was. It was taller than her that would make it difficult to jump and find out where the exit was. She had already taken left to turn and see if the King was still there or if he had left. She knew her luck was scarce and she would need to do everything she could to get away from here.

The further she got in, the further she felt she was alone because she couldn't hear the sounds of the birds or any other thing. It was quiet in here, and even though it was the time of day, the holly plants were tall enough to make the path look dull and dark. Madeline had tried to memorize the paths, but there were too many, so many that she had ended up losing the count. At first, she had thought it would be easy because she had read how the maze had a specific pattern that needed to be followed, but she was lost.

Maybe if she had walked in here four to five times, it would still not be enough to memorize it. Like Calhoun had warned, this was no small maze, but it was a big one.

Her brown eyes moved to look at her surroundings, and she could start feeling slightly claustrophobic after she had spent more than three hours of her time.

Calhoun, who was in the courtroom attending the meetings, his one hand supporting his jaw, was listening to the minister who was speaking about the recent laws that had been implemented. Theodore was then called to his side.

"Did my aunt return to take Sophie back with her?" he asked.

"No, milord. There have been no signs of the carriage since they left the castle in the morning."

It looked like Aunt Rosamund was going to leave her daughter here in the castle to stay, thought Calhoun to himself, "What room did you prepare for her?"

"The one away from your quarters. Lady Sophie protested about the room, but she's settled in the guest room," Theodore filled him in. The right-hand man had been curious since Calhoun had returned from the garden alone, "Did you send Lady Madeline back to her room?"

Hearing Madeline's name, Calhoun couldn't help but laugh. He took in a deep breath and let it go, "No, she's playing in the maze."

"The maze?" Theodore questioned in surprise.

"It will keep her mind occupied. I have asked her to find the exit by herself without any help. If she succeeds, she will be able to go home."

Theodore's brows knit together in confusion, "But the maze doesn't have an exit," at least with what he knew, for years the maze had only one way to get in and out.

Calhoun chuckled, "I know."