Stolen by the Rebel King
Chapter 233: No Place Like Home I

Chapter 233: No Place Like Home I

"What’s that sound?" Jonah asked, peering over. "I’m not sending the carriage for repairs again so soon if the door falls off due to your manhandling. We just had it fixed from the previous trip! You two need to learn how to take care of your belongings."

However, he quickly realized that both the king and the queen were still standing outside. On the other hand, a woman was sitting inside, looking straight ahead, not even batting an eyelid at the two masters standing outside of their own carriage. Jonah blinked, wondering if his lack of sleep was causing him to hallucinate.

"Alright, that’s it," Atticus fumed. "I’ve had enough."

"Wait!" Daphne said. "Don’t tell me you’re going to―"

"Yes, I am going to," Atticus instantly said.

His ring glowed and Daphne hissed. Not in pain, but in just the smallest bit of sympathy for the maid who would be suffering for the next few hours. Daphne wasn’t a saint anymore and thus, she definitely wasn’t planning on pleading for the maid. Helena deserved it.

The smirk on Atticus’s face was diabolical. "If they can spare her to escort us, she must not be very important. I’m sure Reaweth’s royal palace can survive without this infuriating woman for the next few hours."

With a rip and a scream, Atticus casually flung open the door and the woman out of the carriage, her face landing straight in the mud. He then used magic to carefully lift Daphne back into her seat before he hopped in and joined her.

And they were off, with Helena left quite literally in the dust.

"Oh, poor thing," Daphne commented. She couldn’t help her curiosity but to turn back and spare Helena a glance. "She’s running after us. Her face is all soiled with mud too."

The maid had clambered up after realizing the carriages had left without her. She was yelling and screaming, waving her hands fanatically in a bid for them to notice her. Yes, they definitely did notice her, but Atticus had no intention of stopping for even one second.

On Daphne’s lap, Zephyr chirped in satisfaction. He had been sleeping in the carriage when he was rudely awoken by Helena’s rough handling of the carriage doors. Thus, when he saw what Atticus did, he nodded his head approvingly.

Evil woman.

He went to the opposite chair, furthest away from the window and from the crazed maid’s screams, before promptly falling back to sleep.

"Is she now?" Atticus mused. He pulled a small piece of sodalite out from his pockets, tapping it until it glowed, connecting to the other end. "Jonah?"

The stone made a crackling sound for a bit before Jonah’s voice could be heard.

"What is it?" he asked.

Atticus grinned. "I need to use the loo. It’s a big one. Can’t keep it in for much longer. Can you be a dear and let us go a little faster?"

Jonah’s sigh sounded from the other end, though he made no move to refuse Atticus’s request nor call him out on his bluff. He simply cut off the connection.

Daphne could feel the carriage rocking a little harder and the scenery outside passed by in a blur. She could recognize some buildings but in the months that she had been gone, some things had already changed. Either that, or the passing view she had of Reaweth’s environment when she had traveled out of it for the first time wasn’t deep enough of an impression for her to remember clearly.

Little huts in the outskirts of town soon became taller buildings. From the roads they traveled on, Daphne could even spot some townsfolk busying about their day.

Soon enough, the woman’s frantic screams were drowned out by the sounds made by the carriage wheels. When Daphne looked out of the back window again, Helena’s figure was already nothing more but a speck in the background.

"Stop looking back, sunshine," Atticus said. "The road ahead is long. Your attention should be gathered there instead."

"It will be nightfall by the time she gets back to the palace," Daphne commented. "It’s quite a distance, even by carriage."

Odd. She didn’t feel too guilty about leaving the woman there. Daphne only merely wondered how Helena even got there in the first place.

"I am sure the exercise will be good for her," Atticus breezily replied.

He leaned back, placing his hands behind his head and his feet up on the opposite benches. Zephyr, who had been sleeping there, squawked and flew out of the way.

"Right, before I forget," Atticus said, reaching into his pockets to pull out an envelope.

Daphne took hold of it, examining the elegant cursive writing on the paper. It was sealed with a simple wax stamp, not bearing any important symbols or anything of the like. However, there was a faint smell of perfume lingering on it still. The scent was familiar.

"Cordelia?" Daphne asked.

Atticus nodded. "She left you a letter. My men have escorted her out of the borders of Vramid. She will be traveling to the nearest port before sailing home."

"It was nice of her to come visit," Daphne murmured, a smile on her face. She tore the envelope open to read its contents, her smile widening even further. It was endearing to see how her relationship with Cordelia had changed since the first time they met.

Engrossed with the letter, Daphne hadn’t even realized how far they had traveled. The maid was also tossed all the way to the back of her mind.

***

By the time they finally reached the gates of the royal palace, it was already late in the afternoon.

To no one’s surprise, no one of importance had come out to greet them. In the end, it was another maid that had stood outside to fetch them upon arrival.

"At least they sent two this time," Atticus murmured to Daphne as they followed them in.

"They’re probably worried that if they just sent one, they might not come back," Daphne replied, her voice equally hushed.

"His Majesty is currently dining with the rest of his family," the first maid said. She hadn’t even bothered to look back. "We were instructed to show you to your rooms first."

"If you would please follow me," said the second maid. She then led Jonah and Sirona off to a different wing of the palace, disappearing down the corridor along with the other knights that had followed along.

"Your room is this way, King Atticus," the first maid urged. "The king had arranged for one of the finest guestrooms for your stay. It will just be down the corridor from Princess Drusilla’s personal chambers."

Her words, however, didn’t sit too right with Atticus.

"My room?" he echoed. "What about my wife?"

The maid finally turned back to look at them. She had a confused expression, her eyebrows raised with surprise and confusion.

"Princess Daphne will be staying in her original chambers, of course," she said as if it was something plain to see. "We have left it untouched, just the way she had left it before her departure. I am sure she would be most comfortable there." She then turned to Daphne despite still addressing Atticus with her words. "I am sure that Her Highness still remembers the way there?"

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