The Throne Is Mine
Chapter 109

Chapter 109: Chapter 109

Amelia considered the fact Gina had not been in the castle for many years to know everyone mentioned in the books but there were a handful of people who worked in the castle for many years still present and workers who came in right before Gina.

Gina did not understand why they needed to do this but she was glad Amelia had something for her to do. "Alrighty. Let’s get started," she opened the book and began to read. Her eyes widened for a moment when she saw that it was written and created by Queen Anne but she did not comment on it.

Amelia opened a book for herself and began to read. Silence soon fell upon the room.

"Hmm, this troll sounds like the head maid. It says the princess found that the troll would hide the treats meant for her and eat them later in the dark corner under the bridge. The troll was big and proud, acting as if she owned all the land. The little trolls around her wished the troll would drop dead. I could be wrong but there have been many times she stole treats meant for your family," said Gina.

"It could be," Amelia muttered as she recalled the years the head maid was in the castle. She had been around when her mother was alive and a little bit before that after the last head maid was fired. "I hardly remember that moment but I believe the troll ran to the king to tell a secret about the little princess. She ended up locked in her room where she wished she could fly away."

"Oh yes. There’s a picture of a troll with the king," Gina stated after she had flipped through the pages to find what Amelia was talking about. "Now that I know it’s her, the drawing does resemble her."

Gina was surprised to find that the drawing now resembled the head maid. "Hey, there’s even that ridiculous handkerchief she made herself. Look, you’ve seen this too," Gina said, turning the book to show Alessandra a little detailed drawing of the handkerchief.

Just as Gina said, Amelia recognized the handkerchief with the ridiculous flower pattern they had both laughed at in the past. "It is the head maid."

"So wait," Gina stated as she realized what was happening. "Are these books based on real people? It has to be right. This story was starting to mention a farmer boy the troll fell in love with but he did not love her back."

"The troll took her anger out on the other trolls. She tried to love another but he did not return her feelings. The troll was sad and the princess tried to cheer her up but the troll betrayed her in the end," Amelia read from the book. She skipped a few pages where other characters were mentioned as she was curious to know how the head maid betrayed her mother.

"Here. The princess once tried to leave but the troll blocked her path, stopping her from flying away. It wasn’t long before the guards came to take the little princess back and soon she would find out the troll had told the king of her plans to leave. My mother once tried to leave the castle?" Amelia looked up from the castle, confused as to when this could be.

Amelia was of good age when this head maid started to work in the castle. Did her mother try to leave without her or was she with her mother but it was not mentioned here? She did not for a second before her mother would leave her behind if she wished to flee the castle. It angered Amelia that the head maid had slipped this news to her father. She hardly liked the head maid before reading the book and now she hated her even more.

"I’ve heard from the other maids that the head maid had a crush on the cook. Most of his family are farmers. I have never heard of her liking someone else. I can ask around if you need. Will that person be important for whatever you are trying to find out?"

"I need to assign identities to the characters since their characters might pop up in other stories. I need a paper to write down the troll as the queen," Amelia stood up from her seat. "Continue to read that book and once you are finished, take up another. We might not be able to figure out all the characters before I leave but we can uncover some secrets from what we do know."

"Why did your mother write stories using real people for a fairy tale? Why not just write about them like normal? Why did she need a code and why did she tell you these stories?" Gina asked.

Amelia handed Gina paper, a pen, and ink for her to write down the names of the people she discovered. "My theory is that my mother found out a lot of secrets about the castle and wrote them down to be of some use to her in the future. Someone must have known she had been doing this but I can’t figure out how. Or maybe, if something happened to her she did not wish for anyone to find and destroy the books before I read them."

Gina found something concerning the second theory. "That would mean your mother was aware of the fact she was going to die. Like she didn’t think she would live to see the age where you start to question the things happening inside the castle. The castle is so scary. Why on earth did I choose to come work here?"

"People on the outside think that a castle is a peaceful place where nothing happens until they get inside and join the misery. There are days with fake smiles when you want to kill everyone around you, painful days when you had to pretend to be a happy family, and act like everything was alright until you reached your room and be able to break down. The worst part is you can never leave the castle. Something will force you back," said Amelia.

Gina didn’t like the sound of that as at some point she was determined to no longer have anything to do with the castle besides taking care of Amelia. "You will at least be getting away from it. You will only return for special moments."

Amelia stared at Gina who was happy for her friend leaving. Gina wasn’t aware Amelia planned to one day return to take the throne that belonged to her from Fraser. Her child would sit on the throne in the future. That was how the castle would pull her back. "We’ll see. Keep on-"

A knock at the door interrupted Amelia.

Gina put down her book and stood up to check who came to see Amelia. She opened the door and found a guard with a panicked expression. "What is happening?"

"The princess needs to come quickly. There is trouble by the gates from people who are angry and wish to see her," the guard informed Gina. He had run from the gates to get the princess to try calming everyone down.

"What do you mean?" Amelia asked the guard. "Are they upset with my marriage? Tell me quickly," she added when the guard looked reluctant to tell her.

"They are upset by your order for slaves to be returned. News is spreading that Killian Bune has attacked several homes and taken back the slaves. Those who refused to give him the slaves willingly were killed. People have come to the gates asking to see you as they claim it is your doing."

Amelia wanted to say she could not believe there were people with so little morals they would wish to keep slaves but she met people with little morals daily. Even if she had not made the announcement for slaves to be returned, Killian would have gone looking for his people anyway. The slave trade was loved until someone’s loved one ended up in it then the castle would hear many cries.

Amelia sighed, having no time to be dealing with people arguing about returning slaves when there were so many things she had to do. The north could easily wipe them out. Why was no one seeing she was working hard for peace? "Give me a moment," she turned around to put everything back into the basket.

She heard Gina gasp followed by the door closing.

"Where do you think you are going, princess?" She heard Killian’s voice.

"To speak with the people. I am sure you have heard the guard just now. You and I should not be alone like this in a room. Please leave and do not try convincing me to stay. I have to take care of this. What?" She stopped packing and looked up at him after he grabbed her hand. For some reason, her eyes had started to water.

"I am not letting you go out there. I will take care of it."