Chapter 138
Chapter 138 A little push for justice
“I know what to do.” William said as he watched Doris pace their room. There wasn’t much room for her
to get very far, but she felt as if she had been walking miles. Her feet would easily burn marks in the rug
if she kept on, but her worry wouldn’t stop. How could she fix this? They had to do something
He gripped her hand and pulled her to the bed. “I said, I know what to do.” He repeated more firmly to
draw her back to the moment. She’d almost forgotten that he had said anything.
“What?” Doris asked after a breath. “If you’ve already searched neighboring towns and saw they have so
little, what can we do? I don’t know how long they can allst on that amount of food, I thought I made
enough tost them longer.”
“Near the edge of the border back into the kingdom, several officials from the pce live there in their
home. We can pay a visit to them. I know that one of them is responsible for the goods that are
distributed into the north once they pay their taxes. It seems they weren’t the only ones that weren’t
given enough tost for the month.”
Doris widened her eyes. “Do you think they held back food to them? is that why they’re as low as they
are? That’s… that’s pure evil, William!”
“It’s possible. We won’t know until we talk to them. I know one thing, they will make sure these viges
are filled with food again by the end of tomorrow. I’ll make sure of that” William said with a dark glint in
his eyes. Doris shifted a little beside him. For once, the look didn’t make her fear him. It made her… want
him more than she would ever admit. 1
“Would we bring Enzo with us? Surely he could help convince them since he is the leader of the north.”
Doris said.
“I’m not sure yet if that will make the visit worse or better, but we can try.” William stood. She watched
him leave to gather his men and tell them their new n, but she couldn’t help but think of all the children
in the vige. There weren’t many, but even if there was one it would tear at her heart knowing they
couldn’t fend for themselves out here. 1
Lately, her mind kept returning to one ruin after the other. She longed for the peace she once had back in
the library at the pce. But-here she was helping people. Or trying her best to. Her good intentions
weren’t always the wisest decisions, but she knew that her heart was pure. 3
Doris crept down the stairs to see William making his speech to his guards and the rogues. The only
expression her eye caught on, was Enzo’s. He looked almost proud of William, as if he didn’t expect him
to go this far just to help a vige of rogues. In fact, they all looked that way. Perhaps this was a step in
the right direction to truly show how much he meant his words.
“…I will have some of you stay to watch over the vigers and others join us. We most likely won’t be
back for long once we settle this issue. We have important matters to solve at the pce.”
N?velDrama.Org content.
“Let’s head out, then. It’ll be evening by the time we get there, we can have a delightful dinner with
them.” Enzo suggested with a grin. He shrugged on his coat and Doris hurried down to do the same.
“Are you sure you want to join us, Doris?” William whispered in her ear. Doris nced up to re at him
and he held his hands up in defense. “I’m just saying, you might not like these men. They have no
respect for women-or servants. They might not be very happy to see you.”
“Well, they can deal with it. I’ming with you.” Doris insisted and walked out the door. She’d dealt with
many sexist men in her life. A few officials didn’t scare her away in the slightest. Not anymore
familiar, she could count the exact seconds before he lifted himself in front of her.
Night wasn’t far off. Many of the vigers had already gone to bed to rest more while others kept inside.
They kicked off into the snow and Doris held on tightly as they rode as fast as they could. Enzo was
close behind with a handful of guards and rogues on his tail. Briefly, she hoped the men didn’t think this
was an ambush.
Nothing good ever happened when dangerous men were backed in a corner.
An hour passed before their horses passed the border. Doris saw the differences instantly. It went from a
nknd of snow with one road, to a lively posh vige just feet away. When
she nced back, she noticed how unwee the north looked.
William pulled their horses off to the side road before anyone noticed them and set off an rm. Even
Doris had to admit that it wouldn’t have looked good to see a group from the north pull up into their
vige before nightfall. It would scare Doris enough to want to alert the pce.
“There they are.” William muttered as they came to a stop in front of arge, polished house.
“Do they share it?” Doris asked quietly. William slid off and helped her down.
“They do. It’srge enough for them to use when they don’t want to stay at the pce.” William
shrugged. Enzo and the rest of the men dismounted as William went straight for the door.
His knock was loud and booming. Doris nced around to see that this street was empty and for that
she was d.
The second the door opened a crack, William pushed it in.
“Hello, gentlemen.” William said almost charmingly. Two balding men stumbled back at the force of his
push. Their eyes grew wide as if they were staring at a god.
“P-Prince William? We heard you had affairs in the north you had to deal with.” One of them asked as
their eyes crossed over the rogues behind him. Doris stayed near the back.
“I did, but I thought we could pay you a visit.” William smiled with his teeth. It didn’t look remotely close to
friendly. William inhaled deeply. “Is that a pot roast I smell?”
“l-uh, yes. Yes it is, your majesty.” The man cleared his throat. “Would you care to join us?” He asked
nervously. She could hear in his tone that he hoped William would say no, but he clearly wasn’t very wise
if he thought they were leaving anytime soon.
“We would love to join you. Mal and Edward, this is the leader of the rogues-Lord Enzo and some of his
guards as well as my own.” William locked eyes with Doris for a moment and
“Is this the servant I heard you brought along with you?” He asked with his chin raised slightly as if he
was looking down at her despite him being the same small height as her.
“1-”
“Yes.” Doris said quickly before William called her something ridiculous like hisdy. Especially when he
still had ady back at the pce that she was sure eagerly awaited his arrival. Doris was almost happy
to think about the moment Melody would be called out for all of the lying she did. There was once a time
when Doris willingly took the lies for her, but that time was long over. 2
The man sniffed in distaste. “Very well. Follow me, please.” He turned and led them to the dining room.
She couldn’t help but notice that there weren’t many servants around and certainly no guards besides
the ones in their group.
William and Enzo’s guards stationed themselves at the door and didn’t follow them in. Doris hesitated-
was she supposed to wait outside the dining room, too?
William gestured for her to follow in further and she stomped on her own self doubt and hurried in.
The dining room wasrge yet intimate. There weren’t many chairs but at least there was enough to seat
them all. Doris awkwardly sat near the far corner as the men crowded at the other end.
“Well, gentlemen. I didn’t think we would have had the pleasure of hosting a prince and a lord of the
north tonight.” The man said almost bitterly. He covered it with a light smile and it made Doris think that
she had imagined it. “What do we owe the honor to?”
“Well, Edward.” William straightened himself a little andnded his gaze on the man that stiffened. “We
came here to discuss the starving viges in the north.”