Chapter 248
CASSANDRA
| was certain that | would never forget the look on Ms. Benn’s face when I''d threatened her and alluded that her daughter''s
condition could easily worsen if | stopped offering help.
The head housekeeper’s already fairplexion nched so white she looked like a ghost. Her lower lip trembled and her icy
blue eyes widened sorge that they appeared like they could fall out of her skull.
Though her terrible expression haunted my thoughts, | didn’t regret that I''d done something awful like this. Given the chance, |
would have done it over and over again, but still, | some part of me did feel sorry for Ms. Benn. | couldn''t imagine how | would
feel if someone had threatened me with Finnick’s life.
But, | did what had to be done. | was powerless in this castle, in this entire country, even. Without nasty ploys and fierce cunning.
| wouldn’t get any closer to getting out of here and returning to my homnd with Erika and my son.
After our discussion, Ms. Benn left the room at once, her cheeks flushed and her movements swift. As she walked away, | felt a
strange sense of empowerment. | was stronger than | thought, and | needed to carry this strength with me as much as possible.
| could survive Yurene. | just needed to be brave.
Luckily for me, Ms. Benn aplished her mission excellently despite her unwillingness. She worked like a skillful spy. getting
close to Ronald''s tower residence with usible excuses. She caused no fuss at all and did everything with her usual calmness.
When she arrived at my chamber one night to report her findings, she seemed surprisingly disoriented. Her expression was a
mixture of horrified, confused, and strained. I’d asked her to take a seat, and when | realized she was shaking, | carefully guided
her to the table.
Finnick and Erika were fast asleep, so | led her to the far side of the room to give us some privacy, and once we were certain our
conversation could be conducted without interruption, Ms. Benn began to speak.
“| grew close with a few maids who didn’t serve Helene or Ronald directly,” she began, her heavily ented voice timid. “Ones
who worked in the residence, but didn’t report to them. Though | don’t want to belittle them or make light of their efforts, their jobs
are rtively unimportant and boring. They were more than eager to converse with me since they don’t often get the chance to
talk to others.”
| nodded thoughifully.
“They were eager to speak with someone who works for the king directly,” she continued, and she ran a hand over her slicked-
back hair and smoothed it down nervously.
| could sense that it was a habit of hers, one that only appeared when she was under duress.
“After some light conversation about the goings-on in the pce, | began to pry,” Ms. Benn said quietly. “It didn’t take much for
them to speak. They told me that Helene hadn''t left her chamber in days. One of the maids told me that no one is allowed to
enter Helene’s room exept for Lord Ronald himself. They were instructed to leave her food trays on the floor outads the door and
then collect it at a fixed tune Yet, when they arrive to collect the tray the food is hardly touched.”
My eyebrows shot up in surprise. This situation was far more date than I’d suspected. Helene, locked in a room? Unable to
C2 perhaps being prevented to do so?
89%1
11:50 Fri, Feb 23
Was she truly ill? Or being held captive by the king’s cousin?
“Go on,” | insisted, though | wanted to ask all of these questions aloud.
Ms. Benn let out a small breath and then nodded. “At first, Helene’s maid’s could hear quarrels within the sounds from Helene or
roars from Ronald. At night, they would hear the door bumping and the stomps in none of them were allowed to approach. None
of them could witness anything for themselves. Then the nois and there was only silence.”
| shook my head slowly.
35)
“Even after Lord Ronald came back and entered Helene’s room, noints or fighting could be heard anymore,” Ms. Benn
reported and her eyebrows knitted together. “Two days ago, one of Helene’s maids was summoned to thedy’s room. By whom,
they didn’t know, but that didn’t matter.. After an hour or so, the maid returned to the servant''s quarters without saying a word.
Despite it being a bit strange, the others didn’t pay much attention to her. It wasn’t until they went back to the maid’s room that
night that they found her lying on the bed, with a knife in her stomach. She... took her own life.”
My jaw dropped slightly as | tried to understand what she’d just told me.
“What?” | breathed, and my head swam with dizziness.
Ms. Benn’s lips turned white as if she’d witnessed the gruesome disy herself. “Yes. She killed herself. Since then... all of the
maids have been horrified. Some believe the knife was given by Lady Helene and that she enchanted it with some kind of
sorcery. Others think the maid had an affair with her master. They’re all rumors, of course, just spections and gossip. But the
death... the death was real, whether it was a suicide or a murder.”
| stared at her for a moment, my eyes wide and my heart heavy as | considered the situation. A dead maid? This wasn’t good
news.
| wasn’t sure | believed in the idea of an enchanted knife, but | couldn’t discredit it given everything I''d seen in this savage
country. Yurenians were capable of so many acts of magic and violence. What if someone had used a spell on the knife after all?
What was their intention? And why the maid? Had she seen something she wasn’t meant to in that chamber?
“Did they describe how she looked?” | wondered, and when Ms. Benn frowned in confusion, | rified my statement. “The
maid?”
Ms. Benn hesitated and then nodded. When she described the appearance of the maid, my heart sank even further in my chest.
It wasn’t just any maid. It was na, the maid who had apanied us on our shopping trip in town.
| remembered that Helene had thought the girl might be a spy. But did she take her theory too far? Had she killed the girl out of
self-defense? Helene didn’t seem like the type, but then again, nothing was as it seemed.
What was the truth?
What was Helene thinking and what was she doing right now? Was she even alive?
Thest thought sent a chill down my spine.
Ms. Benn stood up and offered me a small nod. “I must take my leave, Miss Cassandra. | have things to attend to-”Belongs ? to N?velDrama.Org.
“You may leave,” | said in agreement. The head housekeeper left with no hesitation, and once she was gone, | pondered this
whole situation
Before tears could roll down my checks. | rose from my seat and approached the window. | carefully closed them, and as |
started to turn around to head back to the table, | noticed that Finnick was awake. My son’s gray eyes wererge with concern,
and they stared at me with a weary gaze
Find CRM For Small Bijansas
3
11:50 Fri, Feb 23
With howte it was, he should have been fast asleep, and yet, he was wide awake.
“Mommy?” he wondered. “Can | talk to you?”
83
SEND GIFT
89%1