The Golden Flower -The Gifted

2

Rotten Roots

« Lady Evergreen, is everything alright? » A maid waived her hand over behind to her assistant. « Call a doctor! »

Women scattered and shuffled in a confused ripple. Chairs scraped back as the women got up to assemble where the fuss was happening. They whispered and ventilated their faces with their flower-printed fans as their long dresses spread and bounced at each step they took forward. 

I stood up and dusted my dress. I hated dresses with my soul; they were so uncomfortable, big and sticky, shortening my steps. A false step, and I'd find myself on the ground, face first. I knew how it felt to fall on your face. But I also knew what it felt like to plunge into someone's arms.

Around three years before this day, I experienced my first Royal Dance with one of my practicum pears. We trained under a secret community called the Sixlogy. The objective of the Sixlogy is to protect and avenge. I know, not the happiest, but members of the society are as loyal and determined as ever. Among the many people having joined the group, one boy had caught my attention. His short spiky shone gold in the evening sunlight. He wore leather boots, a black tuxedo and an old pair of jeans. On the first day of the training, he dressed like a little boy, ready to break into pieces any mountain placed before him. I remember chuckling out loud for the first time in a while when he entered the ball room. He just had something that made him stick out.

We fell in love and pursued our training as one. However, it only lasted up until the thunders of the Supreme Deity of Gelda discovered of the boy's origins. They cursed our love, as princess of the right side of the throne was not to associate with any man from the right. They told us it was the recipe for choas in the City of Gelda. Instead, they lock us both, separating us from one another, ripping our futures apart like feeble pieces of paper.

It was just like what happened to Lady Evergreen. She could not anticipate what was about to happen to her seconds before. And there she was, unconscious on the ground with her hands stationarily lying by her side. Busy maids swarmed around her, doing different tasks, others checking for a pulse on the lady's wrist.

My eyebrows furrowed lightly under the voile white covering my face. I firmly pressed my bouquet between my fingers, but not enough for my hand to be noticeable. The flowers were cold & humid as they had been freshly cut. Feeling the flower's position, untouched between my fingers, I was relieved. Everything was going my way. And that's when it hit me. It was one slight detail that caught the corner of my eye. Miss Evergarden's wine glass had disappeared from her place at the table. When she fell, someone must have taken her glass away. But by who?

All were busy checking up on Evergarden's immobile body.

The ladies all got up from their chairs to see what happened.

The detail that caught my eye was the disappearance of Eves. Where was she? Her seat was empty.

Something felt out of place because Ms. Evergarden passed before my feet. Someone misplaced her glass, and Eves had disappeared. I shifted over to my seat at the table. Then, slipping a strip of my poison detector paper out of my purse, I tested my wine glass. I caught my breath briefly; The strip turned a purplish-blue. 

Red indicates neutral.

Blue indicates acidulated.

Purple indicates an unknown chemical substance.

Someone had poisoned our drinks, and the substance was unknown according to the band's colour. My heart thumped under my chest as I discreetly scattered the paper strip back into my purse. Had I taken only a sip out of my glass of wine, I would've been at the place of Evergarden. One of the ladies present at this event knew that one of us would collapse. One of the ladies present at this garden event was targeting others. We could've been more. I wanted to test other wine glasses for more evidence, but I could not risk getting caught. Who would want us dead within a tick of the clock? The person had to be one at this garden party; meaning thirty suspects.