Belladonna

Chapter 11: Secrets

The Princess communicated to me in the form of letters that the guard passed. And it was all about food. I’m glad there were knights there. I started practising more of my desired vision on them, at first I needed excuses to look them in the eye. Then later I got better at it, that I didn't even have to see their faces. All that I had to do was stare at their armour-covered bodies and I could see what they wanted. Everyday my powers grow stronger so that I can play with it. I can summon their desire in the form of a shadow hand behind their necks. I use it to prank them occasionally, as they carry some sort of gemstone or whatever strange materials they have towards the lab, especially on Almira when I’m mad at her.

Since I can’t see her, I used the same old formula of revenge on her every meal. The servings she asked for started out quite small, whatever she was doing there she was obviously doing great. She can still hand out commands to the businesses, or the executives outside the castle in the form of letters that she gave to either Richard or me to give out to the others. Then as the days progressed, the food servings she asked for me started getting bigger and bigger. From one small snack, it turned to one full meal, then a two, and then finally to a five.

The moment she had hit five meals a day, that’s when I became concerned for her. At first she was still able to write out executive letters for the other sections of the Kingdom to carry out, she was able to produce at least ten a day. Then it turned to almost nothing, some of the rulers and businessmen around the kingdom would barge in the castle complaining about some ridiculous requests she made or the lack thereof. Her reputation is already being tarnished. I could sense Richard being tired of it all, so tired that I can sense his loyalty for the Princess waning. He started doing the delivery less, and instead passed it unto me. I had no choice but to tell the Princess about it.

I wrote her a letter about what was going on: the people complaining about her lack of presence, Richard getting lazy everyday, and the people losing their respect for her. She needs to know this, she needs to get out of that laboratory. I said to myself as I wrote it.

I handed it to a knight, and a few moments later I could hear some commotion inside. Then heavy footsteps.

I was expecting her to come out, instead it was the same knight. He handed me a letter. It wasn’t the same as what she usually puts out, her handwriting was sloppy. Far from the pristine once she had. It reads:

I cannot perform my duties, as I have more important things to do. As my cohort I assign you the duty of running the Kingdom. I made a report in my bedroom about all the plans I had. Head over there and grab the huge notebook on my bed. I give you full permission to read and write all the letters you need, and use my name on my behalf. And to increase my food rations, I need more of it. I just can’t get enough.

I’m screwed.

I entered her bedroom, everything was perfectly arranged, not a single item unorganised. On top of her bed, there was a huge brown notebook. I headed out towards my bedroom to open it. What was inside was impressive.

Before me was a detailed plan on how to get the Kingdom better, for every single citizen out there. Everything from the food supply she wanted us to have to the businesses and the housing. It kind of irked me that there was no mention of the refugees, but I brushed it off. Maybe they were in the same group as the lower class?

I started making the letters. At first it felt great being in a position of this much power, but  soon reality had hit me. I don’t know anything about this. The letters I made were met with backlash or some form of counter proposal. There was even news of some threats of famine caused by a lack of food supply in the middle and lower class areas. I had no idea what to do, I tried asking the Princess for letters but she didn’t respond. So I just stuck with what was written. I was just there living in the castle, but I know for sure that the rest of the kingdom beyond these upper class borders is already falling into chaos. This is bad.

I spent the next few weeks in a deep sense of guilt and just feeling awful in general. I know beyond those laboratory doors there was a Princess falling into madness, and beyond these four walls there’s a kingdom falling into chaos, and there was me doing everything I can to keep everything a float. Trying to please everyone and everything. At night when most of the knights exit the laboratory, instead of the peace and quiet I longed for. I can hear muffled screams coming from the laboratory. Tortured, agonised screams. Whatever the Princess was doing there must be very messed up. The screaming went on for weeks, until one day it stopped.

It was midnight. I grew accustomed to the muffled screams coming from the laboratory. The screams usually go on for hours, I listened to it as it went on for hours. And then it stopped. I waited a little more for the screaming to resume but it didn’t. You know something’s strange when even the knights who usually clock out and exit, didn’t exit. It was all silence. Nothing. I listened intently but nothing happened. And it went on until the next day, they didn’t even bother getting the food I made. I started thinking they were dead, it was until the next day that they finally came out. But what I found out afterwards made me wish they were dead.