Return of Rumplestiltskin | COMPLETED | Book 1

THIRTY TWO - Loophole

Do you remember the flashbacks at the end of the chapters? If you already forgot about it, I suggest you read the flashbacks again so this chapter will make more sense.

The flashbacks started from Chapter Five to Chapter Eight.

Cheers!

UNEDITED

The man was screwed. Of that, Ryszard was right. He was no longer part of the Senate, so it didn't matter to him that he abandon his honour and take advantage of the miller's weakness – not also forgetting the fact that the miller was his ticket to the Kingdom. He walked past the stone steps leading to a humble abode near the lake. The acres of land surrounding the house was given to Frank by the Queen and it wasn't necessarily one of the lands of that belonged to the Rivynfords and the barrier didn't cover it.

It was the King's flaw.

Ryszard knocked on the door and waited for a few seconds. After a full minute of no answer, he knocked again.

"Who is it!?" shouted a raspy voice, as if it wasn't used for a long time, like an old rusty clock.

"A messenger, sir," he replied.

"Return to whomever sent you, and stay the hell off my lawn!" the voice replied discourteously.

Ryszard sighed. He didn't have time to dilly-dally. With a simple flick of his hand, the door slammed open, revealing a startled old man paling sheet white as he looked upon the intruder.

"Good evening, sir." He said as he smiled.

"Wh-who are you?" Demanded the old man.

Instead of answering, Ryszard swept his gaze around the room. Numerous bottles of liquor littered the floor and the table, lots of trash and unwashed plates and the room stank to high heavens. Finally, he fixed his gaze to the old man.

"Mr. Huds – "

"Stop!" shrieked the miller. "Don't call me by that last name, my daughter will be disgraced!"

He looked around the room as if the walls have ears. "No one must know that the Queen is my daughter!" he hissed.

Ryszard supressed a sympathetic sigh – the man obviously lost himself to insanity a long time ago. He felt a little bit guilty to what he was about to do but blast it! The Queen had cheated and so will he.

"Mr. Frank," Ryszard said and he waited for a few moments before the old man gave him his undivided attention. "I have a way to reverse all of this,"

"Reverse what?" the miller asked dumbly as he started chewing his fingernail.

"This misfortune that has befallen upon you," Ryszard said slowly. "I can reverse it so you may hold your head held up high as the father of the Queen."

The miller stopped chewing. "Do you mean it?" His eyes shone as if a kid found candy but then, his mood changed. "You are fooling me, necromancer. Why would you grant me something too good to be true?"

Even if the man had gone mad, he obviously had common sense. Ryszard merely smiled sinisterly. "I never said it was for free,"

The miller widened his eyes, suddenly alert. He grabbed an empty bottle of whisky and held it in front of him as if a weapon. "I won't give you the money!" he shrieked frantically to which Ryszard winced.

"I never said it was money,"

"If it is my daughter then no! I will not give away my beautiful daughter..." the rest of his words came out in a mumble.

"It is not the Queen I want," he said, his expression full of disdain.

"Then what is it?" the miller said as he edged closer.

"It is the princess I want."

*****

"My... grandfather?" I whispered in disbelief.

"You see, your grandfather also has a claim on you so he can offer you as payment as well. The rules of magic has loopholes and it is only a matter of taking advantage of it." Ryszard said with a smile on his face.

"So what did you do in exchange?"

"In exchange, I cured him of his insanity but it wasn't about to last. His unhealthy lifestyle of drinking booze finally took a toll in his health and not soon after he was cured of his insanity, he passed away.

I needed his fingerprint to complete the deal but he was already buried but that didn't stop me. I acquired his coffin, even going as far as going so close to the Kingdom's borders and that sealed the deal. You are mine."

I felt shivers creep up in my spine as I tried not to cower and ignored his last sentence. "My mother told me my grandfather died an honourable death! Not like... what you made him out to be!" Surely he wasn't the drunkard he was referring to?

Ryszard cackled. "And you believe her? Your grandfather was a greedy man. He sold his daughter to the King, couldn't be satisfied with the riches bestowed upon him, and now he died a miserable death. The King did not want to honour his death and that is why he did not order a royal funeral."

"But... it was my mother who was affected by the curse... when she didn't give me to you, she fell ill."

"The curse cannot affect the dead so it is passed down to his living descendant also known as your mother."

All the things I did not understand slowly unravelled. My mother's sudden illness and how she was immediately cured when I reached his manor. Ryszard's cunning nature made this happen.

"The reason why I chased after you all the way here, you wanted to ask that as well right?" this time, his smile was soft. Gentle even. "I wanted to say something along the lines of 'I just wanted to see you' and be romantic but that's not the only reason. If you are away from me, the curse will start affecting your mother again. I don't want you to feel hurt because of that."

I opened my mouth to answer but we were interrupted by Kyle. "Your Highness, your time is over." He said as he glared at Ryszard. In turn, the Prince smiled at him but it was anything but friendly.

I hesitated for a moment before following Kyle. I looked back at him and I froze. His expression was so lonely and sad, coaxing me to stay and probably pat his head. I shook my head, trying to banish the thought away.

And when I left the prison, I thought I saw a shadow the shape of a cat pass by.

I hope this chapter shone light to all the mysterious stuff and how Ryszard managed to acquire Erinne even though her mother duped him.

I posted another chapter because I know I will be hella busy this week. December is our vacation so updates will be more frequent during that month. ;)