The Wheel Of Fortune

“Your Grace....why did you ask Jayce to take the blame? He was supporting you; you could have gotten him to your side. Because of this move, he will turn to Nathan’s side.” Juan questions after putting a glass of water on the desk. I massage my tired eyes and pick up the glass while meeting his eyes, “Do you really think he was on our side?”

“But he supported you before and you can’t afford to lose any more people, half of the Ministers are on Prince Nathan’s side.” Judging by the voice, he is really stressed.

“I think you are getting mistaken, Juan. He was never on my side; he was always on the side which profited him more. There is no loyalty in politics, only profit matters in the end. He was never helping me; he was helping himself. And someone had to take the blame even if this is no one’s fault.”

Juan pushes up his glasses while taking a seating opposite me, “It will be harder to get support in the future, Your Grace, what are you going to do? And are you really going to the cities personally? What if you get hurt?”

“Jayce was the pawn I always wanted to discard so I could only appreciate this situation for helping me to cut him off. In fact, it was not his fault, it was not EXH or the government's fault as well. None could have predicted what the organization would do, our only fault, was we couldn’t control it in time but this doesn’t matter to the public, what matters to them is why didn’t we stop them so someone had to take the blame, no matter if they were innocent or not.”

I put down the glass before continuing, “Since I have already agreed, why will I back off now?... Juan, did you find the person who was with the tuhu on banquet day?”

“No, Your Grace, there is no trace...You Grace, do you think he was....” He stops mid-sentence but his expression says it all.

“I think so...they were talking about 25th and this happened on 25th, it could he related. I am planning to talk to His Majesty about this. Juan, bring me all the important files, I want it on my table by the time I am back from his room.” I remove my trench coat leaving behind a black turtle neck sweater and black jeans.

On the way to my father’s room, I stop halfway and take out my phone. I click on call logs and click on the most recent number.

Nadya

With some hesitation, I drop the idea. Forget it, it is 4 am she should be sleeping, I will check up on her later. After pocketing my phone, I walk the rest of the way.

“Come in,”

I tread in and spot the maid, who is busying serving the tea, “Get out and close the door.”

“Right away, Your Grace,” She bows at both of us and leaves the room. Birds flying over the garden chirp as I sit on the chair overlooking the garden from the balcony. I cross my leg and lean back.

“You did great today. Tell me, if you like the tea.”

“No, thank you, I am not in the mood for a tea. I will be leaving soon.” I have to rush back to complete the remaining work, arrange the troops and attend the meeting EXH after this. “You Majesty-”

“You can call me normally, no one is around.”

“Father, what do you want to talk about?”

He takes a sip before speaking, “I think you are the one who wants to say something, go ahead.”

“...Actually, it happened on the day of the banquet, a tuhu broke in and met someone inside the palace.”

His calm expression vanishes in an instant, “Who did the tuhu meet?”

“I couldn’t find a trace but I heard from someone that they were talking about something taking place on the 25th. But I am afraid what I was fearing the most had happened.”

He seizes my expression for a while before answering, “...Since you have already made the connection, you must have a plan?”

“Unfortunately, no, I can’t think of anything before I find the suspect. That’s why I want your help. Fath....Your Majesty, help me.”

Bang

I raise my head with a jerk. What was that sound?

I look down at the papers spread on the table and remove my reading glasses. Did I fall asleep? Damn it, what time it is? Has the meeting already started? I reach for my phone only to find it nowhere. I put all the papers to one side but still don’t find it anywhere.

Where did it go?

I push back the chair and turn around to check the bedroom. But as soon as I raise my sight, I come to and standstill. What...is this? Am I still dreaming? I rub my eyes but the scene still remains the same.

This is not my room, where is this?

The orange-pink room, the white bed, and the clothes thrown on the bed make surer that this is not my room. I take a step forward to further inspect the room. Bang

“Why don’t you let me live? Just die, just die.”

I flinch at the raged-filled voice before making my way to the door from behind which the voice came. I push open the door and my eyes fall on four people in the room. A man on the side, a young boy on my side, a woman in the middle beside the bed, and a young girl sitting on the edge of the bed. It takes me only a second to realize who the woman and the young girl is.

Nadya and her mother.

Opening of the door doesn’t disturb the scene instead I watch as Nadya’s mother raises her hand and slaps her hard. She pulls her hand back before she starts slapping her again. “Bitch, slut, just die. Why are you alive? You don’t deserve to live.”

No one comes forward to stop her, the man who I am assuming is her father, keeps standing on the side expressionlessly while her younger brother shivers as he stares at her sister getting beat up.

“Why don’t you get raped? You lowlife.”

I stare at the scene in shock before looking at Nadya. Why is she not doing anything? She is sitting at her place without making a move to stop her while staring in front of her blankly like she is used to it.

Her mother scratches her arm and starts dragging her by her hair. “I shouldn’t have given birth to you. Why don’t you die? No one needs you.”

After 5 minutes, I think she had had enough, so she throws Nadya on the bed. She glances at her husband with spite, “Get out of here, I don’t want to see your face. Just seeing your face, wants me to kill you and your daughter.” She says and turns to her son, her anger vanishes, and she smiles at him, “Come here, you must be hungry. I will serve the dinner soon, go and wash your hands.”

“But didi-”

“Let her starve. I don’t care about her, her dearest father will feed her since she loves him so much.” She lovingly goes to her son’s side and pulls him out of the room. Her brother keeps glancing at her until he is out of the room. Once they are out, her father approaches her, “Why can’t you live quietly? Why did you anger your mother? Now I have to listen to her cruses.”

She doesn’t say anything and keeps staring at the floor.

Soon, her lack of response angers her father, “I am saying something, bitch. Are you mute?” He raises his hand and slaps her. “Answer when I ask you a question.” She keeps taking his slaps without resistance, but I think it becomes too much for her because soon she raises her arms to cover her face.

“Remove your hand, remove your hands, now. Do you want me to break your hands?”

He uses her hair to make her show her face before he starts slapping her again. “You are bitch just like your mother. You should learn to take the anger you caused, just blame it on yourself.” He throws her on the floor and kicks her once and goes out of the room.

She lays on the for a minute before she tries standing up. She takes a step towards the bed, almost stumbling, I rush to help only to realize I am dreaming. I couldn’t even touch her; how can I help her. She sits back on the bed and leans against the headboard. Slowly, I step closer and sit on the edge of the bed while feeling helpless.

She raises her hands covers her face and breaks into sobs before it turns into crying.

I don’t know for how long she cries but soon she starts having difficulty in taking breaths. She becomes light-headed and supports herself with the headboard. Her blank eyes turn towards her hands in her lap, “Do you think I want to live? I want to die as well... Why am I alive? I hate myself, it is suffocating to live.”

Her face scrunches up in disgust, she raises her hands and scratches her arms. I immediately stand up. What is she doing?

She scratches her face, arms, and leg, not leaving any single place which is showing untouched. A weird smile appears on her face as she keeps scratching her skin. Not even a minute later, her smiles turn into laughter but her eyes begin tearing up.

“I want to die.”

She lets out full-blown laughter while crying. I take in a shaky breath on seeing her state. Was this her past? She does not even look more than 14-15 years old.

Suddenly, she starts pulling her hair.

“Aaaa..” The smile drops from her face and she starts screaming at the top of her lungs. Her screams make her father, mother and brother run into the room. They stop near the doorway and watch her as she keeps screaming. As soon as her brother notices her state, he starts crying.

“Didi, didi...” He keeps whispering and tries to stop her.

Nadya also notices her father and mother and grins at them in return.

“Your Grace.”

I blink and raise my head to find Juan standing on the right of my desk. I stare at him before glancing around the room. I am back? I sigh and rub the side of my face.

What did I just watch? It was definitely one of her memories. It's almost like I watched a different person. The current Nadya and her past self.... are very distinct.

Her mother, I don’t know what happened in between but she had changed completely. They don’t seem to care about her but considering how she was worried about her parents; she does care about them.

“Your Grace, are you alright? You look...” He stops with a hesitant expression.

I look at Juan, “I look what? Complete your sentence.”

He gulps before continuing, "You look angry. Are you alright?"

I take deep breath to calm my anger, "I am fine, what is the time?"

“It’s almost 9 am. Should I ask the head chef to prepare the breakfast?”

I stand up and start sorting out all the papers on the desk, “No, I will get something on the way, I am going back to the EXH, send me all the leftover papers in two hours.” As soon as I have stacked all the papers in one place, a familiar pocket watch evinces itself from underneath the papers.

I pick up the pocket watch I haven’t seen in the last 9 months. Why Is this here?

“Your Grace, when did you fall asleep again and when did you buy a lamp with blue light?”

I pause at Juan’s word and glance back at him in confusion, “Again? I don’t think I got up in between and I don’t have a blue light lamp, why?”

“You didn’t get up in the middle of the night? But I saw the blue light lamp on through the window, I thought you got up and fell asleep again.”

“What? When did I....” At that moment, a bizarre idea struck me and I look at the pocket watch in my hand. Maybe...