Curse their existence

Meanwhile, in Duke Zale's house.

The old Duke and his son Killian Zale were deep in conversation. They were discussing their next course of action that would take them one step closer to their plan. They had seized the perfect opportunity to send Eleanor to the castle when the royal couple would be moving out soon. This way, once the couple moved, they could spread rumors of Alastair and Eleanor staying together and thus forcing the young king into a marriage with their daughter.

For this purpose, they had bribed a lowly servant from the castle and had killed him off once they had got the information they had wanted. Nobody would question the whereabouts of a lowly servant, at least not the king. They were rejoicing in their mansion for the possible success of their plan, completely ignorant of the fact that King Alastair knew everything about their ill deeds. He knew what they had done to the castle servant and had added it to their list of crimes. Very soon, the Duke and his family would get their retribution, but not right now. Alastair still needed them for the things he had in mind and allowed them to celebrate the success of their failing plan.

Duke Zale's second wife, Lady Odalis, saw the two men with hatred as she served the wine in their study. Whenever her husband was in the study, nobody other than her was allowed to serve him. No maids or other servants were allowed inside as he had a lot of important documents that could not be revealed to the public. It was only Odalis who was allowed in and she was the one who cleaned his study every day. Even though she was his wife, she was treated nothing less than a servant in the Duke's house. If not for the fact that the wicked Duke had kept their son, Calix, hidden, she would have long killed him.

She saw Killian from the corner of her eye only to meet his deadly eyes already staring at her. Immediately, she lowered her gaze. She did not want to get reprimanded for being disrespectful, even though it was anything but it. After five minutes, she again peeked at the young man and this time all she could see was his auburn hair. He had turned his back to her and she ran her eyes over his well-built body.

The young man was the exact replica of his father. Both Killian and Eleanor had the Zale family's signature auburn hair, unlike her son, Calix who had got her black hair. Killian had got his father's light brown eyes while Eleanor's were pitch black. The brother and sister duo strongly resembled their father and had inherited very few features from their mother. But Odalis' son was completely different from them. He had his mother's features more than his father's and this was one of the reasons for the old Duke to hate his own son more.

Since the day Calix was born, he had never treated him as his son. He was just a stranger in his eyes. When Eleanor and Killian received the fatherly love from him, his youngest son, Calix was completely devoid of the love. Just like his father, even Calix did not give him much respect and treated him just like a stranger.

Lady Odalis served them the wine and waited silently for her next orders. She stood in her place not moving even an inch for almost an hour until her feet started to ache. Though she wanted to leave, she did not dare to disobey her husband. She knew that her disobedience only led to punishment and it was her son, Calix who suffered from the Duke's wrath.

She had to wait another few minutes before the Duke waved his hand and dismissed her. Odalis left the study only to meet the maids who giggled seeing the state she was in. She had never felt this humiliated before and remembered the time when it all started. Odalis had married into the Duke's house when the old Duke's first wife had died of an illness immediately after giving birth to Eleanor.

At first, the Duke was not this hostile to her, he did not love her or took care of her, but he did not treat her badly either. However, things changed when she was accused of trying to kill Eleanor and Killian by poisoning them when she was clearly innocent. Since then, her days of misery started and she was treated worse than the slaves. It was only after a few years passed did she find out that the brother and sister had plotted against her to make her fall in the eyes of the Duke. They did not want her or her children to get the favor from the Duke and had come up with such a devious plot.

Though innocent, she had nothing to prove herself. Odalis could only muster her courage and bear with it for the sake of her son who, at that moment, was sent far away from her without her knowledge when he was just a few years old. If she wanted him, she had to comply with the wicked Duke's orders, or else that would be the last day for her son.

Since then, she had made a vow to herself to be strong and not falter. She first had to find her son and after that, she would give the Duke and his cruel children a death so horrible that they would even curse their existence for even crossing her.

She wiped the tears that had slid down her cheeks, lifted her head, pushed back her shoulders and walked away with an air of elegance that even Eleanor could not learn even after getting trained since she was a child. The woman was graceful and she was beautiful, even more than the Duke's first wife. If not for her living a miserable life, she had everything which many women in the kingdom aimed for.

Lady Odalis went back to her quarters. The day she was framed by the two siblings, the Duke had kicked her out of his room and was asked to move to another room. Though it was not as small as the servant quarters, it was not big either. At most only three people could fit inside. The room was plain with a single bed placed in the corner near the window.

Odalis closed the door behind her and made sure that it was tightly locked before she picked up a parchment. She wrote the message she wanted to convey and approached the small hearth in her room. She waited until the fire started and when she felt the fire to be big enough, she threw the parchment and muttered something under her breath, with her eyes closed.

The parchment, at first, burnt normally, slowly turning into ash. Only after a few seconds, did it stop burning and vanished suddenly along with the ash. Lady Odalis then opened her eyes and hoped the message had reached the person safely.