The Crown's Obsession (WN)

Madeline left the courtroom to be followed by Beth and Raphael behind her. Her footsteps were quick, and she tried to catch up with the two High House members. Reaching the stairs of the castle, she caught sight of Luther and Reginald stepping down from the stairs who were heading towards the place where the carriages were waiting for them.

Holding the front of her dress, Madeline called, "Mr. Frost!" and she made her way to where he was. Both the men turned around to see her.

"My Queen," Reginald politely bowed his head, his eyes looking at her in wonderment for what she wanted from him.

"Are you travelling to Cossington?" she asked, a little breathless as she had tried to catch up with them.

"Yes, I am," answered Reginald, "Lilith and Weasley have gone to Carnivals' village. I don't have anything on my hands, and Luther is going to another town to check with the magistrate about something," he offered her a smile, "Are you travelling to Cossington?"

Madeline nodded her head, "Yes. I was wondering if it was alright to ride in your carriage."

"It would be my pleasure, my Queen," Reginald's words were polite to her, and he then looked at Luther who gave a small nod before getting into the front carriage. "Will they be riding with us too?" he asked, passing a glance towards Beth and Raphael.

"Yes," answered Madeline, and the High House member only smiled. Getting into the carriage, she and Beth sat on one side, while Raphael and Reginald sat on the other side, "Do you have some work in Cossington?"

"I wanted to take a look at the church's library and read the books in there which you mentioned to me the last time when we met," stated Madeline.

"Of course, the church will always be open to you, my Queen. Please use the library as you deem it to be fit," said Reginald before his eyes fell on Raphael, "I don't think we have officially met. Reginald Frost."

��Raphael Sparrow," greeted Raphael in his polite way.

Reginald then turned to Beth to say, "Lady Elizabeth, please don't mind Lilith's words. She can be sometimes harsh with her words." Beth gave him a tight smile.

"She seemed too happy to blame me," replied Beth.

"Children are often mischievous in their actions. I am sure you can relate to it."

Though Madeline had forgiven Beth for her actions, it wasn't the same when it came to other people. Madeline was a forgiving person, but the rest continued to look at her as if she was a criminal. Like a stain that would be hard to get rid of, and she clutched her hands that were on her lap.

"Do you have any idea about who stole Hanima's necklace from the High House, Mr. Frost?" asked Madeline and his lips set itself in a thin line.

"That would be something hard to tell," said Reginald with a thoughtful look on his face, "

When the High House came into existence, all those cursed jewels were seized right away from the public to keep it in the safe of the High House. I believe I don't have to tell you what the jewels are capable of because something tells me that you already know about it," and his eyes fell on Raphael. Madeline wondered if Reginald could tell that Raphael was a demon.

"What is the story behind the cursed jewels?" questioned Beth. It was only today did they find out about its existence.

"The Hanima's cursed treasures?" asked Reginald and Beth nodded her head. "It seems once upon a time, a woman that didn't belong to this world had fallen in love with a mere mortal who was a King. The man promised to love and cherish her, but when she had turned her eyes away from him, the man fell in love with another woman, who went by the name Hanima. When the woman who didn't belong to this world found out about it, she went to the castle. On meeting the Queen, she cursed the jewels that the Queen wore that once was gifted to this woman by the King. It is another matter that the King died."

Beth was not satisfied with the story as her lips were set in a thin line.

"Didn't people ever try to rectify it? To lift the curse?" asked Madeline. She wanted to ask if the woman was an angel or a demon, the woman who had cursed it, but with Reginald being vague she didn't know if it was safe to question him. It couldn't be an angel as then the woman would be a fallen angel.

"I heard that the curse could not be lifted from it," replied Reginald, "We the people of the High House members tried to destroy the jewels, but the jewels are indestructible which is why we have placed them away from people's reach." Yet someone had stolen it, said Madeline in her mind.

When they reached the church, Raphael stood outside as he was unable to step inside the church. Beth decided to stay with him, not because she felt he would be alone but because she knew Jennine was somewhere in the village and the safest place for her was next to the person who had driven Jennine away.

"How does one know what level a demon is of?" asked Beth, her eyes looking around left and right at the people who walked on the roads.

"There are some demons who conceal themselves, while some don't conceal themselves. Most of them are born where it doesn't let the others know about it like the King and Theodore-"

"You don't," completed Beth, and Raphael smiled at her words.

"That's right. The woman must have sensed me and left. Don't worry, Lady Elizabeth, I will make sure no harm comes upon you."

"You don't have to be this friendly with me, you are still an odd man, Mr. Sparrow," Beth gave a side glance at him before looking ahead and keeping an eye for Jennine.

Inside the church's library room, Madeline looked at the narrow passage between each of the racks. It was like the people of the church had tried to accommodate as many racks with books as they could in this room. The room had enough light coming from the cathedral windows.

"Are you looking for anything in particular, my lady?" came the voice of Reginald.

"Ah, I was curious about the story that you told me the last time when I was here. Could you tell me where those books are?"

Reginald was behind one of the racks, and he came around to pass where she was standing, making his way to the last second rack. "I forgot I placed them here." She heard his voice, and she walked around to come and stand where he was. The priest of the church had a small black book in his hand. He then turned to look at a particular section in front of the rack he stood, "These are the ones that date to the historical events by the previous priests. Unfortunately, you won't be able to verify the information as the men who wrote them passed away," he laughed in the end and tapped on the parchments.

There were no labels written and the parchments were stuffed in the racks. Madeline's hand reached for one of the parchment, pulling it out, she turned a couple of pages to read what was in there.

"If you had asked me that you wanted to read the books in the library last time when you were here, I would have turned you as my apprentice," joked the man, "Do you have any plan to join the High House?" came his simple question.

Madeline lifted her head to look at Reginald who had his back at her, reading the book and at the same time asking her question.

"No. I never thought about it," she replied, taking a look back at the parchment in her hand.

"You should. I am sure the King would benefit greatly from it."

She stopped reading the parchments and looked in the direction where Reginald had disappeared behind the books' rack which was next to her. Was this him telling he knew Calhoun had dirt on his hands and to be careful about it? Madeline asked in her mind.

It also made Madeline wonder how close Reginald was with Calhoun, maybe not as close as Theodore but by the way, he had given his decision about Calhoun not to be guilty, she came to believe that this High House member wasn't against her husband.

"Why would you say that?" she asked carefully.

"I believe it is good to make use of all your resources." What did that mean?

She pulled another parchment from the rack to look at what was written inside it. Even though Aunt Mary had bad intentions towards her, Madeline was glad that her relative had taken time to teach both her and her sister Beth on how to read and write.

"How long has it been since you started to give your service to the church?" she asked Reginald, who walked around to give her a book.

"You might like this one. It speaks about the cursed treasure," Reginald gave her a knowing look and Madeline murmured her thanks.

"It was long before I joined the High House."

Madeline's eyes met his grey eyes that were calm, "I heard that you replaced a fellow High House member."

"Yes, that I did-" Reginald's words were interrupted when he and Madeline heard a sound come from the other side of the room.

The sound was very faint, but both Madeline and the priest heard it. And maybe they wouldn't have taken a note of it if the place where they were in wasn't quiet. But before either of them could question, she heard a light commotion taking place outside. Reginald walked to the place where the earlier sound was heard to check what it was. With the multicoloured window that wasn't far away from where she stood, she went to peer through the pink glass to look down as the library was situated in the second storey of the building that connected to the church from the back.

She could hear people screaming. She asked, "What's going down there?"

Not a second later the place where Reginald had walked to, something similar to a cannonball hit the wall to break a part of the room. This caused the racks to be pushed one after another until they were leaning against each other with most of the books and parchments fallen on the ground.

"Mr. Frost?" called Madeline as she couldn't see where Reginald was.

At the same time, she felt the multicoloured glass start to vibrate, and before she could utter another word, it blew up into many pieces. Madeline had brought both her hands up covering her face, where the glass pieces turned to dust before they could touch her.